scholarly journals Solid As a Rock? An Ethnographical Study of the Management of Rock-carvings

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42
Author(s):  
Anders Gustafsson ◽  
Håkan Karlsson

This paper takes its point of departure in a critical and ethnographically directed discussion ofhow Swedish heritage management —in practiceconstructs, organises and presents the past (ke. , the cultural heritage) to the public at the rock-carvings in Tanum. This ethnographical approach is helpful when trying to move beyond the structures —and specific ways of viewing the world —that are a consequence of our own archaeological socialisation. Suddenly activities that, with an archaeological eye, seem to be completely normal, present themselves instead as peculiar examples of the culture ofcontemporary archaeology/heritage management. In this paper we present examples —derived from both the past and present —ofhow this specific culture approach handles and stages the rock-carvings in Tanum. It is stressed that, for various reasons and not least ethical and democratic ones, this culture and its rituals need to be examined even further from an ethnographical point of view

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-202
Author(s):  
Jes Wienberg

The aim of the article is to make clear whether and in that case why archaeology is important. Often this is seen as a self-evident fact which needs no motivation. My point of departure is a concrete example, namely, the medieval church of Mårup in Denmark which will soon fall into the sea: Why is it so crucial to save or document this church and many other traces of the past? Isn't the so-called cultural heritage condemned to destruction and oblivion? Rhetorical catchwords, cultural values, justifications and explanations within cultural heritage management, archaeology, history and social anthropology are presented and critically discussed together with indirect motivations borrowed from the literature about the abuse of the past.


2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-148
Author(s):  
Rita P. Wright

Shannon Dawdy has presented us with a provocative dialogue on the question ‘is archaeology useful?’ In it, she forecasts a rather bleak future for our field, raising doubts about whether archaeology should be useful and whether it is ‘threatened with its own end-time’. Woven throughout her paper are major concerns about the use of archaeology for nationalistic ends and heritage projects which she deems fulfil the needs of archaeologists rather than those of the public they serve. In the final section of her paper, when she asks, ‘can archaeology save the world?’, Dawdy recommends that we reorient our research ‘away from reconstructions of the past and towards problems of the present’ (p. 140). In my contribution to this dialogue, I introduce an issue that reflects on cultural heritage, antiquities and artefact preservation, which, though they may seem antithetical, are closely aligned with Dawdy's concerns. As a prehistorian with a focus on the third millennium B.C. in the Near East and South Asia, I consider these issues to be the ‘big stories’ that have emerged in the early years of this third millennium, and those that speak directly to the usefulness of archaeology. Of course, it is not the only thing we do, but it is ‘useful’.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Håkan Karlsson ◽  
Anders Gustafsson

The text consists of an analysis of how the classical Greek sites of Marathon, Thermopylae, Delphi, Olympia and Mycenae are staged and presented to the public. This analysis is focused upon how the cultural heritage management views the authenticity of these sites and their physical remains, (i.e., as genuine) phenomenon firmly, and solely, belonging to the past, and how these attitudes are materialized in the form of presentations at information boards and in the physical staging of the sites. The materialization of this attitude constitutes the conditions for the public’s physical and imaginative access to the sites and for the public’s possibility to reflect critically around them. Thus, the sites are products of the past, but their authenticity is in parallel also a product of its role in present negotiations of interpretive supremacy, control, power and politics. The article further stresses that a changed attitude towards authenticity is crucial also for a development of a constructive relationship between heritage management and the public. In accordance with this, the article also presents a reconstructed view of authenticity—as the cultural process constituting both humans and material remains.


2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 255-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimír Bačík ◽  
Michal Klobučník

Abstract The Tour de France, a three week bicycle race has a unique place in the world of sports. The 100th edition of the event took place in 2013. In the past of 110 years of its history, people noticed unique stories and duels in particular periods, celebrities that became legends that the world of sports will never forget. Also many places where the races unfolded made history in the Tour de France. In this article we tried to point out the spatial context of this event using advanced technologies for distribution of historical facts over the Internet. The Introduction briefly displays the attendance of a particular stage based on a regional point of view. The main topic deals with selected historical aspects of difficult ascents which every year decide the winner of Tour de France, and also attract fans from all over the world. In the final stage of the research, the distribution of results on the website available to a wide circle of fans of this sports event played a very significant part (www.tdfrance.eu). Using advanced methods and procedures we have tried to capture the historical and spatial dimensions of Tour de France in its general form and thus offering a new view of this unique sports event not only to the expert community, but for the general public as well.


Author(s):  
Marie-Sophie de Clippele

AbstractCultural heritage can offer tangible and intangible traces of the past. A past that shapes cultural identity, but also a past from which one sometimes wishes to detach oneself and which nevertheless needs to be remembered, even commemorated. These themes of memory, history and oblivion are examined by the philosopher Paul Ricoeur in his work La mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli (2000). Inspired by these ideas, this paper analyses how they are closely linked to cultural heritage. Heritage serves as a support for memory, even if it can be mishandled, which in turn can affect heritage policies. Memory and heritage can be abused as a result of wounds from the past or for reasons of ideological manipulation or because of a political will to force people to remember. Furthermore, heritage, as a vehicule of memory, contributes to historical knowledge, but can remain marked by a certain form of subjectivism during the heritage and conservation operation, for which heritage professionals (representatives of the public authority or other experts) are responsible. Yet, the responsibility for conserving cultural heritage also implies the need to avoid any loss of heritage, and to fight against oblivion. Nonetheless, this struggle cannot become totalitarian, nor can it deprive the community of a sometimes salutary oblivion to its own identity construction. These theoretical and philosophical concepts shall be examined in the light of legal discourse, and in particular in Belgian legislation regarding cultural heritage. It is clear that the shift from monument to heritage broadens the legal scope and consequently raises the question of who gets to decide what is considered heritage according to the law, and whether there is something such as a collective human right to cultural heritage. Nonetheless, this broadening of the legislation extends the State intervention into cultural heritage, which in turn entails certain risks, as will be analysed with Belgium’s colonial heritage.


Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 569
Author(s):  
Jean-Nicolas Tournier ◽  
Joseph Kononchik

The eradication of infectious diseases has been achieved only once in history, in 1980, with smallpox. Since 1988, significant effort has been made to eliminate poliomyelitis viruses, but eradication is still just out of reach. As the goal of viral disease eradication approaches, the ability to recreate historically eradicated viruses using synthetic biology has the potential to jeopardize the long-term sustainability of eradication. However, the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2 pandemic has highlighted our ability to swiftly and resolutely respond to a potential outbreak. This virus has been synthetized faster than any other in the past and is resulting in vaccines before most attenuated candidates reach clinical trials. Here, synthetic biology has the opportunity to demonstrate its truest potential to the public and solidify a footing in the world of vaccines.


2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 671-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Drayton

The contemporary historian, as she or he speaks to the public about the origins and meanings of the present, has important ethical responsibilities. ‘Imperial’ historians, in particular, shape how politicians and the public imagine the future of the world. This article examines how British imperial history, as it emerged as an academic subject since about 1900, often lent ideological support to imperialism, while more generally it suppressed or avoided the role of violence and terror in the making and keeping of the Empire. It suggests that after 2001, and during the Iraq War, in particular, a new Whig historiography sought to retail a flattering narrative of the British Empire’s past, and concludes with a call for a post-patriotic imperial history which is sceptical of power and speaks for those on the underside of global processes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-44
Author(s):  
Mats Burström

The cultural heritage is not simply given by history; its content is also a matter for decision in the present. This calls for a dialogue between the heritage management and different groups in society. It is also necessary to formulate a vision of how material remains from the past can enrich the life of the citizen in general. One way to ensure that the cultural heritage touches people is to integrate it into new contexts. The realisation of these points requires a new amiquarian attitude towards the general public.


Author(s):  
Tatiana Karoyeva

The article deals with practical activity of the workgroup created in order toadminister the Law of Ukraine «On condemnation of totalitarian regimes inUkraine and prohibition of propaganda of their insignia» within the town ofVinnytsia. The workgroup had to reveal objects containing communist andSoviet insignia that exists in the public urban area, to work out advice andpropositions as to replacing town toponyms containing insignia of communistthe totalitarian regime with new names.The article content is arranged in the following blocks: a) creation of theworkgroup; b) decision-making algorithm (from historians’ point of view);c) scientific grounds of historian group activity; d) selection of objects forfurther discussion; e) procedure of discussion of proposed new toponyms.Six historians residing in Vinnytsia were introduced into the workgroup.They belong to various generations and represent both governmental andpublic organizations. The following principles have been defined for organizingof the historian group activity: - toleration (provides for respectful attitude towards various canons ofhistoric memory except for Soviet-communist one);- historicism (due regard to be paid not only to the past but to currenttendencies and challenges of the future as well);- education (the activity has to promote dialogs between various socialgroups and formation of unified collective memory);- local topicality with a view to the formation of unified image/brand of thetown.Several approaches to practical activity on replacing of toponyms havebeen developed in order to ensure smooth work process. They were intendedto be used simultaneously or in sequence depending on the actual situation butevery proposal was concerned from the proposed standpoints in line with allthe following approaches:- historicity (provides for restoration of historical names of places andimplementation of historical and urban practical methods of representationof the town history in toponymy);- commemoration (this approach traditionally provides for drawing attentionto the formation of ethnic and national identity and cultural matrixof the nation, but in the course of solving of nation-wide problems Vinnytsiahistorian group strived to be oriented to the identity of local urbancommunity);- locality (conformity of toponyms to peculiarities of nature, history,economics and culture of Vinnytsia, Bratslavshchyna, and Podillia regions);- concreteness (provides for conformity of a toponym to its actual local(in line with toponym’s scale) circumstances (geographical, biological,industrial, cultural, religious, personological etc.);- actualization (due regard to be paid to the necessity of drawing attentionto certain events and persons that, as a rule, are not of the nationwidescale).Out of total 836 town place names, 147 toponyms (85 names) have beenreplaced with new ones and reasoning for 5 names (12 toponyms) has beenchanged. Thus decommunization encompassed 19% of the town toponymicalsystem.


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