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- Convenors:
-
Monica Mottin
(Heidelberg University)
Stefanie Lotter (SOAS)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Lanyon Building, LAN/0G/074
- Sessions:
- Friday 29 July, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel aims to explore forms of erasure of subaltern heritage and whether/how solidarities and commoning may facilitate the repositioning of heritage to question dominant historiography.
Long Abstract:
Heritage is as much about the past as it is about the future. But not everyone has an equal say in shaping the future. In South Asia in particular, heritage is co-opted into local, ethnic, and national/ist politics to justify claims to place, erase, silence, or marginalise histories of subaltern voices, even more so when a global crisis like the Covid19 pandemic further widens pre-existing inequalities. Bettina Arnold argues that "erasure of the past can be a creative force as well as a destructive one" when selective editing of the past results in the "preservation of only some parts of the archaeological or textual record" (2014). Erasure of the past can take different forms but through selective destruction of heritage or lack of care and solidarity, alternative historical perspectives are selectively silenced and erased when they do not conform with the dominant agenda towards history. Who has the power of doing the "erasing"? How does erasure of cultural heritage take place and how is it justified? How are capitalism, neocolonial ideologies and internal colonialism paving the way for processes of erasure? Can commoning and solidarity across subaltern groups reposition heritage to challenge dominant historiography? How does erased heritage resurface and what does such decolonised or localised heritage look like?
We welcome ethnographic studies and theoretical contributions that question hierarchies and elaborate on the solidarities necessary to erase or counter the Authorised Heritage Discourse (Smith, 2006). We seek to learn how tangible, intangible, everyday or natural heritage is altered.
Accepted paper:
Session 1 Friday 29 July, 2022, -Paper short abstract:
The concept of heritage has proven instrumental for several ends in Nepal. This paper suggests that time is ripe to revisit and replace it with the emic concept of sampada. Understanding entities referred to as heritage in Nepal requires a more holistic approach than the concept of heritage offers.
Paper long abstract:
The concept of heritage has gained footing in both public and intellectual discourse in and on the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, over the last decade. The question, I address in this paper, is, whether the concept of heritage continues to be productive – or, if it, in fact, increasingly proves to be counterproductive.
Recent stories in the Nepalese media describe how devotional objects are protected, thereby impeding the access of worshippers to them. Perhaps it is time to decolonize the concept of heritage itself in the Kathmandu Valley. The concept has been imported to Nepal from abroad and has served certain ends purposefully until now. As a guideline for scholarly understanding of what is referred to as ‘heritage’ in the valley, I propose replacing the concept of heritage with the concept of sampada, emic to the Newar community.
Like many other foreign words and concepts, heritage has been incorporated into colloquial language in the Kathmandu valley without translation. The closest equivalent in Nepali, however, is the concept of sampada. Unlike heritage, this concept refers to two overall aspects; a tangible and an intangible one, which stand in a relation of complementarity. Whereas the concept of heritage accentuates the need for material preservation and material stasis, the concept of sampada emphasizes the impermanent nature of life and traditions. Challenging the concept of heritage and its implications in the Kathmandu Valley, I argue that sampada offers itself as a much more sustainable concept to apply for future thinking and action.