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- Convenors:
-
Anneli Palmsköld
(University of Gothenburg)
Niklas Sörum (Gothenburg Research Institute)
- Stream:
- Heritage
- Location:
- A102
Short Abstract:
The last decades have seen an growth of the second hand sector in shops and on the Internet. Things circulating on this market are re-configured through revaluation into marketable goods with 'heritage value'. This phenomenon, the re:heritage market, will be explored in this session.
Long Abstract:
The last decades have seen an growth of the second hand sector in the form of retro shops, flea markets and antiquities boutiques, and of internet barter and trade. Things circulating on this market are re-configured through creative re-use, re-design, re-packaging and (re)qualification-valuation into marketable goods with 'heritage value', while simultaneously mobilizing agents, institutions and sites into entire complexes of circulation. This sociospatial phenomenon we call the re:heritage market.
As a social space straddling public and private spheres, and involving a multiplicity of actors, the session seeks to investigate how the re:heritage market involves transformations of tradition, 'pastness' and history and articulate new arenas for their use and consumption. For example, different re-using and re-design processes often involve a DIY perspective and remaking practices. But also processes of (re-)valuation of objects and different forms of expertise and knowledge become important for understanding how value, quality, taste and price are constructed.
Circulation thus operates as a generative force that involves things of different kinds, of a variety of age or original functions, and of varying spatial scales, ranging from tiny objects to entire buildings and areas. In the different revaluation processes concepts like retro, vintage, shabby chic, antique or semi antique are frequently used. In this panel we want to explore how circuits of exchange, trade and consumption on the re:heritage market are shaping an infrastructure of a heritage not yet fully conceptualized or studied. We welcome conceptual and theoretical papers and empirical work within this wider field of heritage studies.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Niklas Sörum (Gothenburg Research Institute)
Paper short abstract:
The paper presents first findings from an ethnographic study of three sites in Gothenburg, where commercial activities related to the re:heritage market take place (second-hand stores, vintage shops, retro boutiques). Focus in the paper is on the discursive work of qualification-valuation processes.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper we present the first findings from an ethnographic study of three heritage sites in Gothenburg where commercial activities related to the 're:heritage' market take place, such as second-hand stores, vintage shops and retro boutiques. The focus in this presentation is on the discursive work of qualification-valuation processes involved in the performance of re:heritage markets. These insights are crucial for understanding the essential mechanisms of these markets: "the making of a taste for the past" and "valuing the unique"; terms which encapsulates the reflexive process of quality and value creation evidenced in heritage marketization (Karpik 2010). Focus is on the role of heritage objects and how goods become valued as commodities for sale; i.e. the marketization of heritage. Theoretical underpinnings are found within a practice based approach towards markets that proposes that markets are constructed through a range of practices involving different forms of expertise and material devices ranging from networks of practitioners, personal friends, quality labels, expert opinions and rankings to more mundane stuff like retail or shop displays, in-store arrangement, product packaging and catalogues. These practices make choices possible in markets in which unique goods proliferate. Methodologically a multi-methods approach is used, combining for example: 1) interviews with promoters, sales assistants, and marketers; 2) observations of marketing and shopping sites and; 3) virtual ethnographies of related web forums and web sites promoting heritage consumption.
Mateja Habinc
Paper short abstract:
Despite global trends and a long history, trading with second-hand clothes and shoes in contemporary Slovenia is exceptional. The presentation will try to describe its various manifestations and by analysing media contents, it will grasp meanings usually attached to them.
Paper long abstract:
Used clothes and shoes for the adults as well as for children were in Slovenia commonly exchanged, often reshaped and re-used until the second half of the twentieth century. The items circulated among family-members and acquaintances while at least since the second half of the 19th century some also sold them in the antique shops. Their commission sale remained quite common also in the second half of the 20th century but in the last decades, when mostly children's used clothes are still exchanged through one's private social nets, it has decreased. If global second-hand trade grew rapidly after 1989 and due to the economic recession, which Slovenia is also facing, it is also interesting contemporary commercial second-hand sale of clothes and shoes is still exceptional in Slovenia. Due to recent ecological and sustainable trends and supported by European funds enterprises mostly selling and to a limited extent renewing used items also appeared in some Slovenian urban centres, nevertheless sometimes with a very short-term existence. A few associations and civil society groups are also trying to promote exchanging or trading second-hand goods but their efforts are mostly still limited to their members or to the trend of vintage clothing. In the presentation, the author will thus try to make an overview of contemporary second hand trading with clothes and shoes in Slovenia while by analysing media contents she will also follow meanings, prejudices and valuations attached to it.
Anneli Palmsköld (University of Gothenburg)
Paper short abstract:
Circulation on the Re:Heritage market involves things of a variety of age or original functions. On the market concepts like second hand, retro, shabby chic and vintage are used. The contemporary use, valor of meanings and social and economic practices related to the concepts is the subject for the paper.
Paper long abstract:
Circulation on the Re:Heritage market that is in focus for the panel, operates as a generative force that involves things of different kinds, of a variety of age or original functions, and of varying spatial scales, ranging from tiny objects to entire buildings and areas. In the different revaluation processes concepts like second hand, retro, shabby chic, vintage, antique or semi antique are frequently used when talking about the objects on the market. Other concepts used are connecting to DIY and processes of reshaping things, such as recycling, reusing, up-cycling and down-cycling. In this paper these concepts will be the starting point for a discussion on the contemporary use, valor of meanings and social and economic practices related to them. Objects moving from one context to another, for example from the flea market to the vintage boutique or the antique shop, are sometimes reshaped, altered and mended. As a consequence they can be inscribed as part of other concepts. How transformations of tradition, ’pastness’ and history takes place and how the concepts are part of these processes are questions asked in order to understand how value, quality, taste and price are constructed.
Kerstin Gunnemark (University of Gothenburg)
Paper short abstract:
Nowadays many homes are decorated with a mix of retro stuff, antiquities and newer things. Are owners of old houses also interested in narrations about cultural heritage related to their homes? Or do they mainly renovate their houses and create cosy homes to express their decoration skills?
Paper long abstract:
Nowadays many people appreciate to buy and live in old small houses. The aim is to discuss if their interests are related to imaginations of material or intangible cultural heritage of their homes? Or is it a question of making cosy homes with a mix of retro stuff, antiquities and newer items to express their decoration skills. Attention will be paid to how owners narrate about their homes in urban neighbourhoods or second homes in the countryside. The informants are belonging to different generations and had been interviewed or written life stories about homes. The purpose is to analyse the interplay between the ideal of interiors and contemporary imaginations of cultural heritage. One issue is how they narrate about preservation of material items and if they include their life stories in the biographies of their old houses. Do the buyers see themselves as inheritors or renewers? And why do house owners in a small neighbourhood arrange flea markets for themselves? Which kinds of expectations did different generations had as new settled and how do they nowadays evaluated living in houses with reminiscences?