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- Convenors:
-
Ernst van den Hemel
(Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences)
Duane Jethro (University of Cape Town)
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- Discussant:
-
Irene Stengs
(Meertens Institute)
- Stream:
- Heritage
- Location:
- Aula 21
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 16 April, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Madrid
Short Abstract:
Heritage is often invoked as an unassailable core and sacred expression of collective identity. Exploring how heritagization and sacralisation are involved in contemporary transformations, we focus on trajectories that shape heritage and the cultural politics of emotion in the twenty-first century
Long Abstract:
Whether it concerns debates on national identity, the role of religion in 'the West', or the capacity of newcomers to 'integrate' into a culture, heritage is frequently invoked as an unassailable core and sacred expression of collective identity. Significantly, those who belong are expected not only to respect rights and duties, but to feel an authentic connection and commitment to the heritage collective. Processes of heritagization and sacralisation are thus involved in some of the most profound transformations in today's world. Appeals to heritage and notions of identity often evoke intense emotions, contestations and mechanisms of in- and exclusion. We are interested in the new and diverse trajectories that shape heritage and the cultural politics of emotion in the twenty-first century.
In light of this rapidly changing and contested field the ethnographic approach is perfectly suited to unpack and map the intricate ways in which heritage is taken up in practices of identity formation. Such an approach enables us to investigate in detail the question of when and how heritage becomes valued and experienced as sacred.
We specifically invite contributions that focus on: the role of heritage in nascent nationalism and debates on national identity; the influence sacralisation of heritage has on the way migration is conceptualized; and the opportunities and foreclosures heritage and the cultural politics of emotion in the twenty-first century offers migrants themselves.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 16 April, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
Religious objects from closed-down churches in the Netherlands find their way into museums, in which they acquire new meanings and sacredness. This paper analyses how museums construct narratives which overlook historical antagonism between Protestantism and Catholicism.
Paper long abstract:
Since the 1960s, the Netherlands have seen a rapid closing down of church buildings throughout the country. While a lot of public and academic attention has been paid to the buildings themselves, objects inside these churches have been often neglected. Objects from Catholic churches have to be repurposed in other churches, by Vatican decree, but also find their way into museums or unto marketplaces. This paper will present work-in-progress on the shifting meanings and values of religious objects from Catholic churches throughout their journeys to the museum and the marketplace. Juxtaposing objects from churches, which are 'officially' sacralized through ritual and ecclesiastical use, with similar objects in the context of the heritage museum, shows how human-object relationships and their emotional connections influence valuation and meaning-making.
The transformation of objects from 'religious sacred' to 'sacred heritage' is concomitant to a selective forgetting of histories of violence against and suppression of Catholicism in post-Reformation Netherlands. Using these objects as illustrative of Dutch national heritage in contemporary national museums, I will argue, entangles Protestantism and Catholicism in the Netherlands to form a narrative which builds a national identity on the concept of non-denominational 'Christianity'. Right-wing political narratives about 'Judeo-Christian' traditions figure into this constructed identity, in turn shaping meanings and value.
Paper short abstract:
Hungarian native faith movements have transformed from counter cultural thought into mainstream political discourse, which supports emotive and identity-based approach. The heritagization and sacralization of ethnic nation and its past provides fertile ground for a new wave of nationalistic thought.
Paper long abstract:
Native faith movements have been present in Hungary for decades, and in the 2010s, they have gained bigger popularity and even reached the attention of the general public. This is partly because of social media and partly because of current political discourse. Questions of Hungarian prehistory and pre-Christian religion became of general interest, which often manifests in religious-spiritual conviction and practices. People are looking for authentic, native or even pagan Hungarian experiences. Hungarian native faith and its elements are regarded as religious heritage that must be upheld. Political discourse with its eastward looking narrative provides a viable background for this notion, and lifts up a previously counter cultural thought into the mainstream, while also shaping the collective national identity. Native faith movements are fueled by a new wave of nationalism where traditional values must be protected against attacks of outside forces. In globalizing culture, people following native faith movements hold on to a supposed religious heritage, which aims to empower Hungarians to find a way back to the authentic roots of culture. In my presentation I will address the search and construction of authenticity of native faith movements through the heritagization and sacralization of the ethnic nation and its past. In this context, scientific approach gives place to emotive and identity-based viewpoint. This provides a fertile ground for nationalistic thought, where authentic notions are expressed in opposition to mainstream politics or dominant religious culture.
Paper short abstract:
The research is focused on case of construction of the Bulgarian cultural heritage abroad through a site of memory (by Nora), an example of which is the Czech archaeological complex near Mikulchitse. The text traces the transformations of pilgrimage practices, of inheritance and sacredness.
Paper long abstract:
The archaeological complex near Mikulchitse (Czech Reublic) is one of the places abroad, connected to St. St. Cyril and Methodius - creators of the Slavonic alphabet and distributors of worship in the Slavonic language. The object of study is a place of (national and transnational) memory, where scientists suggest the capital city of Great Moravia was located, as well as the archdiocese of Methodius and his grave. The placement of a memorial tablet and a monument of St. St. Cyril and Methodius in the archaeological complex initiated by the Bulgarian migrant community in Czech Republic brings additional sanctity in this place, concentrates worship and commemorative practices of Bulgarian community in the Czech Republic, of the Bulgarian migrants from neighboring states and also of official guests from Czech and Bulgaria. Festivity in Mikulchitse, dedicated to May 24, the Day of Bulgarian education and culture and slavonic literature, focuses on the Bulgarian national symbols and rituals, strengthens the national memory and identity and is a way of sharing the holiness and cultural backgrounds. Constructions and transformations of Bulgarian cultural heritage are seen in the light of migration activities and the policies of sending and receiving countries.
Paper short abstract:
The paper proposes the question on how music heritage as an expression of collective identity or collective emotion functions in the discourse of public minority music representation in Slovenia after 1991.
Paper long abstract:
After the independence of Slovenia, many individuals or communities that are ethnically tied to the territory of the former Yugoslavia found themselves in a new position. Many formed communities in which they redefined their position in the space of a newly created state. In this context, the heritage of the homeland or, more precisely, the musical heritage becomes an important meeting point in which members create, experience, or question their identity discourses.
The paper deals with those individuals who take part (actively or passively) in public presentations of ethnically defined musical events. Through a case study it examines which musical practices, musical forms, genres, musical instruments (...) act as a heritage index for a given community and through which they are presented or separated from the majority population, how these indexes formed over time, how they are transmitted to younger generations, and how they are perceived by the audience outside of the ethnically identified communities. In the study, the focus will be on the expressiveness of music in the language of emotion and affect, the sense of "authentic connection" and analysis of how such a common language, sensation and feeling works in the discourse of community. Additionally the role of the heritage discourse in the context of the implementation of minority politics will also be questioned.
Paper short abstract:
The paper will focus on positions in which community musicians get in the field of ethnic identity and get out of it. Consequently, I am going to explore emotional levels of expressing ethnic identity through music and try to demonstrate the thesis about sacralisation of music heritage.
Paper long abstract:
In my presentation I am going to track the following hypothesis: despite the diversity of music expressions in 21th Century the music expression of ethnic communities in Slovenia still remains tightly connected to "ethnic" music. The state institution The Public Fund of Republic of Slovenia for Cultural Activities moderates cultural activities of ethnic communities, therefore I am going to discuss activities and communities participating in its frames. Within the Slovenian minority situation, I am going to focus on few case studies: on minorities from the former Yugoslavia (e.g. Serbians and Albanians) on one side and minorities of other countries on the other side (e.g. Russians and Swedes). My interest is to explore positions in which community musicians get in the field of ethnic identity and get out of it. I am going to research emotional levels of perceiving music tradition, ethnic identity, needs and reasons for expressing the ethnic music, such as political tendencies, rivalry between ethnic communities and personal motifs. The representation will conclude with the representation of the project call of The Public Fund institution; although, the project call enables communities to apply music very divers in genres, the musics that are finally applied are usually set in the "ethnic" frame (mostly in the traditional music-dance combination). This result strengthens the thesis about sacralisation of music heritage and about constructed tradition and ethnicity.
Paper short abstract:
North Scandinavian Sami yoik-tradition (traditional way of singing) became an emblematic phenomenon in the Sami nation-construction (and the music industry) as their indigenous heritage, during the last decades. Christian, esoteric and Neo-Pagan narratives collide in the contemporary discourses.
Paper long abstract:
I study Sami culture and language(s) for 25 years. I speak North and Lule Sami, and conducted fieldworks since 1999. Yoiking is a vocal singing tradition of the Sami, an indigenous minority of Northern Scandinavia. Yoiks have many elements of sacred and profane symbols and have numerous functions: means of communication, expression of identity, an instrument of entertainment, a system to classify and identify the environment. The Sami never say that they yoik ‘of’ someone/something; they always use the accusative, since the yoik is a type of musical incarnation. Yoiking was prohibited by the Norwegian and Swedish authorities from the 19th century, and yoiking was demonized as a pagan habit. We are witnessing a spread of national awakening among the Sami in the last decades, and the yoik became one of the core and emblematic phenomenon, as cultural heritage. Survival strategy is mixed with radical indigenous-discourse, nation construction, and heritage-keeping attitude. New Age esoteric spirituality, Neo-Pagan and Ethno-Pagan narratives on shamanistic roots appear in the yoiking. The Sami society is far from being homogenous since many Christian groups would rather build the Sami future on Christian foundations. Although, there are ambiguous amalgamations as well. Some Christian communities adopt yoiking in a different context, and add new narratives to it. I outline the diversity of discourse and the overlapping narratives: the complex relation between New Age spirituality, urban shamanism, indigenous discourse, Ethno-Paganism, and Christianity. It is hard to divide religious discourse from nation-construction and media marketing in this ambiguous contemporary religiosity.
Paper short abstract:
The present paper will investigate the ways different actors can be actively engaged in the social dynamics of meaning production related to an ethnic folk festival, the annually organized "The Day of the Thousand Szekler Girls" in Transylvania
Paper long abstract:
"The Day of the Thousand Szekler Girls" (Ezer székely leány napja) is known as the largest festival of the Szekler folk costumes and folk dances and as one of the strongest ethnic and cultural display/demonstration of the Szekler/Hungarian community in Transylvania. The event started in the 1930s, the most tensed transitional period following the Treaty of Trianon marked by complex processes of making and becoming a minority in Romania. In 1931 the Hungarian elite of Transylvania organized the event in the "purest" Hungarian and Catholic region (Csík) and in a very important pilgrimage centre (Csíksomlyó) with its miraculous late-gothic wooden statue of the Virgin Mary. The festival's original goal was to support Szekler women in their homeland and to save them from white slave trade by offering them gainful economic activities, promoting home industry and holding them together under the flag of the Catholic Church. Young Szekler women from more villages were invited to be present, dressed in folk costumes, praying, dancing and singing together. Analyzing the cultural and social role of the folk costumes, the symbol of Virgin Mary, the emotions connected to the event and the figure of the minority women, my paper will examine the very different ways this complex social-religious and cultural event had been interpreted in the last century: from the 1930s to 1940, when the event was part of a welcome party for Miklós Horthy, the Governor of Hungary and his wife, and after 1989, the collapse of the communist regime.
Paper short abstract:
The paper discusses transmission of folklore and selectivity in national setting, and ambivalent function of researchers in documenting culture in all its variations, and in creating cultural heritage; in contributing to the coherence of the society, and in fulfilling the constitutional law.
Paper long abstract:
Although cultural heritage is and has been in a way of another engaged in the national community building processes in most countries, it is only in Estonia where the constitutional law obliges the citizens to "preserve Estonian language and culture". At the same time, culture (as contemporary research defines it) consists of variety of knowledge, habits, creativity with its brighter and darker nuances, including also hostility, violence, and other expressions in contradiction with morality. What is the culture to be preserved? National memory institutions among others tacitly are in the state to fulfil constitutional duty, and make the selections what to collect, preserve and reproduce as "culture", thus transforming cultural documents and artefacts through valorisation into heritage.
In the process of cultural transmission, value judgements play a crucial role: value-based selective processes define what parts of culture will be mediated, re-expressed and transmitted, and what will remain unknown. These selective processes also participate in the community building, inclusion and exclusion, centrality and marginalization. In order to be a full member of a community one cannot contradict in the basic values underlying the formation of community.
The paper discusses transmission of folklore and selectivity in national setting, and ambivalent function of researchers and workers of memory institutions in documenting culture in all its variations, and in creating cultural heritage; in contributing to the coherence of the society, and in fulfilling the constitutional law.