Paper presented at Heritage and Healthy Societies conference at UMass Amherst, USA, 14.-16.May 2014. Hosted by the UMass Amherst Center for Heritage & Society. The paper considers some preliminary research findings from my doctoral research in England and Germany on heritage interpretation. Please download the presentation to hear the audio narration.
Identity Work at Heritage Sites: A Stepping Stone to Intercultural Understanding and Peace?
1. Identity work at heritage sites: A stepping
stone to intercultural understanding and
peace?
Nicole Deufel
University College London
Heritage and Healthy Societies Conference
UMass Amherst,14.-16. May 2014
3. Identity statements
• “This is where I come
from, this is my
heritage, this is to do
with me involved with
the nation.”
• “It gives you a warm
feeling, it’s part of my
past.”
• “What it means to be
British.”
4. Identity statements
• “This, here, is where our
ancestors come from.”
• “Without our history we
are nothing.”
• “…this is where I live, this
is where I was born, this
is where I grew up.”
5. Identity statements
‘It just makes you feel quite small in the whole
chain of human events. It makes you feel
important at the same time.’
6. Statements about others
• “That’s important, where we come from, and that first of
all, we all are human beings.”
• “The poor were poor, the rich were rich, and the dogs
bodies was the very poor people, and it didn’t matter
from what country you came from.”
• “I think history does, you know, sort of make you realise
we’re not alone in the world, we’re not special, we’re all
the same.”
7. Statements about visiting heritage abroad
• ‘[Discos, shops] isn’t what that country is about. To me it’s
going and visiting all these sites, seeing how people lived
and then you start appreciating life itself.’
• ‘People need to travel, people need to see how other
people live, and then they realise, you’re from Japan,
but you know…’
8. Statements visiting heritage abroad
‘The ordinary people have got the same fears and
worries, likes and dislikes, as any one else in the
world. It’s only the politicians that make it
awkward.’
