The Role of Heritage in Culture - Coursework Example

The Cultural Work of Heritage Name Professor Course Date The Cultural Work of Heritage Introduction Heritage plays an important role to the present because it offers a window to the past. Learning the past creates or strengthens a sense of national identity that can form a cohesive bond that ties the nation together, bolster a sense of pride and foster a unified goal. In addition, the past can serve as an important lesson to the present – as historic moments of success draw inspiration and pride and, monumental errors serve as lesson to the present. The maintenance of built structure, historical markers and other relics of the past, however, is not an easy thing to do. The expenses and costs and the time that is put into the maintenance of heritage sites can put pressure on the nation’s budget and hamper the launch or completion of other projects that are material to the present. It is not surprising, therefore, that heritage sites are being marketed or ‘commodified’ not only to earn revenues for the use of their upkeep, but also as a source of national income. It is suggested that these efforts are undermining the authenticity of heritage in general. Nonetheless, the relevance of heritage to the present cannot be denied and the need for the public to see and experience heritage sites should not be curtailed. The cultural works of heritage enriches the lives of people by connecting them to the cultural past creating a strengthened sense of identity, national, familiar and personal. In addition it offers a window of opportunity for people to express their self-conceptualised cultural identity. DEFINITIONS: CULTURE AND HERITAGE Before proceeding to discuss the cultural works of heritage, it is important to clarify first the distinction between culture and heritage. It is only after one is distinguished from the other that the relationship between the two concepts can be determined. Culture is defined by Edward Burnett Tylor, deemed the father of British anthropology, as “that complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and other capabilities and habits by man as a member of society” (Moore 2004). Tylor’s definition of the term implied that culture is something that is acquired or learned rather than inherent in individuals. Tylor then differentiated societies by their culture. For example, the Greeks buried their dead whilst the ancient Parsees exposed theirs to the various elements. This highlights another aspect of culture, which is that acquisition of the various components of culture is primarily made through exposure to them. Thus, the Bedouin who lived in the deserts of some Middle East countries have more than one wife because their ancestors practiced polygamy and this practice was handed down to succeeding generations. Tylor’s definition of culture, however, was criticised for being object-focused, that is, it described the artifacts of culture without defining the term itself. A more modern definition of the term describes it as a “shared and negotiated system of meaning,” (Lassiter 2006, p. 43) which adds another aspect of the term. A bottom line definition of the term, therefore, is that it is an acquired or learned system of meaning shared by a group of people engendered by their common exposure to the same experiences. Heritage, on the other hand, is defined by most scholars as the use of artifacts, built structures and other historical items, and natural formations in the present for the purpose of education, tourism and community development (Timothy 2011). The term can either refer to natural heritage, such as canyons, rain forests and similar natural-occurring phenomena, or cultural heritage that can be illustrated by artifacts, historical built structures, rituals and folklores, amongst others. As can be seen, the definition of heritage highlights the bestowing of things, tangible or intangible, from the past to the present, whilst the term ‘culture’ gives emphasis on commonality of acquisition. THE CULTURAL WORK OF HERITAGE From the definitions discussed in the previous paragraphs, it can, thus, be said that the implication of the phrase ‘the cultural work of heritage’ is that heritage contributes to the enrichment of shared experiences or that it reinforces culture. Under the first scenario, heritage impacts people in the sense that people acquires knowledge and reconnects to the past when they view its relics or experiences the past through memorials or historical exhibits. This occurs through heritage tourism, which Timothy (2011) describes as referring to people who make a trip for the purpose of “seeing or experiencing built heritage, living culture or contemporary arts” (p. 4). Heritage tourism allows people to experience together the past enriching, as a result, their lives with new knowledge, perspectives and information that they could not have acquired had they not been exposed to such exhibits and displays. Under the second scenario, heritage itself is an expression of the people’s perceived cultural identity and as such, is chosen from amongst other relics of the past and preserved to withstand time. This resonates with Smith’s belief that “Heritage sites are not simply 'found', nor do they simply 'exist', but rather they are constituted at one level by the management and conservation processes that occur at and around them…” (Smith 2012). Heritage, therefore, entails a selection process – one that may be made by the people themselves through the established custom or tradition of visiting certain sites. The role of heritage in the enrichment of culture is not surprising considering that it is suggested that heritage, in conjunction with tourism, is a cultural experience. According to Bagmall (2003), Portia et al (2003), and Byrne (2009), visiting a place denominated as heritage or housing elements of heritage is an experience that is not only physical, but also emotional (cited in Smith 2012). The experience of a tourist who visits a place of heritage creates an opportunity for that individual to share the experiences of the past and to resonate with the people of the past. It provides an opportunity for ‘reminiscing’ and ‘remembering,’ two activities that are engendered by the act of visiting museums, historical exhibits and other venues where things of the past are put on display. The act of remembering, according to Wertsch (2002) entails the “creation of a new subjective meaning” (cited in Smith 2012, p. 214) that is necessarily intertwined in the present context. In other words, visiting places of heritage gives the viewer the opportunity to interpret the past in light of the present, thereby making sense of his/her own identity vis-à-vis those in the past. A person who, thus, makes a visit to heritage places brings home with him/her not only new knowledge about the past, but also a sense of connection with the people of the past. The cultural enrichment that often accompanies a visit to a place of heritage can be illustrated in the case of the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre. Located in Longreach, Queensland, the Hall is a heritage memorial that features galleries that trace the history of Australia from the Aborigines to the coming of the Europeans, particularly paying tribute to the founders of the Australian outback. Some tourists who were interviewed visiting the site indicated experiencing a feeling that took them to the past or to their roots, of having virtually experienced the outback days and of feeling being in a pilgrimage. Moreover, many have indicated that their visit validated and reinforced their subjective conceptualisation of what the outback days were. Part of the enrichment stems from knowing after the visit that they had a rich past as a people giving them a deeper sense of familial as well as personal identity (Smith 2012). Cultural enrichment is also the reason why many visit the Old Melbourne Gaol, which was constructed in the mid-19th century. It is also one of Australia’s major tourist attractions. The Gaol was used to house the most notorious prisoners in the history of the country and is one of Melbourne’s oldest surviving buildings. The building also witnessed about 135 executions by hanging. In this case, however, the visitors do not necessarily resonate with the cultural history of the place, but gain knowledge of a part of a nation’s history as well as become acquainted with the architecture of the past (Smith 2012). In the UK, the cultural works of heritage is evident from the predisposition of the people to visit places that show or display the relics of the Industrial Revolution, and the countryside with its landscapes and country houses. The British, therefore, believed that these places are worth visiting because they are expressive of their national and cultural identity and visiting them reinforces that identity. The British have a penchant, according to Urry (1999), for visiting museums or memorials that display old technology associated with the Industrial Revolution, such as steam engines, blast furnaces and pit workings. He explained this as a form of nostalgic travel to the past that is caused by the rapid de-industrialisation of Britain. A sense of loss and a desire to reclaim the loss that can be found in the past and to develop an intimacy with that past is cited as an underpinning reason for the heightened importance of such places of heritage. An example of this phenomenon is the Wigan Pier Heritage Centre (Urry 1999). Wigan is a town in Manchester, England that was once the centre of mining and milling activities during the Industrial Revolution and is now attracting 170,000 visitors a year, who see it as a relic of the past. Although the town is now littered with modern structures that offer modern amenities, it is still being promoted and is being visited for its link to the Industrial era. On the other hand, Watson (2013) cited the English obsession of visiting and conserving what he called the ‘rural-historic’ referring to English countryside, landscapes and country structures. He attributed this to the English thinking that English cultural identity is associated “an idealised, bucolic past and an image of nationhood that represented anything but the 'urban-industrial'” (p. 104). This is perhaps the reason why, according to Urry (1999), the English has a traditional practice of visiting grand country houses amidst attractive rural settings were tribes people dress up in village costumes to display them to visitors that dates back to the 18th century. Now organised as costume dramas, these events attract an annual average of 12 million visitors. Rural churches also symbolises the English cultural identity, which underpins the reason why English tourism has a deep portfolio on rural churches, but not urban ones. Conclusion The cultural work of heritage can be understood to mean the contributory effect of heritage to the culture capital of the nation and the people or the window of opportunity it provides to allow society to express its cultural conception of itself. Either way, heritage is an important component of the present civilisation because it answers questions that no one in the present can and anticipates answers to future questions. Under the Australian context, heritage presents many benefits. Many of the heritage sites in various parts of the nation draw a lot of tourists and this not only helps in maintaining these sites, but also boosts the national economy and give people jobs. This is evident from the number of tourists that visit the Old Melbourne Gaol in Melbourne and the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre in Queensland. There are other benefits, however, that are more enduring, yet intangible. These benefits are realised by the cultural work aspect of heritage, which give society a deeper and strengthened sense of national or cultural identity by connecting and resonating with the past to create a subjective identity that is anchored in a common past. The shared understanding and knowledge of historical culture brought about by experiences generated by heritage sites can contribute not only to a feeling of oneness with the rest of society, but bring about a sense of fulfillment stemming from full realisation of the meaning of self-identity. References Lassiter, L. (2006). Invitation to Anthropology. Oxford, OX: Rowman Altamira. Moore, J. (2004) Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists. Oxford, OX: Rowman Altamira. Smith, L. (2012) ‘The cultural ‘work’ in tourism.’ In Smith, L., Waterton, T. and Watson, S. (eds.). The cultural moment in tourism. Oxon, OX: Routledge. Timothy, D. (2011) Cultural heritage and tourism: An introduction. Channel View Publications. Tourism Research Australia (2013). State of the industry 2013. http://www.tra.gov.au/documents/StateoftheIndustry_UpdateIssue1_FINAL_241213.pdf Urry, J. (1999) ‘Gazing on history,’ in Evans, J. and Boswell, D. (eds.). Representing the Nation: A Reader : Histories, Heritage and Museums. Psychology Press. Watson, S. (2013) ‘Country matters: The rural-historic as an authorised heritage discourse in England.’ In Staiff, R., Bushell, R. and Watson, S. (eds.). Heritage: place, encounter, engagement. Oxon, OX: Routledge. Wirth, R. and Freestone, R. (2003) Tourism, heritage and authenticity: State-assisted cultural commodification in suburban Sydney, Australia. Urban Perspectives, (3): 1-10. Read More