VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages
Abstract
Drawing on current ethnographic research, this paper critically examines the contemporary heritage narrative in the southern city of Dunedin. It was once New Zealand’s largest city, following the gold rushes of the 1860s. Land was reclaimed from the sea, to erect solid stone buildings which still stand today, and are now being revitalised as a celebration of “heritage”. The research considers the social meanings of the heritage narrative for key actors in the regeneration work, but also turns its attention to office workers in technology companies which now occupy the former commercial area known as the Warehouse Precinct. These companies are the new local manifestations of global networks of wealth and prosperity. The redefinition of heritage by urban planners in this southern hemisphere setting is shown to correspond with a globalised formula of heritage commodification as a stimulus for economic growth. A seemingly depoliticised notion of heritage sidesteps the historic appropriation of indigenous land, and reimagines the city’s past through an idealised, globalised future. The case study engages with the theoretical perspectives of Michael Herzfeld, who highlights the hegemony of neoliberal economic ideology on a global scale, and other anthropologists and social theorists. With reference to Dunedin, I argue that localised engagement with globalised heritage discourse has had complex expressions, including fragile signs of economic success, and a continued lack of acknowledgment of colonial impact. However, the complex and highly personalised place-making which research participants have revealed, demonstrates that citizens create meanings which transcend dominant narratives and strongly underpin their own place-attachments and identities.
Natasha McKinney is a social anthropologist trained at Otago and Massey Universities in New Zealand. She has carried out ethnographic research in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, focusing on themes of heritage regeneration, cultural heritage, artistic practice and contemporary interpretations of museum collections. She was Curator, Oceania at the British Museum in London where she produced exhibitions and researched the collection from the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. She currently works with the historical collections at the museum Puke Ariki in Taranaki, New Zealand.