Confession: I have never really understood people’s obsession with researching their family history. This may sound odd coming from someone whose background is in heritage studies. After all, the benefits family researchers describe – a strengthened sense of identity, connection, empathy, even resilience – to this day form the backbone of many national and international … Continue reading Heritage is a personal story
Category: Interpretation
Handing over Power, or: Diversity in the Heritage Sector
At the start of November, the UK Art Fund published a report on diversity in the arts and heritage sectors. Specifically, the report reviews the impact of diversity initiatives on curatorial roles since 1998. However, it also makes important observations on how the current structure of museums may stand in the way of diversity – … Continue reading Handing over Power, or: Diversity in the Heritage Sector
Third Space in Culture, Heritage and Learning
Our current Erasmus + project on Negotiating Identities in the Third Space is about to conclude. As I am beginning to draw together the various outputs we’ve said we would produce, I’d like to share a few observations on my own learning about Third Space during the project to date. The physical in Third Space … Continue reading Third Space in Culture, Heritage and Learning
Jongmyo Jeryeak in Munich, Or: What makes intangible heritage?
Last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to see Jongmyo Jeryeak, the Royal ancestral ritual and music of the Korean Joseon period (1392-1910), performed in Munich by the National Gugak Center of Korea [1]. Jongmyo Jeryeak was inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008. The material context of intangible heritage One of my thoughts … Continue reading Jongmyo Jeryeak in Munich, Or: What makes intangible heritage?
On Visiting the Zeppelin Museum, Or: Storytelling History
Last week, I finally took the time to visit the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what I had hoped it would be – and not just because here, too, they force you to lock up your bag, leaving you to carry what you need in your hands [1]. The exhibition The exhibition … Continue reading On Visiting the Zeppelin Museum, Or: Storytelling History
Winnetou Revisited
Five years ago, I blogged about Winnetou as a different kind of heritage [1]. Being fully aware of the terrible cultural appropriation and stereotypes of the books and the just plain awful representations of American Indians by white actors in black wigs of the 1960s films, I ended my blog post wondering whether I would … Continue reading Winnetou Revisited
Architecture as interpretive infrastructure
Interpret Europe has just published a little introduction to heritage interpretation for architects and landscape architects. In one of my previous roles, I was regularly in consultancy teams that included architects, so the booklet got me thinking about some of those experiences as well as architecture that I liked, both in heritage sites and in … Continue reading Architecture as interpretive infrastructure
A different kind of aim
My organisation is currently in a joint project with a museum. In our funding application, we were very specific about our aim: to engage culturally diverse people with the Roman sites in our area. This is not with a close focus on the sites’ history but rather on people’s own current experiences in the environment … Continue reading A different kind of aim
People with a background
Imagine the following scene, taking place in Germany: a person walks up to the hotel reception desk. The member of staff looks up and immediately switches to English: “Are you here to check out?” To which the guest responds, in German, “I speak German too.” And then they add, “In fact, I am German.” This … Continue reading People with a background
Violence.
I was going to write about something else this week. And then the reversal of Roe vs. Wade in the United States was announced and in its wake, several states passed legislation banning abortion. I cannot ignore this here. I’ve studied in the United States and I lived there for many years. I often look … Continue reading Violence.
Nicole Deufel's Blog 