As a lecturer in heritage studies, and a daily advocate for the merits of the myriad of things we lump under the broadening term of ‘heritage’, I suppose I should have been bouncing with excitement as the prospect of a three part series celebrating that very same subject coming on to the BBC4 schedule. But while a vocal heritage advocate resides in one half of my brain, a slightly repressed but nevertheless present Welsh nationalist resides in the other half, and that half of the brain did not respond so well here. Perhaps the programme’s title was the main problem here, after all, what this series was really all about was celebrating the centenary of the Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendments Act, we might write ‘English Heritage’ for shorthand. Quite right too, for one thing this series has been tremendously successful in achieving is highlighting just how precarious the condition of heritage in the British Isles was, coming out of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. The island would be culturally much poorer had such interventions not been made, but heritage diversity was certainly not the agenda of this production. The contributors to the programme must not have been briefed about the programmes ultimate title, for throughout each episode the audience was reminded how England’s heritage was under threat, how England’s heritage would be preserved, all of which was illustrated by a fine selection of English stately homes. This may have been the fight for Britain’s heritage, but the production team clearly decided to talk at length about England’s heritage. This was not just a matter of the stunning backdrops serving to set the scene, there was also the matter of people. Where for instance were the likes of Fox, Wheeler and Nash-Williams? What was made of the works of the Cambrian Archaeological Association? Did these individuals and organisations not matter, not contribute to this fight to save ‘British’ heritage? Many would argue that in stepping over the border, the story of this fight simply cannot be told without at some meaningful discussion of such figures. But then that was not really the agenda of ‘Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past’. As is so often the case with BBC productions these days, a BBC Wales ‘edit’ could be filmed covering the same period in time, and tell a very different story. I don’t want to be too grumpy about ‘Heritage! The Battle for Britain's Past’. After all, the programme content was (putting the above reservations to one side a moment) excellent and very interesting (awful voiceovers put to one side as well). However this was certainly not a programme about Britain’s Past, unless of course that past is exclusively illustrated by English architecture alone, which I certainly hope it is not. This programme celebrated English Heritage, and should have stated as much so on the tin. Equally, it was a programme that presented the very narrowest of definitions of the term ‘heritage’, and that troubled me as well. So perhaps a rebranding is in order, ‘The Battle for England’s Built Heritage (largely manifest in the form of stately homes from the last two hundred years)’, though that might have been less catchy, while altogether far more representative of content.
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It’s polling day in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) and it is arguable that the decisions made by voters today may have some of the most profound effects on the country since the respective referendums on Home and Self Rule. Following the gradual steps towards full independence, Kalaallit Nunaat has become one of the most attractive prospects for international investment. However, as financial opportunities have been presented to Kalaallit Nunaat, so has the potential for change. For many voters, that sense of change is coming too fast, and further change is a prospect to be feared and not to be embraced. When I last visited Kalaallit Nunaat, it was a country in a clear state of flux. A gradual international flavour was being spread across the capital Nuuk as foreign prospectors started to target newly exposed mineral resources. But discussions with locals a few years ago pointed towards underlying concerns. A grim acceptance of change seemed to be the tone among people in 2010 and 2011, as metallic drilling equipment, larger than buildings, began to appear in and among the ice bergs. Yet it was a begrudging acceptance, one that indicated that this is what the nation’s leaders felt best for the future of Kalaallit Nunaat, rather than a concept embraced and celebrated. In 2013, patience seems to be wearing out. The native population is gaining little from the foreign coin, with job opportunities being siphoned off to temporary contractors flying into the country, who promptly fly straight back out, coin and all. In many respects, despite being within touching distance of independence, the people of Kalaallit Nunaat appear to be as prone to foreign exploitation as they were under Danish rule. The promise of Self Rule increasingly seems only to echo colonial rule. For the nation’s precarious cultural heritage, these are particularly interesting times as well. The intangible cultural heritage of Kalaallit Nunaat has been well documented as threatened, in decline or already long lost. While the National Museum of Greenland has been working for several years to document the living traditions that do survive, the influx of a rapidly growing and transient population may well prove to be the death knell for many of the distinctive cultural contributions left in Kalaallit Nunaat. The decline for instance of the almost ubiquitous drum dancing, is an indication of the dangers. The dance, ubiquitous due to the way in which it is presented to all visiting tourists, has gradually become the preserve of that very audience. The tradition and spirit of drum dancing has been given over to the tourist community. Equally, those practitioners mirror the keepers of many global forms of intangible cultural heritage, being of a certain age, and being in want of an accepting generation to pass the tradition on to. Population change stimulated by industry appears to be doing little to stem such decline. The vote today will in part reflect attitudes towards the prospect of large numbers of foreign workers coming into the country on temporary contracts, China in particular being frequently discussed in relation to this topic. Kalaallit Nunaat is a small nation in terms of population, with barely 50,000 individuals distributed over a massive land block. Culturally, it has been shown to be fragile and vulnerable to the influences of external authorities. What survives of cultural distinctiveness in Kalaallit Nunaat today does so very much in spite of Danish intervention, than due to it. Yet today, the votes being cast will largely determine whether the next wave of foreign influences will be accepted, or rejected. Should the vote go in one particular direction, it will have profound repercussions for cultural heritage in Kalaallit Nunaat. A step into the future perhaps for the semi-autonomous country, but a step also into precarious waters for the cultural distinctiveness of the nation. Not for the first time, and probably not for the last, Welsh heritage is winging its way around the world in the name of culture and, perhaps more pressingly, economics. ‘Wales, Land of the Red Dragon’, the title of the new exhibition to be hosted in China’s Three Gorges Museum, is the latest in a series of Welsh Government led efforts to develop trade opportunities on the back of cultural programmes. Following in the footsteps of National Museum impressionist art collections farmed out to all corners of the United States, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, trade delegations and conservators alike have packed their bags and shared a taxi to a foreign destination, all in the name of enhancing the Wales brand abroad. Many in the museums and heritage sector back home in Wales might raise an eyebrow though, as during a time when the museums and, in particular, art sectors are being squeezed to the point of oblivion in places (look no further than Newport’s art gallery), the very same resources which are being used to sell Wales, are suffering back in Wales. Whether we consider the fate of temporary art exhibits in Newport following a few years on from the use of ‘Welsh’ art collections to woo the American markets, or we dwell on National Museum collections being presented to potential partners in China at a time when jobs and wages are being trimmed in the very same institution, the message is conflicting. The Welsh heritage resource has certainly been identified by the current Labour administration as having the potential to aid in the fostering of foreign relationships, but it remains unclear whether or not, be it at national or local government level, this promotional position will have any meaningful long term effects for the heritage being used. It is difficult to imagine any cultural institution having too many qualms with being made use of on the international stage for the promotion of a nation. Yet those same institutions might question whether the commitment to the Welsh heritage resource is being matched at home in terms of funding and legislative priorities. At the same time, can we question what version of Wales will be put forward to Chinese audience? The National Museum website talks of telling the Welsh story in full, but bolds the periods of ‘Roman occupation to the English conquest’. Will China see a vibrant contemporary Wales, or a Wales trodden on by repeated visits from aggressor states? Remembering the Dazu rock carving exhibition that visited the National Museum from China shortly before the 2011 referendum on Welsh law making powers, it was an exhibition stunning in quality of content, but disappointing in terms of scale – it was a very small exhibit for all the fanfare it received. Will Wales’ contribution be similar in scale? If so, how effectively will it represent the ‘unique character of Wales’? Or will this instead be an exercise in object display? The exhibition in the Three Gorges Museum in Chongqing officially opens tomorrow, and feedback will be awaited with great interest. |
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