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Dear list members,
Please find below the call for papers for a panel on "Souvenirs, PR and the
(Re-)Production of Heritage" during the German Anthropological Association
(GAA-DGV) conference in Vienna (14 - 17 September 2011). This panel was
announced in German language before but will be held in English.
The deadline for submissions will be 11 March 2011.
Please send abstracts (150 words) to [log in to unmask]
and [log in to unmask]
Best regards,
Anja Peleikis and Jackie Feldman
CALL FOR PAPERS:
Beyond the Wall of the Historical Site.
Souvenirs, PR and the (Re-)Production of Heritage
Anja Peleikis and Jackie Feldman
The process of selecting images, objects and sites from the dynamic flow of
history and turning them into cultural heritage involves the stages of
‘naming’, ‘framing’, ‘elevation’ and ‘mechanical reproduction’
(MacCannell 1976). An important means of reproduction concerns the
production, selection and diffusion of PR images and souvenirs by museums
and sites of history and heritage. In an age of intensive competition in the
culture and leisure markets, these images and objects are often part of
larger marketing strategies, which seek to implant certain orientations in
the consciousness of the visitor and attract long-term attention and
'product loyalty'. Some museums have extended the concepts that guide their
buildings and exhibitions to include the design of complete lines of branded
products for sale in their museum giftshops and websites.
Our panel calls for papers exploring this phenomenon through some of the
following questions:
What is the relation between curatorial decisions, marketing experts,
product designers and the production of PR-material and souvenirs? To what
extent do ideology or ethics enter into decisions on selection, production
and distribution of such materials? Is the guiding logic of their production
entirely economic or do producers see themselves as arbitrators of taste,
ambassadors of regionalism, nationalism or multi-culturalism or as critics
of hegemony? Do marketing strategies and souvenir production decisions come
to influence exhibit concepts and decisions? To what extent do souvenirs and
PR campaigns of sites of history celebrate local values, materials and
traditions and how much are they influenced by global market trends? How are
souvenirs presented in differing national and social contexts? Do the
various actors take ethical or political factors into account in the
production of souvenirs and PR-materials?
How are images and souvenirs consumed? Are there significant differences
between their modes of consumption? How do souvenirs travel? What social
functions do such souvenirs serve and on what occasions? Do they serve as
generators of rituals, triggers of personal memories, acts of community
solidarity or markers of social capital? To what extent do PR and souvenirs
revitalize traditions, mobilize identities and form imagined communities?
What careers do souvenirs traverse in the course of their 'shelf life'?
Through ethnographic examples, we hope to clarify these questions and
highlight the role and meanings of souvenirs and PR as part of the
multifaceted process of the reproduction of cultural heritage in the era of
mass tourism.
Dr. Anja Peleikis
Seminar for Social Anthropology
Martin Luther University
Reichardtstr. 11
D-06114 Halle
Germany
[log in to unmask]
Dr. Jackie Feldman
Senior Lecturer in Anthropology
Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Beersheba, Israel 84105
[log in to unmask]
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