From museums and the preservation of old buildings to broader questions of community and identity, heritage is now a political issue.This book explores what heritage means now heritage is big business and how it is used to encourage people to identify with particular places and 'traditions', now it is entangled with capitalism. Examining a range of questions, including the way contemporary societies use heritage in the creation and management of collective identities, and how herit...

Bringing together case studies from Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada, Germany and Mexico, this book examines the link between senses of place and senses of time. It suggests that not only do place identities change through time, but imagined pasts also provide resources which the present selects and packages for its own contemporary purposes and for forwarding to imagined futures. The reasons behind the creation of place image are also explored, setting them within political and social con...

The Job Search Technique Most Recommended by Top Career CounselorsYou lost your job six months ago. You've emailed 90 resumes. You've scoured the job boards and the help wanted ads. You've called recruiters, old bosses, former coworkers...but nothing. You're scared. You're beginning to think there are no jobs out there. But there ARE jobs. And you can get one of them--if you're willing to try the job search technique that most people are too timid to try.If...

The concept of heritage relates to the ways in which contemporary society uses the past as a social, political or economic resource. However, heritage is open to interpretation and its value may be perceived from differing perspectives - often reflecting divisions in society. Moreover, the schism between the cultural and economic uses of heritage also gives rise to potential conflicts of interest.Examining these issues in depth, this book is the first sustained attempt to integrate...

In Search of Ireland argues that Ireland's political problems are created by conflicts and confusions of identity. It brings together a number of distinguished contributors, each of whom examines a particular aspect of Ireland's diverse cultural geography and history. Issues covered include: the changing definitions of Irishness the roles of class and gender in constructing traditional alignments of identity the role of ethnicity in Irish society the invention and imagining of Irish 'place...

Heritage represents the meanings and representations conveyed in the present day upon artifacts, landscapes, mythologies, memories and traditions from the past. It is a key element in the shaping of identities, particularly in the context of increasingly multicultural societies. This Research Companion brings together an international team of authors to discuss the concepts, ideas and practices that inform the entwining of heritage and identity. They have assembled a wide geographical rang...

Historic sites, memorials, national parks, museums…we live in an age in which heritage is ever-present. But what does it mean to live amongst the spectral traces of the past, the heterogeneous piling up of historic materials in the present? How did heritage grow from the concern of a handful of enthusiasts and specialists in one part of the world to something which is considered to be universally cherished? And what concepts and approaches are necessary to understanding this global obsessi...

"This ambitious volume reviews the best recent work in historical geography... It demonstrates how a dual sense of history and geography is necessary to understand such key areas of contemporary debate as the inter-relationship between class, race and gender; the character of nations and nationalism; the nature and challenges of urban life; the legacies of colonialism; and the meaning and values attributed to places, landscapes and environments."- Mike Heffernan, Univers...

Heritage and Identity explores the complex ways in which heritage actively contributes to the construction and representation of identities in contemporary societies, providing a comprehensive account of the diverse conceptions of heritage and identity across different continents and cultures.This collection of thought-provoking articles from experts in the field captures the richness and diversity of the interlinked themes of heritage and identity. Heritage is more than a...

Bringing the reader the very best of modern scholarship from the heritage community, this comprehensive reader outlines and explains the many diverse issues that have been identified and brought to the fore in the field of heritage, museums and galleries over the past couple of decades.The volume is divided into four parts:presents overviews and useful starting points for critical reflectionfocuses more specifically on selected issues of significance, lookin...

Cultures are shaped by many institutions and agencies, including governments, corporations, education and the media. In recent years, research into these culture-shaping activities has been increasingly associated with the developing field of cultural policy studies.The Cultural Policy Review of Books offers a fascinating insight into the intellectual formation of many of the leading figures that have contributed to this field. Invited to write a short review essay on the book that...

This innovative book marks a significant departure from tradition anlayses of the evolution of cultural landscapes and the interpretation of past environments. Maps of Meaning proposes a new agenda for cultural geography, one set squarely in the context of contemporary social and cultural theory.Notions of place and space are explored through the study of elite and popular cultures, gender and sexuality, race, language and ideology. Questioning the ways in which we invest ...