From Plunder to Preservation

From Plunder to Preservation PDF Author: Astrid Swenson
Publisher: OUP/British Academy
ISBN: 9780197265413
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book looks at the effect of the British Empire on the cultures and civilisations of the peoples it ruled by considering the impact of empire on the idea of 'heritage'. Case studies and illustrations show how our understanding of the diverse heritages of world history was forged in the crucible of the British Empire.

From Plunder to Preservation

From Plunder to Preservation PDF Author: Astrid Swenson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780191760464
Category : Antiquities
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
What was the effect of the British Empire on the cultures and civilisations of the peoples over whom it ruled? This book takes a novel approach to this important and controversial subject by considering the impact of empire on the idea of 'heritage'. It reveals a dazzling variety of attitudes on the part of the imperialists - from frank 'plunder' of American, Asian, African and Pacific peoples' cultural artefacts and monuments to a growing appreciation of the need for 'preservation' of the world's heritage in the places it originated. But it goes beyond the empire-centred view to consider how far colonised peoples themselves were able to embed indigenous understandings of their heritage in the empire, and how indeed the empire was very often dependent on indigenous knowledge for its own functioning.

Towards World Heritage

Towards World Heritage PDF Author: Melanie Hall
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317008774
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Historic preservation, whether of landscapes or buildings, was an important development of the nineteenth century in many countries. There is however surprisingly little understanding about how it took place, and research into it is narrowly focused. For example, generally landscape preservation from this time is examined separately from buildings; preservation is seen in terms of national narratives, or considered within the contexts of area studies, and it is usually seen from a specific disciplinary perspective. All of these later categorizations did not apply at the time and consequently, a very partial view is achieved. In order to begin unlocking a very complex phenomenon that has helped to define our own age, this dynamic collection of essays brings together an international and transdisciplinary line-up of academics and practitioners to reconsider preservation's origins in the second half of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century. With a focus on Britain and the British Empire, and including case studies from the United States, Canada, Sweden, France, Germany, Sri Lanka, 'The Holy Land', and Turkey, this book places preservation in imperial, international, and national contexts, demonstrating that there was far more interaction between different countries in this arena than may be supposed and revealing remarkable but hitherto hidden overlaps and intersections. It examines three main themes: the influence of religion; the political and sub-diplomatic aspects of preservation; and the professionalization of preservation practice. Internationalizing trends already existed through the churches, the universities, and the diplomatic services, as well as familial ties that had an important impact on preservation's epistemic communities and its targets. Other internationalizing factors include an interest in national histories and the histories of architecture and art, particularly when known through illustration; a growing interest in biography especially of 'founding fathers' or famous literary figures; and tourism. Although the focus is on architectural preservation, this book demonstrates that, in this formative period, the preservation of buildings and landscapes needs to be considered together - as it often was at the time - and in context. The conclusion reached is that the preservation movement has to be understood in imperial and international contexts, rather than in simply national or regional ones.

Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire

Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire PDF Author: Corey Ross
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199590419
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
Ecology and Power in the Age of Empire provides the first wide-ranging environmental history of the heyday of European imperialism, from the late nineteenth century to the end of the colonial era. It focuses on the ecological dimensions of the explosive growth of tropical commodity production, global trade, and modern resource management strategies that still visibly shape our world today, and how they were related to broader social, cultural, and political developments in Europe's colonies. Covering the overseas empires of all the major European powers, Corey Ross argues that tropical environments were not merely a stage on which conquest and subjugation took place, but were an essential part of the colonial project, profoundly shaping the imperial enterprise even as they were shaped by it. The story he tells is not only about the complexities of human experience, but also about people's relationship with the ecosystems in which they were themselves embedded: the soil, water, plants, and animals that were likewise a part of Europe's empire. Although it shows that imperial conquest rarely represented the signal ecological trauma that some accounts suggest, it nonetheless demonstrates that modern imperialism marked a decisive and largely negative milestone for the natural environment. By relating the expansion of modern empire, global trade, and mass consumption to the momentous ecological shifts that they entailed, this book provides a historical perspective on the vital nexus of social, political, and environmental issues that we face in the twenty-first-century world.

Time Travelers

Time Travelers PDF Author: Adelene Buckland
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022667682X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
The Victorians, perhaps more than any Britons before them, were diggers and sifters of the past. Though they were not the first to be fascinated by history, the intensity and range of their preoccupations with the past were unprecedented and of lasting importance. The Victorians paved the way for our modern disciplines, discovered the primeval monsters we now call the dinosaurs, and built many of Britain’s most important national museums and galleries. To a large degree, they created the perceptual frameworks through which we continue to understand the past. Out of their discoveries, new histories emerged, giving rise to fresh debates, while seemingly well-known histories were thrown into confusion by novel tools and methods of scrutiny. If in the eighteenth century the study of the past had been the province of a handful of elites, new technologies and economic development in the nineteenth century meant that the past, in all its brilliant detail, was for the first time the property of the many, not the few. Time Travelers is a book about the myriad ways in which Victorians approached the past, offering a vivid picture of the Victorian world and its historical obsessions.

From Plunder to Preservation

From Plunder to Preservation PDF Author: Astrid Swenson
Publisher: OUP/British Academy
ISBN: 9780197265413
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book looks at the effect of the British Empire on the cultures and civilisations of the peoples it ruled by considering the impact of empire on the idea of 'heritage'. Case studies and illustrations show how our understanding of the diverse heritages of world history was forged in the crucible of the British Empire.

The Rise of Heritage

The Rise of Heritage PDF Author: Astrid Swenson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521117623
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
A richly illustrated book exploring the origins of the modern fascination for heritage, comparing preservation in France, Germany and England.

The Making of a Cultural Landscape

The Making of a Cultural Landscape PDF Author: Jason Wood
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317024931
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
For centuries, the English Lake District has been renowned as an important cultural, sacred and literary landscape. It is therefore surprising that there has so far been no in-depth critical examination of the Lake District from a tourism and heritage perspective. Bringing together leading writers from a wide range of disciplines, this book explores the tourism history and heritage of the Lake District and its construction as a cultural landscape from the mid eighteenth century to the present day. It critically analyses the relationships between history, heritage, landscape, culture and policy that underlie the activities of the National Park, Cumbria Tourism and the proposals to recognise the Lake District as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It examines all aspects of the Lake District's history and identity, brings the story up to date and looks at current issues in conservation, policy and tourism marketing. In doing so, it not only provides a unique and valuable analysis of this region, but offers insights into the history of cultural and heritage tourism in Britain and beyond.

Empires of Antiquities

Empires of Antiquities PDF Author: Billie Melman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192558013
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 549

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Book Description
Empires of Antiquities is a history of the rediscovery of civilizations of the ancient Near East in the imperial order that evolved between the outbreak of the First World War and the 1950s. It explores the ways in which Near Eastern antiquity was redefined and experienced, becoming the subject of new regulation, new modes of knowledge, and international and local politics. A series of globally publicized spectacular archaeological discoveries in Iraq, Egypt, and Palestine, which the book follows, made antiquity visible, palpable and accessible as never before. The new uses of antiquity and its relations to modernity were inseparable from the emergence of the post-war world order, imperial collaboration and collisions, and national aspirations. Empires of Antiquities uniquely combines a history of the internationalization of a new "regime of archaeology" under the oversight of the League of Nations and its web of institutions, a history of British passions for Near Eastern antiquity, on-the-ground colonial mechanisms and nationalist claims on the past. It points to the centrality of the mandate system, particularly mandates classified A, in Mesopotamia/Iraq, Palestine and Transjordan, formerly governed by the Ottoman Empire, and of Egypt, in a new culture of antiquity. Drawing on an unusually wide range of archives in several countries, as well as on visual and material evidence, the book weaves together imperial, international, and local histories of institutions, people, ideas and objects and offers an entirely new interpretation of the history of archaeological discovery and its connections to empires and modernity.

Victorian Engagements with the Bible and Antiquity

Victorian Engagements with the Bible and Antiquity PDF Author: Simon Goldhill
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009306472
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 471

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Book Description
This is the first book to establish how classical antiquity and the study of the Bible together formed Victorian ideas of the past, and consequently informed the very construction of modernity. Its multi-disciplinary approach will be valuable to scholars and graduate students in numerous disciplines across the arts and humanities.

Confronting Colonial Objects

Confronting Colonial Objects PDF Author: Carsten Stahn
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019269412X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
The treatment of cultural colonial objects is one of the most debated questions of our time. Calls for a new international cultural order go back to decolonization. However, for decades, the issue has been treated as a matter of comity or been reduced to a Shakespearean dilemma: to return or not to return. Confronting Colonial Objects seeks to go beyond these classic dichotomies and argues that contemporary practices are at a tipping point. The book shows that cultural takings were material to the colonial project throughout different periods and went far beyond looting. It presents micro histories and object biographies to trace recurring justifications and contestations of takings and returns while outlining the complicity of anthropology, racial science, and professional networks that enabled colonial collecting. The book demonstrates the dual role of law and cultural heritage regulation in facilitating colonial injustices and mobilizing resistance thereto. Drawing on the interplay between justice, ethics, and human rights, Stahn develops principles of relational cultural justice. He challenges the argument that takings were acceptable according to the standards of the time and outlines how future engagement requires a re-invention of knowledge systems and relations towards objects, including new forms of consent, provenance research, and partnership, and a re-thinking of the role of museums themselves. Following the life story and transformation of cultural objects, this book provides a fresh perspective on international law and colonial history that appeals to audiences across a variety of disciplines. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.