Laurajane Smith
I am currently Director of the Centre of Heritage and Museum Studies, the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. I have a particular interest in theorising heritage as a cultural process/practice and examining the intersection between heritage theory and practice and cultural policy. I also have long-term research interests in the role of heritage and heritage discourses in political movements, including labour movements, Indigenous political movements and issues associated with multiculturalism and the politics of recognition/difference. I also have an established interest in intangible heritage and argue that indeed ‘all heritage is intangible’.
I am editor of 'International Journal of Heritage Studies' and series general editor with Gönül Bozoglu of 'Key Issues in Cultural Heritage' (Routledge).
Prior to arriving at the Australian National University in 2010, I was Reader in heritage studies at the University of York, UK (directing their MA in Cultural Heritage Management for nine years). I am, however, originally from Sydney, I taught Indigenous Studies at the University of New South Wales (1995-2000), and heritage and archaeology at Charles Sturt University (1990-1995). Prior to that, I worked as a heritage/archaeological consultant in South-Eastern Australia.
Although originally trained in archaeology, my work is informed by, and committed to, the development of heritage studies as an interdisciplinary field of enquiry.
I was, with Gary Campbell, founder of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies and its founding chair from 2012-14 (now the position of president). The second conference of which was held at the Australian National University, December, 2014.
In my non-academic life I breed and train Border Collies... see https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gadhar-Kennels/242754755935255?ref=notif¬if_t=page_new_likes
Phone: 61 (0)2 61258162
I am editor of 'International Journal of Heritage Studies' and series general editor with Gönül Bozoglu of 'Key Issues in Cultural Heritage' (Routledge).
Prior to arriving at the Australian National University in 2010, I was Reader in heritage studies at the University of York, UK (directing their MA in Cultural Heritage Management for nine years). I am, however, originally from Sydney, I taught Indigenous Studies at the University of New South Wales (1995-2000), and heritage and archaeology at Charles Sturt University (1990-1995). Prior to that, I worked as a heritage/archaeological consultant in South-Eastern Australia.
Although originally trained in archaeology, my work is informed by, and committed to, the development of heritage studies as an interdisciplinary field of enquiry.
I was, with Gary Campbell, founder of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies and its founding chair from 2012-14 (now the position of president). The second conference of which was held at the Australian National University, December, 2014.
In my non-academic life I breed and train Border Collies... see https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gadhar-Kennels/242754755935255?ref=notif¬if_t=page_new_likes
Phone: 61 (0)2 61258162
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Books by Laurajane Smith
Drawing on interviews with visitors to museums and heritage sites in the United States, Australia and England, Smith argues that obtaining insights into how visitors use such sites enables us to understand the impact and consequences of professional heritage and museological practices. The concept of registers of engagement is introduced to assess variations in how visitors use museums and sites that address national or dissonant histories, and the political consequences of their use. Visitors are revealed as agents in the roles cultural institutions play in maintaining or challenging the political and social status quo. Heritage is, Smith argues, about people and their social situatedness, and the meaning they, alongside or in concert with cultural institutions, make and mobilise to help them address social problems and expressions of identity and sense of place in and for the present.
Academics, students and practitioners interested in theories of power and affect in museums and heritage sites will find Emotional Heritage to be an invaluable resource. Helping professionals to understand the potential impact of their practice, the book also provides insights into the role visitors play in the interplay between heritage and politics.
https://www.routledge.com/Emotional-Heritage-Visitor-Engagement-at-Museums-and-Heritage-Sites/Smith/p/book/9781138888654
Use this link https://rdcu.be/4fw6 to access the book on line (available up to 23 October 2018).
Enter the code FLR40 at the Routledge website checkout for 20% discount.
Emotion, Affective Practices, and the Past in the Present is a response to debates in the humanities and social sciences about the use of emotion. This timely and unique book explores the ways emotion is embroiled and used in contemporary engagements with the past, particularly in contexts such as heritage sites, museums, commemorations, political rhetoric and ideology, debates over issues of social memory, and touristic uses of heritage sites.
Including contributions from academics and practitioners in a range of countries, the book reviews significant and conflicting academic debates on the nature and expression of affect and emotion. As a whole, the book makes an argument for a pragmatic understanding of affect and, in doing so, outlines Wetherell’s concept of affective practice, a concept utilised in most of the chapters in this book. Since debates about affect and emotion can often be confusing and abstract, the book aims to clarify these debates and, through the use of case studies, draw out their implications for theory and practice within heritage and museum studies.
Emotion, Affective Practices, and the Past in the Present should be essential reading for students, academics, and professionals in the fields of heritage and museum studies. The book will also be of interest to those in other disciplines, such as social psychology, education, archaeology, tourism studies, cultural studies, media studies, anthropology, sociology, and history.
Publication date January 2012
Publication July 2011, Routledge.
Publication June 2011
The first volume (‘History and Concepts’) describes the development of the modern concern with conserving and preserving material from the past—often conceptualized as ‘heritage’. It also gathers the best research about the key concepts and principles underlying heritage management and conservation practices.
Volume 2 (‘Critical Concepts in Heritage’) traces the dissonant and contested nature of heritage practices and the various attempts that have been made to theorize heritage conservation, curation and preservation practices. The volume contains work on the debates over Indigenous heritage, national identity, and memory and heritage, together with papers that attempt to explain and contextualize these debates.
Volume 3 (‘Heritage as an Industry’) collects the most significant scholarship on issues about the so-called ‘commodification’ of the past and the creation of ‘consensual histories’, while Volume 4 (‘Interpretation and Community’) contains the key material on the practice of heritage interpretation and community heritage projects, as well as work on the developing debates about the nature of intangible heritage.
Papers by Laurajane Smith
Drawing on interviews with visitors to museums and heritage sites in the United States, Australia and England, Smith argues that obtaining insights into how visitors use such sites enables us to understand the impact and consequences of professional heritage and museological practices. The concept of registers of engagement is introduced to assess variations in how visitors use museums and sites that address national or dissonant histories, and the political consequences of their use. Visitors are revealed as agents in the roles cultural institutions play in maintaining or challenging the political and social status quo. Heritage is, Smith argues, about people and their social situatedness, and the meaning they, alongside or in concert with cultural institutions, make and mobilise to help them address social problems and expressions of identity and sense of place in and for the present.
Academics, students and practitioners interested in theories of power and affect in museums and heritage sites will find Emotional Heritage to be an invaluable resource. Helping professionals to understand the potential impact of their practice, the book also provides insights into the role visitors play in the interplay between heritage and politics.
https://www.routledge.com/Emotional-Heritage-Visitor-Engagement-at-Museums-and-Heritage-Sites/Smith/p/book/9781138888654
Use this link https://rdcu.be/4fw6 to access the book on line (available up to 23 October 2018).
Enter the code FLR40 at the Routledge website checkout for 20% discount.
Emotion, Affective Practices, and the Past in the Present is a response to debates in the humanities and social sciences about the use of emotion. This timely and unique book explores the ways emotion is embroiled and used in contemporary engagements with the past, particularly in contexts such as heritage sites, museums, commemorations, political rhetoric and ideology, debates over issues of social memory, and touristic uses of heritage sites.
Including contributions from academics and practitioners in a range of countries, the book reviews significant and conflicting academic debates on the nature and expression of affect and emotion. As a whole, the book makes an argument for a pragmatic understanding of affect and, in doing so, outlines Wetherell’s concept of affective practice, a concept utilised in most of the chapters in this book. Since debates about affect and emotion can often be confusing and abstract, the book aims to clarify these debates and, through the use of case studies, draw out their implications for theory and practice within heritage and museum studies.
Emotion, Affective Practices, and the Past in the Present should be essential reading for students, academics, and professionals in the fields of heritage and museum studies. The book will also be of interest to those in other disciplines, such as social psychology, education, archaeology, tourism studies, cultural studies, media studies, anthropology, sociology, and history.
Publication date January 2012
Publication July 2011, Routledge.
Publication June 2011
The first volume (‘History and Concepts’) describes the development of the modern concern with conserving and preserving material from the past—often conceptualized as ‘heritage’. It also gathers the best research about the key concepts and principles underlying heritage management and conservation practices.
Volume 2 (‘Critical Concepts in Heritage’) traces the dissonant and contested nature of heritage practices and the various attempts that have been made to theorize heritage conservation, curation and preservation practices. The volume contains work on the debates over Indigenous heritage, national identity, and memory and heritage, together with papers that attempt to explain and contextualize these debates.
Volume 3 (‘Heritage as an Industry’) collects the most significant scholarship on issues about the so-called ‘commodification’ of the past and the creation of ‘consensual histories’, while Volume 4 (‘Interpretation and Community’) contains the key material on the practice of heritage interpretation and community heritage projects, as well as work on the developing debates about the nature of intangible heritage.
Rather than going over the critiques identified in the symposium’s call for papers, which are extensive and now well-known, I want to talk in a positive and forward-looking manner as to what this may mean for present day and future heritage theory and practice. There are three things I would like to stress. First, the Charter has itself obtained the status of heritage within the ICOMOS community, and reverence for it may also constrain its reinterpretation. It may be time to retire the document and reconfigure its value as a historical document of interest, or, alternatively, challenge heritage orthodoxy more completely by rewriting its basic tenets.
Second, that challenges to expert knowledge and authority do not have to be seen as a threat, but rather as a way of deepening and developing what heritage means and who it is important to and why. Third, I want to stress that making a positive response to the questioning of expert knowledge opens new ways of engaging with new audiences and developing new networks and alliances with a wider range of other communities of interest.
Unpublished keynote, 13 November, 2024. ICOMOS 2024 Scientific Symposium Revisiting the Venice Charter: Critical Perspectives and Contemporary Challenges, Ouro Preto, Brazil.