Remoteness and Development

Transnational Constructions of Heritage in a Former Danish Trading Colony in South India

Bibliographic Data

ID2156243
AuthorsHelle Jørgensen (0000-0002-6635-1028, Université des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines de Bamako, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume22
Issue2
Pages169-186
Publication date2011-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory and Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0275-7206 • E-ISSN: 1477-2612
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02757206.2011.558586
OpenAlexW2044231171
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited24

The South Indian town of Tranquebar, a Danish trading colony in the period 1620–1845, has been declared a heritage town by the government of Tamil Nadu, due to the wellpreserved Indo-Danish townscape and its tourism potential. Both Indian and Danish stakeholders are working for the preservation of the town as an expression of cultural heritage and for its development as a tourist destination. Analyzing how perceptions of development and history are at stake in this transnational process of post-colonial heritagemaking, I argue that a widely shared conception of Tranquebar as an underdeveloped “remote area” is central to the construction of Tranquebar as a heritage town. Drawing on Edwin Ardener’s theoretical conception of remoteness as an aspect of not only physical space but conceptual space, the article explores the ways in which conceptions of remoteness and (under)development tie in with narrations of history in this former colony

Danish · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Linguistics · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History

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