Heteroglossic heritage and the first-place of the Kalahari

Bibliographic Data

ID5701047
AuthorsRachel F Giraudo (0000-0002-9082-6791, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Northridge, CA, USA, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume24
Issue2
Pages128-141
Publication date2018-02-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Heritage Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1352-7258 • E-ISSN: 1470-3610
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13527258.2017.1317651
OpenAlexW2608615334
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited25

Using Bakhtin’s concept of ‘heteroglossia,’ this article examines the layering and intersections of multiple claims to heritage places that form dialogics about heritage truths. Social groups derive their collective-self, in part, through association with a place, or places, to which they attribute their origin, described here as a ‘first-place.’ Identity maintenance can occur through the praxis of heritage tourism in which group members exhibit emotional performances during their visits to a first-place. Through the extended example of the Tsodilo Hills in Botswana and the various social groups – local ethnic communities, national citizens, and segments of the global community – who each form a collective-self using Tsodilo as a first-place, this article addresses the roles of science (archaeology) and tourism, and their interplay, in enabling several languages or dialects of belonging to coexist without dissonance. The argument is that heteroglossic heritage is possible because visitors’ affect-mediated encounters with heritage places facilitate the reaffirmation of their shared group identity. While all heritage discourse is heteroglossic, the article focuses on claims to a first-place set within a postcolonial context of nation building and modernising that involves the politicisation and re-spatialization of heritage places through tourism development

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Collective identity · Cultural heritage · Cultural heritage management · Heritage tourism · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law

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