Beyond the rhetoric: negotiating the politics and realising the potential of community‐driven heritage engagement

Abstract

This paper explores the development of community engagement work in the heritage sector and the danger of such projects conforming to a top-down model. An alternative community-driven approach is explored. The ongoing Bendigo heritage engagement project is used as a basis for discussing the benefits, limitations and potential pitfalls of such an approach. The role of the project manager in negotiating the politics and issues arising in community-driven approaches is crucial and a range of skills and techniques, which may assist those in this role, are highlighted. Identifying and addressing potential problem areas is essential to ensure the success of such projects. This is imperative if museums, galleries or other organisations wish to move beyond rhetorical strategies for community engagement towards successful implementation of sustainable and relevant projects that positively contribute to local communities.

Impact of cultural dynamics on conservation of Suakin, Sudan

“…Previous efforts have indeed attempted to join Suakin's stakeholders together in the formation of stakeholder committees (Salim, 1997) and a workshop event concerning the Suakin development plan (NCAM, 2007), yet neither of these attempts included the stakeholders within the design of the research being conducted or in future intentions resulting from the data obtained. The outcomes generated through previous efforts thus lacked a collective stakeholder understanding and input towards Suakin's conservation, which is vital to generate shared goals and a collective responsibility towards future action (Grosz and Hunsberger, 2006;Perkin, 2010) and which was addressed in this research.…”

“…However, a clear differentiation can be made between those 'shared intentions' derived from individual initiatives (but commonly shared) and those derived from collective actions and commitment (Gilbert, 2009). It can be argued that collectively derived shared intentions underwrite collaborative activity and a shared responsibility towards a common goal (Grosz and Hunsberger, 2006;Perkin, 2010;Tomasello and Carpenter, 2007). To help generate shared intentions, effective communication and understanding needs to be facilitated between stakeholders to convince all parties of the merits of working together (Bott et al, 2011;Grimwade and Carter, 2000;Zancheti and Hidaka, 2011).…”

Public Archaeology and Critical Histories: Collaborative Archaeology in Southern Illinois

“…A critical step in this process is an examination of the privileged processes of knowledge production that create historical and archaeological narratives (Habu et al 2008;Joyce 2008;McGuire 2008;Perkin 2010;Prangnell et al 2010). One of our project's main goals is to resist fragmentation by bringing the conversation about the African-American pasts out of the ivory tower and into the communities that directly relate to and identify with those pasts (McDavid 1997).…”

La ville du patrimoine mondial face au défi politique de sa propre image

“…Il reste qu'un pas supplémentaire pourrait être fait pour consolider la dimension démocratique de la pratique patrimoniale (Perkin, 2010), tout en l'arrimant à l'idée de valeur universelle propre au patrimoine mondial (Evans, 2002). Trois raisons, à notre avis, militent en ce sens.…”