Emotional Heritage

Open lecture by Laurajane Smith, professor and head of the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies at the Australian National University (ANU). Grounded in the philosophical framework of critical realism, Smith focuses on identifying and explaining the social and political contexts of heritage knowledge and practices.

In her influential book Uses of Heritage (2006), Laurajane Smith argues that heritage, rather than being a ‘thing’ or a ‘site,’ is in fact a cultural and social process performed at specific locations where values, meanings, and identities are created and re-created. Smith highlights that heritage practices are shaped by different heritage discourses, but that a specific professional heritage discourse, referred to as the Authorized Heritage Discourse (AHD), has traditionally privileged the role of experts.

In Emotional Heritage (2021), Smith further develops the concept of heritage as a performative practice. She explores the nuances and tensions that arise when different people in varying contexts ‘use’ heritage, analyzing the social and political consequences of these performances and practices. According to Smith, heritage is ultimately about people and the values, meanings, and identities they create and re-create as they engage in the process of ‘heritage-making.’

In her lecture, Laurajane Smith will present the idea of heritage as a cultural and social performative process. She will emphasize that heritage is an emotional activity, expressing and negotiating an affective state of belonging and believing. Smith will argue that heritage works to validate and define individual and collective meanings, as well as their social and political consequences for the present.