Vive la différence? Comparing American and French Approaches to Heritage

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Politics of Heritage Values: How Archaeologists Deal with Place, Social Memories, Identities, and Socioeconomics" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

What do archaeologists mean when we talk about heritage? That depends in large part on our often-shifting positionality within broader heritage discourses. Western archaeologists often investigate what we might describe as our own heritage as well as that of others, both within our own nations and elsewhere. When we discuss “heritage” in the United States, it is often with a feeling of personal and patriotic connection to the past. Heritage work is about stewardship, pride, protection, and specific kinds of expertise for the benefit of all. France provides a complementary and contrasting example. The United States and France are both Western states that share a standpoint of national exceptionalism, and we point to our histories to justify that. Both nations have World Heritage sites within their borders. However, the differences between a settler-colonialist state and a colonial state, coupled with very different racial dynamics, means that American heritage and French patrimoine bear only superficial resemblance to each other for the producers and consumers of archaeology, arts, and history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Politics of Heritage Values: How Archaeologists Deal with Place, Social Memories, Identities, and Socioeconomics

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40379.0