{"product_id":"the-nature-of-heritage-isbn-9780470670729","title":"The Nature of Heritage","description":"\u003ci\u003eThe Nature of Heritage: The New South Africa\u003c\/i\u003e is unique in revealing the conflicts inherent in preserving both natural and cultural heritage, by examining the archaeological, ethnographic and economic evidence of a nation's attempts to master its past and its future.  \u003cul type=\"disc\"\u003e \u003cli\u003eProvides a classic example of how nations attempt to overcome a negative heritage through past mastering of their histories\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eEvaluates the continuing dominance of nature and conservation over concerns for cultural heritage\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eEmploys ethnographic and archaeological methodologies to reveal how the past is processed into a new national heritage\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eIdentifies heritage as therapy, exemplified in the strategy for repairing legacies of racial and ethnic difference in post-apartheid South Africa\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eHighlights the role of archaeological heritage sites, national parks and protected areas in economic development and social empowerment\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003eExplores how nature trumps culture and the global implications of the new configurations of heritage\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments viii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAbbreviations xiii\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIntroduction: Past Mastering in the New South Africa 1\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1 Naturalizing Cultural Heritage 13\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2 Making Heritage Pay in the Rainbow Nation 37\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e3 It’s Mine, It’s Yours: Excavating Park Histories 63\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4 Why Biodiversity Trumps Culture 98\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e5 Archaeologies of Failure 125\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6 Thulamela: The Donors, the Archaeologist, his Gold, and the Flood 149\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e7 Kruger is a Gold Rock: Parastatal and Private Visions of the Good 176\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eConclusions: Future Perfect 203\u003cbr\u003e References 217\u003cbr\u003e Index 248\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e“Lynn Meskell’s book is carefully researched and engagingly written, and is essential reading for anyone interested in archaeology and heritage in South Africa.”  (\u003ci\u003eSouth African Archaeological Bulletin\u003c\/i\u003e, 1 October 2013)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003eLynn Meskell\u003c\/b\u003e is Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University (USA) and Honorary Professor at the Rock Art Research Institute in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa). She is the founder and editor of the \u003ci\u003eJournal of Social Archaeology\u003c\/i\u003e, and the author and editor of several books, including \u003ci\u003eA Companion to Social Archaeology\u003c\/i\u003e (Wiley-Blackwell), \u003ci\u003eArchaeologies of Materiality\u003c\/i\u003e (Wiley-Blackwell), and \u003ci\u003eCosmopolitan Archaeologies\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eThe Nature of Heritage: The New South Africa\u003c\/i\u003e is a groundbreaking work by archaeologist Lynn Meskell that examines the conflicts inherent in natural versus cultural heritage. The author brings archaeological and ethnographic evidence to bear on a holistic understanding of one nation's self-identification by developing its protected areas and cultural heritage sites. Post-apartheid South Africa is a classic example of how nations attempt to overcome negative heritage through past mastering. The case study of Kruger National Park vividly demonstrates this process through both cultural and natural resource development, as it becomes enmeshed in the interventions of the state and private sectors, salvage, conservation, and notions of social good. Meskell argues that cultural heritage has emerged as secondary to the conservation of nature, but that the idea of heritage as therapy provides a potential ongoing strategy for socio-economic empowerment and development.\u003c\/div\u003e  “With a rhetoric of diversity, sustainability, and conservation, neoliberal forces typecast entire societies as both money-spinning tourist fodder and evil destroyers of pristine nature.  Meskell incisively exposes the resulting structural violence of conservation in South Africa, showing how managerial simplification of the country’s painful historical experience and complex archaeological record perpetuates past oppressions and exclusions.  The Nature of Heritage gives timely shape and heft to concern for the future of the past – and the future of humanity.”\u003cbr\u003e - \u003ci\u003eMichael Herzfeld, Harvard University\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cp\u003e“In one sense this is a book about the loss of innocence – of how the dream of cultural heritage in a new South Africa has been swamped by narrower interests and the tourism market.  But it also a reassertion of the value and significance of archaeological ethnography, of showing how ‘past-mastering’ is invariably the outcome of compromises, and imbued with politics.”\u003cbr\u003e - \u003ci\u003eMartin Hall, University of Salford\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wiley-Blackwell","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47990293299429,"sku":"NP9780470670729","price":105.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780470670729.jpg?v=1761787236","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-nature-of-heritage-isbn-9780470670729","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}