Stainforth, E (2017) Mixing Memory and Desire: Exploring Utopian Currents in Heritage. Future Anterior, 14 (2). pp. 1-10. ISSN 1549-9715
Abstract
There is some precedent for utopian thinking around cultural heritage, and a number of writers have commented on the utopian ideal of museums to house and preserve intact cultural memory. However, this article focuses on another, distinct utopian strain relevant to cultural heritage, which can be traced through the influence of William Morris on the formation of conservation methods in the nineteenth century. While such figures have been linked to the critique of ‘monumental heritage’ in recent years, a central message in Morris’s writings was that the guiding principle for conservation should not be stasis but change. Equally, for him, knowledge of the past was important for recovering the hopes of former generations, a theme he explored in his utopian fiction. Morris’s utopianism presents a challenge to the logic of inheritance, whereby the past is figured as a legacy to be maintained and the future, in turn, is extracted confidently from the present. Instead, it involves a mixture of memory and desire, which signals a way into thinking about alternative experiences and expectations. Here, I discuss how the utopian currents in Morris’s work shed light on contemporary heritage debates and the different kinds of futures implicit in heritage-making.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Keywords: | Utopian fiction, Utopias, Conservation practices, Utopian socialism, Cultural preservation, Social evolution, Classical literature, History instruction, Academic libraries, Museum exhibits; utopia; heritage; William Morris; memory; temporality |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 30 Jan 2018 15:51 |
Last Modified: | 03 Feb 2020 11:59 |
Published Version: | https://www.upress.umn.edu/journal-division/journa... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | University of Minnesota Press |
Identification Number: | 10.5749/futuante.14.2.0001 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:126794 |