A thoughtful article in the Financial Times by Gillian Tett asks important questions about heritage — how it is defined, and who does, and should, define and control it.
The article is headlined “The Battle for British Heritage,” and Tett writes specifically about changing attitudes toward and about heritage in the UK. (She describes a particularly interactive, new history center at the spot where the Battle of Bannockburn in Scotland took place 700 years ago.)
But the discussion resonates deeply with some of the questions and debates concerning Jewish heritage that have been raised over the years, particularly regarding Jewish museums, Jewish culture festivals and other areas that are funded and sponsored from a variety of sources and where Jewish history, culture, heritage and traditions are presented to the mainstream public. (Some years back, for example, the catalogue of the Westfalen Jewish Museum in Dorsten, Germany explicitly declared the museum devised “by non-Jews for non-Jews”.)
Tett writes:
as the definition of heritage widens dramatically, this in turn raises another issue: who should define and control it? In the past, this was usually done by elites, such as academics, government ministers or the locals who have helped to create the Bannockburn site. But popular trust in institutions and experts is slipping, and social media has given the public a tool for democratic – if not cacophonous – self-expression. History is no longer defined by experts; it can be shaped by ordinary people on Twitter as well.
Many museums and heritage sites — perhaps most of them — also now have a vivid online presence and take advantage of social media. Interactive technology increasingly forms part of the way that museums tell their stories and present their material — a good example is the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews, whose grand opening will take place October 28 and whose core exhibit relies on considerable multimedia.
But what role do the funders of projects play in defining, shaping and presenting heritage, or our concept of heritage? What role is played by governments and other “authorities”? In the Jewish context, must museums, exhibitions, festivals and the like have input from Jewish sources and advisers to be “authentic” — or even meaningful?
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