<p>Is there such a thing as unadulterated nature? All that surrounds us is culturally modified by man somewhere along our past. But culture is only a fictitious conception itself, created in an attempt to break the world into controllable objects.</p><p>So in what do we find culture? In everything? In the objects or the stories they embrace? Who chooses what’s worth saving and how to save? Choosing what is culture is made from personal, ingrained dichotomies of what’s important and what is not. A selective eye creates a distorted truth, which could have unintentional long-term effects.</p><p>This thesis will give a historical account of the archaeological discipline’s development in tending to our cultural heritage. By demonstrating its many complications, with examples of forest remains, I will argue for the need of innovation, communication and documentation. Only then can we get a broader, more varied and slightly less modified picture of the culture we choose to keep.</p>

<p>The educational directive for the school subject textile handicraft (slöjd) claim, that the pupils should have knowledge of handicraft traditions from historical and present perspective. Teachers in handicraft, teaching in schools for the first nine years of a child education forwards a cultural heritage. The purpose of this essay is to find out what the teachers opinion is about what constitute the Swedish textile cultural heritage. How the teachers relate to it and how they use it, then teaching. The essay is based on a qualitative method and consists of interviews with teachers. The interviews indicate that the textile cultural heritage consists of old methods for textile handiwork. The teachers also stresses that it is important for the pupils to have knowledge of the history of methods and materials and how it is made. The knowledge of the cultural heritage gives the pupils a possibility to relate to older generations. Therefore there is a potential of combining education in handicraft with for example history, which for the pupils would give a broader perspective. Knowledge of how different methods for creating things used in everyday-life have been used and developed could also increase the understanding of how people have lived.</p> / <p>I kursplanen för slöjd står att slöjdämnet bland annat ska ge insikter i vardagshistoria och ge kunskaper om slöjdtraditioner från förr och nu. Slöjdlärare på grundskolan förmedlar ett kulturarv i sin undervisning. Syftet med undersökningen är att ta reda på vad lärarna anser att det svenska textila kulturarvet består av, hur textillärarna förhåller sig till det och hur de använder sig av det i sin undervisning. Undersökningen är baserad på en kvalitativ forskningsmetod och består av intervjuer med lärare. Enligt resultatet av intervjuerna består det svenska kulturarvet inom det textila området av gamla tekniker som har funnits länge. Av undersökningen framkommer att det är teknikerna i sig som lärarna räknar till kulturarvet. Lärarna poängterar även att det är viktigt att känna till en tekniks eller ett materials ursprung och hur det är tillverkat. Kännedom om kulturarvet ger eleven möjlighet att känna samhörighet med äldre generationer. Om kulturarvet förs in i slöjden i samarbete med till exempel historieämnet, ger det eleven möjlighet att se tekniken i ett större sammanhang. I och med att många tekniker användes förr för att framställa vardagliga föremål, kan slöjden även skapa förståelse för hur man levde förr.</p>

Throughout history, the direct or indirect choice of preservation has resulted in the successful incorporation of tangible products of the human past into modern cultural environments. Within the current American historic preservation system, "significance" is used as a delimiter for identifying historic properties that are determined beneficial to the heritage of the American people. As defined under U.S. law, however, "significance" is attributed only to places and objects whose importance is limited within an historical or scientific framework. This thesis proposes that the significance of historic properties transcends the boundaries of these limited frameworks of importance, and demonstrates that the public benefits of preservation are maximized when history is reified through the modern-use of these places and objects as cultural resources for the current and future generations of the American people.

It is 50 years since the development of the first computer game and digital games now have an unprecedented influence on our culture. An increasingly popular leisure activity, digital games are also permeating other aspects of society. They continue to influence computer technology through graphics, animation and social networking; an influence which is also being felt in other media, in particular film and television. They are a new art form and they are seen to be influential on children s learning and development. However, despite their pervasiveness and apparent importance within our society and culture, they are still largely ignored as part of our cultural heritage. Dismissed as disposable, entertainment products, they have not specifically been addressed in most of the academic literature on digital preservation which represents a serious omission in past research. This was justification for an exploratory study into the preservation of digital games and the aim of this study has been to explore the value of digital games, their significance in our culture, and the current status of their preservation. Investigating the relationship of games to culture; reviewing current preservation activities and drawing conclusions about the value of digital games and the significance of their preservation were the study s objectives. These have been achieved through interviews with key stakeholders the academic community, as potential users of collections; memory institutions, as potential keepers of collections; fan-based game preservation experts; and representatives from the games industry. In addition to this, case studies of key game preservation activities were explored. Through this research, a clearer picture of attitudes towards digital games and opinions on the need for preservation of these cultural products has been established. It has become apparent that there is a need for more coherent and collaborative efforts to ensure the longevity of these important aspects of digital heritage.

Notre étude envisage le développement de la yole ronde, « sport traditionnel » pratiqué à la Martinique, département français d’Amérique. Alors que quasiment toutes les disciplines sportives actuelles pratiquées à la Martinique ont été importées d’Europe, preuve d’un conditionnement social et culturel, la voile à la Martinique est restée sous sa forme traditionnelle, et se pratique avec des embarcations locales comme la yole ronde.Au cours de son histoire, la yole ronde a connu de profondes mutations qui ont irrémédiablement transformé les formes de pratique et remis en question son caractère traditionnel. Ce sport « pieds-nus » connaît depuis une dizaine d’années un regain d’intérêt auprès de la population martiniquaise qui la considère comme LA pratique ayant résisté à la longue période d’acculturation occidentale. Mais cette vision de l’activité n’est-elle pas un simple construit social, permettant aux Martiniquais de s’identifier à une pratique signifiant le savoir, l’habileté ou la richesse culturelle d’un peuple en quête d’identité ? N’est-elle pas instrumentalisée par les élites politiques locales afin d’en tirer toute sorte de profits, économiques, politiques ou encore culturels ? Par des informations recueillies au travers de sources documentaires mais surtout par les témoignages d’acteurs qui vivent et pratiquent la yole au quotidien, nous montrons que le processus d’innovation culturelle à l’œuvre dans la yole, tout en se complexifiant, a produit, étape après étape, une configuration systémique de l’expression identitaire et de l’intégration sociale à laquelle sont liés des enjeux socio-économiques et politiques.L’analyse détaillée de cet objet anthropologique singulier gagne à être replacée dans le cadre d’une approche comparée qui nous a permis d’inventorier tout un univers de pratiques et de modèles qui partagent entre eux sinon une insularité (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Polynésie française), à tout le moins une situation périphérique (Bassin d’Arcachon et Pays basque) concomitante à une certaine maritimité et une commune « remise au goût du jour » des anciens gréements ou engins de navigation, identifiée par un processus de « sportivisation ». / Through this document we intend to study the expansion of « yole sailing », a traditional sport practised in Martinique , a French overseas department. Whereas practically all the current sports done in Martinique have been imported from Europe, which reveals social and cultural conditioning, sailing has still maintained its traditional practices, using local skiffs such as the « yole ronde ».All along its history, the « yole ronde » has undergone profound changes that have irreparably altered the conventional practices and called its traditionalism into question. For ten years or so this « barefoot sport »has aroused a renewed interest among the natives of Martinique as they regard it as THE practice that has stood up to the long period of Occidental acculturation. But isn’t that view of yole sailing a mere social trend built up to lead the people of Martinique to identify with a practice bringing out the knowledge, the skill and the cultural richness of a people in search for identity ? Isn’t it an ideological tool used by the main local politicians in order to derive all sorts of economic, political or cultural benefits ?Thanks to information collected through documents, but mainly thanks to the testimonies of the actors daily involved in this practice, we demonstrate that the cultural innovation process implemented in yole sailing, while getting more complex, has produced, step by step, a systemic configuration of the desire for identity and the social integration connected to socioeconomic and political stakes.It will be better for the detailed analysis of this singular anthropological subject to be put back within the context of a comparative approach which has enabled us to make an inventory of a world of practices and of models that share, if not the fact of being islanders (Martinique,Guadeloupe, French Polynesia), then at least a peripheral situation (Bassin d’Arcachon and the Basque country), concomitant to a certain maritimity and a common « bringing up to date » of the old sailing ships or tools, identified by a process of « sports practising ».

Swedish cultural heritage policies put heritage of the Church of Sweden in an exceptional position. It is protected by law and managed by the Church of Sweden which receives a yearly economical compensation from the Swedish government to assure a continued protection and care. The purpose of this study has been to examine categories and definitions that are used in the formulations of the protection of this part of the national cultural heritage. The study also analyses the values and motives behind the distribution, which is being regulated by said definitions. To achieve this, I have answered questions about to what kind of projects the compensation has been distributed, focusing on the appointed object and intervention categories. These classifications have been compared to the projects actual character, and also to official guidelines and policies. The results of the study show that the distribution of the government compensation follow official guidelines more often than not, but also that the project categorizations are frequently misguiding in comparison to the actual character of the projects. In written statements from the Swedish National Heritage Board and the Church of Sweden a dissonance regarding their respective value perspectives has been shown. The big difference is found in a question of definitions regarding the nature of the religious heritage in policy documents. Definitions of cultural heritage are crucial in heritage management. The classification stated in policy documents and used during the management of the heritage of the Church of Sweden, is also defining what is included. These classifications and definitions are part of the traditional western heritage management discourse. By using theoretical frameworks like Authorized Heritage Discourse the results of the study has been put in a perspective of using categories as way to manifest material heritage. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.

Role of culturally important places in reproduction of territorial identities: an example of pilgrimage sites The thesis deals with the discussion of existing effects and meanings selected pilgrimage sites in Czechia (Stara Boleslav, Svaty Kopecek u Olomouce and Filipov) in terms of shaping identity of the region, depending on the different historical development and social and cultural conditions in different areas representing two dichotomies (borderland vs. inland region, Bohemia and Moravia region). Further, a position pilgrimage sites in terms of the major pilgrimages and pilgrimage sites in the consciousness of believers and non-believers population. It was found that people can be identified with pilgrimage sites, but it's a long process which is related to the historical and socio-cultural development of the region. In the dichotomy borderland vs. inland was observed different meanings of pilgrimage sites which are reflected in identification with the territory, while in the dichotomy Bohemia vs. Moravia those meanings are not significantly different. Keywords: pilgrimage sites; regional identity; cultural heritage; Czechia

The aim of this Master's Thesis called The Nature Trail of Selected Manors of Prague 5 in Terms of the Regional History Learning Programme for Upper Secondary School Students is the creation of the historical study with the didactic overlap primarily focused on the regional history knowledge in case of the upper-secondary school students. The thesis is divided into the theoretical and practical part. The former is interested in the description, comparison and introdcution of the particular homesteads. It also covers their development in the area of Prague 5 in its historical and cultural context. The latter, practical, part deals with the didactic aim to make the upper- secondary school students become familiar with the historical, social and culturally historical aspects of people's life in the given area, taking into account their mutual context. The didactic focus is given on the knowledge of the region with the respect to the educational area A Man and Society. This part also includes the draft of the worksheets intended to the upper-secondary school students in accordance with the outcomes required by Framework Educational Programme for Basic Education. KEYWORDS Regional History, Development, Homestead, Košíře, Cultural Heritage, Excursions

The aim of the work is to evaluate to what degree the intangible UNESCO monument of the "Day of the Dead" (Día de Muertos) is indeed a living heritage. In the first chapter, it deals with UNESCO and the institution of intangible heritage and with an overview of the Mexican monuments thereof. The second chapter presents in its three parts analyses the present state of the "Day of the Dead" on the background of its historical development, and it evaluates the current impact of the UNESCO world heritage protection in relation to globalization and commercialization of the holiday. Keywords: Mexico, Day of the Dead, UNESCO, intangible cultural heritage

The purpose of this thesis is to study and analyse the Gorky Museum in Moscow, a house museum dedicated to the writer Maxim Gorky. The work explores the socio-political and cultural background for the museum, as well as what is conveyed there today, and how the museum approaches problems that house museums generally struggle with. The empirical part of the study is based on the fieldwork that the author conducted at the Gorky Museum during one month in the autumn of 2016, during which open and participant observation of the daily work at the museum was carried out. Attentive observations and systematic notes from guided tours constitute the basis for the description of the material and immaterial features of the museum. For the chapter on the historical and cultural context concerning the Gorky Museum, literary sources were used. The results of the study imply that there existed an authorised heritage discourse (AHD) in the Soviet Union that was directly governed by the authorities, that museums in the Soviet Union were politicised in a much more open manner than in the West, and that the young Soviet state needed to form a national identity for which Maxim Gorky and his literature came in handy. Further, they show that what is conveyed at the museum is something more than just Gorky himself, and that the complex relationship between Gorky and the house changes the impression that the visitors to the museum experience. Lastly, they demonstrate that the Gorky Museum is not exempt from dealing with questions regarding authenticity, representativeness, stereotypization and ”genius loci”, i. e. a sense of the lingering presence of the person commemorated. The conclusions to be drawn from this are that the complexity of the Gorky Museum lie in the fact that a collision between different values can be discerned at the museum, that a disharmony between Gorky and the house itself can be perceived, and that there exists more than one ”genius loci” at the Gorky House. This is a two-year master’s thesis in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies.