A Heritage Ethnography with Museum Implications
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Community uses of maritime heritage in Bermuda: A heritage ethnography with museum implications Charlotte Andrews University of Cambridge 2010 COMMUNITY USES OF MARITIME HERITAGE IN BERMUDA: A HERITAGE ETHNOGRAPHY WITH MUSEUM IMPLICATIONS This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy CHARLOTTE ANDREWS HUGHES HALL UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE 2010 Declaration This dissertation was written for the sole purpose of fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. It is based on original and independent research undertaken while a doctoral candidate in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in the text. Statement of Length This dissertation does not exceed the limit of 80,000 words (or 350 pages) plus a 20,000 word extension, stipulated and approved by the Archaeology and Anthropology Degree Committee and the Board of Graduate Studies at the University of Cambridge. ii Acknowledgments Although positioned in this preface, it is preferable for the acknowledgments that follow to be read after the dissertation. I say this as a spoiler warning for forthcoming discussions of my positioning and because it is the research itself that, I hope, reflects all that has been so generously given to me by those acknowledged below. These gifts include significant time and effort on the part of many people as well as their trust, flexibility and patience. For me, this project was not simply about ‘getting a PhD’ but about making the most of my graduate and research experiences, optimising the opportunity to listen, think and explore. What I have had the luxury to learn about heritage and museums, Bermuda and ‘her people’, and myself during this long but worthwhile sabbatical goes far beyond the contents of this dissertation. It is an understanding I will carry for the remainder of my life and career that I hope will positively impact others, including those to whom I extend my sincere thanks here. This sort of research is dependent on plural perspectives and thus only possible thanks to the willingness of many people to participate and share their lives with a researcher. Although all mistakes or ‘misinterpretation’ are entirely my own and I am the one who receives a doctorate and other credit for this work, this dissertation certainly reflects a collaborative effort. While each informant and contributor deserves to be named and I have a long exact list of everyone, concerns about revealing identities and omitting anyone preclude me from doing so. I would nonetheless like to extend a most grateful thank you to each and every person who has assisted me in my research design, fieldwork and subsequent writing up. Your support has been tremendous and I will always be indebted. Besides my informants and other supportive members of the Bermuda and Cambridge communities, I could not have completed this journey without the invaluable support of the following select group of people and institutions to whom I owe a very special thanks. I feel most privileged to have been supervised by Dr. Marie Louise Stig Sørensen, benefitting from her invaluable guidance throughout my graduate studies. She has not only encouraged me to ‘be curious’ and to think differently about heritage but has also given me the space and confidence to do so. I also appreciate the helpful support of my Advisor Dr. Robin Boast as well as Drs. John Carman and Christopher Chippindale among other faculty, affiliates and friends in the Cambridge Department of Archaeology – a place, community and legacy I am proud to be part of. iii My heartfelt thanks goes to Dr. Hilary Soderland for her exceptional generous help as a reviewer of various chapters and related papers and sounding board for my ideas, all done purely out of friendship. For their helpful comments on particular chapters I am grateful to Drs. Britt Baillie, Christina Kreps, Jo Littler, Clarence Maxwell, and Chris Anable, Brent Fortenberry and Benjamin Morris. I have valued the opportunity to meet scholars and practitioners from the international interdisciplinary community. Some of these I met at annual Cambridge Heritage Seminars, including the 2006 meeting exploring the relationship between tangible and intangible heritage which I enjoyed co-organising with Drs. Britt Baillie and Daçia Viejo-Rose. In the specialised fields of maritime heritage and museums, I have valued engaging with various scholars and practitioners. It has been especially good to explore the concept of maritimity with Drs. Eleni Stefanou and Jesse Ransley, with whom I co-organised the 2008 Theoretical Archaeology Group session ‘Maritime identities: museum, communal and personal uses of heritage’. Cambridge has been an incredible experience, mostly due to the people I have met there. I will treasure the friendships I have made in Archaeology and other departments, Hughes Hall and other colleges, ‘the Rutherford’ and other homes away from home, and my lovely office in the Mond building. I would also like to thank the unsung administrators who have made my Cambridge life easier, especially Sarah Pickard at BoGS, Mark Rogers in the Mond, and staff in Archaeology and at Hughes. Shifting back to Bermuda, I would like staff, trustees, volunteers, and other supporters of Bermuda Maritime Museum (now the National Museum of Bermuda) to know that their spoken and silent support of my academic endeavours has not gone unnoticed. I have deeply appreciated this support, and in particular that of Jane Downing, Rosemary Jones, Dr. Clarence Maxwell, Paul Shapiro and Elena Strong. I am also grateful for the assistance and guidance of many other local heritage practitioners and advocates in addition to various Bermuda scholars, activists and artists, all of whom I was so pleased to connect with either again or for the first time through this project. Above all at BMM and in the local heritage sector, I owe the most ardent of thanks to my mentor Dr. Edward Harris. Without the amazing opportunities and steadfast support he has given me, I surely would not have found such a fulfilling new passion in museums and heritage and pursued my graduate degrees, let alone stayed their course. If only all young Bermudians could have such an inspirational figure and trusted friend to guide them. iv Although it reflects only a tiny portion of Bank of Bermuda Foundation’s support of the island’s heritage and wider community, I was extremely fortunate and humbled to receive the Sir John W. Cox University Scholarship for Postgraduate Studies. This generous award not only made my graduate work possible, but also reminded me that I had both Bermuda’s backing and my responsibilities to the community. My sense of privilege continues and I intend to match the generosity I have been shown in some manner in future, perhaps by supporting or creating similar opportunities for Bermudians. I also appreciate travel grants from Bermuda Maritime Museum and Hughes Hall, which helped me to attend stimulating academic and professional conferences. To my wonderfully supportive family and friends in Bermuda and elsewhere, words cannot express how much your support and love means to me. In particular, I have been kept afloat by Felicité and Ian’s unconditional love. My ‘brothers’ Tim and Sami have also been great bastions of support. The jewels of my life are my two sisters, one of whom serendipitously attended Cambridge with me. Thank you Laura for lighting up my time at school and my life in general. Meredith was further away but my daily touchstone. Thank you Mere for always being there for me, listening and encouraging without fail. I could not ask for a better friend. Just as this thesis argues heritage is renewable, my parents have ever renewed their faith in me as I have embarked on new chapters in my life and in writing this dissertation. Those who know Bill and Dawn know they always put us their girls first, making every sacrifice so we may pursue our dreams. I know this and any achievement I’ve ever made, few as they may yet be, are entirely due to your love and support. Finally, I turn to the one who has always been by my side despite the many times we were apart, who was my rock to cling to during this sometimes turbulent journey, who married me along the way and has been my very best friend at every turn. To my husband, Andrew, everything is thanks to you and thank you for being my everything. I love you babe and cannot wait to start our next chapter together. v Abstract This research contributes to the fields of heritage and museum studies with a three- fold objective: conceptualise heritage as a process, using an appropriate research method, with implications for museums. The work correspondingly helps to redress the undertheorisation of heritage, the inadequacy of methods for grasping heritage as an ethnographic object of study, and the disconnection between communities and their museums – and, underlying and linking these issues, the widespread incorrect and damaging presumption that individuals, or the communities they constitute, are heritage deficient. In doing so, the presumption of public heritage deficiency underlying and linking these theoretical, methodological and museological ‘problems’ is challenged and countered. Drawing on my heritage ethnography of maritime Bermuda, I examine how and why people of this mid-Atlantic island use maritimity to formulate identity and community, and thereby generate maritime heritage. This contextualised case study engages with current thinking and key debates about heritage and museums to conceptualise heritage cross-culturally. Introductory chapters review heritage and museums across the relevant scholarly, maritime, and Bermuda scales and reflect upon my methodological choices during the research design, fieldwork and analysis.