Gender and Heritage (Key Issues in Cultural Heritage)

Gender and Heritage brings together a group of international scholars to examine the performance, place and politics of gender within heritage. Through a series of case studies, models and assessments, the significance of understanding and working with concepts of gender is demonstrated as a dynamic and reforming agenda. Demonstrating that gender has become an increasingly important area for heritage scholarship, the collection argues that it should also be recognised as a central structuring device within society and the location where a critical heritage studies can emerge.

Drawing on contributions from around the world, this edited collection provides a range of innovative approaches to using gender as a mode of enquiry. From the politics of museum displays, the exploration of pedagogy, the role of local initiatives and the legal frameworks that structure representation, the volume’s diversity and objectives represent a challenge for students, academics and professionals to rethink gender. Rather than featuring gender as an addition to wider discussions of heritage, this volume makes gender the focus of concern as a means of building a new agenda within the field.

This volume, which addresses how we engage with gender and heritage in both practice and theory, is essential reading for scholars at all levels and should also serve as a useful guide for practitioners.

Ross J. Wilson is Professor of Modern History and Public Heritage at the University of Chichester, UK. His research interests include the experience, representation and memory of the First World War and he also focuses on issues of museum, media and heritage representations in the modern era.

Wera Grahn is Associate Professor in Gender Studies, Senior Lecturer and Head of Unit at Linköping University, Sweden. She is also Director of Postgraduate Research Training and Director of the Master’s Programme, Gender Studies – Intersectionality and Change. Previously, she has worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) in Oslo, Norway (2007–2011) and was affiliated to Upplandsmuseet for research (2006–2007). Before that, she was a PhD student at Tema Genus in Linköping (1999–2006).