Re-assembling the memorial landscape: the politics of walking tours in Taipei
Journal
International Journal of Heritage Studies
Journal Volume
23
Journal Issue
10
Pages
1002-1016
Date Issued
2017-07
Author(s)
Kao, Y.-T.
Abstract
This article argues that the memorial landscape is a dynamically composed assemblage of heterogeneous elements, and that the guided walking tour is a practical tactic through which discourses and materials might be re-assembled and thus re-signified. Guided walking tours therefore epitomise the relational rethinking of memorial landscapes, or quasi-heritage, in everyday urban life. Based on three case studies in Taipei, Taiwan, we discuss how memorial landscapes featuring the urban underclass and civil resistance might be strategically re-assembled. We explore to what extent the bodily practices, narratives, and reconfiguration of space have produced new memorialised landscapes. We conclude that guided walking tours are a form of social intervention that can reframe our understanding of memorialization or quasi-heritagization, especially in the urban arena where heterogeneous values increasingly compete.
SDGs
Publisher
Routledge
Type
journal article