Vagabundierende Klänge. Die institutionelle Inwertsetzung von Volksmusik-Sammlungen und die Entstehung von Cultural Heritage

Abstract

With digitization, today many collections are being rediscovered; research and safeguarding projects often initiate the re-propertization and commodification of these archives as “heritage”. Through two case studies we show how audio recordings in different historical contexts are culturally-politically (re-) appropriated and how technology is involved in this. Thereby, our essay investigates the apparent contradiction between the cultural-political perspective on cultural heritage, which assumes that valuable cultural heritage and cultural property “exist” and are worth of being protected, and the perspective in cultural analysis, which assumes that the value of cultural elements is “constructed” through cultural-political practices. Rather, we argue that the constructivist approach on analyzing heritage is not independent from the existence of socially appreciated cultural phenomena, and that cultural heritage as a “theoretical practice” holds a close connection with both, cultural-political practice and theoretical conceptualizations.