Thinking Heritage Histories with Ignorance: The Case of the Mitau Spoils in the Swedish National Archives
- Datum
- 11 mars 2022, kl. 13.15–15.00
- Plats
- Observatorieparken, Gamla Observatoriet, Kyrkogårdsgatan 8A
- Typ
- Workshop
- Föreläsare
- Emma Hagström Molin
- Arrangör
- Forskarnätverket Kulturarv i omvandling och Centre for Integrated Research on Culture and Society (CIRCUS)
- Kontaktperson
- Cecilia Rodéhn och Johanna Larsson
This is a workshop that explores the concept of ignorance: if and how it might be useful to heritage studies.
Ignorance has been brought into the history of knowledge by Peter Burke and Lukas Verburgt. They argue that ignorance and knowledge are mutably constituting, and instead of thinking them as opponents, they can be seen as creating epistemic hierarchies, and thus reflecting different ways of knowing and not knowing in a given and time and place (Burke & Verburgt 2021).
With the help of knowledge, ignorance and epistemic hierarchies, Emma will explain how she approach the Mitau files; a collection of documents that were abducted from Mitau castle in Livonia in 1621 by the Swedish army. Since 1622, these looted documents are in the possession of the Swedish National Archives. When following these files over centuries, a history of power and knowledge appears, however, the documents’ fate simultaneously includes absence, ignorance, and perhaps even fiction. After the presentation we will have a joint discussion of the concepts, centred around the pros and cons of thinking with ignorance and epistemic hierarchies in different cases of heritage histories.
Come as you are no preparation needed, but if if you want to read ahead, Burke & Verburgt’s introduction can be found here