Berkenbosch, Karst (2020) Representing industrial heritage in official marketing documents of the Ruhr and the recognition of these narratives by inhabitants. Master thesis.
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Master Thesis Karst Berkenbosch S2676672.pdf Download (5MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Contemporarily, postindustrial regions often turn to industrial heritage for regional development purposes. The success of these strategies relies on the recognition of the marketed identities by inhabitants. This research aimed to gain insight in the alignment of institutional and public views on industrial heritage of the Ruhr region by conducting a thematic analysis of official marketing documents uncovering common storylines used. Following, a survey was planned to assess the recognition of these narratives amongst inhabitants. However, due to restrictions following the COVID-19 pandemic this stage was suspended. Instead, the analysis was extended by including heritage functions and an analysis of the imagery. It was found that industrial heritage sites contribute to legitimizing the Ruhr as a distinct region by providing a history that is (i) strongly connected to the industry, (ii) presented as universal by focusing on historical facts, and (iii) is framed in a positive way, thereby lacking contesting or negative interpretations. In effect, the presented history is applicable to all inhabitants of the Ruhr. Additionally, these industrial heritage sites relate past and present using a dualistic framing of time and uses juxtapositioning to highlight differences. Future work could continue to research the alignment of institutional and public narrations of industrial heritage by using this paper as a reference point. Moreover, understanding of how heritage relates past and present could be broadened, as this research argues that these can be more complex than previously known.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Degree programme: | Cultural Geography |
| Supervisor: | Groote, P.D. |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Jul 2020 13:06 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Jul 2020 13:06 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3222 |
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