[Commlist] New Book: Geopolitics of Digital Heritage

Open Access New Book: Geopolitics of Digital Heritage

Natalia Grincheva is writing to share that the new co-authored 
monograph, */Geopolitics of Digital Heritage/ (2024: Cambridge 
University Press)*, has just been published online.

The book is now in *Open Access until February 2, 2024*
*You can download your FREE e-copy of the book  from here:*
https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/geopolitics-of-digital-heritage/0F7DD9BC4693903022001EC7852377B8 


Please feel free to share with your students, colleagues, and your 
Universities Libraries!

*Book Abstract: *
Geopolitics of Digital Heritage analyzes and discusses the political 
implications of the largest digital heritage aggregators across 
different scales of governance, from the city-state governed Singapore 
Memory Project, to a national aggregator like Australia's Trove, to 
supranational digital heritage platforms, such as Europeana, to the 
global heritage aggregator, Google Arts & Culture. These four dedicated 
case studies provide focused, exploratory sites for critical 
investigation of digital heritage aggregators from the perspective of 
their geopolitical motivations and interests, the economic and cultural 
agendas of involved stakeholders, as well as their foreign policy 
strategies and objectives. The Element employs an interdisciplinary 
approach and combines critical heritage studies with the study of 
digital politics and communications. Drawing from empirical case study 
analysis, it investigates how political imperatives manifest in the 
development of digital heritage platforms to serve different actors in a 
highly saturated global information space, ranging from national 
governments to transnational corporations.

*Table of Contents:*
*1 Introduction*
Defining the Geopolitics of Digital Heritage
The Production and Deconstruction of Digital Heritage Geopolitics
Section Outline

*2 Crowdsourcing National Identity: Singapore Memory Project*
Introduction
Nation-Building: From Singapore Production to Consumption
Nation Branding: Virtual Enlargement of Singapore
Conclusion

*3 Building National Heritage Infrastructure: Trove*
Introduction
Australian Geopolitics
Trove: From ‘Find and Get’ to National Heritage Infrastructure
Digital Heritage of the Nation
Indigenous Digital Heritage Cultures
Conclusion

*4 Constructing Virtual Europe: Europeana*
Introduction
Geopolitics: Fostering Regional Cohesion
Building Europeana, ‘Harmonizing’ Cultural Collections
 From Digital Library to Digital Sovereignty
Conclusion

*5 Aggregating Global Heritage: Google Arts & Culture*
Introduction
Building a Monopoly: Digital Heritage Imperialism
Google Geopolitics: A Transnational Media Corporation on the World Stage
Implications of Heritage Platformization
Conclusion

*6 Conclusion*
Digital Technologies of Spatial Production
The Future of Digital Heritage Aggregators: Navigating the Extremes
References


Natalia Grincheva is now soliciting the book reviews. Please do let 
Natalia know if you are interested in writing one at (grincheva /at/ gmail.com)

The monograph received the following appraisals from major scholars in 
the field:

*Tim Winter, Professor, National University of Singapore, Author of 
/Geocultural Power /(Chicago) and /The Silk Road: connecting histories 
and futures/ (Oxford):*
This book takes critical heritage studies in new, exciting and important 
directions. It introduces a domain of enquiry, digital heritage 
geopolitics, via fascinating examples that move from the city-state of 
Singapore, to the continental, to Google's global ambitions. Grincheva 
and Stainforth's important study provides us with a valuable foundation 
for understanding how the capturing and codifying, ordering and 
(re)presenting of culture as data now takes on geopolitical dimensions, 
and why that matters in a digitally connected and competitive world.'

*Christine Sylvester, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at 
University of Connecticut:*
'This book systematically updates traditional bases of heritage studies, 
international politics, and even museum studies to include state and 
corporate projects that configure new geopolitics of cultural power and 
control. Heritage aggregation is the overarching theme here and it is 
masterfully revealed in case studies from Singapore, Australia, Europe, 
and Google. The Google case is especially riveting, but each example 
expertly lays out the mechanisms and the reach of today's digitalized 
world. Short, to the point, and definitely important.'

*David C. Harvey, Professor, Aarhus University, Denmark:*
'Through its exploration of how culture is collected, organised and 
valued in the realm of digital heritage, this insightful and clearly 
written book deals with some of the key issues facing heritage 
scholarship today. Skilfully weaving together literature from critical 
heritage studies, digital humanities and governmental theory, the book 
draws on four case studies of digital aggregators, to develop a broader 
understanding of how digital heritage shapes and is shaped by political 
and ideological agendas at multiple scales. It will stand as a key 
reference point, both reflecting recent advances in digital heritage 
scholarship, and by providing a platform for further questioning on the 
future of the field.'

*Dave O'Brien, Professor of Creative & Cultural Industries, University 
of Manchester, UK:*
'Geopolitics of Digital Heritage is a brilliant and concise overview of 
a crucial question for heritage scholars - who controls the digital 
archive? Offering a rich theoretical base for the analysis, as well as 4 
detailed - and global - case studies, the book is an important 
intervention. It reveals the power dynamics underpinning digital 
heritage infrastructure and offers a starting point for the public to 
question the politics and commercial imperatives associated with state 
and corporate control of culture.'

*Rhonda Zaharna, Professor of Global Communications, American 
University, USA:*
'The path-breaking Element, Geopolitics of Digital Heritage, opens the 
conversation on the geopolitical dimension of digital heritage policy 
and politics. While the role of digitalization of cultural heritages has 
gained increasing attention, this is the first work to view practices 
and policies through a geopolitical lens. Digital politics have become a 
new political arena where information is a major weapon of power and 
control. The scholars present four case studies with rich research 
detail and a probing analysis to demonstrate how state and non-state 
actors are aggregating and curating digital cultural data in pursuit of 
their geopolitical agendas to shape collective public memories, national 
images, and cultural consumption. Not all is for the better; the authors 
raise concerns beyond cultural competition and instrumentalization to 
dangers of global monopolization, Disneyfication, commodification and 
digital imperialism.'


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