Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0002-1571-698X
Abstract
The way in which many people, perhaps particularly those in secure and affluent circumstances, view their ancestry and heritage, and display it to others, is often a matter of pride. In some contexts, however, the identification of ‘ancestors’ and ‘heritage’ can have critically important - and sometimes dire - political, social and spiritual ramifications. Here we examine examples in which archaeological and/or historical evidence points to a distancing or ‘active forgetting’ of ancestors and places associated with them. The motives for creating these ‘forgotten places’ are diverse and might include a fear of ‘ghosts’ or death, the desire to project a newly constructed or evolved political identity to outsiders or distant relations, as well as social-political and economic need to distance themselves from their ancestors. In this paper we will explore four examples from Indigenous settings in northern and eastern Canada where peripheral, or forgotten, spaces were actively constructed.
Recommended Citation
Rankin, Lisa K. and Ramsden, Peter G.
(2021)
"Forgotten Places in Political Spaces,"
Northeast Historical Archaeology:
Vol.
50
50, Article 11.
Available at:
https://orb.binghamton.edu/neha/vol50/iss1/11
