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'Saved for the nation'? Interrogating the construction of national treasures in the UK

Mastrandrea, Vittoria (2023) 'Saved for the nation'? Interrogating the construction of national treasures in the UK. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Identification Number: 10.21953/lse.00004762

Abstract

‘National treasures’ are objects that capture the essence of a nation’s cultural past and future. The criteria used to determine whether an object is a national treasure remain unchanged since their introduction in 1952; but the cultural, political and social landscape of the UK today is vastly different. This thesis studies the transformation of cultural objects into national treasures in the UK, in the context of changing national and international discourses of cultural value and national identity. It utilises a Thematic Analysis (TA) methodology and employs the theory of the Authorised Heritage Discourse (AHD) to develop a critique of the legal processes and reasoning underpinning national treasure construction, which remains both opaque and obscure. Through a close reading of the decisions of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (‘Reviewing Committee’) in the period 1952 to 2022, the research evaluates the processes through which national treasures are determined — its theoretical origins, its administrative and qualitative attributes in law, and the direction of change in the future. Through these analyses the thesis interrogates and draws conclusions about the the creation of cultural and national identity. This thesis makes two fundamental contributions to scholarship. First, using the analogy of the disciplinary museum, the thesis develops a normative realm called the ‘National Treasure Place’ (NTP). This is where discourses surrounding cultural objects imbue them with accepted values sufficient for national retention. The opening of this place to scrutiny demonstrates the extent to which the construction of national treasures in the UK is mired in elitism, and exclusive and outdated notions of national identity despite overt attempts to ground the making of national treasures in public perception of identity. Secondly, the thesis undertakes an analysis of every Annual Report of the Reviewing Committee since inception to 2022. In undertaking this novel, empirical research, the thesis demonstrates the fundamental flaws with the process and recommends interventions to counteract the problematic, elite and outdated nature of the system. The conclusions on validity and competence of the institutional process throw light on wider questions of identity, and how we see ourselves reflected in the objects we retain.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Additional Information: © 2023 Vittoria Mastrandrea
Library of Congress subject classification: J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain
Sets: Departments > Law
Supervisor: Flessas, Tatiana and Thambisetty, Siva
URI: http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/4762

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