Studying up (and down) the cultural heritage preservation agenda: Observations from Romania

Abstract

This article argues that researchers involved in cultural heritage preservation need to adopt an inclusive ethnographic research methodology that pays attention to how power, class and status shape communities. Based on field research in Ghimeş-Fǎget, Romania, it discusses the factors that influenced residents’ choice of ethnic identity and focuses on why the Hungarian identity was chosen as the most visible public representation of the town, when residents could have chosen from a variety of other identities. Local efforts to preserve culture, history and self ‘in one direction’ were shaped by the current socio-economic reality in Ghimeş. The article suggests that identity is informed by shifting power relations between ethnic groups and not simply by the more powerful ethnic group in the community. Finally, the article discusses why one recently proposed ‘culturally responsive research methodology’ could not support any kind of legitimate preservation agenda in Ghimeş-Fǎget or any other community.