Radical Left Culture and Heritage, the Politics of Preservation and Memorialisation, and the Promise of the Metaverse
Radical left culture and heritage—understood as incarnations of leftist artefacts and praxis both past and present—have taken risks in challenging hegemonic machinations often when it is unpopular to do so. To the ire of hegemons, leftist projects across the globe have marshalled places, spaces, and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Heritage |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/7/2/26 |
| _version_ | 1827343554456846336 |
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| author | Daniel H. Mutibwa |
| author_facet | Daniel H. Mutibwa |
| author_sort | Daniel H. Mutibwa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Radical left culture and heritage—understood as incarnations of leftist artefacts and praxis both past and present—have taken risks in challenging hegemonic machinations often when it is unpopular to do so. To the ire of hegemons, leftist projects across the globe have marshalled places, spaces, and technologies into sites of empowerment and struggle utilising ‘small’ and ‘big’ acts of resistance and critical interventions to champion social justice—sometimes successfully, and at other times, less so. However, the preservation of projects’ artefacts, praxis, and memory work has been anything but straightforward, owing primarily to institutional politics and infrastructural and resourcing issues. Taking <i>The Freedom Archives</i> (<i>FA</i>) as a case study, this article explores how <i>FA</i> is preserving the distinctive political education programme that underpinned the iconic liberation struggle in Guinea-Bissau that kickstarted the seismic, global decolonisation project in the late 1950s. The article argues that <i>FA</i> could substantially enhance the preservation and memorialisation of that programme in the Metaverse—if this materialises as a fully open, interoperable, and highly immersive space (1) unfettered by hegemonic regulation, and (2) characterised by ‘strategic witnessing’, ‘radical recordkeeping’, and user agency. In doing so, <i>FA</i> would serve as an exemplar for leftist projects globally. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:30:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b7bbcbc988dc460c9bcb818061aa3a36 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-9408 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:30:54Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heritage |
| spelling | doaj.art-b7bbcbc988dc460c9bcb818061aa3a362024-02-23T15:18:27ZengMDPI AGHeritage2571-94082024-01-017253757510.3390/heritage7020026Radical Left Culture and Heritage, the Politics of Preservation and Memorialisation, and the Promise of the MetaverseDaniel H. Mutibwa0School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UKRadical left culture and heritage—understood as incarnations of leftist artefacts and praxis both past and present—have taken risks in challenging hegemonic machinations often when it is unpopular to do so. To the ire of hegemons, leftist projects across the globe have marshalled places, spaces, and technologies into sites of empowerment and struggle utilising ‘small’ and ‘big’ acts of resistance and critical interventions to champion social justice—sometimes successfully, and at other times, less so. However, the preservation of projects’ artefacts, praxis, and memory work has been anything but straightforward, owing primarily to institutional politics and infrastructural and resourcing issues. Taking <i>The Freedom Archives</i> (<i>FA</i>) as a case study, this article explores how <i>FA</i> is preserving the distinctive political education programme that underpinned the iconic liberation struggle in Guinea-Bissau that kickstarted the seismic, global decolonisation project in the late 1950s. The article argues that <i>FA</i> could substantially enhance the preservation and memorialisation of that programme in the Metaverse—if this materialises as a fully open, interoperable, and highly immersive space (1) unfettered by hegemonic regulation, and (2) characterised by ‘strategic witnessing’, ‘radical recordkeeping’, and user agency. In doing so, <i>FA</i> would serve as an exemplar for leftist projects globally.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/7/2/26canonisationdark heritageliving archiveaugmented reality (AR)virtual reality (VR)mixed reality (MR) |
| spellingShingle | Daniel H. Mutibwa Radical Left Culture and Heritage, the Politics of Preservation and Memorialisation, and the Promise of the Metaverse Heritage canonisation dark heritage living archive augmented reality (AR) virtual reality (VR) mixed reality (MR) |
| title | Radical Left Culture and Heritage, the Politics of Preservation and Memorialisation, and the Promise of the Metaverse |
| title_full | Radical Left Culture and Heritage, the Politics of Preservation and Memorialisation, and the Promise of the Metaverse |
| title_fullStr | Radical Left Culture and Heritage, the Politics of Preservation and Memorialisation, and the Promise of the Metaverse |
| title_full_unstemmed | Radical Left Culture and Heritage, the Politics of Preservation and Memorialisation, and the Promise of the Metaverse |
| title_short | Radical Left Culture and Heritage, the Politics of Preservation and Memorialisation, and the Promise of the Metaverse |
| title_sort | radical left culture and heritage the politics of preservation and memorialisation and the promise of the metaverse |
| topic | canonisation dark heritage living archive augmented reality (AR) virtual reality (VR) mixed reality (MR) |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-9408/7/2/26 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT danielhmutibwa radicalleftcultureandheritagethepoliticsofpreservationandmemorialisationandthepromiseofthemetaverse |