Abstract: 

Robin Hood, Jesse James, Bonnie and Clyde…. There is an infinite list of people whose defiance of state law made them popular heroes, and whose memory is now enshrined as heritage. The same process perpetuates the image of popular rebellions that become emblematic of national pride. In this talk, we ask why it is that lawlessness so easily gains heritage status, and what that phenomenon can tell us about the hidden recesses of nation-state organization and ideology – those areas of cultural activity that the speaker has called “the zone of cultural intimacy” and of “the fellowship of the flawed.”

Bio:

Michael Herzfeld is Ernest E. Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University. He is Affiliated Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Design (GSD)

Director, Thai Studies Program, Asia Center and IIAS Visiting Professor of Critical Heritage Studies, Leiden University and Senior Advisor, Critical Heritage Studies Initiative (IIAS, Leiden). He is also an Honorary Professorial Fellow, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne and Chang Jiang Scholar, Shanghai International Studies University. He is the author of many books, most recently The Body Impolitic, Evicted from Eternity and Siege of the Spirits.

The conversation will continue over drinks at 5.30 at University House.