Newcastle University

Graduate Student, International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies

Thesis Title: Heritage Landscapes, Sense of Place and Ecomuseum Potential in the North Pennines

About

My research aims to explore how heritage contributes to sense of place. This relationship is one that is tacitly accepted and so far only lightly explored in the literature. The PhD dissertation draws on an analysis of in-depth interview data collected in 2008 amongst people involved in heritage activity in the rural Northern Uplands of the UK. It examines how the fields of heritage studies, gerontology, sociology and geography have come to accept the plurality of heritage values and considers how heritage - as process, expression or material manifestation - relates to senses of belonging in the North Pennines. The thesis examines how sense of place has been assessed in the past and identifies within the environmental psychology literature a framework for ‘measuring’ the phenomenon. This framework is then used to analyse the interview data. Findings indicate not only that heritage works as a reference point for continuity of identity, but also suggest the motivations of those participating in heritage activity and the benefits of that participation in terms of social, human and identity capital.

Heritage management practices and possibilities are explored and synergies with ecomuseology identified in order to suggest its potential for safeguarding cultural heritage and sense of place in the North Pennines.

The PhD is an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded collaborative studentship with the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership.