The Mediation of Cultural Memory: Digital Preservation in the Cases of Classical Indian dance and the Cherokee Stomp Dance

The Mediation of Cultural Memory: Digital Preservation in the Cases of Classical Indian dance and the Cherokee Stomp Dance

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In their article, Cushman and Ghosh examine two different types of digital media used to represent culturally sensitive and significant artifacts: a classical dance of India represented by an avatar in Second Life, and the tribal Stomp dance of the Cherokee Nation represented to the public through text, only. They approach their study from an ethical and aesthetic point of view, questioning whether digital media transforms cultural expression and to what extent digital technologies can be used to both preserve sacred content and extend the community’s cultural memory. Cushman and Ghosh undergird their investigation with Jacque Derrida’s studies of linguistics and semiotics and to concepts of mediation by such theorists as Jay David Bolter and N. Katherine Hayles. They assert that the digital technologies used to represent cultural history must serve, reinforce, and preserve the cultural values embedded in both the structure of the site and the digital tools supplied to engage its artifacts. Cushman and Ghosh discover that the mediation (digital technologies) shapes and enhances cultural memory, although at a cost. Sacred dances, as one example, become disembodied through digital mediation due to the absence of a live audience in face-to-face proximity. The authors report that whereas digital representations of sacred cultural objects or events cannot provide the full embodiment necessary for establishing cultural memory, there are benefits to digitizing cultural heritage, including the educational value of making ancient culture accessible to the world.

Cushman, Ellen

Ghosh, Shreelina

Journal of Popular Culture

2012

Polk, Victoria

© 2012, Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Journal Article

Cushman, Ellen and Shreelina Ghosh. "The Mediation of Cultural Memory: Digital Preservation in the Cases of Classical Indian dance and the Cherokee Stomp Dance." Journal of Popular Culture 45, no.2 (2012): 264-83.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-5931.2012.00924.x/abstract;jsessionid=109DDC591B31C01FF48272BAD2E22510.d01t03