Between collections and colonial monuments: an approach from the concept of "dissonant heritage”

Abstract

The article proposes a discussion about the so-called "dissonant heritage", in particular the heritage linked to Italian colonialism. Any heritage, even if in a silent state, while no longer involved in the daily life and cultural processes of the present, is received, even if unconsciously, by the public. We chose to analyse two case studies of heritage defined as "dissonant", to observe, in practices, the politico-cultural trajectories of maintaining this memory in a context in which dissonance needs to be identified and centralised, the monument to the explorer Vittorio Bottego and the collection of facial masks of the fascist anthropologist Lidio Cipriani. Unveiling the leading role that 'dissonance' plays in discussions about the different uses of memory and heritage means recognising how this dissonance has opened up new perspectives in the field of heritage studies, in which the concept was originally introduced to discuss inheritances involving discordant histories and public uses of memories and representations of contentious pasts