posted on 2024-11-14, 11:55authored byBarry L Stiefel
In recent years there has been an emerging phenomenon of places and things associated with counterculture becoming a central focus of the heritage preservation field, which in a manner of speaking, is an indicator that the places, tangible objects, and intangible traditions of counterculture gradually shifts in acceptance from being the margins to the center of cultural heritage values. Examples include the Haight-Ashbury Neighbourhood in San Francisco, California that was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011; and Bob Dylan being awarded the Noble Prize for Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition” in 2016. Are there underlying themes and reasons for this growing interest in preserving heritage that at one time was considered marginal to mainstream culture in what is a very mainstream expression of heritage conservation practice? Additionally, how does the phenomenon of “counterculture” and “countercultures” preservation compare in North America to other parts of the world? The objective of this study is to contextualize how and what ways society reflects and refracts on “counterculture” and through the practice of heritage preservation.