Cultural Appropriation or Cultural Metamorphosis? The Great Yarmouth Winter Gardens and the Making of British Seaside Heritage

Presentation abstract

Abstract

On the seafront in Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, stands the last remaining Victorian glass and iron Winter Gardens of its kind. Drawing on material culture related to this case-study, my paper explores the ways in which cultural representation, appropriation and metamorphosis have shaped 120 years of the building’s history. From commemorations of the centenary of Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, to 1930s swimwear contests influenced by transatlantic leisure cultures, and the buildings transformation into a Tyrolean biergarten during the 1960s, the Winter Gardens has continually reimagined and performed different cultural identities.

In doing so, this paper questions the extent to which the smorgasbord of traditions synonymous with British seaside heritage can be understood as possessing unequivocally British origins. Responding to the conference theme, it argues that cultural appropriation may be better understood as an ongoing process of cultural metamorphosis, through which borrowed practices are adapted, localised and ultimately naturalised as authentic expressions of place and national identity, demonstrating how heritage sites themselves participate in the production and legitimisation of cultural ownership. At a time when heritage and ideas of Britishness are increasingly invoked within debates around belonging, ownership and representation in England’s seaside communities, this paper considers the implications of these processes for heritage practice and the delivery of cultural policy in contexts shaped by devolution and social unrest.