Postindustrial Heritagization: Serra do Navio, Brazil and Bethlehem, PA

What happens when industrial towns lose their defining industries? How do the remaining communities and infrastructures find meaning and a future among the postindustrial remains? The key often lies in heritagization, the process by which certain aspects of the past are identified, preserved, and presented as heritage. 

In her dissertation research, Julia Silva de Medeiros, associate researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, compares the postindustrial heritagization processes in Serra do Navio, Brazil and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, both of which once had major metallurgical industries, mining manganese and making steel respectively. Silva de Medeiros shows that the values prevailing among decision makers get embedded in the heritage passed down to future generations.

In support of her work, Silva de Medeiros received funding from the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Library.

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