Dissonant heritage in “a Disneyland of the 1920s” : Analyzing the narrative of the Acadian deportation at Grand Pré National Historic Site

Abstract

There is an abundance of literature on the need to contemplate sites of dissonant heritage, and a growing body of literature that is interested in the spatiality of commemoration, or how narratives are told through space. One site where these themes intersect is at Grand Pré National Historic Site, a focal point for Acadian history in Canada, which presents a narrative on the events of the Acadian Deportation. Unfortunately, the narrative of the Acadian Deportation at Grand Pré is not consistently presented across the multiple components of the site. While the narrative of the Acadian Deportation told at the site of Grand Pré is dark in nature, there is work to be done to ensure that this narrative of dissonant heritage is consistently represented across all aspects of the site.