Revision of Heritage: Concepts, Approaches, Examples

Preservation of historical heritage is experiencing a real boom in the world: we are all concerned about things, quarrelling, protesting, and fundraising. The situation of war poses an additional challenge and forced us to value monuments more — unfortunately, this very often comes after their damage or loss. But do we know much about those who have experienced and seen value in old houses, things, or traditions before us? Where did the idea of heritage come from, and who invented it? How was the heritage once cared for? How has the heritage been preserved in previous armed conflicts?

We invite you to participate in the Reading Discussion Group "Reviewing Heritage: Concepts, Approaches, Examples" to discuss books on heritage, and in particular, on heritage under threat. For reading, we will offer classic and modern texts that have built key approaches in this field.

The reading group will meet once a month on the Zoom platform to discuss one book.

The first two meetings will focus on texts that critically analyze contemporary ways of thinking about heritage and their relation to identity politics and social inequalities, both in nation-states and in larger imagined communities:

• book for the first meeting: Laurajane Smith, Uses of Heritage. Routledge, 2006
• for the second: Sharon Macdonald, Memorylands: Heritage and Identity in Europe Today. Routledge, 2013.
• for the third: Cloonan, Micheand Valerie. The monumental challenge of preservation: the past in a volatile world. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2018.

Next, we will discuss books focusing on historical cases from different times and countries turning to the origins of modern understanding of heritage in imperial and nation-building contexts, from the emergence of the concept of a monument, through the nineteenth century, to the times of socialism and post-socialist transformation:

• Astrid Swenson, The Rise of Heritage: Preserving the Past in France, Germany and England, 1789-1914. Cambridge University Press, 2013 — February 20.
• Matthew Rampley, Markian Prokopovych, and Nóra Veszprémi. The Museum Age in Austria-Hungary. Art and Empire in the Long Nineteenth Century. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2021. — April 10.
• Liliane Wong, Adaptive Reuse: Extending the Lives of Buildings. De Gruyter, 2016. — May 29.
• Emanuela Grama, Socialist Heritage: The Politics of Past and Place in Romania. Indiana University Press, 2019. — September 4.

The reading group will be interesting for all those interested in heritage research and promotion involved in studying, professional protection and revitalization, architects, urban activists, and urbanists.

The language of discussion is Ukrainian.

Duration — 1 hour

To participate in the Reading Discussion Group, please register. Anyone who has previously registered to participate in a reading group does not need to register again.

All registered users will receive access to the books, and a Zoom link in advance of each meeting.

TEAM

• Initiative group: Roxoliana Holovata, Sofia Dyak, Olha Zarechniuk, Viktoriia Panas, Iryna Sklokina, Diána Vonnák
• Coordination and logistics support: Sofia Andrusyshyn, Roxoliana Holovata, Victoria Panas

For questions, please, contact Sofiia Andrusyshyn, [email protected].

The Reading Group is part of the Centre's research focus on Urban Heritage: Concepts, Practices and Heritage.

Credits

Cover Image: View of the central part of Lviv, photo by Thanas Nikiforuk/ / Urban Media Archive of the Center for Urban History