Digital resources in the Social Sciences and Humanities OpenEdition Our platforms OpenEdition Books OpenEdition Journals Hypotheses Calenda Libraries OpenEdition Freemium Follow us

Cultural Heritage as a Ressource in Times of Accelerated Global Change. An Opening contribution.

CHER Kick-off Meeting 2016, Opening lecture by Prof. Dirk Lange. Photo: Jana Stoklasa.

Von: Christine Schoenmakers & Jana Stoklasa

Between 2016 and 2021 the concept of cultural heritage and its tangible and intangible representations were examined under various disciplinary approaches – historical, educational, sociological, socio-scientifical and political by the scientific members of the interdisciplinary research project association “Cultural heritage as a resource? Competing constructions, strategic usages and multiple adoptions during the 21st century

As a result of the CHER closing symposium that took place in Hannover in September 2021, we are pleased to open herewith the blog series “Cultural Heritage as a Resource in Times of accelerated Global Change” that consists of four contributions by international researchers in the field of critical cultural heritage studies: Huang Yi, Johanna Blokker, Astrid Swenson, and Maria Kouri. These contributions will highlight different examples for the construction of cultural heritage as a result of constantly evolving complex socio-historical negotiation processes over certain aspects of the past. Furthermore, they will question heritage in its bridging function between past and future which helps construct local, national and global identities in these times of accelerated change.

CHER researchers during a museum visit in Wroclaw, Poland, 2016. Photo: Christine Schoenmakers.

Concerning urban heritage, the authors have examined recent heritage processes in Berlin, Wroclaw, Manchester and Barcelona from a cultural-historical perspective. They aim to underline that in today’s globalized world, the construction of cultural heritage in European cities is subject to standardized pressure and international competition to attract tourists, professionals and companies. In this socioeconomic dimension, cultural heritage provides orientation in times of increasingly accelerated global change. To create a unique, outstanding and possibly attractive feature, municipal governments often refer to certain aspects of their respective and specific past. In these selective processes, creating a positive city image plays a decisive role. Hereby the chosen historical aspects, events and traditions serve as legitimization for current political decisions or future aims of more and more actors.

Urban Heritage in Berlin, Germany, 2017. Photos: Christine Schoenmakers.

The involved actors use the past as a resource to enforce and achieve their particular interests as well as to provide guidance in the present. Hence, the construction of cultural heritage is a contested process. Especially in European metropolises, negotiating heritage is nothing short of a battle over the sovereignty in interpreting past events: when actor groups produce cultural heritage, they not only contribute to creating a local and global sense of belonging by forwarding their representations of the past but also condition and imprint a certain set of values or rules.

The Dwarfs as Urban Heritage of Wroclaw, Poland, 2017. Photo: Jana Stoklasa.

Following these findings, the next article in this series will examine the role of museums in the 21st century and how they react to processes of negotiating heritage. Maria Kouri asks if museums are “Spearheading or trailing behind the future” and provides an analysis of recent global phenomenon’s and their impact on museums worldwide.  


OpenEdition schlägt Ihnen vor, diesen Beitrag wie folgt zu zitieren:
iddredaktion (11. April 2022). Cultural Heritage as a Ressource in Times of Accelerated Global Change. An Opening contribution. Abseits der Fußnote. Abgerufen am 12. Februar 2026 von https://doi.org/10.58079/ptiu


Das könnte dich auch interessieren …

Schreibe einen Kommentar

Deine E-Mail-Adresse wird nicht veröffentlicht. Erforderliche Felder sind mit * markiert

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.