Abstract
AbstractTurunen discusses how the “European significance” of the European Heritage Label (EHL) sites has been narrated through interconnections of European values and European integration. She argues that, in the context of the EHL, integration is intricately linked to the notion of spreading common values, which in turn is entangled with Eurocentrism. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the geography of coloniality: the underlying spatial structure that makes the coloniality of European cultural heritage and related hierarchies more visible. Ultimately, the chapter shows how the concept of coloniality enables us to analyse the ways Eurocentrism is also embedded in ideas about European cultural heritage beyond colonial heritage, examining the role trans-European initiatives like the EHL could have in the decolonization of European cultural heritage.
Highlights
The interlinkages of European integration and colonialism have been increasingly acknowledged in academic circles (e.g. Ahmed 2000; Bhambra 2009; Hansen and Jonsson 2015; Kinnvall 2016), colonialism continues to be a difficult topic in many forums in and around Europe
This chapter aims to unearth the coloniality that exists beyond these diversities—a deeper level of coloniality embedded into the European project of the European Union
When it comes to the ways European values and integration are narrated in the European Union (EU)-authorized heritage discourse” (AHD), we are faced with crucial questions of power
Summary
We have already examined the many entanglements of Eurocentrism and the idea of European cultural heritage in the EU-AHD. There is an explicit focus on the symbolic importance of these sites, and using this narrative is a common aspect of almost all the EHL sites analyzed here When it comes to the ways European values and integration are narrated in the EU-AHD, we are faced with crucial questions of power. Despite the long history of European wars, this internal dynamic is largely lacking the history of direct rule, physical violence, and appropriation that is descriptive of the relationships between the European Empires and their colonies In this sense, Eastern Europe is in many cases more affected by the actions of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, and the remaining effects of Soviet colonialization in the region (e.g. Annus 2018; Tlostanova 2018). Unless these implicit biases are taken seriously, and effort is taken to balance the narratives used within the EU-AHD, there is a risk of producing tensions and conflicts that challenge ideas of joint European heritage, and European identity politics at large
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