Heritage Community Research Articles

Communities of Rivne region in the cultural process civil society creation

The purpose of the article is to systematize the regional material on the cultural approach of communities to the development of civil society. The research methodology was based on the use of general scientific and special methods. The method of theoretical generalization was used to develop the concept of the stated topic and develop recommendations for improving the development of territorial communities, which are presented in the conclusions. The culturological method allowed to analyze the resource and cultural potential of civil society development in the regional dimension. Methods of systematization and comparison made it possible to identify features of socio-cultural development of different territorial communities of the Rivne region. The scientific novelty of the work is to identify the cultural potential of territorial communities to build civil society in Ukraine. Conclusions. Problems of territorial communities are typical for Ukraine: insufficiency and inefficiency of financing; inconsistency and imperfection of the existing infrastructure; lack of quality roads; inconsistency of work or lack of CNAPs; obsolescence of premises in need of repair or reconstruction; staff shortage, etc. Activation of communities affects the development of civil society, which in turn is a stimulating factor for their development. Ways to improve the development of territorial communities are inter-municipal cooperation in all spheres of community life; providing quality services to citizens; job creation not only for young people but for all citizens; cluster approach (a partnership between public, private, civic structures) to the implementation of cultural activities for the formation of the regional cultural space; the cultural heritage of territorial communities as a basic basis of regional development; introduction of innovations, including digitalization, in community development; the synergy of modern information technologies at the community level as a way to timely public awareness of local cultural and artistic projects and activation of citizens to participate in them. Key words: civil society, territorial communities, identity, cultural potential, cultural and artistic projects, Rivne region.

Getting Your Feet Wet

AbstractThere is a lack of broad representation in archaeology generally, and in a specialized field such as underwater archaeology, this issue is only exacerbated. Underwater archaeological sites are often “out of sight, out of mind,“” creating a general lack of awareness of underwater cultural heritage and career prospects in many communities. Coupled with a lack of education and the additional demands of working in a submerged environment (e.g., scuba diving), there is a striking lack of diversity in underwater archaeology. Overall, underwater archaeologists are a largely homogeneous group, particularly along the lines of race and wealth—categories that often overlap. In the context of asking broader questions such as “Why are there so few underwater archaeologists of color?” and “How can we do better?” this article outlines the barriers to inclusivity writ large in underwater archaeology and provides solutions for increasing diversity and accessibility in the field, including specific opportunities and resources for underrepresented groups to “get their feet wet.”

At the intersection of language, gender, and religion

Language use is notably connected to the construction and negotiation of gendered identity (Butler, 1993; Cameron, 1997; Norton, 2000; Menard-Warwick, 2009). However, the study of intersectional identities – such as gendered and religious identity – as it relates to linguistic behavior remains a relatively unexplored area of research. This study examines self-reported language use as a gendered practice among Muslim immigrant women in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). Using data collected from interviews with 34 Muslim women, this study looks at self-reported gendered roles, as well as the linguistic and gendered ideologies that are reflected in informants’ beliefs about their own language use. Furthermore, this study provides evidence of informants expressing specific gender roles that stem from both the heritage and target language (Spanish/Catalan) communities, as reflected in informants’ tendencies to interact primarily with other women and vary their speech depending on the gender and/or heritage identity of their interlocutors.

Exploring co-production in community heritage research: Reflections from the Bennachie Landscapes Project

ABSTRACT Co-production of community heritage research is in the ascendant. Co-production aims to break down barriers between ‘experts’ and the ‘public’ to co-create knowledge about the past. Few projects have sought to critically evaluate the complexities of co-producing research, particularly long-term ones, composed of multiple activities, which draw on differently situated groups. This paper presents a reflective analysis by the university-based participants of a long-standing community heritage project focusing on the ruins of a locally celebrated crofting community in Northeast Scotland. The use of archaeological and archival techniques, the creation of an exhibition, a kitchen garden, promenade drama, a heritage app, and publications, provide both opportunities and challenges for co-production. The meaning of co-production was shaped by the nature of research activities, resulting in significantly varied levels of participation; its embedding, therefore, requires managing expectations. Effective relationships for co-creating knowledge are an outgrowth of building trust, which take time, patience, and commitment.

Reconstitution of an Absence: The Jewish Community of Alba Iulia in the Context of Urban Development

The study addresses the issue of reconstituting the heritage of the Jewish community in Alba Iulia (Romania), starting from several documentary and topographical sources from the first part of the 20th century. The choice of this case study is justified by the importance of the city for the history of Jews in Romania, as the only city in Transylvania (historical province integrated into Romania in 1918) where Jews received the right to settle as early as the 17th century. The main documentary source used is a list of Jewish properties in Alba Iulia declared confiscated in 1941, in the context of the anti-Semitic policy promoted by the regime of Marshal Ion Antonescu (Leader of the Romanian state during 1940-1944). Correlating it with the cadastral plan of the city drafted in 1914 and applying the georeferencing method reconstitutes the position of the still existing buildings and those that disappeared as a result of the systematization policy during the communist regime, in the central area of the city. A more complex approach is also proposed, based on the use of the GIS methodology, whereby the topographic information can be associated with the documentary and epigraphic sources referring to the Jewish cemetery in the city. The issue of the relevance of the Jewish heritage for the current urban strategy is also discussed, starting from the city’s development documents in force.

Archaeological Mapping Project

In light of the earthquake in Christchurch, as well as the recent ones in Wellington, the need to know the location and types of archaeological sites/themes in Wellington is important. NZHPT, combined with the Wellington Archaeological Group, Wellington Tenths Trust/Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust, are working on a Wellington City archaeological mapping project that will have two purposes, the first being a tool that can be used in an emergency event to guide heritage experts, council, NZHPT and the equivalent of CERA, with a systematic and practical map showing the areas of high, medium, low or no archaeological risk. The second tool that will come out of this project is a mapping tool that can be used by consultants, Wellington City Council, tangata whenua, developers and other groups, on a daily basis to help identify the archaeological potential of an area in respect to proposed development or research.The project will pull together local archaeological consultants' knowledge, tangata whenua knowledge, Wellington City Council and archival information as well as information on previous archaeological authorities and registrations held at NZHPT. We are seeking information and knowledge from people within the heritage community who can help in developing the project.

Designing Heritage-Sensitive IP and Marketing Strategies for ICH-Based Creative Economy

Abstract Can intellectual property and marketing strategies help bearer communities to make a sustainable living from their intangible heritage? This is the question that underpinned a British Academy-funded interdisciplinary research project that comprised researchers from the UK, France, and Italy, and an NGO from Kolkata. This contribution describes the development and implementation of heritage-sensitive intellectual property and marketing strategies (HIPAMS) with two communities in West Bengal – Chau dancers and Chau mask-makers who were at the heart of the project. Using methods including forum theatre and walking stories, the research team and the communities’ highlighted challenges faced by the communities in making a sustainable living from their heritage skills and developed ways in which HIPAMS could be used by the communities to their advantage while retaining a focus on the importance of the heritage. The initial evaluation shows how significant these strategies can be for heritage communities, however small and incremental the advances made.

Exploring participatory heritage governance after the EU Faro Convention

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the key Faro notions of “heritage community” and “democratic participation” as defined in the Faro Convention, and how they challenge core notions of authority and expertise in the discipline and professional practice of cultural heritage.Design/methodology/approachThis paper examines notions of “heritage community” and “democratic participation” as they are framed in the Faro Convention, and it briefly introduces two cases (Finland and Marseille) to explore their application. It then focusses on the implications of these two notions for heritage administration (expertise) in terms of citizen agency, co-creation of knowledge and forms of decision-making processes.FindingsThe Faro Convention favours an innovative approach to social, politic and economic problems using cultural heritage. To accomplish this, it empowers citizens as actors in developing heritage-based approaches. This model transforms heritage into a means for achieving socioeconomic goals and attributes to the public the ability to undertake heritage initiatives, leaving the administration and expert bodies as mediators in this process. To bring about this shift, Faro institutes the notion of “heritage communities” and fosters participative governance. However, how heritage communities practise participation may follow different paths and result in different experiences due to local and national political circumstances.Originality/valueThe Faro Convention opens up a window by framing cultural heritage within the realm of social and democratic instrumentality, above and beyond the heritage per se. But it also poses some questions regarding the rationale of heritage management (authority in governability), at least as understood traditionally under official heritage management discourses.

Spanish contact influence in a Finnish heritage community in Misiones, Argentina

AbstractThis study examines contact outcomes in Finnish spoken in a heritage community in Misiones province, Argentina, in the 1970s. The data show limited morphosyntactic differences from dialectal varieties of Finnish, and most of the Spanish influence is lexical loans or sporadic codeswitches that have an emphatic function. The results show that beyond established lexical loans, both fluent and less fluent speakers avoid mixing and comment on it when it occurs. Translation and word search strategies show evidence of the speakers’ awareness about language mixing in the interview setting in which data were collected.

Economics of Experiential Consumption In a Rural Heritage Destination

As markets evolve in the era of the experience economy, experiences have become more meaningful and are an essential part of tourism. Several studies have found that higher expenditures are a positive outcome of a successful and satisfying tourism experience. The purpose of this study is to examine the economic potential of staged experiential offerings in a rural community: Wickenburg, Arizona, a typical western mining and ranching heritage community with a thriving tourism economy. A content analysis of the community's official tourism website and attraction websites, and an onsite survey of visitors are the primary data sources. The results indicate that somewhat moderate demand exists for experiential consumption. They also reiterate the crossover significance of emotional and cognitive attributes and support the cognitive theory of emotions. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge and suggests that emotional and cognitive aspects of experiential consumption should be considered simultaneously for their economic value.

Building heritage communities online: The experience of the Summer School Program ‘Engaging Communities in Cultural Heritage’

The summer school program entitled ‘Engaging Communities in Cultural Heritage’ was held from 21 June to 5 July 2020, as part of the Executive Leadership Development in Heritage Management Workshops organized yearly by the Heritage Management Organization. This year in particular, the course was entirely held online due to the ongoing pandemic and the subsequent worldwide responses enforcing preventive measures and social distancing. Amid these challenging circumstances, the 2-week program was successfully conducted, taking advantage of the digital resources to materialize a syllabus designed to combine theoretical and practical perspectives regarding community engagement in heritage projects in Greece. The series of online meetings gathered 13 students from six countries in total (Greece, Iran, Kenya, Peru, Puerto Rico and Serbia) with different backgrounds and career experiences. This diversity enriched the dynamics of the workshop where group discussions and assignments played a substantial role, and fostered a unique and fertile environment of intercultural and multidisciplinary work.

Cultural Heritage as a Pathway to Sustainable Development in Cyprus: The Case of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage

This work studied the efforts of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage in Cyprus to explore how effectively the TCCH applies diplomatic relation-building efforts towards cultural heritage management and how this can be used to construct a bridge to a process of sustainable development of social relations and heritage use in Cyprus. The Committee’s efforts demonstrate community heritage diplomacy and civil heritage diplomacy, employed by the two largest communities of the island as they attempt to build relations with each other and other minor communities across the border via various heritage practices, and public heritage diplomacy, which is employed by the authorities of each side via the Committee to influence the public of the other side. The Committee employs these forms of heritage diplomacy via a language of cooperation and by bridging gaps in and crossing borders for collaboration, so as to transfer knowledge, values, and experience, and to build trust with institutions and communities. The significance of the study lies in illustrating that the technical and collaborative successes of the Committee via application of the determined types of diplomacy may be successfully applied for a sustainable approach to build relations and confidence under ideologically and politically strained circumstances in Cyprus.

An internal recycling mechanism between ammonia/ammonium and nitrate driven by ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria (AOA, AOB, and Comammox) and DNRA on Angkor sandstone monuments

The ancient Angkorian sandstone monuments in Cambodia are well known for biodeterioration of the sandstone under tropic climate. This study examined ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB and Comammox) and archaea (AOA) in stone-dwelling microbiome from three important Angkor monuments, namely Angor Wat, Bayon of Angkor Thom, and Preah Vihear, by DNA-based metagenomics analysis, RNA-based functional gene reverse-transcriptional (RT)-qPCR quantification, and N-15 isotope analysis. Our metagenomics datasets on these three monuments reveal a rich microbiome and abundant microbial nitrogen transforming reactions of ammonia oxidation and nitrite oxidation, Comammox and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), and these results support an internal recycling mechanism between ammonia/ammonium and nitrate by AOA, AOB, Comammox and DNRA on the stone monuments to support the microbial community. Though a wide range of AOB and AOA lineages together with Comammox were retrieved from these metagenomes as the potential ammonia-oxidizers, only AOA and Comammox were most abundant, likely to contribute to the biochemical processes of ammonia oxidation. The RNA-based qPCR quantification of the functional gene amoA in this study showed that AOA were the more active ammonia oxidizers over AOB in the microbiome of these Angkor sandstone monuments. In addition, a rich population of nitrite/nitrate producing AOA and Comammox drove the sequestration of CO2 onto the stone and this process was in turn supported by DNRA to provide the substrate ammonia/ammonium for a further cyclic reaction to take place continuously between ammonia/ammonium and nitrate. This model is further supported by the high enrichment of stable isotope 15N signature of NO3− in sandstone surface biofilms. The findings of this study are insightful for elucidation of nitrate accumulation by an internal N cycling mechanism proposed, and are important for understanding the sustainable microbial community and protection management of stone cultural heritage.

Reinterpreting Jewish Petitioning Practices During the Shoah: Contestation, Transnational Space, and Survival

ABSTRACT During the 1930s and early 1940s, members of the Jewish community, converts, and men and women of partial Jewish heritage across German-controlled Europe wrote tens of thousands of petitions. As tools to redress grievances and request support, these petitions ranged from rushed appeals for exemptions from deportations to elaborate protest entreaties to fascist officials. Too readily dismissed by scholars as ‘sham possibilities,’ petitioning practices and the question of their ‘success’ were multi-layered phenomena. Even petitioners who ultimately failed could use the often lengthy petitioning process to buy time and prepare other responses such as going into hiding. This rereading of entreaties submitted in Central Europe and occupied France reveals the widespread existence of trans-European networks that connected families and communities, created unique transnational spaces, and profoundly shaped reactions during the genocide. As part of integrated histories, these transnational petitions demonstrate the need to eschew oversimplified binaries of resistance versus collaboration in favor of more complex taxonomies.

The use of LiDAR in reconstructing the pre‐World War II landscapes of abandoned mountain villages in southern Poland

AbstractThe cessation of most human activities resulting from post‐World War II expulsions and forced displacements in Central Europe triggered massive land cover transformation in mountainous areas. However, many pre‐War traces of past landscapes have survived—imprinted in microtopography—in permanently abandoned villages. Currently, they constitute unique cultural heritage of communities no longer in existence. Our main goal was therefore to reconstruct a lost cultural landscape of mountain villages abandoned after World War II (WWII). The case study area comprised three such villages located in southern Poland, two in the Carpathians and one in the Sudetes. We used the national airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) dataset combined with archival cadastral maps and field survey to detect man‐made microtopographic features related to past boundaries, road network, agriculture and buildings and to interpret them in the landscape context. We demonstrated that the pre‐War human footprint left in relief was shaped largely by past landownership divisions, land use and environmental constraints (related to lithology, soils and topography). Our secondary goal was to assess the value and application opportunities of LiDAR in reconstructing past landscapes. We showed that 38–70% of non‐natural parcel boundaries and 65–79% of roads marked on mid‐19th‐century cadastral maps are still detectable using LiDAR. Therefore, we argue that the past landscape pattern, originating in late Middle Ages and subsequently transformed prior to WWII, remains well preserved in the relief and that LiDAR is an effective tool to reconstruct a past landscape of mountain villages abandoned after WWII. We also confirmed that customized LiDAR visualizations are more informative than ready‐to‐use shaded digital elevation models (DEMs), in particular when integrated with cadastral and field‐based data. We conclude that the greatest advantage of LiDAR is the capacity to provide a landscape context for isolated traces of past human activity, allowing for the reconstruction of entire spatial patterns and interrelationships developed by past societies.

La casa comune. Significati e statistiche, problemi e progetti per i beni culturali delle comunità di vita consacrata

This text was developed with the intention of guaranteeing a comprehensive framework for the interventions that make up this volume. Its aim is to foster a critical orientation on the conditions, policies and institutions involved in the management of cultural heritage for religious communities, specifically in regard to the closure and dismissal of convents and houses of common spiritual life. This contribution considers the phenomenon of closures according to a holistic approach, presen- ting its different aspects and points of view: from that of the external intellectual observer to that in the internal religious community member. The cultural heritage’s fate is described as a part of a wider complex phenomenon that involves religious communities, and the civil one, with repercussions on the patrimonial, ecclesial, juridical, and even psychological level of its members. To consider all these arguments, the essay presents a tripartite development. Its first part illustrates the specific characteristics of the cultural heritage of religious communities, taking into particular consideration the interdependence between communities and goods, the relationship between movable and immovable properties, the relationship between tradition and conservation, in the evolution of the ecclesial and canonical concept of cultural heritage. The second paragraph offers a series of statistical data on the presence of consecrated men and women and their homes in Italy, Europe and the rest of the world, with variation rates referring to the last 30 years, assuming as a source the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae. Despite the absence of census data regarding new communities of consecrated life, some considerations are also offered with respect to their presence. In the third part, the institutional subjects who accompany the communities of consecrated life in the paths of disposal and alienation of goods are presented, also underlining their absences, values and meanings that could guide programs and projects of reuse and valorization.

Heterogeneity of residents' dilemmas in supporting sustainable heritage development: An integrated segmentation approach

To identify residents' heterogeneity via a social dilemma lens, this research applies an integrated segmentation approach toward the heritage community by combining temporal concerns, efficacy beliefs, social emotion, and socio-demographic variables. A total of 402 valid respondents were collected via a face-to face household survey in a Cultural World Heritage Site, Kaiping Diaolou in China. Results revealed that age, education, gender, perceived collective and self-efficacy in heritage sustainability were the most important predicators of residents' sustainable behaviours. Five clusters among heritage residents were categorized, including ‘sustainability advocates’, ‘affective supporters’, ‘careless co-operators’, ‘future-concerned supporters’, and ‘critics’. Implications for developing more effective and targeted strategies to encourage resident compliance toward sustainable heritage development are provided. • Identifies five heritage resident clusters beyond cost-benefit trade-offs. • Temporal concern, efficacy and emotions affects resident sustainable actions. • Strategies in decreasing residents' dilemmas in sustainable heritage development.

Identity, Dominance and Contestation: Young People’s Engagement with Heritage and Culture

AbstractThe exclusionary identities plaguing our contemporary times have strong linkages with the heritage and culture of communities. Heritage is a construct that not only records the past but is also created for contemporary social and political needs. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at two publicly contested heritage sites in Maharashtra, India, this paper seeks to understand, young people’s interactions with heritage and culture. These two sites are an ancient Buddhist monument combined with a Hindu temple and a museum articulating elitist narratives of Maharashtra’s past. We found that young people’s heritage conceptions are deeply rooted in inter-connected political identities of belonging to a region and a nation; and regionally popular symbols such as Shivaji and hill forts play a significant role in shaping them. Our fieldwork shows that the heritage represented by some institutions reproduces the broader social dominations and injustice. Worryingly, some of these projections are accepted by young people as their own heritage. This normalizes the partial representation of heritage. Some young people, however, contest some of those dominant projections and hold diverse ideas on heritage. These conceptions provide fertile ground for young people’s political engagement with the idea of heritage and are a call for them to participate in the current contest over India’s past. Diversity and contestations are hallmarks of heritage and culture in India. In that context, the paper enriches our understandings of those discursive and power laden processes that shape the formation of heritage and culture among youth, not only in the global South but also across the world.

CULTURAL HERITAGE MONUMENT DOCUMENTATION THROUGH ADAPTIVE PARAMETRIC DESIGN PROCESS

Abstract. The paper presents a novel adaptive parametric documentation, modelling and sharing methodology, which aims to achieve a continuous holistic documentation, data processing and sharing process for cultural heritage community, such as architects, engineers, archaeologists, conservators, programmers, fabricators, contest creators, game developers, scholars and common citizens. Thus, the use of advance parametric and building information modelling software allows the processing and specification of all data by creating the 3D models needed for the multidisciplinary experts. Two Cypriot case studies from the medieval time period have been chosen for the development, and evaluation of our proposed methodology in order to investigate the process of modelling and sharing all the given metadata and 3D data. The first one is the Asinou Church, a UNESCO Heritage stone monument in the Troodos Mountains with a unique interior and the Kolossi Castle, a former Crusader stronghold on the west of the city of Limassol on the island of Cyprus.

From Bricks to Clicks: How Digital Heritage Initiatives Create a New Ecosystem for Cultural Heritage and Collective Remembering

Cultural heritage institutions, such as museums, libraries, archives, and historical societies, are increasingly using digital heritage initiatives and social media platforms to connect and interact with their heritage communities. This creates a new memory ecosystem whereby heritage communities are invited to contribute, participate with, and share more of what they are interested in collectively remembering, rather than simply accepting the authoritative narratives of heritage institutions, which raises questions about what this means for cultural heritage writ large and whose versions of the past these heritage communities will hold onto as their digital inheritance. The primary contributions of this article are to provide both an extended view of the issue by building on several qualitative studies involving in-depth interviews and digital observations with eight cultural heritage communities over a five-year period and to better understand how their digital heritage initiatives are creating a new ecosystem for cultural heritage and collective remembering.