Value Of Heritage For Society Research Articles

Emotional Cartography of Everyday Heritage via Photography

This paper presented the results of a heritage education intervention in a non-formal context via a collective photographic exhibition organised by a cultural association. In accordance with the Faro Convention on the value of cultural heritage for society, people’s role in the construction and sustaining of their identity is recognised, and the fostering of shared responsibility towards the environment was sought. A mixed methodology was employed in order to evaluate the effects of participation in this project on the perception of heritage, to analyse what relationship there was between this conception and the photographic output, and to explain to what extent participation in a collective exhibition had an influence on the emotional resignification of everyday heritage. The results showed that the participants modified their traditional conception of heritage towards a symbolic-identity type, consciously questioned their relationship and commitment with everyday places, and rediscovered their environment by way of a contextualised learning sequence.

The frictional geography of cultural heritage. Grounding the Faro Convention into urban experience in Forlì, Italy

ABSTRACT Cultural heritage is nurtured by, and nurtures, space and place dynamics that are multidimensional and ambiguous. In this paper I engage with a ‘frictional geography’ of heritage-making to question the principles and practices of the Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society of the Council of Europe, a charter predicated on the principle of citizens’ inclusion and co-operation. The friction metaphor has emerged in the last decade in social and cultural geographies, bringing together globalisation, mobilities and more-than-human approaches. I will refer to an ethnographic study based in Forlì, Italy, where the local administration has been supporting a Faro process from 2016 to 2018. Reflecting on this case study, I ask: What happens once the principles of local democracy and heritage co-construction are enacted on the ground of everyday urban experiences? What frictions, conflicts and ambiguities arise? The case of Forlì serves as a useful illustration of how diverse acceptances of the same heritage-making process coexist and ‘rub’ against one another. A ‘frictional geography’ approach might also be employed to explore other place-making processes, especially those accompanied by the claim of the right of citizens to participate, on the one hand, and increasing societal conflicts, on the other.

Territoriality and State Succession in Cultural Heritage

Abstract:The international legal discourse on the topic of state succession in cultural property has long been dominated by the concept of territoriality—the territorial provenance (origin) of cultural assets. This traditional reasoning was essentially rooted in the idea of the European nation-state. In the last 50 years, the principle of territoriality has also become accommodated within the framework of the preservation of cultural heritage. Yet such territorial and protective approaches do not take into account the value of cultural heritage for society, that is, groups and individuals that have created or maintained a given heritage. This article attempts to explore the potential clash between the principles of territoriality and human rights, with respect to state succession in cultural heritage matters. In this context, it deals with some recent ongoing interstate negotiations on the allocation of and access to cultural property with respect to post–World War II developments in state succession among Poland, Germany, and Ukraine.

Pop-up cinema and place-shaping: urban cultural heritage at Marshall's Mill

‘Pop-up’ cinema is a phenomenon in which films are screened publicly at ad hoc venues, often outdoors – e.g. car parks, brownfield sites, beneath roadway flyovers, parks or pedestrianised spaces – screenings can ‘pop up’ literally anywhere. Through the case of a pop-up cinema in May 2012 at Marshall's Mill, a protected heritage site in Leeds (UK), the paper questions the relations between cities, communities and overlooked or marginal landscapes. This paper contextualises this pop-up cinema event within debates about urban cultural regeneration and shifting frameworks for cultural heritage. It specifically explores the construction of heritage communities within the Council of Europe [2005, October 27. Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society. Faro. Retrieved August 22, 2012, from http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/treaties/html/199.htm]. Within this policy framework, it is suggested that active, participatory, creative uses and processes can redefine cultural heritage and reshape urban places. Pop-up events, such as cinema but also including a range of arts, leisure and cultural activities, can help to envision opportunities and enact possibilities of reimagining and promoting different kinds of urban spaces, especially in contract to emphases during the recent neoliberal regeneration of many UK city centres, during what are now more challenging economic times.

Sustaining Heritage in South-East Europe: Working with the Council of Europe, 2003–10

The paper outlines the principles, outcomes, and impacts of the Council of Europe’s heritage-rehabilitation project in South-East Europe, the Integrated Rehabilitation Project Plan/Survey of the Architectural and Archaeological Heritage (IRPP/SAAH). It is suggested that, although the project began in 2003, before the adoption of the Faro Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society, it anticipated many of its themes, so in effect was putting theories into practice. The lessons learned from this continuing heritage project will contribute to future discussions on the theory and practice of heritage-led regeneration, in which the conservation of heritage is not an end in itself but a means to an end of social and economic development.

Cultural Rights: An Essential Key to Understand Human Rights in Complex Societies (Les Droits Culturels: Une Clé D’Analyse Favorisant Les Droits De La Personne À L’Heure Des Sociétés Complexes)

United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted in 2009 General Observation no 21 interpreting Article 15 (1)(a) of the Covenant. This article guarantees the right of everyone to take part in cultural life. Cultural rights are to be taken in account in regard in all rights provided for by the Covenant. They are not only the rights of minorities. Council of Europe recently adopted the Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society. Culture is described as an aggregate of all human identity attributes, including religious belief. Cultural rights call for re examination of the classical opposition between equality for all and differentiated equality based on religion. They assume a level of complexity in designing public policies for modern societies.Taking as example the case of the province of Quebec, Canada, where nation building raises important issues in relation of identity, common values, culture and religion, this article suggests that departing from a framework where religion and other rights may come in conflict can offer interesting perspectives for rights reconciliation.

Civil Society Action in the Field of Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage policies are no longer the sole monopoly of sovereign states. Therefore, this article investigates the need for a European civil society in the field of cultural heritage according to the analysis of policy documents and published literature. The article finds that European policies in the field of cultural heritage before 1990 were oriented towards the formation of a common European identity. In the 1990s a paradigm shift emerged: cultural heritage now reflects the cultural diversity of the common European heritage or "unity in diversity." Simultaneously, the value of heritage for society and the need to engage civil society in maintaining, promoting, and safeguarding cultural heritage has received more emphasis. This new approach is reflected in the concept of "heritage community," as articulated in the 2005 Faro Convention of the Council of Europe. Moreover, the European Community promulgated its desire to involve civil society more closely into its activities in the field of culture with its 2007 "A European Agenda for Culture" (European Union 2007). Although a European civil society in the field of cultural heritage is still in its infancy, the road to its establishment has been paved.

Cultural Heritage and Conflict: the view from Europe

Why focus on cultural heritage and conflict? Should we not keep conflict out of our own discourse on heritage because it could spoil the positive impact we wish to create? Heritage itself remains of the past; old or recent, beautiful or not, it never reflects only the bright side of history. The dark side of history may be less pleasant, but it does not disappear. We have to face the material and semantic complexity of historic buildings, archeological sites, artworks, artifacts, collections – and give an interpretation that takes into account, among other things, their capacity to provoke debate. Both the Fribourg Declaration of Cultural Rights (Observatory For Diversity And Cultural Rights 2007), which declares that everyone has a personal right to heritage and the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Council of Europe, 2005) open up new perspectives on social participation in heritage making and new lines of tension, opposition and debate, because more people will be encouraged to participate in debate and negotiation. The logic behind the concept of such debates on heritage is that, after the exchange of views, the opposing parties may be in a better position to identify what they disagree about and may perhaps accept some of the adversary’s arguments and agree on some points, or gallantly agree to disagree, which is, after all, some kind of consensus.

Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society, 27 October 2005

Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society, 27 October 2005