Projects / Programmes
Heritage on the margins: new perspectives on heritage and identity within and beyond national
January 1, 2019
- December 31, 2027
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.11.02 |
Social sciences |
Ethnic studies |
Ethnic studies - humanistic aspect |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H000 |
Humanities |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.04 |
Social Sciences |
Sociology |
minorities; heritage; heritage-making; heritagization; critical heritage studies; ethnic studies; border regions, migrations;
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
June 28, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
57 |
281 |
247 |
4.33 |
| Scopus |
110 |
435 |
350 |
3.18 |
Researchers (11)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
Amid emerging extremisms and increasing polarization of societies individuals and communities struggle to find common political platforms. The growing number of heritage institution, conventions and lists may be interpreted as a call for heritage-making to address common evaluations of past and visions of future, from which ethnic, religious and other minorities with unequal access to political and social power have often been excluded. While in the 19th and first half of 20th century the understanding of heritage was often linked to nation-building and construction of homogenous communities, the latest reflections emphasize multi-perspectivity and understanding of heritage(s) as plurals. Therefore, the research programme will rethink the national in heritage-making (i.e. go below and beyond national) and question the inherent power relations involved in heritage-making. More importantly, it will evaluate and analyse minorities’ heritages. Following critical heritage studies we will approach heritage as inherently dissonant, as the past active in the present, and above all as a process subjected to a continual negotiations. The research topic will be addressed in five thematic clusters: (1) Heritage-making in dynamic border regions, (2) Heritage in a mobile world, (3) Language in use – use of language, (4) Living with heritage, and (5) Heritagization of space. The main objective will be to identify, record, document, assess and analyse alternative forms, practices, and interpretation of heritage-making by minorities. The research will be multi- and interdisciplinary as it will include theoretical and methodological approaches of ethnic studies, anthropology, ethnology, linguistics, literature studies, geography, and history. It will thus enable a critical reflection on existing theoretical, conceptual and methodological approaches, further empirical investigations, and allow fresh (re)interpretations. It will contribute to the development of critical heritage studies and, above all, facilitate the empowerment of minorities and democratic participation in a modern pluralistic society.
Significance for science
The research programme will address an intersection of heritage studies with ethnic studies to draw attention to heritage-making by minority groups, i.e. heritage from the margins. This intersection represents an under-researched field within both mentioned corpuses of knowledge. The program will critically evaluate and re-define key concepts, introduce new theoretical and methodological insights on heritage-making, and enable critical reflection on delimitations, divergences, convergencies, encounters, reconciliations and fusions of minority and majority heritages (materialised, narrated, remembered, or imagined), that will be developed through original multi- and interdisciplinary research, by using innovative participatory methodologies as well as in collaboration with the most advanced centres for heritage-related research. The research conducted by well-established researchers and younger researchers will contribute to the development of critical heritage studies, a very dynamic and fast evolving field of research within humanities. Researchers will increase the visibility of top Slovene humanities’ research and transmit the field’s most recent achievements to various audiences in Slovenia and abroad through presence in the field’s top international conferences and journals. The programme results will be also implemented into educational processes, most importantly at the Postgraduate School of ZRC SAZU. They will impact future generations of researchers and practitioners in heritage, ethnic, and migration studies, anthropology, ethnology, geography, history, and linguistics. The proposed programme will also reflexively expand and further advance the infrastructural program Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. In the long run, the programme will enable a solid basis for establishing a chair for holistic and critical heritage studies of the margins to be joined a larger initiative – a network of European Cultural Heritage Chairs.
Significance for the country
Programme results will substantially contribute to the Slovenia'a socio-economic and cultural development. Primarily, they will have an impact on the recognition, visibility and safeguarding of the heritage(s) of various minority groups such as legal minorities, linguistic minorities, religious minorities, migrants et al. Secondly, promotion of different approaches to cultural heritage studies will underline the potential that heritage from the margins has in (a) activating new affiliations between places and people, (b) raising civil- and self-consciousness, based on the multi-perspective knowledge of the past and diversities, and (c) enhancing mutual respect and construction of more cosmopolitan and inclusive identities. Programme results, especially identification of different instruments for more inclusive heritage-making, will be beneficial to transferring knowledge to local authorities and governmental services and other specialists in minorities' issues, regional development, education, culture, tourism, media and infrastructure. The dissemination of the programme results through programme’s website Heritage Observatory or through collection Europeana Migration, as well as organization of events such as conferences, lectures, round tables, media appearances, and participatory research methods will directly empower minority groups, raise awareness among the general public, and actively support and enhance existing practices. In minority communities experiencing language shift, the research will help to establish a basis for its reversal or facilitate intergenerational transfer of the language. At the same time, research will enable some economic opportunities, as the programme results will be useful for the identification of new and management of existing heritage sites on the margins. Knowledge of heritage forms and practices, opportunities and constraints, and identifications of methods and instruments for more inclusive heritage-making, will empower minority actors and enable more democratic participation in contemporary pluralistic society.
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report
