Worldheritage Forum

Who Owns the Past?

Posted on 28. February 2006 um 18:50 Uhr
» Built Heritage Preservation Conferences International

The Ename Center, (The Ename Center for Public Archaeology and Heritage Presentation) will hold a
conference in Ghent asking the question: Who Owns the Past?

Themes of the meeting are:

• Scholarship and Historical Diversity
  How effectively do historians and archaeologists incorporate the diverse perspectives of ethnic minorities and various non-elite groups in their reconstruction of the past? Is multivocality just a politically correct slogan or a legitimate research approach?
  
• Inclusive Public Heritage
  To what extent should national heritage authorities honour the rights of all citizens to be included—and feel included—in the representations of a common heritage? How do immigrant and minority communities relate to official heritage institutions? Should a nation’s official monuments reflect a timeless ideal or a changing reality?
  
• Sites of Conscience
  Organized with the International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience
  How can museums and historic sites that interpret great good or great evil open new conversations about contemporary issues? How can Sites of Conscience inspire communities worldwide to become actively involved on issues of human rights, democracy building and social justice? Why are historical sites and perspectives important for policy makers and government leaders today?
  
• Heritage Policy
  What are the current legal and economic implications of heritage "ownership"? How do they affect official and international heritage policy? Do sites and cultural property belong only to a nation, to the communities that produced them, or to museums that claim to protect them as "universal" heritage?
  

reference: http://www.enamecenter.org/content/view/83/71/lang,en/

A speech of Dr. Nicholas Stanley-Price, the former Director-General of ICCROM will be on Cultural Property and Universal Value. The Outstanding Universal Value is essential to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Prof. dr. G.J. Ashworth already asked the question Whose heritage? in several versions.
E.G.: Ashworth, G.J. and B.J.M. van der Aa (2002): Bamyan: whose heritage was it and what should we do about it, In: Current Issues in Tourism, Vol. 5, Nr. 5, pp. 447-457.

For the heritage of the whole mankind this qustion is important, complex and challenging...

More information on the conference, registration procedures, etc. can be found on the conference website.

Ruins of Ename, Flanders reference:WIKIPEDIA, GNU