Sustainable Development Seen through the Lens of Cultural Heritage

The interdisciplinary seminar focuses on the role that cultural heritage and culture have in sustainable development and on the challenges the societies face in this regard. We will 

• explore the theoretical and practical implications of the intertwinement of these two policy areas;
• examine the complex field that arises when heritage policies intersect with environmental, social, and economic goals of sustainable development 
• analyse the (new) functions that societies attribute to cultural heritage in an era where the future seems increasingly threatening. 

Cultural heritage is a category that shapes contemporary societies at large and marks ongoing turning points – it thus represents an interdisciplinary research topic. Cultural heritage is a designation used in cultural policy conventionally believed to benefit cultural diversity, minorities, and Indigenous peoples, thus, sustainable development. Little attention has been paid to how heritage regimes can have a limiting and hampering effect.

The seminar includes lectures, discussions, and a practical workshop. 

Lecturers

All lecturers engage with the concept of living heritage (or intangible cultural heritage) and its wider context, which stems from the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In addition to doing research, they are also active participants in the analysed processes: policy-making and working with heritage institutions, NGOs, and communities. 

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Chiara Bortolotto holds the UNESCO chair in Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development at CY Cergy Paris Université. Her research explores the social life of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, addressing, in particular, the intersection between heritage and sustainable development. Her work is based on an ethnography of the UNESCO policy world, where she explores the performative power of administrative apparatuses and the role of human emotions in the making of global governance.

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Jorijn Neyrinck is a cultural anthropologist. She is the coordinator of the Intangible Heritage in Belgium, facilitator for the UNESCO 2003 Convention, vice-chair of the Flemish UNESCO Commission in Belgium, co-organizer for the Working Group Research of the ICH NGO Forum, and researcher at the  University of Antwerp (research project Crafting Futures).
Jorijn takes on roles as a cultural broker and mediator among living heritage actors, policymakers, civil society, and academia.

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Marc Jacobs is a professor in heritage studies at the University of Antwerp in the master's and PhD programs in heritage studies and the bachelor's and master's programs in conservation-restoration in the Faculty of Design Sciences, where he is the vice-dean of education (2024-2027). He is also part time professor in heritage studies and holder of the UNESCO Chair in Critical Heritage Studies and the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

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Stavroula Pipyrou is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews and Founding Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Minorities Research. She works on minority politics, displacement, governance, and the Cold War. Publications include The Grecanici of Southern Italy: Governance, Violence, and Minority Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016) and Lurking Cold War: Life through Historical Communion (Berghahn, forthcoming). Stavroula is a Fellow of the Young Academy of Scotland and editor of the interdisciplinary book series Routledge 

Audience

The seminar is of particular interest to doctoral students with research interests in areas such as 

• sustainable development
• cultural heritage (both intangible and tangible) 
• memory/remembering and memory institutions
• making sense of the past in the present
• cultural policy
• international relations
• cultural diversity
• communities
• relationship to the natural environment
• urban and rural life
• minorities 
• tourism and other heritage-related livelihoods.

General objectives 

• Take an interdisciplinary perspective on the subject matter.
• Broaden the participants’ perspective on their own research topic.
• Enhance transferable skills related to theoretical discussion and thematic approach.
• Provide practical skills in the form of a workshop. The exact focus of the workshop will depend on the research topics of the participants.

The seminar is organised by the UNESCO Chair on Applied Studies of Intangible Cultural Heritage (University of Tartu) and the Estonian Doctoral School for Humanities and Arts.

Project "Cooperation between universities to promote doctoral studies" (2021-2027.4.04.24-0003) is co-funded by the European Union.