This year, the International Seminar on Heritage Interpretation and Presentation for Future Generations will address the growing challenges to understanding narratives of war at heritage sites. The inclusion of underrepresented voices related to war is necessary for a balanced understanding of history and countering disinformation, bias, and discrimination.
Our goal is to collect the best practices for interpreting and presenting heritage sites related to various human rights issues during wartime. We will also advocate for the role of civil society and media for a balanced delivery of holistic history in countering historical revisionism and the spread of fake news. Additionally, we aim to promote future generations’ understanding of and participation in approaching history and human rights issues through heritage interpretation.
The event is open to all interested individuals, and we encourage you to join us for this important discussion. The seminar will take place on June 15th, 2023 at VU Amsterdam, and will also be accessible through Zoom. See ‘the quick menu’ above to register.
Program:
09:30–10:30 Registration / Welcome
10:00–10:15 Opening
Dong-Joon Jo
Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Seoul National University
Francesco Bandarin
Founder of OurWorldHeritage / Special Advisor to the Director-General of ICCROM/ Former UNESCO ADG for Culture
Gert-Jan Burgers
Professor in the Heritage of Cultural Landscapes and Urban Environments, Vrije University Amsterdam
10:15–10:45 Keynote presentation
Title: “Interpretation of Wartime Heritage for Future Generation: Conflicting Memories and Multiple Presentations”
By Andrew Gordon
Professor at the Department of History, Harvard University (USA)
10:45–11:00 Coffee break
11:00–11:50 Special Roundtable: World Heritage Convention and Sites of Recent Conflicts
Panellists:
Christina Cameron
Canada Research Chair in Built Heritage at the University of Montreal (Canada)
Vera Lacoeuilhe
Deputy Permanent Delegate at Permanent Delegation of St. Lucia (Lebanon)
Souayibou Varissou
Executive Director, African World Heritage Fund (South Africa)
Moderated by:
Gert-Jan Burgers
Professor in the Heritage of Cultural Landscapes and Urban Environments, Vrije University Amsterdam (Netherlands)
11:50–13:00 Session 1: Multiple Aspects in Interpreting Wartime Heritage
Presentations:
Title: “Dissonant and/or Competing Memories on Heritage Sites and their Interpretation”
By Michael Turner
Co-Chair holder in Urban Design and Conservation Studies, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design (Israel)
Title: “International Approach of Interpretation and Presentation for Wartime Heritage”
By Sue Hodges
President of ICOMOS-ICIP (Australia)
Panel discussion:
Nakano Ryoko
Professor, Faculty of Law, Kanazawa University (Japan)
Gerhard Lenz
Managing Director/ Foundation Director, Rammelsberg World Heritage Site Goslar GmbH (Germany)
Moderated by:
Dong-Joon Jo
Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Seoul National University
13:00–14:00 Lunch break with Korean food for a live audience
14:00–15:15 Session 2: Dialogue with Future Generations
Presentations:
Title: “Heritage Presentation in New Media Platform”
Hwayong Jeong
Travel YouTuber (Republic of Korea)
3 student Presentations (TBD)
Panellists:
Francesco Bandarin
Special Advisor to the Director-General of ICCROM/ Former UNESCO ADG for Culture/ Founder of OWH (Italy)
Jean-Louis Luxen
Professor Emeritus of Université Catholique de Louvain / Former Secretary-General of ICOMOS (Belgium)
Moderated by:
Jihon Kim
Research Fellow, Seoul National University/ Adjunct Professor, Konkuk University
15:15–15:30 Coffee break
15:30–16:45 Session 3: Role of Various Stakeholders in Presenting Wartime Heritage
Presentations:
Title: “Advocacy of Civil Organization for Sites of Conscience Related to War”
Elizabeth Silkes
Executive Director of International Coalition of Sites of Conscience) (USA)
Title: “Survivals’ Movement for Remembrance of War related to Heritage Sites”
Jan van Wagtendonk
President, Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts (Netherlands)
Contribution from academia for Wartime heritage interpretation
Yonca Erkan
Professor of Built Heritage at University of Antwerp (Belgium)
Panellists:
Shikha Jain
Director, DRONAH/ Rapporteur of the 45th Session of the World Heritage Committee (India)
Tokie Laotan-Brown
Co-Founder, Foundation for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Nigeria (Nigeria)
Moderated by:
Maaike Goedkoop
Secretary-General, OurWorldHeritage
16:45 – 17:00 Closing
For more information, please follow the link.