Critical Heritage Studies: Central European Perspectives

Since the founding of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS) in the early 2010s, various local or thematic networks have emerged around the world to promote new ways of addressing what is understood as heritage. Central Europe has been somewhat neglected in these discussions. The conference Critical Heritage Studies: Central European Perspectives (6-7 October 2022), organised by the Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Etnologický ústav Akademie věd České republiky), had two interrelated goals: first, to reflect on (critical) heritage approaches in the region and identify common themes (marginalisation, the impact of the two world wars, changing borders, displacement of people, (post)socialism); second, to stimulate debate about how Central European perspectives can enrich international heritage studies. The keynote speaker, David Harvey, outlined the mutually supportive relationship between the concepts of heritage – landscape – nation and opened the discussion for alternative narratives. Research questions and case studies from Bulgaria, Bosnia, Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia were then presented. Špela Ledinek Lozej and Nataša Rogelja Caf presented issues and various actions that the Heritage on the Margins programme is addressing in Slovenia.