UNESCO

This report covers the fourth year for which the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University was originally established in 2017. During the entire year, the team continued to work under the spell of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which meant a drastic cut of travelling and a similarly drastic increase of virtual meetings hosted around the world.

UNESCO and Linnaeus University have decided to renew the agreement on the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures for another four years, until 2025. Cornelius Holtorf, Professor of Archaeology, is the chairholder.

The UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures was established at Linnaeus University in 2017. This is one of eight UNESCO Chairs in Sweden and the only one within the culture sector.

– We have four exciting years behind us and look forward to continuing the work. By now, we are well established, with a team of seven specializing in different areas, says Cornelius Holtorf.

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Cornelius Holtorf, holder of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures and Peter Aronsson, Vice Chancellor at Linnaeus University

Gustav Wollentz, Nordic Centre of Heritage Learning and Creativity (NCK)

Hur framtidsmedvetna är svenska länsmuseer? (in Swedish) http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-106823

This report presents results from a study conducted by the Nordic Centre of Heritage Learning and Creativity (NCK) in the spring of 2021 on behalf of Linnaeus University’s UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures. The study is a continuation of an examination conducted in 2012 and 2013 in, among other things, the Swedish heritage sector, where a need for increased future awareness was identified. Based on the identified need, this study focuses on how county museums in Sweden can work towards a more developed future awareness. We examine what routines and tools already exist in the workplace to approach the future, or which routines and tools they express a need for. The results from the examination are presented in two formats: partly in the form of an article (publication is being prepared), partly in the form of this report which focuses on the need for new tools and routines that the interviewees express.

W36 GLOBAL SUMMIT FOR GENDER RELATED UNESCO CHAIRS: A Short Report 

The W36 Summit, a two-day event hosted virtually from India, was held on August 19-20. The summit aimed to discuss the challenges faced by women across the world, particularly the issues highlighted after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The summit established a platform to bring together all gender-related UNESCO Chairs and networks worldwide to unite voices and spark momentum for addressing challenges and co-building a bright future for all women across the globe.

On the first day, 36 gender-related UNESCO chairs were given the opportunity to introduce their activities and plans towards a more gender-equal world. On the second day, the summit hosted several speakers from different countries.

As an introduction, the hosts endorsed that the very recent studies show that by 2050, it is estimated that millions of girls and women face different forms of inequality, which will hinder their lives. Towards a better future for women and based on UN sustainable development goal 5, gender equality, the mentioned 36 UNESCO chairs aim to reinforce their network and stand against gender inequality and the widening gender gap.

The presentations of the first day corroborated that the pandemic has sabotaged the condition of women worldwide. The positive side of the case is that the mechanism of gender inequality has been more exposed during the last two years and so, many scholars are reconsidering the old solutions of the problem in a way that they function more effectively. According to the first-day speakers, all these 36 UNESCO chairs have accelerated their activities, held workshops, and published articles and books with the purpose of changing the drastic situation of women and other genders in different countries.

On the second day of the summit, the speakers presented the initiative’s actual ways of solving the inequality problem. The specific topics of ten presentations in two rooms of the summit were “Science and Technology, Education and Skill Development, Society, Culture and Legal Rights, Health and Nutrition, Safety and Security, Environment and Sustainability, Finance and Economics, Communication and Leadership”.

The presenters from India, as well as the other speakers, shared visions and showed that empowering women is one of the strongest ways to save the world not only from inequality but also from other global problems such as environmental and climate change. The projects on refugee women, villager women, and women of color in India, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa, and Nigeria present progressive advances on how the cooperation of women in managing waste, water resources, and education puts the communities on the way of sustainable development.

In a general viewpoint, the summit was successful in opening new debates about the practical ways of overcoming the harsh situation of women. Also, it gave an opportunity to the participants to learn fresh elaborated solutions for old issues.

Leila Papoli-Yazdi

Dr Leila Papoli-Yazdi, Linnaeus University, is a member of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University. She researches the dirty heritage of modern civilization; garbage, waste, and consumption — particularly to develop novel methods towards environmental and social sustainability in the future.

Anders Högberg published (with Marina Jogmark) a study in which they explore how Swedish museum directors think about museum-entrepreneurship.

You can find the article, in Swedish with an English abstract, in the journal Nordic Museology

https://journals.uio.no/museolog/article/view/8826/264]

Of special interest for the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures is the section on various forms of collaboration between researchers and museums. Among others, Högberg and Jogmark suggest that collaboration can develop by creating new forms for co-operation.

I The Journal Nordic Museology 2020:2 publicerade Anders Högberg tillsammans med Klas Grinell artikeln: Perspektiv: Lagstadgad kunskap. Om svensk museipolitik och forskning.

Vad betyder museilagens betoning av kunskapsuppbyggnad för museers forskning? Hur ser relationerna mellan forskning, kunskap och museer ut i museilagens Sverige? Artikeln redogör också för i vilket sammanhang museilagen tillkom.

https://journals.uio.no/museolog/issue/view/721/295

Professor Anders Högberg UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures

Målarboken Archeology Today som gavs ut förra året finns nu även i en svensk version. Den visar hur arkeologer arbetar idag med nya tillämpningar. Åsikter och idéer som uttrycks i denna målarbok är författarnas egna. De delas inte nödvändigtvis av UNESCO. Författare: Cornelius Holtorf (text) and Daniel Lindskog (illustrationer). Tack till Riksbanken Jubileumsfond för stöd.

https://issuu.com/lnu12/docs/archtoday_new_swedish_22_nov_20__1_

För nedladdning http://lnu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1512695/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Den engelska versionen kan beställas som print eller laddas ner http://www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id={B75F45BA-A140-442F-ADCB-6568EAB2CC8C}