UNESCO

Cornelius Holtorf was invited to contribute a critical epilogue to a new study on Critical Perspectives on Cultural Memory and Heritage edited by Veysel Apaydin and available in open access. After reading the other contributions he concluded, among others, that

Among the 50 think pieces in UNESCO’s new volume on the futures of education is a short essay by Cornelius Holtorf on Enhancing cultural resilience by learning to appreciate change and transformation. The volume is part of UNESCO’s new Futures of Education initiative.

In the contribution, Holtorf argues, among others, that shifting the narrative on cultural heritage from one of conservation and loss to a continuous process of change and transformation can build cultural resilience, i.e. the ability of cultural systems to absorb adversity. Cultural heritage in all its rich variety manifests change over time. Learning to understand cultural heritage increasingly in those terms will facilitate our capability of adapting legacies of the past to changing circumstances both today and in the future.

The article and the volume in its entirety are accessible here. A French version is available here. The project is supported by the Swedish government through its development agency SIDA.

“Whether we are concerned with nuclear waste or cultural heritage, we are in the same business of Heritage Futures… Heritage Futures are concerned with the roles of heritage in managing the relations between present and future societies, e.g. through anticipation and planning.”

From a new paper now available in open access: Holtorf, C. (2019) “Cultural heritage, nuclear waste and the future: what’s in it for us?” In: J. Dekker (ed.) Bewaren of Weggooien? Middleburg: Zeeuwse Ankers and COVRA.

– Note that most of the book is in Dutch but my contribution is in English.

Anders Högberg and Cornelius Holtorf contributed to a debate on sustainable archaeology in the most recent issue of the journal ANTIQUITY. Their contribution is entitled “The valuable contributions of archaeology to present and future societies“.

Among others, they argue against the claim that contract archaeology is a form of state heritage crime.

The Proceedings of our workshop in May 2019 on Information and Memory for Future Decision-Making – Radioactive Waste and Beyond have now been published and are available on the Workshop’s homepage.

The Licentiate thesis of our research student Ulrika Söderström has been reviewed in Germany, reflecting the international significance of her work at the interface of sustainable development and contract archaeology.

“Ulrika Söderström untersucht in ihrer auf Englisch verfassten, sehr interessanten und einsichtsreichen Lizenziatsarbeit die Frage, inwieweit in Schweden die praktische archäologische Denkmalpflege zu einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung im Sinne der diesbezüglichen Zielsetzungen der Vereinten Nationen beiträgt (speziell den das kulturelle Erbe betreffenden Teil in Ziel 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities; United Nations, 2016). Sie kommt, um das vorwegzunehmen, zu dem unangenehmen Ergebnis, dass sie das nur in einem sehr geringen Ausmaß tut, wenn überhaupt.”

Karl, Raimund (2019) Rezension zu U. Söderström (2018) Contract Archaeology and Sustainable Development. Between Policy and Practice. Växjö. LNU Press. Archäologische Informationen 42.

The papers in the first published volume of ICOMOS University Forum derive from the pilot ICOMOS University Forum Workshop “A contemporary provocation: reconstructions as tools of future-making” held 13–15 March 2017 at ICOMOS International Headquarters in Paris, France.

The aim of the meeting was to stimulate dialogues between academics at Universities and heritage practitioners from around the world. Now the dialogues can continue with the published papers as a starting point!

This first volume was edited by Cornelius Holtorf (Sweden), Loughlin Kealy (Ireland) and Toshiyuki Kono (Japan). It contains a paper by Cornelius Holtorf on Conservation and heritage as future-making.

My paper (in German) published last September in Switzerland is now available in open access here.

Holtorf C. (2018) “Was hat Archäologie mit mir zu tun? Eine Archäologie der Zukunft.” Archäologie Schweiz 41 (3), 24-29.

Welche Rolle spielt das Kulturerbe in unserer Gesellschaft und wie kann Archäologie zur Bewältigung aktueller und künftiger gesellschaftlicher Herausforderungen beitragen? Wie muss sie sich verändern, um zukunftsfähig und gesellschaftlich relevant zu bleiben?

Places like Tianducheng in Hangzhou, China, simulate heritage in other countries, but at the same time they provide real heritage value in their own society and should therefore not be dismissed. In cases such as this, we may see some glimpses of a future of heritage that contradicts and replaces familiar concepts of cultural heritage bound to place and time.

Read more in a blog by Cornelius Holtorf, Qingkai Ma, Xian Chen and Yu Zhang accessible here.

“How can we create the future together? We can’t be certain what the future
 will be like, but we can at least try to ensure that the decisions we make today help provide people with the things they might need and want in the future.”

Cornelius Holtorf and Anders Högberg at Linnaeus University as well as Sarah May at Swansea University were involved in research that considered what we should pass on to future generations, when we can’t be sure what they will want or need…

Heritage Futures at Manchester Museum, 14 December 2018 – Autumn 2021