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Call for Papers for 5th Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference, University of Bergamo, Italy, 5-7 June 2014
“Critical ethnographies of cultural heritage in Mediterranean cities”
Panel organizer: Nick Dines, Middlesex University, London, UK
The aim of this workshop panel is to bring together researchers who use ethnographic methods to critically explore the construction and experience of cultural heritage in urban settings in the Mediterranean region (i.e. southern Europe, northern Africa and western Asia). Heritage is understood here in its broadest sense as any tangible or intangible dimension of the past that is defined and used in the present. In mainstream public and academic debates, especially in southern Europe, cultural heritage tends to be considered an intrinsically positive “thing” that possesses a set of social and economic attributes, such as local identity marker or tourist attraction. The conservation and valorization of heritage is hence often promoted as a benevolent pursuit and can be endowed with politically progressive connotations when deemed to serve the interests of the common good.
Over the last two decades, and across a range of disciplines, a more critical approach has emerged that has interrogated the positive essentialism inherent within mainstream discussions and has instead highlighted the various power relations through which all forms and expressions of heritage are constructed and classified. Scholars have indicated, for instance, how the “heritagization” of the built environment is often intimately bound up with the neoliberal restructuring of cities, such as its role in processes of gentrification in popular neighbourhoods of historic centres. At the same time, attention has focused on how different groups of people renegotiate, reject or simply ignore dominant discourses about heritage and, moreover, how they formulate alternative notions of heritage that not only challenge hegemonic values about the past but also contest the ways in which cities are governed in the present. The workshop intends to examine the complex relationship between heritage and power in the context of Mediterranean cities. Proposals are welcome that draw on original ethnographic research and which address wider theoretical debates about cultural heritage. Papers should ideally engage with one or more of the following themes:
Please email proposals to Nick Dines [log in to unmask] and the conference organizers [log in to unmask] by 17 February 2014. The session will be 3 hours in length and will be composed of a maximum of 5 papers (each 20 minutes).
Proposals should include:
· The title of the paper and an abstract of a maximum 1000 words
· Author’s contact details (name, email address, postal address and affiliation) and those of any co-authors.
Acceptance of proposals will be notified by 17 March 2014.
For further information about the 5th Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference, including registration dates/fees and the full list of sessions, please see: www.etnografiaricercaqualitativa.it