The Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Bucharest via the Research Centre for the Study of Rationality and Beliefs, the UNESCO Chair in Inter-Cultural and Inter-Religious Studies and Public Reason Journal of Political and Moral Philosophy are pleased to launch the Call for Papers for the International Conference “Cultural Heritage and Identities: Normative Perspectives, Sustainability and Global Governance”. The conference will take place between 15 and 17 November 2019 at the Faculty of Philosophy. [1] Its main goal is to provide a platform for academic debate on heritage studies from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Description:
Over the course of the last few decades, heritage studies became a field of interdisciplinary research in its own right, with specific concepts and practices reflecting both its theoretical complexity, and the evolution of the legal and institutional landscape.
The notion of heritage is closely related to culture and identities, as individuals and social groups have a central role in selecting representative elements of tangible and intangible heritage to be safeguarded by national and international bodies. Heritage is, therefore, a normative concept, which combines cultural, spiritual, philosophical, political, national and economic values. In the context of globalization, as well as emerging new technologies and communication paradigms, the very notion of heritage is being constantly reconsidered and its approaches diversified. A noteworthy initiative is the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage which has established new standards for the definition of heritage and its protection. Moreover, not only is the representational dimension of heritage being reconsidered, but the social and political values attached to it become more and more prominent. Thus, policy-making with regard to heritage conservation and protection emphasises the importance of heritage for the sustainable development of communities by fostering tourism, creative industries, which, in the long run, impact on demographics, political institutions, social mobility and intergenerational solidarity. Last, but not least, the educational dimension of heritage conservation is equally important, since it is related to the transmission of values which legitimize various layers of identities.
Conference Topics:
General areas of interest include (but are not limited to) the following topics:
- Normative Perspectives: political values and cultural heritage;
- Ethics and heritage: cultural appropriation, intellectual property, sustainable development, societal impact of new medias and emerging technologies;
- Local and global perspectives on heritage: national, regional, trans-national identities, spiritual values and the challenges of globalization, evolution of identities;
- Philosophical implications and dilemmas generated: the social ontology of heritage definition, the phenomenology and ethics of identity formation in relation to elements of tangible and intangible heritage, social justice and heritage;
- Challenges of global governance in the field of heritage conservation and protection;
- Tangible and intangible heritage: conceptual maps, symbolic geographies, and the role of collective memory;
- Education and heritage: intergenerational value transmission, patriotism versus cosmopolitanism, metamorphoses of traditional museums;
- Digitisation and digitalization of cultural heritage: interactive creative industries, digital storytelling.
Information for Participants:
Contributions are expected from various areas of social studies and humanities, with a focus on interdisciplinary approaches, ethics and political philosophy. Both established researchers and PhD students are invited to send their presentation proposals in the form of abstracts not exceeding 500 words by 20th October 2019 at publicreason@filosofie.unibuc.ro. Along with the abstract, please send us your contact details: current affiliation, address and telephone number. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 25 October 2019.
The organizers intend to publish a volume including articles inspired by the papers from the conference. Acceptance of the paper for the conference does not guarantee the inclusion of the article in the volume. We kindly remind you that by submitting the paper you implicitly agree to allow its publication in the conference proceedings.
For easier post-conference editorial work, it would be best if you would format your paper using Chicago 15style of reference, but this is not a formal condition for the publication.
Participation costs are not covered by the organizers. There is no participation fee.
Working languages of the conference: English and Romanian.
[1] This conference is organized with the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO Chair in Inter-Cultural and Inter-Religious Exchanges. Within the Conference, there will be a special workshop dedicated to the topic “Cultural Heritage: New Forms, New Actors, New Identities. National, European and Cosmopolitan Perspectives”, under the framework of PATCULT („Platforma pluridisciplinară complexă de cercetare integrativă și sistematică a identităților și patrimoniului cultural tangibil și nontangibil din România”, PN III-P1-1.2-PCCDA-2017-0686, 52PCCDI/2018, funded by UEFISCDI).