[spectre] (fwd) CFP: Contested World Orders / cultural heritage (Bamberg, 1-2 Dec 22)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Sophie Stackmann
Date: Mar 7, 2022
Subject: CFP: Contested World Orders (Bamberg, 1-2 Dec 22)

Bamberg, Dec 1–02, 2022
Deadline: Apr 24, 2022

Crises and conflicts have triggered debates and reflections on the 
values and meaning of cultural heritage with various impacts at the 
local and international levels. At the international level, 
organisations such as UNESCO and its affiliated bodies ICOMOS and ICOM 
emerged in the context of conflicts that caused damage to cultural 
heritage throughout the 20th century.

Meanwhile, the protection against loss, change, dangers, and risks 
dominates perspectives on heritage. Especially the management of dangers 
and risks to World Heritage sites became an important area under UNESCO 
guidance since the adoption of the World Heritage Convention in 1972 
(e.g. List of World Heritage in Danger). Yet, the effects of crises and 
conflicts have not only been an external incentive for the foundation of 
various heritage initiatives under UNESCO but it also shaped the 
management of and perspectives on heritage protection and preservation 
globally.

Nevertheless, UNESCO has promoted heritage programmes with the goal to 
enhance the role of culture (in singular) towards shaping a better and 
more peaceful world and not only to protect against destruction. From 
today’s perspective, UNESCO’s agenda to build a technocratic, 
science-based society free of destructive ideologies seems to be a 
utopian vision in a post-war world. War and the predominance of 
non-democratic political regimes globally are not a matter of the past 
but of the ongoing state of affairs. Precisely in the context of war and 
conflict, world orders, power structures, and dominant narratives are 
being contested and re-negotiated, thus questioning the legitimacy and 
efficacy of global key players.

Until now, debates concerning heritage protection and preservation 
during conflict and in the post-conflict context focused predominantly 
on issues such as reconstruction, as a means to achieving 
reconciliation, recovery, dealing with traumatic pasts, and identity 
politics. In the light of the increasing complexities and different 
nature and scale of conflicts and wars starting with the 20th century, 
this conference asks how wars and crises impact(ed) the practices and 
discourses on heritage globally in the past as well as in the present. 
Furthermore, it questions to what extent cultural heritage affairs 
became a source of conflict and whether alternative narratives for 
dealing with heritage protection and preservation are being silenced 
under the pressure of globally standardized methods. Starting from 
UNESCO as a formative organisation of international discourse, this call 
encourages contributions that question how narratives, practices, and 
strategies are established at the international level and beyond that 
process crises, conflicts, and wars in the field of cultural heritage. 
The conference calls for contributions that rather challenge the idea 
that there is a uniform/dominant/normative vision to dealing with 
heritage for example in the processes of recovery and reconstruction, as 
essential practices established at the international level in the 
post-conflict context. Instead, we hope these can reveal the 
multiplicity of heritage(s) discourse(s) and practices that shape the 
understanding and practice of heritage preservation internationally 
during conflict and its aftermath.

However, this call encourages to explore perspectives that challenge the 
understanding of heritage beyond wars, dangers, and conflicts.

Contributions from various disciplines, such as: heritage studies, 
conservation studies, anthropology, political sciences, art, archeology 
and architectural studies, historical studies, urban studies, digital 
humanities, are encouraged on topics that critically discuss the following:

• Critical role of UNESCO in building a secular, technocratic and 
diverse global heritage discourse in a (religious, ethnic, political) 
conflict-charged context from a longue durée perspective • What kind of 
crises and conflicts have an impact on the international discourse on 
heritage? Which don’t and are maybe even ignored? To what extent does 
the emergent discourse mirror the outcome of the conflict?
• What impact did social upheavals such as the independence of colonies, 
the end of the Cold War, recent conflicts in the Middle East have on 
international ideas of heritage and what role did international 
organizations played in mediating heritage preservation in the context 
of global political transformations?
• What happens to heritage in times of crises and conflicts? Who 
destroys heritage and who preserves it for what motivations? What impact 
does this have on international debates about heritage and claiming 
responsibility?
• What effects do fear of loss and identity crises have on notions of 
heritage?
• What role play ethics, heritage activism, human-rights discourses, 
ideas of healing, recovery, reconstruction, and reconciliation in the 
conceptualization of international and transnational heritage?
• What kind of heritage practices are established to overcome trauma and 
destruction?
• The impact of the anthropological and digital shift on dealing with 
heritage preservation (e.g critical approaches to increasing role of 
digital reconstructions due to war damages as alternative to failing 
human responsibility)
• Are there alternative heritage concepts not dependable on wars and 
conflicts? Or is this a naïve wish?

We invite proposals for a 20-minute presentation in English to be sent 
in one text document to conflict.kdwt at uni-bamberg.de including:
• Title and abstract of 300-350 words maximum (no references)
• The name of the author with current affiliation, contact details and a 
short biographical note (maximum 200 words).

Deadline for submission 24th of April 2022, acceptance notification 10th 
of May 2022
Conference dates 01.12.2022-02.12.2022


Reference / Quellennachweis:
CFP: Contested World Orders (Bamberg, 1-2 Dec 22). In: ArtHist.net, Mar 
7, 2022. <https://arthist.net/archive/36092>.