Paper short abstract:

Young diasporans from the Global North who move to Armenia as volunteers and flexible laborers often find the country's socialist heritage unsettling. Through a range of participatory media practices and the use of irony, the undesired Soviet past nevertheless becomes a source of identity.

Paper long abstract:

For much of the 20th century, the nature of the Soviet republic of Armenia was hotly disputed by the nation's global diaspora. For many, the socialist republic could not qualify as an authentic homeland for a combination of historical and geopolitical factors. To this day, the country's omnipresent socialist architecture and industrial ruins rarely feature in the heritage imaginaries of the diaspora. In my paper, I explore how young diasporans from the Global North who 'repatriate' to Armenia for indefinite periods cope with this undesired Soviet past. I examine how the collapsed Soviet state and its material remnants are signified in the everyday practices of social media-savvy youth, who use hashtags, humor, filters and irony to transform the socialist past into a source of identity on par with traditional homeland images of ancient monasteries and folk arts. On the one hand, social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram serve to reimagine the locals as folklore-like figures and to aestheticize industrial ruins. At the same time, the belief in a persistent 'Soviet mentality' spawns developmental visions of Armenia's future, in which young diasporans help to inculcate civic virtues and improve aesthetic standards.

Paper short abstract:

In my paper on the example of a few Polish open-air museums I will study historical changes in museum narratives constructed and promoted about German culture and post-German property left in post-war Poland, taking into account an impact of European integration after the EU enlargement in 2004.

Paper long abstract:

After 1945 borders of Poland, compared to the pre-war ones, were moved to the West which was accompanied by mass, usually compulsory, migrations of Germans and Poles. All post-German property left in post-war Poland was generally perceived as 'negative heritage' (Lynn Meskell) and was demolished or at least hidden, so as to extract and strengthen any signs of Polish ancestry, especially in the western and the northern borderlands of the country. Polish ethnographer and museum professional Adam Bartosz noticed in 2000 that 'German culture has never been a subject of any separate museum exhibition', although 'collections connected to German culture are rich in museums of Western Poland'. In my paper I would like to revisit this problem, asking how the process of European integration in its political, social and cultural dimension affected museum narratives about German culture and post-German property in Poland. The main focus will lie on situation of selected Polish open-air museums which deal with folk architecture and material culture of people who used to live in former German territories. As all museums of such kind, they are tools of folklorization and theatralization of heritage. They immerse their visitors in a 'staged symbolic community' (Diane Barthel), a picturesque living portrait of an idealized and 'sanitized' social environment where representations of conflicts, violence and pain are notably absent. In the discussed case, this ethno-nostalgic, idyllic staging includes obviously also the heritage of absence of those for whom cultural practices performed at the museums were part of their unstaged life.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores practices and discourses of place-making in a multi-ethnic post-Soviet urban environment in Ulan-Ude (Buryatia, Russia), defined by a recent and continuing urban migration. It focuses on the ongoing indigenisation and de-secularisation of the urban environment.

Paper long abstract:

Over the last three decades, the city of Ulan-Ude (Buryatia) in Siberia has undergone substantial changes in terms of not only its cityscape, but also the ways in which it has been experienced and its past and futures have been interpreted, imagined and anticipated. In this multi-ethnic region, up until the late Soviet period the rural/urban divide also went across ethnic lines: Buryats mostly led a rural life while Russians inhabited the city. As Buryat urban migration rapidly increased in the later Soviet period and thereafter, many experienced Ulan-Ude as a hostile and acutely Russian environment. In the post-Soviet period, however, Ulan-Ude has largely become a multi-ethnic "contested city" (Low 1999) with its burgeoning Buddhist temples, Buryat-style monuments and architecture, public rituals and celebrations, and "ethnic" businesses. As the Buryats are looking ahead to the potential futures in the fast-changing city, they are also revisiting its past by offering competing interpretations of the region's colonial history.

This paper, based on one year-long ethnographic fieldwork in Ulan-Ude, will explore various practices and discourses of place-making in a multi-ethnic post-Soviet urban environment, defined by a relatively recent and continuing urban migration. It will particularly focus on the ongoing indigenisation and de-secularisation of the urban environment, part of which is both a rethinking of the past (such as reviving public ritual offerings to forgotten pre-colonial local spirits of the land) and the anticipation of the future (such as building a Buddhist prayer wheel to purify and improve the communal karma).

Paper short abstract:

I look into relation between heritage and locality in the context of competing visions of an annual Rękawka fair in Krakow. Drawing on mutual process of sacralization and secularization of places, practices and events, I present how geographical places become crucial factors in heritage building.

Paper long abstract:

In the paper I look into relations between heritage and locality in the context of competing visions of an annual Rękawka fair which has become one of well know tourist attractions in Krakow in the Easter time. The fair - or in other interpretations the two fairs - is held on two neighboring hills. One part - a Roman Catholic indulgence celebration - is observed at Lasota Hill in a St Benedict church from 12th century, the other - a reenacted early medieval Slavic pagan rite accompanied by numerous festival attractions takes place on Krakus Mound, a place of crucial importance for Krakow's cityscape. Tourists as well as Krakow dwellers visit both events, ascribing them, however, different meanings deriving, among others, from the performative character of the place and its historical context. Both Lasota Hill and Krakus Mound are believed to be early medieval pagan cult sites, thus a Catholic fair with several centuries tradition is perceived by some as aimed against pagan rites somehow native to the place, while contemporary neo-pagan elements of Rękawka on Krakus Mound are by some interpreted as anti-Christian, challenging original Catholic character of the fair; while for others both are just secular tourist attraction. Drawing on mutual process of sacralization and secularization of spaces, practices and events, I present how geographical places become crucial factors in heritage building.

Paper short abstract:

The Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, organized annually in the city's historical Jewish district, is an event linked to the creation of specific heritage geographies. Experiences of its participants and organizers will be studied through the concepts of heritage of absence and spectacular heritage

Paper long abstract:

In 1988 a small event dedicated to "reminding the public about the Jewish history of Poland and Jewish contribution to development of our country, its culture and society" was organized in Krakow's Kazimierz district. Kazimierz - until the WWII one of the most important centers of Polish Jews - was at that time in a state of ruin and neglect. The absence of its past inhabitants was visible through the empty windows of old tenements, the synagogues' closed gates, abandoned courtyards, overgrown cemeteries. Physical absence was in consonance with the absence of Jews in Polish history books, school programs and the absence of "Jewish things[…]in a cultural social dispute" of the time.

Yet, the 1988 event attracted a significant audience. In the following years it turned into an annual 10-day long "Jewish Culture Festival". Today it is one of the most important events in the city, recognized in the whole country and by the Jewish people in Israel and diaspora. Originally organized by two local Polish activists, who got interested in "Jewish culture" not known to them from family homes nor from school, it is now co-organized by Poles and Jews from all over the world. The last 30 years has also brought an immense transformation of the Kazimierz district itself, with its refurbishment, the creation of a "Jewish culture route", the introduction of museums and the revival of Jewish religious life. I will analyze experiences related to the JCF through the concepts of heritage of absence and spectacular heritage.

Paper short abstract:

Looking at the Greek migrants, and the heritage policies of Greek Ministry of Culture influenced by ongoing Greek austerity, this ethnographic paper will discuss the complex mobility of individuals and ICH in relation to tourism and home-making.

Paper long abstract:

During the ongoing Greek austerity, Greek Ministry of Culture (MoC) considers Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) as a tool to contribute to the Greek economy. Based on this, the MoC has created a strategy focusing on the promotion of agro-food products and techniques as well as other traditional crafting techniques by inscribing them on an ICH list (national or international). The aim is that the inscriptions will become leverage for other public mechanisms (such as Erasmus+ funding) that will create new jobs for the communities and enhance the visibility of the communities that practice these ICH elements in order to attract more tourism strengthening the commerce and local economy.

Furthermore, the same elements recognised as ICH, are also practised by Greek migrants abroad, contributing to the creation of a home-like feeling in their new environment. When this ICH is practised in public spaces or events, Greek migrants act as agents to disseminate ICH abroad, introducing others to it and motivating them to become participants at the place of its origin, thus promoting tourism in Greece. Therefore, this ethnographic paper will discuss the complex mobility of individuals and ICH in relation to tourism and home-making.

Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the entry of revolutionary narratives into the life of migrants in the North Korean-Chinese borderland in the form of state-sponsored stone monuments and traditional festivals. It discusses how various actors strategically place such narratives and how they are treated locally.

Paper long abstract:

Monuments of revolutionary martyrs are common sites in the North Korean-Chinese borderland. Based on fieldwork in a borderland village where most of the residents are Chinese citizens and trace their ancestral root to the Korean Peninsula, and combining with recently declassified official documents collected in the region, this paper presents the role of those monuments and the narratives they represent in attempting to include the cross-border immigrant Koreans in nation-building processes. The findings show that the Chinese Communist Party utilized membership categories related to the "socialist revolution" to dilute ethnic boundaries and include Koreans in the pre-1949 revolutionary struggles. After coming to power, the revolutionary narratives were continuously promoted by both the state and Korean-Chinese elites. A major artefact that is frequently placed in the villages are stone monuments that promote this narrative by memorising the Korean war. These monuments at times become important ritual spaces but may also be neglected by the villagers in everyday life mainly due to discrepancies of local understandings of this part of history. The practice of honoring revolutionary martyrs has also become embedded in local festivals. For instance, Qingming, a festival originally revolving around paying tributes to ancestors, was reorganized to memorize the wars that Han Chinese and ethnic Koreans fought together and now aids the proliferation of a new membership category that embraces both Han Chinese and ethnic Korean Chinese nationals - the descendants of revolutionary martyrs. However, local residents have different interpretations and display more complicated sentiment toward the revolutions and wars.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation analyses cases of heritagization of church buildings in Eastern Germany, where there is a strong tension between different visions of anticipatory heritage, spectacular heritage and heritagization as a deeply localized and even conservative practice.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation analyses two present cases of heritagization of church buildings in the East German state of Brandenburg, namely a restoration of a village church in Rosow and rebuilding of Garnisonkirche in Potsdam.

Both initiatives are presented to the public and to potential donors as attempts to create simultaneously places of reconciliation and spectacular heritage. However, while in the case of Rosow the parties who should be reconciled through this heritage site are clearly defined as the place is called German-Polish Memorial for Escape, Expulsion and New Beginning, in the case of the Garnisonkirche in Potsdam, the issue is much more complex. The church should be re-built as Center of Reconciliation, but, as the numerous opponents of the re-building initiative say, it is not clear what kind of reconciliation, and with whom, is meant here. There are even voices that see the initiative as an attempt at reconciliation of inhabitants of Potsdam with the Prussian military heritage or even the Nazi past. The supporters try to counter such accusations through organization of interreligious prayer meetings and underlining that a newly established parish of a not-yet-rebuilt church is devoted to "remembering history, learning responsibility and living reconciliation".

It is argued that in both cases, there is a strong tension between different visions of anticipatory heritage and moreover that a concept of "reconciliation" as well as practices that include migrant groups and their heritage, can actually conceal agendas related to attempts at heritagization as a deeply localized and even conservative practice.