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- Convenors:
-
Katriina Siivonen
(University of Turku)
Katriina Soini (Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy)
- Location:
- Block 1, Piso 0, Room 36
- Start time:
- 20 April, 2011 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 3
Short Abstract:
Both change and creativity, and continuity are basic qualities of culture. What should be sustained in local and glocal cultural processes: is it the safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, creative interaction and changes in cultural processes, or in some degree and content both of these?
Long Abstract:
Single human individuals form the whole culture in their basically global interaction with other people and their physical environment. On the one hand change and creativity, and on the other local and glocal continuity are basic qualities of culture in this process. Our time is characterised as a global transition period, wherein change in all is fast and intensive. Individuality and in many forms varying cultural meanings are considered to strengthen. On the one hand, social structures, organisations and institutions are considered to weaken, and on the other they are considered to strengthen in their combinations with multifaceted and varying cultural meanings and symbols. In this process, cultural heritage is safeguarded and used in different economic and political contexts at international, national and local levels.
The following questions are being raised by scientists and society more and more frequently: What is sustainable cultural development in this changing world? What should be sustained in culture: is it the safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, creative interaction and changes in cultural processes, or in some degree and content both of these? Who has the power to define and make decisions about cultural sustainability? How does cultural sustainability relate to ecological, economic and social dimensions of sustainability?
All presentations, both theoretical and empirical, that discuss sustainability in local, global and glocal cultural processes, cultural heritage, everyday creativity and human individuals as producers of culture are welcome in the workshop.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Jadranka Grbic (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences)
Paper short abstract:
This paper deals with the analysis of the efforts of local communities for affirmation, preservation and institutional protection of local speeches. It is about local / regional speech with a very small number of speakers (several hundreds). One of the key arguments of these efforts, in author's opinion, is the preservation of identity through language (local, regional, but also national - with government's support through status acknowledgment), but also a possible strategy to resist globalization.
Paper long abstract:
This paper deals with the analysis of the efforts of local communities for affirmation, preservation and institutional protection of local speeches. It is about local / regional speech with a very small number of speakers (several hundreds). Currently in Croatia the total number of eight managed to gain status of protected non-material goods from The Registry of Protected Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Croatia, and it is expected that this number would increase. This research is based on one case studies, i. e., example of local speech on the territory of Northwestern Croatia: the speech from Hum area. The research is consisted of 1) theoretical study (the analysis and interpretation of socio-political and cultural context in the region of Northwestern Croatia near the Slovenian border), 2) field research (structured and semi-structured interviews with speakers of those speech, from which the real linguistic speaking situation within the local community in question), 3) document work - the analysis of argumentation for demanding the status from the corresponding state institutions. One of the key arguments of these efforts, in author's opinion, is the preservation of identity through language (local, regional, but also national - with government's support through status acknowledgment), but also a possible strategy to resist globalization.
Claudia Cancellotti
Paper short abstract:
In Palestinian rural localities the safeguard and valorisation of natural and cultural heritage is an important occasion to creatively overcome the disruptive material and symbolic effects of the conflicting and fragmented context. The Battir Landscape Ecomuseum project represents an organic experience in this direction.
Paper long abstract:
The proposed contribution consists of the presentation of an experience of participated landscape safeguarding and valorisation that led to the planning and implementation of an ecomuseum of landscape in the Palestinian rural village of Battir (Bethlehem Governatorate), characterised by a natural and cultural landscape of outstanding environmental, historical and socio-cultural interest.
Main aim of the project is helping the local inhabitants in establishing a territorial platform for the creative and dynamic safeguarding of their natural and cultural heritage, severely threatened by the geopolitical situation of the area.
The project outline was defined during a three years action/research on the local natural and cultural heritage conducted by an interdisciplinary team of local and international experts
(anthropologists, landscape architects), designed through the encounter and interaction with local authorities and stakeholders and the experimenting of different forms of active participation of various territorial actors (local historians, "human treasures", school teachers, students, community based organisations, small farmers, population at broad). Main objective of the research - focused on the investigation of different local perceptions and representations of the history and identity of the place and on the documentation of cultural know-how attached to the shaping and maintenance of the cultural landscape - was involving the local community in a process of exploration and re-interpretation of their natural and cultural heritage and in the concerted individuation of sustainable strategies for its valorisation and for its protection against the disruptive effects generated by the conflicting, precarious and fragmented situation affecting the occupied Palestinian territories.
Anete Karlsone (University of Latvia)
Paper short abstract:
The aim of the report is to ascertain the extent to which traditional textiles are used in the offer of the rural tourism of Latvia (in its different regions) and which kinds of ethnographic textiles are most often used in order to create visitors a notion of cultural particularity.
Paper long abstract:
There are a number of different ways how the modern society makes use of the ethnographic heritage in order to preserve and sustain features of the traditional culture and express its national particularity. The tourism industry also uses cultural heritage as an element of its offer. One of the tourism branches in Latvia is rural tourism, which is closely connected with recreation in the nature and eco-tourism. Also in tourist attractions which are not directly connected with cultural and historical heritage, the cultural particularity is emphasized through various natural environment components like natural building materials (usually wood) and constructions, interior design components like furniture, textiles and others.
The aim of the report is to ascertain the extent to which traditional textiles are used to emphasize cultural and historical particularity within the rural tourism environment in Latvia, which kinds of ethnographic textiles are most often used and whether they are related to the cultural and historical heritage of the place, as well as what are the differences (if any) between different regions of Latvia.
Carla Lobo (Faculty of Architecture, Lisbon Technical University )
Paper short abstract:
Worldwide the use of glazed tiles as colour and cladding in architectural spaces is a living cultural heritage. Their presence in urban spaces embodies cultural, artistic and functional principles, relating past and present, people and places.
Paper long abstract:
Since the beginning of the history of humanity, surfaces of inhabited environments have been privileged places to express individual cultural identity. All over the world, and throughout the times, the employ of ceramic tiles as architectural skin, has been a vehicle of communication for erudite and popular imagination, illustrating cultures, conveying ideas and ideals, expressing tradition and history. They relate built environment and users, appealing to the senses, communicating messages, and transforming the spectator into an actor.
The emotional, cultural and communication features of glazed tiles, strengthen by their longevity, enabled the creation of a cultural identity legacy - a repository of memories, conveying a sense of belonging, creating a "sense of place".
Glazed tiles, small pieces of fired earth, reveal local wealth, illustrate regional colours, and represent the community progression. Their qualities and meaning are undoubtedly place specific and time bounded, in relation to natural local materials.
The possibility to customize tiles production at every stage enables its use in different cultural and geographical contexts, materializing different languages and expressions according to local living and architecture specificity, respecting the concept of a sustainable growing of our global society.
This study aims to clarify the role of the ceramic glazed tiles as cultural and historical legacy, substantiating its potential as a qualifying element on vital and stimulating environments, demonstrating its viability as a sustainable solution in the transformation of urban territories in places.
Fahrettin Ersin Alaca (School of Art and Design Aalto University)
Paper short abstract:
Through managing design classics, Finland provides a model strategy for the globe not only transmitting the cultural heritage to next generations, but also stimulating the collaboration of different segments of society for the sustainable development serving both monetary and ethical frameworks.
Paper long abstract:
The plethora of consumer objects imposes today a great impact on our everyday cultural patterns which complexify the current sustainability crisis on a "behavioural" basis. This fact turns sustainability to a comprehensive socio-cultural issue beyond manufacturing, disposability or technological frames. Sustainability is the cutting-edge term in the historical process where the generation of meanings and values has been shifted from traditional sources to services and objects produced by industries. This increasing importance turned products integrated in diverse cultures and understandings to a steadfast part of global cultural property throughout the 20th Century. Hence the contemporary cultural heritage embraces the enduring products surviving decades and breaking the stress of obsolescence. Such artefacts are called today in many ways varying from timeless products to design classics. Since heritage focuses on the interpretation of the past as a means of benefiting for the present and the future, timeless products/ design classics can make substantial contribution to the extensive debate regarding sustainability. Their emotional durability as a key factor and their broad acceptance and reputation turn them to a perfect basis on which sustainable awareness and demand can be fostered. For example in Finland where the design-based cultural heritage is competently managed, companies such as Artek and Iittala locate the heritage in the centre of their brand identity. The presence of many case studies such as the "2nd Cycle Project" implemented by Artek provides a unique opportunity to witness how cultural heritage is involved in efforts for a sustainable future in Finnish case.
Luis Alcala (University of A Coruna)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores the experience taking place at the Universidad Indígena de Venezuela, where indigenous peoples discuss the meaning and content of Cultural Heritage. Translation, writing and ITs are at the same time means and issues of this discussion.
Paper long abstract:
Indigenous peoples of Latin America have experienced revolutionary changes concerning their visibility and self-esteem in the last decades. At the heart of Venezuela, a project called "Universidad Indígena de Venezuela" (Indigenous University of Venezuela) has been working from 2001 as a result of a deeply rooted community network. The very name of this project is at the same time controversial and revolutionary. Daily life at the "Universidad" shows discourses and symbolic performances involving cultural dilemmas and challenges.
In the dialogue taking place at the "Universidad", the definition of Cultural Heritage lies widely on Spanish language and European ideologies. But alternative worldviews end up interacting, with creative and complex outputs. The way these reflections take place is revolutionary itself. When indigenous students use Spanish as lingua franca for cultural heritage claims, they are not only translating their thoughts but also linking different worldviews, with bidirectional/multidirectional consequences. When they write on their own languages they are in fact creating written language, since their tongues had no alphabet and local teachers have only taught them to write Spanish. Finally, when they use Information Technologies they have the ultimate tool for imagining communities and producing knowledge.
This paper is based on fieldwork at the Universidad Indígena de Venezuela and involved indigenous communities, as well as on a continuing relationship with its social network on the Internet.
Katriina Soini (Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy)
Paper short abstract:
The paper will present results on a review of research literature on the cultural dimensions of sustainability aiming at introducing the various dimensions of cultural sustainability as a basis for further discussions.
Paper long abstract:
The neologism 'sustainable development' was launched in 1987 by The Brundtland Commission, formally known as the World Commission on Environment and Development. Despite the international conventions, theoretical and conceptual understanding of culture within the general frames of sustainability is vague, and consequently, the role of culture in the policies of sustainable development has remained under-emphasised. Presumably, for this reason, national, regional and local policy, as well as research focusing on sustainable development, often examine the cultural dimension as a part of the social one, or totally ignore it. The ultimate aim of the paper is to identify and analyse dimensions on 'cultural sustainability' thorough reviewing existing research literature. The paper will especially focus on, how the concepts of 'culture' and 'development' and their interrelationships are represented by the articles reviewed. The paper will end up with seven dimensions of cultural sustainability and discuss their contribution to the policies of sustainable development.
Nancy Duxbury (Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra) M. Sharon Jeannotte (University of Ottawa)
Paper short abstract:
Communities worldwide are working to integrate cultural considerations within local sustainability initiatives. We synthesize leading cases/approaches in Canada and Europe and review research literature to advance the inclusion of cultural heritage, vitality and values in local sustainability frameworks.
Paper long abstract:
"Culture" and "sustainability" are two of the most contested terms on the planet. Bringing the two concepts together is therefore a huge challenge, but it is one that is being undertaken in cities and communities worldwide as they seek to integrate cultural considerations within community sustainability frameworks and plans. In our ongoing review of an array of integrated community sustainability plans and guides, we have concluded that the development of conceptual frameworks for considering culture in the context of community sustainability should be systems-based and three-fold in nature, encompassing and balancing notions of: (1) historical/heritage vitality, including preservation of intangible and physical assets; (2) cultural vitality, including dynamic contemporary creative processes and opportunities; and (3) cultural values that shape ways of living together and interactions with the environment. In this paper, we will review and synthesize 'leading' cases/approaches to the three themes among Canadian Integrated Community Sustainability Plans and supporting documents and various European initiatives we have reviewed. We will also apply the three-part framework to various research literatures on culture and sustainability to critically assess how these more theoretical discourses might inform and advance the inclusion of cultural considerations in the context of community sustainability.
Karri Kiiskinen (University of Turku)
Paper short abstract:
In cultural interaction across and at the EU/national borders cultural sustainability, as a development concept and as local doing of border crossings, has both de- and re-bordering roles in terms of defining places. Here also borderland materiality has a role to play.
Paper long abstract:
The Finnish-Russian and Polish-Ukrainian borderlands offer possibilities for comparing "sustainability practices" in terms of the way they may contribute in redefining places and cross-border relations at the external border of the EU. Here policies and EU funded projects are based on ideas of sustainable development as well as cultural diversity. These seem to be 'good' ideas by definition and also suggest that the same would to go for the co-operational practices they result in. It is, however, another matter how such practices of cooperation become localized. In these ceded borderlands there is no one way of defining some borderland cultural sustainability since there is hardly any one way of defining cultural heritage and its authenticity. When adopted by cultural institutions, organizations and their actors, cultural sustainability seems become a way of emphasizing local agency. In projects, they seem to make alternative cultural claims about localities as well as their location at the border. Here ideas of sustainability tend to address culture in places but they may also imply cross-border belongings. Here cultural heritage becomes actualized by the actors in a way that points out the importance of border crossings as 'cultural duties' to people and/or things. Cultural sustainability seems to mean a way of pointing out the relevant scales of heritage. Rather than a static resource, 'heritage' defines also competences for right kinds of border-crossings. Here the border needs to be faced but is it a place?
Katriina Siivonen (University of Turku)
Paper short abstract:
I will ask in my presentation what the relationship is between tradition, heredity and cultural heritage. Further I will ask what culturally sustainable development is in this relationship. I will have empirical examples from the current Southwest Finland Archipelago.
Paper long abstract:
I will argue that culture is primarily a global and heterogeneous interaction process. In it both verbal and material tradition are constantly changing and varying. It is not possible to distinguish different cultures from each other with clear boundaries, or to name specific tangible or intangible elements of a culture.
Secondly, culture is a condensation of relatively constant cultural phenomena among interrelated people. These phenomena consist of both conscious symbols as well as unconscious elements and of both intangible and tangible elements. These can be called heredity according to Regina Bendix. In the mutual interaction process people share influences and the process develops with relative homogeneity. In this process it is possible to perceive different, original cultures with dynamic boundaries and dynamic essential elements.
Thirdly, culture is a symbolic and clearly argued knowledge of the original essences of different cultures with their intangible and tangible cultural heritage. On this level, cultures are collective "imagined communities", produced by institutional powers. However, both symbolic cultural wholes and condensations of cultural phenomena are subordinate to the primary interaction process of culture with its global, individual and heterogeneous aspects.
I will have empirical examples from the current Southwest Finland Archipelago. The essential questions are:
- What is the relationship between tradition, heredity and cultural heritage?
- What should sustain in this relationship?