The 1st conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies Central and Eastern Europe Chapter.

29.–30. 11. Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The history of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has been characterized by the violent changing of borders and routes ever since WW1 and WW2. Post-war events continue to shape everyday local realities, state formations, and displacement of communities. (Self)imposed views on the region’s centrality and/or marginality come strongly to the fore when considering these developments, producing inherent diversity.

Socialism and post-socialism can be understood as a unifying experience in the region, but it is also very distinctive when considered alongside historical events and local political developments. How are these diverse historical developments affecting the region’s heritage-related processes? What kind of perspectives can be gained from CEE heritage-making processes?

The conference aims to further discuss identified common themes of the Central and East European heritage studies; marginality vs. centrality, the impact of WW1 and WW2, the interplay of borders and routes, displacement of people, distinctive legacies of (post)socialism and future CEE heritage prospects. Its intention is to stimulate discussion about how various case studies of heritagization in CEE can contribute to the wider critical heritage studies.

The conference is hosted by the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) in Ljubljana (Slovenia) and co-organized by the ZRC SAZU research program Heritage on the Margins (financed by Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency, P5-0408), the Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences research program Strategy AV21 - Anatomy of European Society, History, Tradition, Culture, Identity. The conference is held under the auspices of the CEE Chapter of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies.

Download the programme here.