Critical Heritages:

performing and
representing
identities in Europe

Chris Whitehead, Newcastle

University

October 2016
CoHERE

o explores the ways in which identities in Europe are constructed through

heritage representations and performances that connect to ideas of place,
history, tradition and belonging.
o identifies means to sustain and transmit European heritages that are likely
to contribute to the evolution of inclusive, communitarian identities and
counteract disaffection with, and division within, the EU.
o Explores multiple modes of representation and performance, from cultural
policy, museum display, heritage interpretation, school curricula and
political discourse to music and dance performances, food and cuisine,
rituals and protest.
CoHERE consortium

o Newcastle University, United Kingdom

o Aarhus University, Denmark
o University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
o National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
o Bilgi University Istanbul, Turkey
o University of Bologna, Italy
o Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, Denmark
o Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom
o Latvian Academy of Culture, Latvia
o European Network of Cultural Centres, Belgium
o Polin Museum of the History Of Polish Jews, Poland
o Stichting Nationaal Museum Van Wereldculturen, Netherlands
Approaches

1. the relational study of productions and experiences of heritage at

institutional, social and personal levels, including research into people’s
activities and attitudes;
2. research by practice and the provision of public-facing dissemination
activities;
3. the critically-informed development of instruments (e.g. models for policy,
curricula, museum and heritage practice) intended to promote reflection on
and valorisation of European heritages and to engender socially-inclusive
attitudes.
 Heritage?
o a representational, discursive and performative practice involving
conscious attempts to valorise aspects of the past in the present.
Up Helly Aa, Shetland (UK)
o Heritage can be official or unofficial, tangible or intangible, or mixtures
of these. It may not always be a social good productive of perceived-
to-be progressive identities, respectful intergroup relations or benign
moral positions, suggesting the existence of plural ‘heritages’ that are
sometimes in conflict with one another, rather than a monolithic
‘common heritage’.

o Likewise, contemporary connections with events, cultures and sites

from prehistory to the recent past may all be important for identity
construction, and this is recognised in the temporal depth of the
research.
 Heritage?
o a representational, discursive and performative practice involving
conscious attempts to valorise aspects of the past in the present.
Anders Breivik’s rifle
o Heritage can be official or unofficial, tangible or intangible, or mixtures
of these. It may not always be a social good productive of perceived-
to-be progressive identities, respectful intergroup relations or benign
moral positions, suggesting the existence of plural ‘heritages’ that are
sometimes in conflict with one another, rather than a monolithic
‘common heritage’.

o Likewise, contemporary connections with events, cultures and sites

from prehistory to the recent past may all be important for identity
construction, and this is recognised in the temporal depth of the
research.
Work Package 1, Productions and Omissions of
European heritage

Piazzale Loreto, Milan

provides a critical foundation for CoHERE as a
whole, interrogating different meanings of heritage,
historical constructions and representations of
Europe, formative histories for European identities
that are neglected or hidden because of political
circumstances, and non-official heritage.
WP2: The use of past in political discourse and the
representation of Islam in European museums

investigates public/popular discourses and

dominant understandings of a homogeneous
‘European heritage’ and the exclusion of groups
such as minorities from a stronger inclusion into
European society.
WP3: Cultural forms and expressions of identity in
Europe
focuses on cultural traditions as significant Valdis Muktupāvels, WP3 investigator
factors that form local, regional, national and
European identities, and how cultural
communities and policy makers develop
tradition, maintain intangible cultural heritage
and ensure its sustainability. The WP
engages particularly with language, tourism,
music and festivals.
WP4 Roles of Digital heritage dialogue[s] in
constructing heritage identities in Europe

Areti Galani, WP4 investigator and

engages with digital design methodologies to
interaction designer
investigate heritage conversations online and in
museum/heritage settings), crafting
opportunities for intercultural dialogue.
WP5: Education, heritage and identities

explores how European identity is

shaped through formal and informal
learning situations both in and outside
the classroom with the purpose of
enhancing school curricula and informal
learning at heritage sites by integrating
innovative technologies and including
multicultural perspectives.
Students at the Antikmuseet, Aarhus
WP6: Food as Heritage

focuses on food as a fundamental element of

heritage and identities. Food, cuisine and cooking
are imbricated in traditions, social practices,
intergenerational cultural transmission, commercial
practice, tourism, public policies and marketing
strategies. Can food heritage be a basis for
inclusive social expression in Europe?
UNESCO inscription of
Mediterranean Diet, 2013
Cross-cuts

o institutional representations of geopolitical constructs (such as the idea of ‘Europe’

itself);
o how histories and heritages are produced: the former as a telling of the past and the
latter as an appropriation of aspects of the past;
o notional place identities (e.g. ‘European’, ‘Mediterranean’, ‘Scandinavian’, ‘Londoner’
etc.) and their purchase;
o people’s relationships with the past and with the places of history (whether these are
officially recognised or not) and how this intersects with feelings of belonging;
o cultural performances, including those of the ‘living arts’, but also performances of the
self and of society in the wider sociological sense;
Cross-cuts

o movements – of people, objects, ideas, heritages, practices, religions, mythologies

and languages – across places, times and generations; the online mobility of
heritages;
o the transmission, hybridisation and appropriation of cultural forms (e.g. musics,
cuisine, language features, memory practices etc.) over time and place;
o subject positions in time and place; inside-outside dynamics and acts of differencing
and inclusion and exclusion, comprehending inclusion and exclusion of states from
the European Union; feelings of belonging by choice or by constraint;
o opposition and antagonism to perceived encroachments upon place; resistance to
perceived allochthons and allochthonous cultures, in particular in relation to Islam.
Dissemination

o CoHERE Critical Archive

o Conferences and workshops
o Exhibitions
o Digital outputs
o Educational materials
o Films
o Musical compositions and performances
o Festival
o Academic papers
o Book series
o Policy Briefs
For your diary

o September 2017: Mid-term conference (in collaboration with TRACES):

Berlin

o August 2018: European Heritages Festival and Oratorio premiere

o November 2018: Conference: Warsaw: POLIN Museum of the History of the

Polish Jews

Co-ordinator: Chris.whitehead@ncl.ac.uk
Deputy Co-ordinator and Dissemination leader: Susannah.eckersley@ncl.ac.uk