Introduction: Europe, Heritage and Memory—Dissonant Encounters and Explorations

Abstract

Heritage and memory, as closely related concepts, have great relevance to our world and European society today. Contemporary Europe faces political, economic, social, and humanitarian challenges that influence both how people deal with their past and how they build their identities

Dialogue in and as European heritage

“…The panel reports conceive intercultural dialogue as a European value and describe the EHL sites as gateways to Europe's cultural diversity that communicate knowledge of European values, history and heritage. Instead of conceiving the potential of heritage dialogue in the EHL, the Label serves the EU by spreading a unifying EU discourse and, at the same time, helps to bypass dissonances included in the concepts of Europe, heritage and 'European' values (see also Van Huis et al, 2019). In this context, the EHL panel is perceived as a gatekeeper with a mandate to decide upon and open new 'gates', which are believed to produce mutual understanding and strengthen belonging to the EU as well as to serve the Union's international relations.…”

“…While previous research shows that it is common for EU policy documents to list values, like peace, as a characteristic of the EU (Lähdesmäki, 2019;Mäkinen, 2019), these 'European values' also take on ambivalent meanings. This is especially the case when analysed from the perspective of the imperial and colonial heritage of Europe (Turunen, 2019;Van Huis et al, 2019). Although the EHL reports highlight 'intercultural dialogue' as an integral feature of European history and values, they offer a limited discussion on what 'dialogue' and related values mean (see also Turunen, 2019).…”

“…Critical heritage studies have emphasized the dialogic nature of heritage in the form of negotiations over distinct values and narrations of the past in the present (Harrison, 2013;Van Huis et al, 2019). Cultural heritage includes the 'political process of negotiation, mediation, and regulation of identities, conflicts and power relations' (Kisić, 2016: 57; see also Mäkinen, 2019).…”

A bibliometric analysis of cultural heritage research in the humanities: The Web of Science as a tool of knowledge management

“…For instance, the established uses of cultural heritage were criticized by several researchers scrutinizing how nationalist sentiments and collective identities have been created through the invention of traditions (Hobsbawm and Ranger, 1983), the fabrication of heritage myths (Lowenthal, 1985), or by cultivating nostalgia for the past (Hewison, 1987). In the following decades, cultural heritage research was enriched by advancements in memory studies (e.g., Macdonald, 2013;van Huis et al, 2019) and the investigation of previously un-told or marginalized histories and heritage narratives of minorities and indigenous people (e.g., Seglow, 2018). Such interests reflect the critical turn in heritage studies starting with the 2000s, as we will show in the present article.…”

‘What I shall miss’: European heritage in Tom Lanoye’s Fortress Europe (2005)

“…It can construct, elaborate and reinforce specific narratives of the past and in this sense actively participate in the construction of heritage. Heritage, after all, ‘only emerges when something is narrated, defined, and/or treated as heritage in the “right” sociocultural context’ and it is this narrative nature that gives heritage its ‘ability to produce reality, action, and affect’ (Van Huis et al, 2019: 8–9). Literature also holds the potential to reflect on and intervene in dominant heritage discourses.…”