DEADLINE EXTENSION: Ours, Yours, Theirs, No One's? Heritage of Multicultural Areas

Call for abstracts and papers for publication in conference publications

Published on: January 16, 2025

Date of the conference: June 10 – 13, 2025

Location: Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), Institute of Ethnomusicology, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Optional: Whole day excursion to the Kočevska (Gottschee) region

Deadline for submission of abstracts: February 10, 2025

The Institute of Ethnomusicology ZRC SAZU invites paper submissions for the International Conference Ours, Yours, Theirs, No One's? Heritage of Multicultural Areas.

The aim of the conference is to shed light on the role and understanding of heritage and heritagisation processes in border areas, where different cultures and languages have traditionally come into contact. We will look at heritage in the broadest sense as the ways in which communities and individuals understand, use, value and make sense of the past. We aim to answer the question of how processes related to heritage have been shaped by political and historical circumstances: in particular, by changing political borders (e.g. after the First and Second World Wars), the rise of populisms, demographic changes, e.g. due to population displacements and resettlements, as well as the 'conflicts' between different interpretations of the past and memories.

The following types of contributions are particularly welcome:

Papers that shed light on the processes that have led to issues in relation to heritage and differences in understanding and interpretation of heritage, and that offer conceptual reflections on the heritage of multicultural or border areas, post-imperial heritage, national heritage, etc.
Papers dealing with heritage and heritagisation as a tool to achieve the goals of minorities, local, national and transnational communities (emancipation of minorities, regional/local development, political goals/intergovernmental relations, etc.) and reflecting on the role of science in these processes.
Papers dealing with the dissonance of heritage and memory in the context of changing national borders, totalitarian regimes, wars, population displacement and resettlements, genocide, etc. as well as good practices in overcoming this dissonance.

We welcome contributions from a wide range of disciplines. Please send your proposals (up to 300 words and a short CV (max. 100 words)) via online form or in the attached form (Word document) by e-mail to gni@zrc-sazu.si by February 10, 2025. Applicants will be notified of selection by the end of February 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact Anja Moric (anja.moric@zrc-sazu.si) or Marjeta Pisk (marjeta.pisk@zrc-sazu.si).

The conference is part of the research project The Weight of the past. Heritage of the Multicultural Area: Case Study of Gottschee.