Cultural heritage in historical perspective

OBJECTIVES
Students:
• will understand the processes of creation of cultural heritage in the present and ways of interpreting the past;
• will assess the importance and role of various actors – heritage bearers involved in the processes of heritage creation;
• will recognize the roles and meanings of heritage in the modern world;
• will become familiar with terms related to heritage (memory, tradition, tradition, community/heritage community, nostalgia, etc.);
• will recognise the main national and international institutions (UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Slovenia) and the laws related to heritage management;
• will learn methods and techniques of researching the past and interpreting heritage.

COMPETENCES:
Students will be able to:
• analyze and evaluate the importance and role of cultural heritage in today's world;
• identify and assess the work of the main international and national institutions that develop laws, policies, and agendas for the protection of cultural heritage
• select good and bad examples of cultural heritage preservation and use in the local context;
• recognize how traditions, ancient knowledge and memories from the past are transformed into elements of local, national and transnational cultural heritage;
• develop an idea for a cultural heritage project;
• Apply methods, tools, and approaches to research the past and co-create cultural heritage in the local environment.

There is no enrolment condition or completed study obligations for the course Cultural heritage in historical perspective.

The successful integration in the study course is connected with the knowledge of other cultural historical formations in the field of culture and history and with other courses in the programme.

The main goal of the course is for students to learn about the processes of creating cultural heritage in today's world and its importance and role in community formation and development. Using good and not so good examples from Slovenia and abroad, they will be able to critically evaluate the importance of cultural heritage as:
• socio-political capital, when tangible and intangible elements of cultural heritage represent a symbol in identification processes and the formation of a collective identity;
• economic capital, when cultural assets are used for tourism development, creative industries and marketing;
• development capital, when ancestral knowledge and skills are used to solve development problems (e.g., climate change, poverty, intercultural and intergenerational integration).

Students will also recognise the historical development of the process for the protection and management of cultural heritage, the characteristics of individual historical periods (modern and postmodern times) for the creation of cultural heritage laws, and the various relationships to the material elements, knowledge and ideas of the past among local authorities, civil society and experts. Greater attention will be paid to the situation in Slovenia, Central and South-eastern Europe, focusing on the period from the 19th century onwards, when cultural heritage was used for the construction of political programmes and national identity. At the same time, they will be familiarised with concepts related to cultural heritage (memory, tradition, past, identity, community) and with the approaches of various scientific disciplines concerned with the protection of cultural heritage (art history, archaeology, anthropology, architecture, geography).

In the second part of the lectures, more attention will be paid to the presentation of individual state institutions (museum, archive, Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Republic of Slovenia, research centres), international institutions (UNESCO, Council of Europe), conventions and strategies that define the way of protection, preservation and marketing of cultural heritage.
Individual institutions will be visited as part of the seminar or on-site exercises. At the same time, students will have the opportunity to become familiar with the ways in which cultural heritage is interpreted in the field. During the seminar, students will also learn about different approaches, methods, and techniques for researching the past and interpreting cultural heritage (interviews, photo-voicing, storytelling, holistic approach, etc.). Students will also learn how to write national and international development projects.

Students will:
• understand the processes and practices of creating transnational, national, and local cultural heritage;
• know international and national institutions and laws that protect cultural heritage;
• know the functions of the main national cultural heritage institutions;
• be able to discuss the advantages, disadvantages, obstacles, and opportunities of creating cultural heritage for social, economic, and development purposes;
• be able to develop ideas for a cultural heritage project;
• be able to use various methods to research the past and recreate heritage in the local area;
• develop communication and discussion skills to constructively discuss the use of cultural heritage for development.

• FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna: Procesi ustvarjanja kulturne dediščine: Kraševci med tradicijo in izzivi sodobne družbe. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2011. Catalogue
• FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna. Procesi ustvarjanja kulturne dediščine: na razpotju med neoliberalizmom in prostovoljstvom v okviru dediščinskih društev. Etnolog: glasnik Slovenskega etnografskega muzeja. [Nova vrsta], 30/81, 2020b, 69–88.
  E-version
• FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna; POGAČAR, Martin; ŠTRAUS, Matevž, LEMUT BAJEC Melita: Dediščina v akciji: Poti in načini vključevanja mladih v ohranjanje in interpretacijo dediščine. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2021. E-version
• HUDALES J., VISOČNIK, N. (ur). 2005. Dediščina v očeh znanosti. Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za etnologijo in kulturno antropologijo. Catalogue
• HUDALES J., VISOČNIK, N. (ur). 2005. Dediščina v rokah stroke. Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za etnologijo in kulturno antropologijo.
• DOLŽAN ERŽEN, T., SLAVEC GRADIŠNIK I., VALENTINČIČ FURLAN N. (ur).2014. Interpretacije dediščine. Ljubljana: Slovensko etnološko društvo.
• SMITH, Laurajane: Uses of Heritage. London in New York, Routledge, 2006. Catalogue
• ČEBRON LIPOVEC, Neža. Etnografske metode in ohranjanje stavbne dediščine. Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva. [Spletna izd.]. 2021, 61, št. 1, str. 17-29. ISSN 2536-4324. E-version
• SEDMAK, Gorazd, BREZOVEC, Aleksandra, PLESTENJAK, Ana, ČEBRON LIPOVEC, Neža. Povezovanje turizma in kreativnih industrij pri oživljanju opuščene industrijske dediščine skladišča Monfort. Studia universitatis hereditati. 2019, letn. 7, št. 1, str. 113-127, ilustr. ISSN 2350-5443. E-version
• HROBAT VIRLOGET, Katja. O aktivni in pasivni vlogi stroke ter javnosti pri ustvarjanju nesnovne dediščine : primer mitskega parka in starovercev. V: SVETEL, Ana (ur.), PETROVIĆ LEŠ, Tihana (ur.). Nesnovna dediščina med prakso in registri : 15. vzporednice med slovensko in hrvaško etnologijo. Ljubljana: Slovensko etnološko društvo; Zagreb: Hrvaško etnološko društvo, 2019. Str. 26-45. Knjižnica Glasnika Slovenskega etnološkega društva, 53.
• PETRIČ, Magdalena: Mednarodno pravno varstvo kulturne dediščine. Ljubljana: Ministrstvo za kulturo, uprava RS za kulturno dediščino, 2000, 16.
• ŽIDOV, Neda: Težave Slovenije pri varovanju nesnovne kulturne dediščine v luči Unescove Konvencije (2003). Etnolog, 28, 2018, 41–62. E-version
• CHITTY, Gill (ur.), Heritage, Conservation and Communities. Engagement, Participation and Capacity Building. London, New York, Routledge.
• MESKELL, Lynn (ur.), Global Heritage: A Reader. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2015 Catalogue
• JEZERNIK, Božidar: Nacionalizacija preteklosti. V: Jezernik, B. (ur.). Med prezentacijo in manipulacijo. Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete (Zupaničeva knjižnica, št. 33), 2010, 7–23.
• SILVERMAN Helaine in D. Fairchild Ruggles (ur.), Cultural Heritage and Human Rights. New York: Springer, 2015 E-version
• WATERTON, Emma in WATSON, Steve. (ur.). 2015. The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Heritage Research. Palgrave Handbooks. Basingstoke in New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Catalogue E-version

Written or oral exam (60%) Seminar work / project (40%)

Jasna Fakin Bajec, PhD. is an ethnologist, cultural anthropologist and historian. In 2010 she received her PhD with the theme Processes of Creating Cultural Heritage between Tradition and Challenges of Modern Society in Karst region (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of arts). Since 2004 she has been employed at ZRC SAZU, Institute for Cultural and Memorial Studies. Since 2021, he has been the head of the ZRC SAZU Research Station in Nova Gorica.

Her research interests focus on cultural practices of making heritage for the social, cultural, environmental and economic development of local communities. Based on her work with local associations, heritage and cultural institutions, primary and secondary schools and municipalities she develops participatory approaches, methods and techniques to achieve integrative/inclusive valorisation, conservation, management and interpretation of cultural heritage. She gives particular attention to the empowerment and inclusion of civil society, especially marginalized groups, in heritage practices, seeing them as opportunities for critical reflection on the questions of who I am, who I belong to and how to move forward. She also reflects on the importance of memories, emotions and affective reactions of the bearers of cultural practices in the mobilization of heritage for commercial purposes and consequently in the violation of cultural rights.

Her heritage and cultural studies been published in scholarly articles, collections of scholarly papers, and a book named Processes of making cultural heritage (2011).

Bibliografija/Bibliography:
FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna. Procesi ustvarjanja kulturne dediščine: na razpotju med neoliberalizmom in prostovoljstvom v okviru dediščinskih društev. Etnolog : glasnik Slovenskega etnografskega muzeja. [Nova vrsta]. [Tiskana izd.]. 2020, letn. 30 = 81, str. 69-88. https://www.etno- muzej.si/files/etnolog/pdf/0354-0316_30_fakin_procesi.pdf.
FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna. The interpretation and utilization of cultural heritage and its values by young people in Slovenia : is heritage really boring and uninteresting?. Etnološka tribina : godišnjak Hrvatskog etnološkog društva. 2019, vol. 49, [no.] 42, str. 173-193. ISSN 0351-1944. https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=335470, DOI: 10.15378/1848- 9540.2019.42.07.
FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna (avtor, fotograf). An integrated approach to the revitalization, safeguarding and management of cultural heritage: how to establish a durable and active local group of stakeholders. Annales : anali za istrske in mediteranske študije. Series historia et sociologia. [Tiskana izd.]. 2020, letn. 30, št. 2, str. 285-300, https://zdjp.si/wp- content/uploads/2020/09/ASHS_30-2020-2_FAKIN.pdf.
FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna (avtor, fotograf). Vključevanje skupnosti v razvoj in upravljanje kulturne dediščine v aplikativnih evropskih projektih. Glasnik Slovenskega etnološkega društva. [Tiskana izd.]. 2020, 60, št. 1, str. 90-100, ilustr. ISSN 0351-2908. https://www.sed-drustvo.si/domains/sed- drustvo.si/modules/Domino/Files/glasnik-60-1-2020-manjaa-resolucija-1.pdf.
FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna. Cultural heritage and the role of voluntary associations in the process of achieving sustainable development in rural communities. Studia ethnologica Croatica. 2016, vol. 28, str. 21-45,. http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=253563.
FAKIN BAJEC, Jasna. Procesi ustvarjanja kulturne dediščine : Kraševci med tradicijo in izzivi sodobne družbe. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2011. 327 str., ilustr. Ethnologica - Dissertationes, 2.

Asst. dr. Kaja Širok is active in research in the fields of history, museology, heritage, oral history, etc. She graduated in 2002 in the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana with the thesis Ars amatoria: the concept of love in the Middle Ages. She continued her postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Postgraduate Studies in Nova Gorica, where she received her doctorate in cultural history in 2009 with the dissertation Collective Remembrance and Collective Forgetting in the Border Area: Memories of Gorica 1943–1947. Between 2011 and 2021, she headed the Museum of Recent History of Slovenia (MNZS). During her leadership, she participated in many European projects in the field of culture. In 2019, the European Parliament confirmed her to the academic council of the House of European History in Brussels. Since 2021, she has been a lecturer at the University of Nova Gorica. From March to June 2022, she headed the Public Institution ! 2025 – Nova Gorica, the European capital of culture, currently she works as the State Secretary for Culture in Prime Minister Robert Golob's cabinet.

In her research work, she deals with issues of the relationship between history and memory, dominant historical narratives and the personal experiences of individuals, with a special emphasis on the issue of the perception of past events in relation to the present. It focuses on the themes of nationalisms, museum narratives, memory studies and various interpretations of the past.

Bibliografija/Bibliography:
ŠIROK, Kaja. Kalejdoskop goriške preteklosti : zgodbe o spominu in pozabi, (Zbirka Kulturni spomin, knj. 2). Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2012.
GRABAR, Nika, ŠIROK, Kaja, VOVK, Martina. Parlament - tri zgodbe : arhitektura, umetnost, spomin. Ljubljana: Muzej novejše zgodovine Slovenije, 2012.
ŠIROK, Kaja, PURG, Urška. (Re)interpretacije dediščine muzejskih zbirk : oblikovanje podob preteklosti v evropskem kontekstu. V: DOLŽAN ERŽEN, Tatjana (ur.), SLAVEC GRADIŠNIK, Ingrid (ur.), VALENTINČIČ FURLAN, Nadja (ur.). Interpretacije dediščine, (Knjižnica Glasnika Slovenskega etnološkega društva, 48). Ljubljana: Slovensko etnološko društvo, 2014, str. 128-137, 279-280.
ŠIROK, Kaja: Museums Exibiting Europe (EMEE); Toolkit n.2 http://www.museums-exhibiting-europe.de/toolkit-manuals-activity-8/
ŠIROK, Kaja. Tujerodec : italijanska koncentracijska taborišča med spominom in pozabo. V: TOFFOLO, Davide. Italijanska zima. 1. izd. Ljubljana: Društvo za oživljanje zgodbe 2 koluta: Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU, 2011,
ŠIROK, Kaja. Kolektivni spomin, pričevalec in zgodovina : diskurzivne konstrukcije preteklosti. Acta Histriae, ISSN 1318-0185, 2012, letn. 20, št. 1/2, str. 137-150.
ŠIROK, Kaja. Identitete, zgodovina in dediščina prostora - prakse spominjanja in komemoracije na Goriškem v XX. stoletju. Acta Histriae, ISSN 1318-0185, 2012, letn. 20, št. 4, str. 631-646, ŠIROK, Kaja. Spomin in pozaba na obmejnem območju : predstave o goriški preteklosti. Acta Histriae, ISSN 1318-0185, 2010, letn. 18, št. 1/2, str. 337-358
ŠIROK, Kaja. Okus spomina : refleksija na obdobje Zavezniške vojaške uprave v življenjskih zgodbah pričevalcev. V: ŠUŠTAR, Branko (ur.), HAKL SAJE, Maja (ur.). Zgodovina je slastna : kulturna zgodovina hrane. 100 let začetka prve svetovne vojne : programska knjižica. Ljubljana: ZZDS, 2014, str. 21.
ŠIROK, Kaja. Gradnja zgodovine, ustvarjanje spomina : vojni spomeniki v vojnah spomina = Building history, creating memory : war memorials in memory wars. V: HUREMOVIČ, Tina (ur.). Disonantna dediščina 20. stoletja = Dissonant heritage of the 20th century. [Ljubljana]: Forum slovanskih kultur: = Forum of Slavic Cultures, 2013, str. 34-35
ŠIROK, Kaja. Which history? Whose memory? : the power of memory in borderland identity making. V: The wages of nationhood : conflicts, compromises and costs : convention papers. [New York: Columbia University Press], 2012,
ŠIROK, Kaja. Commemoration and remembrance practices in Slovenia : adoption of Holocaust Remembrance Day and its discursive formation in everyday Slovene media. V: The holocaust in Yugoslavia : history, memory and culture - a reappraisal. [Jerusalem]: Yad Vashem, [2013],