Rivista "IBC" XXVII, 2019, 4
Dossier: Heritage explorations across Europe
musei e beni culturali, dossier /
Over the past years, headlines on climate change or refugees have become mainstream in European news outlets. Whether it is in a front-page article warning for a climate catastrophe, or in an opinion piece on how to ‘deal with’ refugees, both phenomena are playing and will play a part in the shaping of Europe’s (uncertain) future. The first work package of
CHEurope, which consists of two Ph.D. research projects, studies the bilateral links between cultural heritage and these two complex issues which are both linked to social, political, economic and environmental discussions.
The projects
aim to explore what role heritage can play or what potential heritage has to engage with, what many calls, two of the biggest challenges Europe is facing right now.
The presence of heritage in these phenomena is studied by stepping out of the academic institution and by working in the field with heritage professionals, grassroots organizations and people directly involved or affected. In this way, the practice of heritage and heritage making is studied, either via the official discourse of the policymaking agencies (Janna oud Ammerveld), or through the unofficial discourse of the refugees’ food practices (Marcela Jaramillo).
Migration crisis and the future of European heritage
Marcela Jaramillo
The aim of the research is to explore how the Syrian refugees’ food practices have served as an instrument to facilitate their integration in Portuguese social structure. Food emerged in the heritage arena since it started to be perceived as an element that permits to identify the culture of a nation. Ramshaw states “It is no surprise, therefore, that a strong and enduring relationship exists between heritage and cuisine. Indeed, one could even say that to know a people, one needs to know something about the food they eat. Ingredients, preparation, and consumption can reflect a great deal about a region or nation” (Ramshaw 2017, 53). UNESCO legitimized this understanding after the nomination of French Gastronomic Meal, Mexican/Michoacán Cuisine, and Croatian gingerbread in the Intangible
Cultural Heritage List in 2010
:
since then, 29 expressions more related to food were inscribed in the
UNESCO List.
By contrast,
critical heritage studies focus on the studies of the heritages non-officialized by figures of power, namely the Nation
or UNESCO. In the light of these studies, the research explores how the food practices of the Syrian refugees in Portugal, as non-official heritage, has proved the most effective tool for achieving an appropriate social integration.
Many refugee-integration initiatives have emerged in the region in the wake of the so-called ‘
European Migrant Crisis’
. In Portugal, they have mainly been related to refugees’ food practices, examples being culinary workshops, gastronomic events and the development of restaurants and catering services. The project discusses how the Portuguese government, NGOs, and civil society use refugees’ food practices to support their integration into the country, and how refugees respond, or not, to the related political and social demands. It also looks at how the food practices of Syrian refugees are adapting and being reshaped and are loaded with new meanings during their integration process, before finally questioning the extent to which, as a form of migrating heritage, these refugees’ food practices can build ‘bridges’ between cultures. The research presents the results of fieldwork in which semi-structured interviews, participatory observation, and audiovisual resources were applied among NGOs, restaurants and shops whose work and businesses are linked to Syrian refugees' food practices.
Climate change and the future of European heritage
Janna oud Ammerveld
This researchis based on the understanding of climate change as a
hyperobject. A term originating in the work of philosopher Timothy Morton, which implies that climate change as a phenomenon does not only manifest physically, as the weather, nor as a set of statistical data, or as records of climate shifts, but simultaneously as a discursive, and social agent within networks (Morton 2013). For this research these networks consist of the heritage policy making agency organizations which work on the national level in England (Historic England) and in Sweden (Swedish National Heritage Board). To study what climate change changes in these networks, the research revolves around the question: how do heritage policy makers engage with climate change and how do they act and react in response to the contemporary and future issues connected to this ‘hyperobject’?
Via ethnographic fieldwork at these two organizations, the research explores how these policy makers respond to climate change, how they frame climate within their existing work and in their corporate mission, and what action climate change initiates. To do so, it starts with looking at what is happening now and what has happened so far within the organizational network since climate change has become part of their rationale. Although actions and discussions are mostly happening within their own organizations, the involvement of Historic England in the Climate Heritage Network shows that the heritage sector is also willing to take the next step and to give voice to what heritage has to offer in the climate change debates in a variety of other people’s and organization’s agendas.
In the next stage, the research will reflect on how these responses either complement or dispute current societal discourses that are taking place, e.g. protests taking place in the UK by Extinction Rebellion, and the ‘School strike for the climate’ initiated by Greta Thunberg in Stockholm. Via this approach, the research will explore
what climate change narrative, and heritage narrative are supported by these organizations. Finally, it is also trying to shed light on what possible other narratives their work could support, hence speculating about the potential of heritage in a variety of possible futures, either dark or optimistic.
Conclusion
Climate change and migration are both part of and creators of a complex heterogeneous networks consisting of human, nonhuman and inanimate agents, which due to their complexity construct an uncertain future. The researchers engage with this uncertain future by studying the role heritage plays and can play in these phenomena in Europe and try to deepen the understanding of these relations and their implications for the construction of sustainable futures: what future do particular heritage practices create? And for who or what is this future? These studies provide the first debate to start to consider the role of heritage as an indispensable actor in coping with important current European concerns and playing a part in the construction of alternative futures.
References
Morton, T. 2013, Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Ramshaw, G. 2017, Food Heritage and Nationalism, in Dallen J. Timothy (ed.), Heritage Cuisines: Traditions, identities and tourism, Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
UNESCO, The List of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Register of good safeguarding practiceshttps://ich.unesco.org/en/lists(visited at 20 th June 2019) .
Zaytouna is a shop of middle east products that was opened in 2017 in the wake of the so-called 'European Migrant crisis'. Not only the Portuguese who want to attempt to cook middle east recipes buy products here but also the community of this region who want to prepare their food as if they were at home.
Mezze is the first restaurant of Syrian food in Portugal which is managed by Syrian refugees. The staff is taking their lunches here before opening the restaurant to the public in a normal-day during the week.
Ramia, who came to Portugal with her family as refugees from the Syrian war, is the founder of the Tayybeh restaurant in Lisbon.
Greta Thunberg leads the School Strike for Climate on May 24, 2019 in Stockholm. Photo taken during the period of fieldwork in Sweden.
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