When

Thursday 27 September 2018
Deakin Downtown
Tower 2 Level 12/727 Collins Street, Melbourne

Theme

The word ‘heritage’ often conjures up images of static and unchanging buildings, gardens and cultural landscapes. Yet this belies the fact that the field of heritage is very much in flux, a site of conflict and contestation across communities, generations and socio-economic groups. In looking at the practice of heritage more broadly, approaches to documentation and preservation are currently being disrupted by digital technologies, social media and commitments toward sustainability, Reconciliation and placemaking. In approaching the field of heritage in the twenty-first century we must ask ourselves: whose heritage are we preserving and why? Who are we preserving it for? What new opportunities and approaches are currently subverting existing regimes and changing the field of heritage for the better?

Call for Papers

We are seeking papers which critically respond to one or more of the following:

• Difficult and uncomfortable stories and historic narratives
• Whose Heritage? Identity, gentrification and multiculturalism
• Social Justice – Reconciliation, self-determination and decolonising places and approaches
• Challenges in responding to climate change and sustainable practice
• Subverting heritage ‘silos’ and embracing interdisciplinary theory, practice and approach
• Digital technologies, social media, virtual reality and new opportunities to understand and communicate the past

We welcome submissions from postgraduate candidates in both coursework and research programs, and early career professionals and practitioners working in or alongside the heritage field.

To present a paper at the symposium, please submit a 100 word abstract (6-minute presentation) or a 250 word abstract (15-minute presentation) to unsettlingheritage2018@gmail.com by Thursday 30 August 2018.

Selected papers from this symposium may be published in the format of a special edition journal.