Keynote: 9 May 4:30pm
Place: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
Abstract Symposium
That heritage involves an interplay between past, present and future is today undisputed in Heritage Studies. We know that past events have shaped the present we inhabit either despite ourselves or due to a deliberate choice or interpretation of a past against which to position ourselves. Yet, determining the continuous causal chains that link the past directly to the present and future has posed methodological challenges. As heritage scholars and practitioners navigate the intersections of memory, history, and identity, there is a growing recognition of the need for innovative and reflexive methodologies to understand and engage with legacies. Despite this, the methodological challenge of tracing, uncovering and researching legacies remains.
The 25th annual Heritage Research Symposium invites researchers and practitioners from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to meet this challenge by contributing to this ongoing discussion, considering how we study the legacies of the past. We seek to both showcase the interdisciplinary research on legacies taking place at the University of Cambridge and bring together cutting-edge work on this topic from around the world. The Symposium will create an opportunity to reflect on innovative approaches, challenge (if needed) existing ones, and exchange experiences on effective methods for researching the complex issues of legacy and heritage across time, space, and culture.
Abstract keynote Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll
Until lions narrate their own heritage, the study will always glorify the hunter. What are some of the ways of shifting perspectives in the way this African proverb suggests is necessary, to rebalance the sources we listen to? Thinking about legacy as a basis to all living art production, this keynote will speak through contemporary art practise to address the concerns of the conference.
Participatory methods of collaborative film and art making present an ethical way of handling heritage, shown in the process of making a film between Windhoek and Umbakumba. This keynote focusses on an artistic research method for amplifying marginalized voices through two case studies from Namibia and Australia. It posits that one way of articulating the temporal relationship between legacy and future is through the continuities and innovations made by contemporary artists that work on repatriated heritage recast into contemporary art and design.