Instantanés patrimoniaux | Instant heritage

From March to December 2019

If scientific and cultural programmes are any indication, heritage (places, sites, objects, cultural practices...) currently infuses the entire field of social sciences.

The report of 2018, ordered by the French Ministry of Culture, not only frames the notion of heritage, it also highlights the evolution of the categories, practices and uses that served the research. Some of the groundwork has already been laid but more remains to be done. It is to be achieved thanks to an entirely new environment where globalization, postcolonial relations and digital revolution bear an important place.

Within this context, a panoramic view of the debates fueling this anthropological field is fruitful for heritage as an object as well as heritage as a scientific field. The publishing house Editions Maison des sciences de l'homme, together with the Ministry of Culture, has been publishing ethnographic studies focusing on culture since 1983. Many of which handle patrimonial strategies and the politics of heritage. Those are the studies we chose to bring to the public in 2019, during these monthly meetings. Heritage at the heart of heritage…

Events in French

Organised in partnership with the French Ministry of Culture
#InstantanesPatrimoniaux

Program

21st March | Anthropology of heritage
Inaugural session on the newly published collective work Le Patrimoine comme expérience. Implications anthropologiques, under the leadership of Jean-Louis Tornatore for the collection Ethnologie de la France et des mondes contemporains.

9th April | The making of heritage
This session takes focus on the never-ending creation process of ‘patrimonialization’ and its effects on the practices and the places that were “transformed” into heritage.

23rd May | Globalized heritage
This session bears upon the crucial role UNESCO has played since 1945 through its international judicial tools in the field of heritage. It also touches upon the expectations for this political instrument at a time where the benefits of multilateralism are systematically called into question by current events.

6th June | Nature versus heritage
The session focuses on the genesis and successive disciplinary approaches of "rural heritage". From unique landscapes, to endemic plants that need safeguarding, to land-bound expertise and cultivation techniques, the “patrimonialization” of a land represents a major challenge that covers many identity questions.

3th July | The workers of heritage
The session touches upon on the missions forged by the professionals of heritage from all horizons to make it intelligible, be it in museums, cathedrals, gardens, exhibitions…

September | Archeological heritage
12th September | New overseas archeology

26th September | Parietal and rupestrian art

22nd October | Heritage and immigration
This session questions the very notion of heritage and its creation process in the context of migrations within the French society. At the crossroads of social, political and cultural considerations, heritage serves as a token of distinct cultures after they are integrated to the French state.

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28th November | Digital and heritage
The session explores the impact, benefits and challenges the digital world brings to the question of heritage, whether it be for museum professionals or for individuals.

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21st January | Spoiliation of heritage during World War II

The systematic dispossessions of Jewish families during World War II has lead specialists to rethink the question of transfers of cultural objects. This final session bears upon the implementation of this State-organized cultural spoiliation and the ways to correct this movement.