Creating and Governing Cultural Heritage in the European Union

Abstract

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Intercultural Dialogue in the European Education Policies

“…Hoffmann 1994;Weiss 2002;Jenkins 2008). This identity crisis focuses on a difficulty to define what Europe is, what and who belongs to it, who Europeans are, and which elements a European identity or identities could or should be based on a Europe full of diverse political, material, and symbolic divisions and distinctions (Jenkins 2008;Lähdesmäki et al 2020). The Council of Europe and the European Union have sought to respond to these intertwined challenges and crises in Europe by advancing the idea of unity and a new European narrative-along with respect and tolerance for diversity-and by enhancing both symbolic and concrete integration in and of European societies (Lähdesmäki 2016;Lähdesmäki et al 2020).…”

Challenges and Solutions in Ethnographic Research

“…These sharing practices can be conducted face-to-face or via virtual tools and at different stages of research, whether before, during or after fieldwork. Our collaboration entailed multiple forms of sharing, including sharing the entire data with all team members, analysing data together, cross-commenting on academic articles and co-authoring a book based on our fieldwork (Lähdesmäki et al 2020). In this chapter, we focus on the relationship between emotional and empirical sharing as a form of conceptual development.…”

“…Poly-space includes four distinct aspects that are in continuous flux, processual and interrelated: 1) an element of suddenness and surprise, 2) experience of bizarreness, 3) social agency and interaction and (4) affect, emotion and empathy. The concept of poly-space encourages (self-)reflection and enables discussion of the various temporal and spatial dimensions included both in the heritage narratives and practices and in individual experiences felt at the heritage site (for a more detailed definition, see Lähdesmäki et al 2020).…”

“…Our analysis of different aspects of this data has been published elsewhere (e.g. Lähdesmäki et al 2020). In this chapter, we focus on material produced by the team members during and after the fieldwork.…”

Conclusions

“…Other commonly used tropes in our data deal with borders, bordering, and movement across borders. In the case of the EHL data, many of our fieldwork heritage sites are situated close to national borders, which might have prompted many interviewees to allude to borders and how unrestricted mobility helps overcome national and cultural boundaries and thereby defines their perception of today's Europe (see also Lähdesmäki et al 2020). Mobility was frequently referred to in our ECOC and ECC data as well, so it can be seen as central to how participants in the EU cultural initiatives constructed Europe and their relations to it.…”