Heritage-as-Process: The Concept of Cultural Heritage in Contemporary Social Sciences and Humanities

Abstract

Large-scale transformations in social sciences and the Humanities in the 1960 and 1970s (such as the emergence of cultural studies, memory studies, postcolonial studies and gender studies, public history, etc.) influenced the formation of heritage studies in the 1980s. Within the framework of this field, the concept of heritage has been substantially revised: it began to cover the sphere of the ordinary and everyday; its temporal boundaries have changed, so the objects related to the recent past began to be considered as heritage; the idea of de-monopolization of state experts in determining heritage was proposed. In the 2000s, a separate area of critical heritage studies emerged within heritage studies. Its purpose was to study the discursive practices of defining and using heritage, used primarily by the state and international institutions (the so-called “authorized heritage discourse”, AHD, proposed by a theorist Laurajane Smith); as well as the problematization of heritage as a process of constant rethinking and redefining of identities and cultural values, which involves different social groups, communities and agents. The paper examines the transformation of the understanding of heritage-as-an-object into heritage as a social action and heritage-as-process discussed in heritage studies and critical heritage studies in European countries. It presents an overview of the key stages of their development and subsequent changes, the main research issues and problems, as well as their current debates.