Designing the social sustainability of dissonant heritage

This PhD Workshop aims to bring together PhD students and researchers from all Una Europa universities, offering PhD students insights from different perspectives, approaches and schools of thought. This second PhD Workshop in Cultural Heritage is a hybrid event, complimenting parallel physical workshops taking place in Bologna and Krakow with virtual opportunities for participation and engagement.

The difficulty/dissonance of heritage appears in interpretative strategies created by various stakeholders carrying out its evaluation, which stems from the type of materials (e.g., highly sensitive ones) and objects, historical and cultural conditions, current political determinants, ethical, religious and legal issues as well as personal beliefs and motivations of individuals and groups involved in the interpretative process. The consequence of these discrepancies, tensions, and in some cases real entanglements and conflicts, is that there are many challenges in sustaining and managing this kind of heritage. One might say that dissonance appears in interpretative strategies of heritage created by various entities carrying out its evaluation. This stems from historical and cultural conditions, current political determinants, as well as the personal beliefs and motivations of individuals and groups involved in the interpretative process.

During the workshop, we will explore the concept of dissonant heritage through the lens of four cross-cutting themes:

1. Unveiling the dissonance of the scientific museum collections
2. The virtual dimension of cultural heritage experiences
3. Designing the social sustainability of dissonant heritage 
4. Arts and dissonance

Even if plurality and awareness are today a part of heritage discourses, there are monuments, intangible assets and memories which still remain difficult to manage and deserve special attention.