The centre is planned at the Department of Culture and Aesthetcis, at Stockholm University.
The centre is planned at the Department of Culture and Aesthetcis, at Stockholm University.

Research in Critical Heritage Studies investigates how old things, places and traditions are valued and used in contemporary society. It covers a broad range of urgent issues – from war to cultural tourism – and is formed in interdisciplinary meetings between historical and contemporary research in the humanities, law, and social science.

– In a rapidly changing world, heritage issues attract political attention. It will therefore be emphasized that the Stockholm Centre is for independent research, says Anna, Associate Professor of Archaeology and Researcher in Critical Heritage Studies, who is in charge of the planning.

A place for interdisciplinary meetings

The centre will be a meeting place for scholars from different disciplines and faculties, with interest in Critical Heritage Studies. The goal is to create an interdisciplinary research environment of high international standard, with international guest researchers, senior researchers and PhD students. The centre will also act as an independent knowledge resource for the many official heritage institutions in Stockholm.

The centre will be formed adjacent to the existing education programme in Cultural Heritage Management at the Department of Culture and Aesthetics, as an extension of the Critical Heritage Studies Network at Stockholm University.

Poster from the conference in Heritage Studies held at the Department of Culture and Aesthetics in September 2016.
Poster from the conference in Heritage Studies held at the Department of Culture and Aesthetics in September 2016.

Conference "Reframing Heritage as Movement"

As a starting point for the planning of the new centre, an international conference was organized at Stockholm University "Reframing Heritage as Movement", 26–28 September 2016. The conference was funded by Riksbankens jubileumsfond, and gathered researchers, students and heritage officials from 14 universities, 15 different disciplines, and 15 different cultural institutions. Abstracts and other information about the conference are available here.

Reference groups

The work is supported by two reference groups. One with researchers from the Faculties of Humanities, Social Science, and Law at Stockholm University, and an external international reference group with leading researchers representing different academic disciplines, in the international field of critical heritage studies.

Fredrik Krohn Andersson, PhD in Art History, Department of Culture and Aesthetics
Mattias Frihammar, PhD in Ethnology, Department of Ethnology, History of Religions and Gender Studies
Adam Hjorthén, PhD in History, Department of History
Catharina Nolin, Associate Professor of Art History, Head of Education in Heritage Studies, Department of Culture and Aesthetics
Marie Sandström, Professor of Legal History, Department of Law
Siri Schwabe, Doctoral Candidate in Social Anthropology, Department of Social Anthropology
Anna Storm, Associate Professor of Human Geography, Department of Human Geography

Jiat-Hwee Chang, National University of Singapore
Valdimar Tr. Hafstein, University of Iceland
Siân Jones, Stirling University
Ali Mozaffari, Deakin University
Helaine Silverman, University of Illinois
Tim Winter, Deakin University and the Association for Critical Heritage Studies

Anna Källén.
Anna Källén.

Contact

In charge of the planning is Anna Källén, Associate Professor of Archaeology and Researcher in Critical Heritage Studies.

The first planning phase extends to December 2016. For further information, please contact Anna Källén: anna.kallen@su.se.