CFP: Contested Heritage in the 21st Century: Eastern Europe and Beyond

KU Leuven in Belgium is issuing a call for papers on the topic of contested heritage in Eastern Europe for an upcoming workshop. Abstracts are due by February 14, 2022.

The program will be a collaboration with the University of Tartu and Charles University Prague. The workshop will be held in virtual format on April 21-22, 2022 and will be hosted by KU Leuven.

The call for papers and workshop are a part of a research project called “Contested Heritage: A Multilevel Analysis of the Securitization of Heritage and its Challenges for EU and UN Actorness.”

The organizers encourage scholars from different disciplines and career stages to make submissions. Scholars with expertise in the following areas are particularly encouraged to apply: Eastern European aspects of UN or EU heritage policies; Russia’s heritage diplomacy in East Central Europe; and/or the securitization of cultural heritage in times of international conflict in Eastern Europe.

Submissions should address at least one of the following three subject areas:

• Mutual (or conflicting) heritage claims in Eastern Europe
• Unwanted heritage and processes of decommunization in East Central Europe
• Heritage diplomacy and political instrumentalization of historical monuments by Russia