Prof. Cornelius Holtorf - 'The Future in Heritage Studies and its Future'

In this talk I will review the significance of the future in heritage studies. The future is part of the very idea of heritage conservation, from local collections to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, but also a common rhetorical trope of heritage management. References to the future may legitimate existing power structures or they may liberate current practice from presentism. To date, the anticipated needs and benefits of heritage for specific future generations have very rarely been explicitly addressed or critically discussed. I argue that as heritage is increasingly linked to the Agenda 2030, the significance of the future in heritage studies is set to increase, and a thorough critical engagement with this notion and its meaning is urgently needed. I will briefly summarise the work on Heritage Futures I have been involved in over the past decade, presently in the context of a UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures.

Cornelius Holtorf is Professor of Archaeology and UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures, Linnaeus University, Sweden.

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