Common and more unconventional perspectives sought for launch of university’s ‘Heritage’ theme
The launch of the university’s ‘Heritage’ theme will take place at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences on Wednesday 13 May. The aim: to identify familiar and less conventional activities in this area at Leiden University. Everyone is welcome!
Heritage is one of the themes Leiden University is highlighting to build a distinctive profile in the coming years. With an emphasis on interdisciplinary and interfaculty collaboration, theme leads Erik de Maaker (Social Sciences, chair),Sybille Lammes (Humanities), Carsten Stahn (Law) and Jan Kolen (Archaeology) will support the growth and consolidation of Leiden’s heritage community.
To identify existing knowledge and activities, the team is holding a launch session on Wednesday 13 May, room 1B.01, from 15:00 to 17:00 hours at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (Agora building). Erik de Maaker explains the purpose of the event.
Why should staff attend this event?
‘Many researchers, lecturers and staff from expertise centres come into contact with heritage-related concepts. While some consider themselves to be heritage researchers, many do not. In a narrow sense, heritage researchers can be defined as those working on topics relating to museums and collections, for example, or history. But we also want to welcome people who encounter the topic of heritage in their research and teaching.
‘As a social-sciences researcher, I study societal processes in which heritage plays a central role. A colleague I met was conducting literary research into Moluccan culinary traditions and the importance of food and flavour to Moluccan identity. That’s not “traditional” heritage research, but it’s a really interesting perspective.
‘One of the aims of the meeting, therefore, is to bring as many of these perspectives together as possible. It will include lots of pitches by a range of researchers.’
What disciplines or colleagues are you hoping to connect with?
‘It can sometimes be difficult to get a clear idea of colleagues’ profiles at the different faculties. Then you suddenly discover people working on something that fits closely with this theme. Heritage is not limited to the humanities or social sciences. I’m therefore hoping to hear from less obvious disciplines focusing, for example, on governance, biology or data science. Anything is possible. So if the theme of heritage resonates with you, you’re welcome to join us!’
Is teaching an important aspect of the theme’s activities?
‘Absolutely. Low-hanging fruit could be to develop an interdisciplinary minor on the theme. We’ve already been approached by several parties interested in developing teaching activities, including the institutes in Rabat, Cairo, Jakarta and Istanbul. And expertise centres like the University Library can also see opportunities to collaborate on teaching activities. We’d love to discuss this at the meeting. I also see potential for collaboration with UNA Europe, Leiden-Delft-Erasmus and the Municipality of Leiden.’
Interested in finding out more about the Heritage theme? The leads have written a position paper suggesting a ‘decentralised’ approach to heritage that moves beyond disciplinary silos.