Fabrications | 2019
Association of Critical Heritage Studies: Heritage across Borders
Abstract
The Association of Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS) held its fourth biennial conference, “Heritage Across Borders,” on 1–6 September 2018 at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. Co-organised by ACHS and Zhejiang University, the conference opened with speeches by Dr He Lianzhen (vice president of Zhejiang University), Dr Lucie Morisset (president of the ACHS), and Mr Chen Shoutian (deputy director of the Administration Office of Liangzhu Relic Site), and concluded with a visit to the Liangzhu Museum on day 6. The cross-border movement of objects, people, practices, and institutions through an interdisciplinary approach to the conservation, conflicts, politics, valuation, production, and destruction of both tangible and intangible heritage were the themes explored in this conference. There were fifteen sub-themes, including “Cities and Landscape,” “Governance, Law, Management,” “Nations, Regions and Territories,” “Memory, Time, Forgetting,” “Disciplines, Methodologies and Dialogues” among others. The keynote speakers were Dr Michael Herzfeld, Dr Lily Kong, Dr David J. Bodenhamer, Dr Nelson H. Graburn, Dr Jianming Cai, Dr Le Cheng, and Dr Michael Rowlands. ACHS has always emphasised the critical aspects of its scholarship on Heritage Studies, which include the critique of the predominantly Eurocentric valuation of heritage and the need to engage in conversations across national and disciplinary borders. Preceded by the 2016 “What Does Heritage Change?” conference in Montreal, it is significant that this was the first time the Association held its biennial conference in Asia. In addition, the focus on border crossing signalled a desire to become more inclusive towards diverse disciplines, regions, and heritage communities. Several panels explored the problems of Western-centric norms and disciplines in heritage valuation and practices, including a panel discussion organised by the Early Career Researchers (ECR) network, titled “A Critical or Not-so-critical Force? Borders of Critical Heritage Studies in Practice.” The panel was unexpectedly popular and chairs were hastily added as the room overflowed. The panel members included Dr Laurajane Smith (Director for Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies, ANU), Dr Pamela Andanda (Professor of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg), and Dr Yunci Cai (Lecturer at the FABRICATIONS 2019, VOL. 29, NO. 1, 112–114 https://doi.org/10.1080/10331867.2019.1534311