CALL FOR PAPERS
'The Heritage Theater. The dynamics of cultural heritage in a globalizing
world'

Rotterdam Conference on Globalisation and Cultural Heritage, May 13-15 2009

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, organizations for the
preservation of heritage were founded as part of European national
cultural policy, in countries colonized by the West, and in independent
states outside Europe. In this sense, heritage institutions are early
examples of cultural export on a global scale. The export of heritage
concepts, heritage formats, and heritage knowledge from the West to other
countries and vice versa is still going on, not only in traditional,
well-tried ways, but also in other formats, like theme parks, games and
internet sites. Similarly, in non-Western countries various other ways of
protecting and presenting cultural heritage have developed over the last
few decades. Institutions such as cultural centres and community centers
displaying cultural heritage have no counterparts in Western countries. In
the last decades, heritage institutions work together on a global scale.
The perception of a shared past created new forms of cooperation between
institutions in different nations and the legitimacy of traditional local
museums was challenged by the migration of new, sometimes transnational
oriented communities.

The current interest in cultural heritage is also the result of the
growing demand on the part of international tourism for places with a
cultural heritage that can be experienced as part of leisure activities.
All over the world, countries are beginning to realize the economic
benefits of tourism, and searching for possibilities to expand tourism.
Today, the interest in cultural heritage is global and diverse. Indeed, it
is no longer correct to speak of a single audience, since cultural
heritage visitors have different backgrounds and different expectations.
The growing exchange of information between individual heritage
institutions, and between those institutions and the public, is part of a
global process that makes use of interconnected information networks.

The Department of Cultural Studies, Faculty of History and Arts, Erasmus
University Rotterdam, is the location of two research programmes,
'Globalization and Cultural Heritage' and 'Community Museums Past &
Present', funded by NWO (Dutch Science Foundation) and the Dutch VSB
Foundation. See for more information
http://www.fhk.eur.nl/english/globalisation_and_cultural_heritage/
<http://www.fhk.eur.nl/english/globalisation_and_cultural_heritage/>and
http://www.fhk.eur.nl/english/communitymuseums/

The first research project is now coming to an end, the latter will start
at 01-01-09. To conclude the first and to launch the second project, the
Department is planning an international conference on the effects and
causes of globalization and cultural heritage, 'The Heritage Theater. The
dynamics of cultural heritage in a globalizing world' at Rotterdam, May
13-15, 2009. Subthemes will be the impact of tourism and the internet on
cultural heritage and the institutional arena.

We invite researchers on globalization and cultural heritage to send us
abstracts for papers to present at this conference. Abstracts (max. 300
words) can be send until February 2, 2009 to halbertsmafhk.eur.nl
<mailto:halbertsmafhk.eur.nl>.

For more information about this conference, please contact me.

prof. dr. Marlite Halbertsma
Faculty of History and Arts
Erasmus University Rotterdam
P.O. Box 1738
NL 3000 DR Rotterdam
tel. + 31 10 4082444
tel + 31 6 15126083
fax + 31 10 4089135