International Conference.
“Decolonising Cultural Heritage: State of the Art, Methodologies, and Practices”.
University for Foreigners of Siena - Piazza Carlo Rosselli 27/28, 53100, Siena (Italy).

// Programm

Monday, 05.05.2025

MORNING

9.00-9.30 - Opening
Dean Tomaso Montanari and ISMEO President Adriano V. Rossi

9.30-10.30 - Keynote
Maria Pia Guermandi (EU Advisor on Cultural Heritage Policy)
Restituire: resistenze, ripartenze, ritorni

10.30-11.00 - Coffee break

11.00 -13.00 - Two parallel sessions: 1, 2

SESSION 1
Room 10/11
Keywords: Transmedia Narratives, Performance, Intangible Heritage
Chairperson: Alberica Bazzoni

Martina Muci (Università “Aldo Moro” di Bari)
A Repoliticisation of Contemporary Indigeneity through Transmedia Storytelling

Bilal Akar (Università degli Studi di Milano)
The “Kurdish Princess” of Modern Dance Leila Bederkhan: Decolonial Historiography, Archival Gaps, and Intangible Performance Heritage

Rossella Menna (Università per Stranieri di Siena)
ll teatro e le ferite del neocolonialismo. The Congo Tribunal di Milo Rau: un case study

Alma Bejtullahu (University of Würzburg) and Alenka Bartulović (University of Ljubljana)
Silenced heritage?: Rediscovering Albanian Musical Heritage in Slovenia

Kristina Perkola (UBT-Higher Educational Institution, Kosovo)
The Heritage of Art Music in Kosovo: Decolonial Perspectives on Musical Identity from Yugoslavia (1945) to the Post-1999 Era

SESSION 2
Aula Magna
Keywords: Audiovisual Heritage, Visual Arts
Chairperson: Caterina Toschi

Gianmarco Mancosu (Università di Macerata)
Dealing With Colonial Audiovisual Restitutions: Opportunities and Challenges

John Bessai (University College of the North Thompson, Manitoba Canada)
Silenced Narratives: Decolonising the National Film Board of Canada’s Role in Shaping
Public Memory

Brenda Schmahmann (University of Johannesburg)
Creative Interventions to the Statue of Cecil Rhodes in the Company Gardens, Cape Town

Andrea Lanzafame (Università per Stranieri di Siena)
Hervé Télémaque, dalla pittura all’oggetto: una riflessione politico-identitaria? Trasformismi e cortocircuiti da un pop gauchiste a un minimalismo radicale (1964-1969)

Livia de Pinto (Università per Stranieri di Siena)
Artisti del Sud Italia e stereotipi narrativi: gli anni Ottanta tra identità culturale e auto-
orientalismo

13.00-14.00 - Lunch break

AFTERNOON

14.00-15.00 - Keynote
Arnd Schneider (Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo) and Leone Contini (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milano)
‘Bel suol d’amore’ and Beyond: Epistemological Challenges for Film and Art Interventions in the Museum

15.00-16.40 - Three parallel sessions: 3, 4, 5

SESSION 3
Aula Magna
Keywords: Architecture, Contested Heritage, Monuments
Chairpersons: Andrea Simone and Camilla Giantomasso

Anna Iuso (Sapienza Università di Roma)
Abitare il patrimonio scomodo a Roma

Giulia Grechi (Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli)
Ri-significare le tracce coloniali nello spazio pubblico. Il monumento di Dogali a Roma e il progetto “Echi da Dogali. Tessere memorie, intrecciare storie”

Anna Chiara Cimoli, Mirco Roncoroni (Università degli Studi di Bergamo)
Decolonial Perspectives and Practices: A Participatory Project in Bergamo

Suspasai Vongkhulbhisal (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
Architectural Autonomy and Power: Western Influence and Neo-Colonialism in Modern Thai Architecture

SESSION 4
Room 10/11
Keywords: Indigenous Peoples, Participatory Knowledge
Chairperson: Edoardo Vanni

Renato Athias and Anna Bottesi (NEPE/Universidade Federal de Pernambuco)
Culture Heritage of Indigenous People of the Rio Negro: Memory and Representation in Museological Processes

Chiara Scardozzi (Università di Bologna)
La nuova vita degli oggetti tra strumenti digitali e pratiche di ricerca collaborativa: un caso di studio tra l’Italia e la Terra del Fuoco (Argentina)

Victoria Vargas-Downing (University of Leeds, TBC, UK)
Decolonising Heritage Language of Time through the Work of Cecilia Vicuña

Rossella Ragazzi (UMAK, The Arctic University of Norway), in collaboration with Camilla Brattland, Trude Fonneland and Risten Anine Kvermo Gaup
Luođit are Returning Home: How to Return Yoik in a Different Space-Time. The Case of Bikko Nillá’s Collections at the Arctic University Museum of Norway in Sápmi

SESSION 5
Room 19
Keywords: Material Culture, Restitution, Shared Heritage
Chairperson: Agnese Fusaro

Pierre Losson (The City College of New York, CUNY)
Decentering Restitutions: The Role of Civil Society Actors in the Return of Cultural Heritage Objects to their Country or Community of Origin

Ela Kaçel and Burcu Selcen Coşkun (Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University)
Memoryscapes as Shared Heritage: A Pluriversal and Reflexive Approach to Sites of Heritage

Marta D’Andrea (Sapienza Università di Roma) & Stefano Valentini (CAMNES, Florence)
On Decolonising the Academic Discourse in Archaeology: Paradoxes, Doubts and Auspices

Federica Colomo (Università di Roma Tre)
Unlocking the Past from Preservation to Restitution: The Case of the Archivio Somalia and the Centro Studi Somali

16.40-17.00 - Coffee break

17.00-19.00
Aula Magna
Lectio Virginia Woolf - Selby Wynn Schwartz ‘Una società’ per futuri femministi queer

17.00-19.00
Room 10/11
Presentation of the documentary Morire a Palermo by Caterina Pasqualino, with a comment by Chiara Scardozzi

20.00 dinner

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I Tuesday, 06.05.2025

MORNING

9.00-10.00 - Two parallel sessions: 6, 7

SESSION 6 (1st part)
Aula Magna
Keywords: Institutions, Identities, Memory Politics
Chairperson: Roger Sansi

Chandini Jaswal (Panjab University, India)
Memories of 1947: Ordinary Voices, Extraordinary Stories

Caterina Borelli (Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia)
The Path to Decolonising Methodologies: Reflexivity, Collaboration, and Co-Creation

Michela Buonvino (Università degli Studi del Molise)
L’intangibile cultura marocchina: ambivalenze politiche e poetiche della patrimonializzazione dell’immateriale in Marocco

SESSION 7 (1st part)
Room 21
Keywords: Archaeology, Eurocentric Models, Counter-Narratives
Chairperson: Jacopo Tabolli

Serena Autiero (Thammasat University, Bangkok)
Decolonizing Southeast Asian Archaeology. Rethinking Power, Land, and Cultural Dynamics

Erin Darby and Robert Darby (University of Tennessee - ‘Ayn Gharandal Archaeological Project)
Washed Away? The Missing Baths of the “Roman” Near East and the Decolonization of Art Historical Canons

10.00-10.40 - Poster session

10.00-10.40 - Coffee break

10.40-12 - Two parallel sessions: 6, 7

SESSION 6 (2nd part)
Aula Magna
Keywords: Institutions, Identities, Memory Politics
Chairperson: Roger Sansi

Lucas da Costa Maciel (Smithsonian Institution)
Anthropology and Provenance: Indigenous Knowledge as a Methodological Clause

Maria Suarez Caicedo (Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture)
When the River Speaks: Indigenous Heritage and Environmental Reparation in Post-Conflict Colombia

Francesco Orlandi (Università di Macerata, University of Exeter)
Indigenous Rights and Heritage between Archaeological Ethnography, Contemporary Past and Cosmopolitics

SESSION 7 (2nd part)
Room 21
Keywords: Archaeology, Eurocentric Models, Counter-Narratives
Chairperson: Jacopo Tabolli

Candida Felli (Università di Firenze)
Beyond Research: Rescue and Safeguarding Activities in Syria 2021-2024

Tatiana Pedrazzi (ISPC, CNR, Milano) and Luca Peyronel (Università degli Studi di Milano)
Decolonising the Mesopotamian Collections in Italy: The “ArCOA” Project and the Garovaglio’s Collection in Como

Federico Marcomini (Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte)
The Coloniality of Classical Architecture? Complicating Interpretations in Global(ized) Hyper-Contemporaneity

12.00-13.00 - Keynote
Francisco Godoy Vega (EINA. Centro Universitario de Diseño y Arte de
Barcelona)
¿Puede hablar el patrimonio colonizado? Estéticas para la recuperación del tiempo robado

13.00-14.00 Lunch

AFTERNOON

14.00-15.20 - Two parallel sessions: 8, 9

SESSION 8 (1st part)
Room 21
Keywords: Museums, Art Spaces, Participatory Heritage Practices
Chairperson: Rossella Ragazzi

Áile Aikio and Sanna Valkonen (University of Lapland)
Custodians of Indigenous Heritage or Hosts to International Tourists? The Conflicting Roles of Sámi Museums

Liya Chechik (European University in Saint Petersburg)
Unacknowledged Legacies: The Struggle for Decolonization in Russian Museum Practices

Kristina Bekenova (Scuola IMT Alti Studi Lucca)
Museums and the Confiscation of Kazakh Heritage: Decolonising Soviet Museum Narratives in Kazakhstan

Lucrezia Cippitelli (Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera)
Decolonisation as an Undisciplined Practice. Unlearn Eurocentrism with Artistic Research

SESSION 9 (1st part)
Aula Magna
Keywords: Education, Power Structures, Innovative Teaching
Chairperson: Alberica Bazzoni

Freeborn O. Odiboh (University of Benin)
Obligation and Responsibility Between the West and Africa: Considering Art History Curriculum in African Universities

Agnese Quadri and Monique Ligtenberg (ETH Zurich)
Decolonizing Memory Politics in Higher Education – A Case Study from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

Renata Jadresin Milic (Unitec Institute of Technology)
From Indigenous Knowledge Systems to Inclusive Curriculum: Architectural Pedagogy and Te Ao Māori

Vlad Vieru (National Museum of Bucharest)
Education, Art, and the Decolonization of Romania’s Cultural Heritage: Addressing the Problem of Kitsch Culture

15.20-16.00 Poster session

15.20-16.00 Coffee break

16.00-17.00 - Two parallel sessions: 8, 9

SESSION 8 (2nd part)
Room 21
Keywords: Museums, Art Spaces, Participatory Heritage Practices
Chairperson: Rossella Ragazzi

Asma Ibrahim (University of Wisconsin)
OSCH Youth Led Program. Exploring Shared Cultures and Histories of the UK and South Asia

Yasmin Riyahi (Università per Stranieri di Siena)
L’impossibilità di una narrazione lineare. Artisti d’Israele e Palestina in mostra a Siena

SESSION 9 (2nd part)
Aula Magna
Keywords: Education, Power Structures, Innovative Teaching
Chairperson: Agnese Fusaro

Sara Mondini (University of Ghent)
Shifting Perspectives: Decolonizing the History and Pedagogy of Islamic Art and Architecture

Emanuela Rossi (Università di Firenze) and Chiara Damiani (Progetto AMIR / Università di Siena)
Contro-narrative dei patrimoni culturali

17.00-18.00 - Keynote
Özgün Eylül Iscen (Technische Universität Dresden)
Reclaiming Decolonialization! Heritage, Geopolitics, Resistance

18.00-19.00 Concert
Amine Ezzalzouli (voice and gumbri) and Bernardo Sommani (guitar and qraqeb)
Musics from the Gnawa Tradition (Morocco)

20.00 Dinner

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I Wednesday, 07.05.2025

MORNING

9.00-10.40 Two parallel sessions: 10, 11

SESSION 10
Room 2
Keywords: Colonial Legacies, Post-Colonial Histories
Chairperson: Agnese Fusaro

Kukjin Kim (Università per Stranieri di Siena)
Patrimonio coloniale, memoria contestata e dark tourism: il caso di Busan, Corea del Sud

Pranjali Mathure (MET’s School of Architecture and Interior Design, Nashik, India)
Erasure of Bazaars and Mohallas of Lucknow: Challenging British Narratives of the Revolt of 1857

Lydia McKelvie (Independent Scholar)
Re-Constructing a Historical Identity in Public Art of Nkrumah’s Ghana

Roger Sansi (Universitat de Barcelona)
African-Brazilian Collections from Police Museums to Temple Memorials: Internal Colonialism and the Limits of Restitution

SESSION 11
Room 1
Keywords: Resignification, Resistance
Chairperson: Andrea Simone

Juan Carlos Guerrero-Hernandez (University of Nevada-Reno)
Decolonizing Heritage: Multi-vocal, Intergenerational, Intercultural Actions on the Tulcan Pyramid

Nama Masoud (Independent Scholar)
Ahjooza des Cormorans

Amalie Elfallah (Independent Scholar)
Imperial Duress: Deconstructing the Architectural Debris of Italian Settler Colonialism in Libya

Kristina Sieling (University of Freiburg)
Heritage Conservation in Asmara: The Role of International Institutions in the Context of Decolonization

10.40-11.10 - Coffee-break

11.10-12.10 - Presentation of the Special Issue n. 100 (1/24) “Sulla restituzione | On Restitution” of the Scientific Journal “Africa Mediterraneo” by Sandra Federici and Lucrezia Cippitelli

12.10-13.10 - Conclusions F. Godoy Vega, M.P. Guermandi, E. Iscen, A. Schneider

13.10-13.30 - Closing Adriano V. Rossi (ISMEO) and Giuseppe Marrani (DISU)

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Sale della Conferenza /Conference Rooms:

AULA MAGNA Virginia Woolf - Piano Terra / Ground Floor
AULA / ROOM 1 Giorgio Levi Della Vida - Piano Terra / Ground Floor
AULA / ROOM 10-11 Simone Weil - Primo Piano/ First Floor
AULA / ROOM 19 Lavinia Mazzucchetti - Secondo Piano/ Second Floor
AULA / ROOM 21 - Secondo Piano / Second Floor
AULA / ROOM 323 - Terzo Piano/ Third Floor

Welcome & Registration in front of Aula Magna