James Douet is a consultant industrial historian and exhibition curator, based in Barcelona. Recent research projects have included the comparative thematic studies for TICCIH and ICOMOs, used to guide World Heritage evaluations, of the heritage of the water industry and of oil/petroleum production. A long collaboration with TICCIH since the Greek Congress in 1997 includes drafting the Nizhny Tagil Charter, editing the TICCIH guide Industrial Heritage Retooled, and producing the quarterly TICCIH Bulletin. I teach an on-line course on industrial heritage conservation with the Canadian Athabasca University.
The history of waterworks, The Architecture of Steam, linking social, architectural and technical perspectives, is published by Liverpool University Press in February 2023.
Exhibition projects include museums of cement production, textiles, building construction, and most recently of work itself, a viewpoint extending from prehistoric bands to artificial intelligence.
My current focus is on developing a project for a comparative study of the royal manufactories and production facilities which were established by ancien régime states as an alternative path to industrialization, and identifying common approaches to their conservation and management.
Documentos
Sessions in which James Douet participates
lunes 29 agosto, 2022
This roundtable will examine innovative and creative pedagogical approaches and partnerships that have created opportunities for experiential learning and community engagement, while enabling successful delivery of programs and courses in industrial heritage. In recent years and with the ongoing situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, undoubtedly online and distance teaching and learning are a top priority. The discussions will offer an analytical dialogue on digital learning strategies and ...
jueves 1 septiembre, 2022
This session will bring together four specialists in the history of the production of oil and petroleum, natural gas, coal and nuclear energy, to debate the distinct as well as shared issues around the study and protection of their industrial heritage. The history of energy production is characterized by groundbreaking technological advances and achievements, enormous technological, social and environmental consequences, and the evolution of distinctive landscapes and communiti...
Sessions in which James Douet attends
domingo 28 agosto, 2022
Join the conference organisers and TICCIH board members for a welcome cocktail and some festive words of introduction, in the former forge of the École technique de Montréal, founded in 1909, now part of the Université du Québec à Montréal campus.
lunes 29 agosto, 2022
Industrialization processes have been global from their very beginning. However, their interpretation still tends to be limited to specific locations or regions, and to specific time periods. Regularly, for example, it is stated that the industrial revolution started in Europe, from where it spread to the world, supposedly bringing technological and social progress to „less developed“ countries. Earlier periods of technology and knowledge transfer processes, that were already in place in t...
In a traditional Quebec sugar shack atmosphere, enjoy a maple taffy rolled on snow in the purest tradition, accompanied by music of the occasion!
martes 30 agosto, 2022
This session will allow us to explore, through nine international case studies, the different strategies for the development of industrial heritage as well as their impacts on communities and their territory. The analysis of museums, cultural spaces, itineraries and urban developments will be an opportunity to highlight the questions of identity, meaning, relevance and impact that animate all the actors of this heritage in transformation.
Past efforts to conserve and interpret industrial heritage have rarely acknowledged the role of industry causing damaging environmental change. But todays obvious worldwide climate change inevitably impacts our thinking about conservation. This is why we propose a Roundtable session to encourage people to take a fresh look at environmental impacts of industrial heritage.Already in the 1970s narratives of industrial history as a succession of triumphs began to be qu...
Efforts to preserve industrial heritage occurs in a socio-economic and political context. But what is being preserved and for whom? And, relatedly, what is the relationship between industrial heritage sites and the deindustrialized working-class communities that often adjoin them? The keynote will consider the ways that the preservation of Montreal’s Lachine Canal, Canada’s premier industrial heritage site, has enabled gentrification processes that have forc...
miércoles 31 agosto, 2022
This session brings together a set of studies focused on the uses adaptative reuses (and even replications) of industrial heritage in the larger context of its urban and social landscapes. Urban industrial memory, its social and territorial impacts, as well as its conservation and promotion, will be discussed from a variety of case studies ranging from Central and Southern Europe to Turkey, China and North America. The interdisciplinary approaches underlying each of the studies will also b...
In this lecture, I would like to talk about deindustrialised communities, heritage and memory in the context of right-wing populism. Drawing on studies of memory and heritage, I argue that right-wing populists have cornered the market on talking about the past of deindustrialised communities. They have successfully misrepresented this rich and complex history to fuel rage, resentment, fear and reactionary nostalgia. Indeed, ‘the past’, and in particular the industr...
jueves 1 septiembre, 2022
The proposed session will examine the unfolding relationship between industrial heritage and those left behind in adjoining deindustrialized working-class areas. The four papers seek to understand the socio-economic and political impact of recognizing the industrial past in the present. Two guiding questions will be asked. Can industrial heritage support those ‘left behind’ in deindustrialized areas where nothing, or very little, has filled the economic or cultural vacuum? Has industrial h...
The proposed session will examine the unfolding relationship between industrial heritage and those left behind in adjoining deindustrialized working-class areas. The four papers seek to understand the socio-economic and political impact of recognizing the industrial past in the present. Two guiding questions will be asked. Can industrial heritage support those ‘left behind’ in deindustrialized areas where nothing, or very little, has filled the economic or cultural vacuum? Has industrial h...
The use of industrial heritage is a profoundly important factor in the process of creating a sustainable economic, social, and political future for many communities occupying industrial heritage landscapes. More than ever we recognize the need for such communities to be capable of shaping and expressing their heritage in different forms in the context of current events and issues, and in doing so to inform both contemporary decision-making as well as the way their industrial heritage is re...
viernes 2 septiembre, 2022
In this meeting, TICCIH representatives from around the world will present work in the field of industrial heritage in their respective countries. The presentations are based on the national reports that TICCIH has gathered for the 2022 World Congress, but may emphasize particular matters. These can range across several fields where industrial heritage plays a role – from academic research and other forms of knowledge production, to heritage management a...
In this meeting, TICCIH representatives from around the world will present work in the field of industrial heritage in their respective countries. The presentations are based on the national reports that TICCIH has gathered for the 2022 World Congress, but may emphasize particular matters. These can range across several fields where industrial heritage plays a role – from academic research and other forms of knowledge production, to heritage management a...
At every World Congress, the international TICCIH community celebrates a General Assembly of its members. The event is open for any registered member of TICCIH, as well as the wider public. According to the current TICCIH Statutes (https://ticcih.org/about/statutes/), however, only Na...
In the refusal of people in communities abandoned by industrial capital to abandon their own places, we can read an implicit critique of the mobility and unaccountability of capital, raised by those who were once inside (however tenuously or uncomfortably) and now find themselves marginalized, “left behind.” The desire to catch up again, whether through attracting new investment or transvaluing abandoned sites as tourist attractions, makes this an essentially conservative critique that is ...
Come and share the good times of the congress and celebrate your scientific and professional discoveries in a former fruit jam factory, Usine C, built in 1913 and transformed at the end of the 1970s into a place for creation and dissemination.Discover Montreal's gastronomy thanks to an exceptional caterer. Learn about Montreal's musical heritage and the history of the industrial district that brought it to life. Then hear and experience Quebec's musical tradition as you are carried ...