What Does the Heritage Citizens Movement Change?
Mon statut pour la session
What does the Citizens’ Heritage Movement change? In view of what has been mentioned above, the answer may seem easy. Yet on the ground, the same recriminations are being tirelessly expressed. Stakeholders still summon the troops to new battles and highlight the many pitfalls to safeguarding. Tinkering, a need for urgent action, and/or volunteer fatigue doubtlessly undermine many projects. Will the movement end up running out of gas? Is it the only safeguard against indifference? If it has enabled great things and raised the awareness of a wider audience, can it also be looked at critically? Are there different trends within the movement? Can we compare the work of scholarly associations with the various friends of heritage? Behind the legitimate objectives, can there be other interests? Has the professionalization of certain groups transformed the civic roots of heritage activism? The proposed session intends, from a historic or contemporary perspective, to invoke various real-world experiences in order to overcome naive optimism about citizen involvement and explore some possible ways to understand a phenomenon which, despite its essential nature, remains little studied.
We understand Citizens’ Heritage Movement in a very large extent which could include an individual trying to alert his neighbourhood to a more organized group with regular members and paid staff. In between, the movement could take a large variety of expressions. Its action is also plural reaching from activism of every sort to public education and technical assistance, and from management for the local community to touristic enhancement.
As part of the session, we invite researchers to provide a critical reflection on the proposed general theme: “What does the Citizens’ Heritage Movement change?” They could refer to studies in order to document or broaden the issue of citizen involvement, focusing more specifically on the following aspects:
• The historical or contemporary role of the citizens movement;
• The response and behaviour of authorities toward citizen requests;
• The evaluation of actions taken and their sustainability;
• The pitfalls and challenges of the citizens movement;
• The future of the citizens movement.
Beyond the avenues mentioned, this call for contributions aims to better understand and define the citizens movement by way of a critical approach. Any other suggestion will be considered with great attention.
Sous sessions
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