Heritage has today become a globalized category involving multiple forms, categories and national phenomena. If current global forms predominately have European origins, they have within the last few decades become appropriated on a massive scale, yet also rearticulated and reshaped by Asian countries (Winter and Daly, 2012). If Asia just a couple of decades was considered underrepresented on the global scene, heritage-making in Asia today, in some regards at least, outpacing other regions, yet also leading to new ways of thinking and practicing heritage.

This workshop explores the nature of heritage, its universalities and particularities in distinct Asian contexts. Are there specific Asian processes of heritage-making and how do they manifest themselves in different heritage arenas? What characterizes the forms, meanings and approaches in terms of similarities and differences across heritage in both tangible and intangible forms? How are these articulated and what are the specific forms of silences, negotiations and contestations this leads to? We aim to explore particular national processes and heritage practices with a particular focus on how heritage is considered, forgotten, contested or silenced at local, regional and national levels.

Organized jointly by the Confucius Institute and the Environmental Governance and Territorial Development Institute (GEDT), both of the University of Geneva, the workshop “Globalized heritage in Asia: regional articulations, silences, contestations” aims to provide a space to share insights, case studies and good practices amongst both Asian and European researchers. Based on ethnographically-informed research on a wide range of different heritage processes and practices, this workshop will foster productive dialogue and aim to offer a new analytical perspective on heritage dynamics in Asia.