Within the framework of the flagship initiative “Transforming Cultural Heritage” of Heidelberg University’s Excellence Strategy, the Max Weber Institute of Sociology (MWI) and the interdisciplinary Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies (HCIAS) are organizing an international winter school focused on the theme of “Claims and counterclaims over natural and cultural heritage” for doctoral students and advanced master’s students of the humanities and the social sciences. The program will be held from February 27th to March 3rd, 2023, at the Internationales Wissenschaftsforum Heidelberg, Germany. The application period is open until November 23rd, 2022.
The Theme
“Heritage” is made up of attributions in the interaction of significant and often unequal players in a given historical setting that allows the labeling of “cultural” or “natural heritage” to be successful. “Heritage”, then, can reconfigure power relations, create and deny access, or legitimize inclusion or exclusion. “Heritage” is thus bound to research debates on the capitalist valorization of nature and culture; on institutions involved in that process (e.g. patents, labeling processes); on different forms of knowledge which perceive, evaluate, use, and claim ‘nature’ and ‘culture’, or natural resources and cultural goods, in sometimes very diverging and conflicting ways; on global history, colonialism, and the importance of the appropriation of natural and cultural spaces for capitalism and western modernity; on hybridity, linguistic/discursive attribution, and cultural codes of the past being used in the present.
But what designs and techniques are appropriate for understanding the labeling process of “cultural/natural heritage” and what roles are played by private and public actors? What possible methods are there to evaluate the way in which actors on different spatial and temporal scales refer to, make sense of, and use cultural and natural heritage and what are their narratives about it? What are the research perspectives on the power relations and reconfigurations of access related to space, nature, and culture?
The goal of this winter school is to better understand the contested terrain between states, multinational corporations, NGOs, and local communities in regard to claims and counterclaims over cultural and natural heritage by focusing on Latin America, a biologically and culturally superdiverse region where these questions are of particular complexity and relevance.
Program and Faculty
The program follows a multi-perspective approach to analyze these phenomena and consider the dynamic character and social construction of natural and cultural heritage: combining historical and socio-linguistic expertise with social science, and with geographical perspectives on spaces and knowledge flows. Borrowing from a diverse range of disciplines, we are introducing different paradigms to shed light on the role of different actor groups regarding the provision of tangible and intangible benefits.
Instructors of the winter school are faculty from Heidelberg University and invited guest speakers.
Apply to the Winter School
We warmly invite doctoral and advanced master’s students from Heidelberg and international universities with a research profile in the humanities or social sciences and with research interests in issues related to natural and cultural heritage to apply for our winter school CLAIMS_2023 at Heidelberg University. The application period is open until November 23rd, 2022. The number of registrations is limited.
Applicants are required to submit the following documents (in English):
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a general description of their ongoing research projects, which they are supposed to present and discuss in the framework of the winter school,
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a letter of recommendation,
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their academic CV.
Candidates will be selected based on the academic quality of their application.
Participation in CLAIMS_2023 is free of tuition costs. In addition, the winter school is able to provide a limited amount of funding for the strongest applications submitted by candidates residing within the Latin American region to help cover their accommodations and travel expenses.
Complete application packages must be submitted via e-mail as one PDF-file named [lastname]_[firstname] by November 23rd, 2022, at the latest to winterschool2023@hcias.uni-heidelberg.de. All applications will be reviewed and selected by the scientific committee in charge of organizing this event. Decisions will be announced by November 30th.
Organization and Contact
CLAIMS_2023 is organized by the Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies (HCIAS) and the Max-Weber-Institute of Sociology (MWI), and funded by Heidelberg University's flagship initiative "Transforming Cultural Heritage" within the framework of the Excellence Strategy put forth by the German federal and state governments.
For further information on the winter school, please visit our website http://winterschool-claims2023.de or contact us by e-mail at winterschool2023@hcias.uni-heidelberg.de.
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