Tim Winter
National University of Singapore, Asia Research Institute, Faculty Member
- The University of Western Australia, School of Social Sciences, Faculty Memberadd
- Built Environment, Global cities, World Cultural Heritage, Cultural Heritage, Politics and Post-Colonial Theory, Critical and Cultural Theory, and 24 moreSustainable Architecture, Culture and Sustainable Development in Developing Countries, Urbanization, Architectural Heritage, Sustainable Building Design, Geography Of Heritage, Sustainable Urban Environments (Architecture), Architecture and politics, Heritage Studies, Architectural Conservation, Cultural Sociology, Cultural Studies, Identity And Culture, Science and Technology, Social Production of Space, Tourism Geography, Archaeology, Architecture, Cultural Theory, Urban Studies, Orientalism, Postcolonial Studies, ‘one Belt, One Road’, and "Belt and Road" Initiativeedit
- A sociologist by training, much of my work centres around the cultural past as a vector of nationalism, diplomacy, ge... moreA sociologist by training, much of my work centres around the cultural past as a vector of nationalism, diplomacy, geopolitics and economic development.
See www.silkroadfutures.netedit
Research Interests:
In both its focus and conception, much of the research on tourism remains Anglo-Western centric. The ongoing growth of Non-Western forms of travel, most notably in Asia, renders this situation unsustainable. Our understandings of... more
In both its focus and conception, much of the research on tourism remains Anglo-Western centric. The ongoing growth of Non-Western forms of travel, most notably in Asia, renders this situation unsustainable. Our understandings of 'the tourist', 'the modern tourism industry' ...
Research Interests:
Today the Silk Road is proclaimed to be a history and heritage shared by more than four-billion people, incorporating oceans and continents. Governments, museums, authors, filmmakers and heritage agencies have become adept at telling a... more
Today the Silk Road is proclaimed to be a history and heritage shared by
more than four-billion people, incorporating oceans and continents.
Governments, museums, authors, filmmakers and heritage agencies
have become adept at telling a story of pre-modern globalisation that
weaves together a multitude of locations and events stretched across
dozens of countries. As one of the most compelling geocultural imaginaries
of the modern era, the Silk Road has become a remarkably elastic and
seductive concept for heritage making; a paradigm to which a plethora of
landscapes and cultural forms are being recovered and preserved, displayed and curated to tell stories of trade, exchange, friendship and
cosmopolitan cultures. Through China’s Belt and Road Initiative, media
projects and festivals now celebrate Silk Road cuisine, dress, craft, music, dance, or loftier ambitions of civilisational dialogue. Little attention has been paid to how this fast proliferating narrative of history is emerging as a vast platform for heritage making, museology and cultural policy. This paper takes up such themes, tracing how the concept has evolved since its invention in the late nineteenth century. This provides the foundations for more critical readings of the Silk Road as a unifying concept of heritage and history.
more than four-billion people, incorporating oceans and continents.
Governments, museums, authors, filmmakers and heritage agencies
have become adept at telling a story of pre-modern globalisation that
weaves together a multitude of locations and events stretched across
dozens of countries. As one of the most compelling geocultural imaginaries
of the modern era, the Silk Road has become a remarkably elastic and
seductive concept for heritage making; a paradigm to which a plethora of
landscapes and cultural forms are being recovered and preserved, displayed and curated to tell stories of trade, exchange, friendship and
cosmopolitan cultures. Through China’s Belt and Road Initiative, media
projects and festivals now celebrate Silk Road cuisine, dress, craft, music, dance, or loftier ambitions of civilisational dialogue. Little attention has been paid to how this fast proliferating narrative of history is emerging as a vast platform for heritage making, museology and cultural policy. This paper takes up such themes, tracing how the concept has evolved since its invention in the late nineteenth century. This provides the foundations for more critical readings of the Silk Road as a unifying concept of heritage and history.
Research Interests:
This review forum brings together seven critics, namely Henryk Alff, Mark Frost, Marina Kaneti, Tim Oakes, Jonathan Rigg, Alessandro Rippa, and June Wang. They have different backgrounds ranging from anthropology and geography to history... more
This review forum brings together seven critics, namely Henryk
Alff, Mark Frost, Marina Kaneti, Tim Oakes, Jonathan Rigg, Alessandro
Rippa, and June Wang. They have different backgrounds ranging from
anthropology and geography to history and political science. This diversity
is deliberate, as Geocultural Power fundamentally crosses disciplines
as it weaves together cultural and heritage studies with international
relations and the study of diplomacy.
Alff, Mark Frost, Marina Kaneti, Tim Oakes, Jonathan Rigg, Alessandro
Rippa, and June Wang. They have different backgrounds ranging from
anthropology and geography to history and political science. This diversity
is deliberate, as Geocultural Power fundamentally crosses disciplines
as it weaves together cultural and heritage studies with international
relations and the study of diplomacy.
Research Interests:
The Silk Road has become one of the key geocultural and geostrategic concepts of the twenty-first century. Identified by two routes-maritime and overland, the Silk Road stretches across the Indian Ocean and Eurasian landmass; regions that... more
The Silk Road has become one of the key geocultural and geostrategic concepts of the twenty-first century. Identified by two routes-maritime and overland, the Silk Road stretches across the Indian Ocean and Eurasian landmass; regions that will be of paramount importance in an increasingly multi-polar world. Through Belt and Road, China proclaims to be 'reviving' the Silk Road for the twenty-first century; ambitions that are creating forms of diplomacy across multiple sectors and countries. To contextualise such developments, this paper examines the Silk Road's historical formation as an arena of diplomacy and international cooperation. It argues that this stylised, romanticised depiction of pre-modern globalisation came to be associated with peace and harmony, cosmopolitanism and inter-cultural dialogue after World War II. Within this, however, Silk Road diplomacy has served as a vehicle for nationalist and geopolitical ambitions. The paper argues such entanglements underpin China's Belt and Road Initiative today. ARTICLE HISTORY
Research Interests:
Belt and Road is a project in both writing and reading history. To date, international scrutiny has fallen overwhelmingly on the former; how China’s grand ambitions are altering the course of events and the global power landscape of the... more
Belt and Road is a project in both writing and reading history. To date, international scrutiny has fallen overwhelmingly on the former; how China’s grand ambitions are altering the course of events and the global power landscape of the twenty-first century. But if the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is about “reviving” the Silk Roads for the twenty-first century, we might also ask how China now reads the past, and in what ways it appropriates it for strategic ends. Such lines of inquiry help us begin to understand how Belt and Road not just writes, but comes to re-write history, and it is the latter that may hold the greatest long-term impact.
From the very beginning, Beijing has framed Belt and Road as a “revival” of the Silk Roads. But what this means precisely has received little critical attention in the West. Journalists and analysts have noted the Silk Road as little more than a gesture to romantic pasts of trade and exchange, where the camel trails and caravanserai of previous centuries are replaced by transcontinental rail lines and special economic zones. Sailing ships carrying porcelain become the container ships and oil tankers of the twenty-first century. History then is merely a palette of richly evocative imagery through which the old is paralleled with the new to make strategies of connectivity meaningful for audiences around the world. Countless news channels, think tanks, government reports, and academic papers have thus introduced BRI by casually summarizing the Silk Road in a short sentence or two, and rapidly moving on to the “real” stuff.
From the very beginning, Beijing has framed Belt and Road as a “revival” of the Silk Roads. But what this means precisely has received little critical attention in the West. Journalists and analysts have noted the Silk Road as little more than a gesture to romantic pasts of trade and exchange, where the camel trails and caravanserai of previous centuries are replaced by transcontinental rail lines and special economic zones. Sailing ships carrying porcelain become the container ships and oil tankers of the twenty-first century. History then is merely a palette of richly evocative imagery through which the old is paralleled with the new to make strategies of connectivity meaningful for audiences around the world. Countless news channels, think tanks, government reports, and academic papers have thus introduced BRI by casually summarizing the Silk Road in a short sentence or two, and rapidly moving on to the “real” stuff.
Research Interests:
This paper examines China's Belt and Road Initiative as an exercise in geocultural power. To date, Belt and Road has been analysed as a geopolitical and geo-economic initiative, with arguments constructed around the development of... more
This paper examines China's Belt and Road Initiative as an exercise in geocultural power. To date, Belt and Road has been analysed as a geopolitical and geo-economic initiative, with arguments constructed around the development of infrastructure, trade or finance agreements. This paper introduces the Silk Roads as one of the most compelling geocultural concepts of the modern era to show its strategic value as a platform for cooperation and multi-sector connec-tivity. A critical analysis of the Silk Roads provides new insights into Belt and Road, revealing how China is mobilising its geocultural potential as a civilisational state to build regional and continental connectivities.
Research Interests:
China's Belt and Road Initiative aims to connect continents and integrate Eurasia through collaborations spanning trade and infrastructure, culture and finance. Launched in 2013, it incorporates more than seventy countries and two-thirds... more
China's Belt and Road Initiative aims to connect continents and integrate Eurasia through collaborations spanning trade and infrastructure, culture and finance. Launched in 2013, it incorporates more than seventy countries and two-thirds of the world's population. But what does it mean to "revive" the Silk Roads for the twenty-first century?
Until now Belt and Road has been discussed as a geopolitical and geoeconomic project. This book introduces geocultural power to the analysis of international affairs. Tim Winter highlights how Belt and Road bundles geopolitical ambition and infrastructure with carefully curated histories to produce a grand narrative of transcontinental connectivity: past, present and future.
As Iran, Greece, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Malaysia and others mobilize the Silk Roads to find diplomatic and cultural connection, China becomes the new author of Eurasian history and the architect of the bridge between East and West. In a diplomatic dance of forgetting, episodes of violence and bloodshed are left behind for a language of shared heritage that crosses borders in ways that further an increasingly networked China-driven economy.
Until now Belt and Road has been discussed as a geopolitical and geoeconomic project. This book introduces geocultural power to the analysis of international affairs. Tim Winter highlights how Belt and Road bundles geopolitical ambition and infrastructure with carefully curated histories to produce a grand narrative of transcontinental connectivity: past, present and future.
As Iran, Greece, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Malaysia and others mobilize the Silk Roads to find diplomatic and cultural connection, China becomes the new author of Eurasian history and the architect of the bridge between East and West. In a diplomatic dance of forgetting, episodes of violence and bloodshed are left behind for a language of shared heritage that crosses borders in ways that further an increasingly networked China-driven economy.
Research Interests: Business, Sociology, Geography, Political Geography and Geopolitics, Economics, and 15 moreInternational Relations, Southeast Asian Studies, Social Sciences, Cultural Heritage, Geopolitics, Cultural Theory, Silk Road Studies, Diplomacy, China, China studies, Contemporary China, Cultural Diplomacy, India, One Belt One Road, and "Belt and Road" Initiative
We live in an era when state power is accumulated by building structures of connectivity. Such developments will be at the heart of competition between India and China, adding to existing tensions over trade, Kashmir and terrorism. It is... more
We live in an era when state power is accumulated by building structures of connectivity. Such developments will be at the heart of competition between India and China, adding to existing tensions over trade, Kashmir and terrorism. It is against this backdrop that we need to interpret Xiʼs visit to India. Both leaders put aside ‘formalʼ deals and agreements more familiar to modern state-state diplomacy, in favour of a language of cooperation built on civilization and deep cultural ties.
Research Interests:
An evocative history of East and West embraced in cultural and economic exchange, today the Silk Road is remapping international affairs. Invented in 1877, the story of the Silk Road was overshadowed by twentieth century nationalism and... more
An evocative history of East and West embraced in cultural and economic exchange, today the Silk Road is remapping international affairs.
Invented in 1877, the story of the Silk Road was overshadowed by twentieth century nationalism and a world dominated by conflict and Cold War standoffs. As China aims to “revive” the Silk Roads for the twenty-first century through its Belt and Road Initiative, ideas of civilizations in dialogue, harmonious trade and cultural exchange take on new significance.
Asia’s ascendant power is framing its trade, diplomatic, infrastructure and geopolitical ambitions in a story of regional, even global connectivity, at the heart of which sits Chinese civilization.
Silk Road Futures demonstrates Belt and Road is as much a geocultural project as it is geoeconomic and geopolitical.
Invented in 1877, the story of the Silk Road was overshadowed by twentieth century nationalism and a world dominated by conflict and Cold War standoffs. As China aims to “revive” the Silk Roads for the twenty-first century through its Belt and Road Initiative, ideas of civilizations in dialogue, harmonious trade and cultural exchange take on new significance.
Asia’s ascendant power is framing its trade, diplomatic, infrastructure and geopolitical ambitions in a story of regional, even global connectivity, at the heart of which sits Chinese civilization.
Silk Road Futures demonstrates Belt and Road is as much a geocultural project as it is geoeconomic and geopolitical.
Research Interests: Business, Geography, Economics, International Relations, Tourism Studies, and 13 moreDevelopment Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, International Relations Theory, International Business, Cultural Heritage, Geopolitics, Political Science, Unesco, Silk Road Studies, Eurasia, China, Environmental Sustainability, and "Belt and Road" Initiative
The focus of this chapter is on antiquity and its political economies of scholarship in Southeast Asia. Structures found at Angkor, Borobudur, Vat Phou, Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, and Mỹ Sơn are critically important to our understanding of... more
The focus of this chapter is on antiquity and its political economies of scholarship in Southeast Asia. Structures found at Angkor, Borobudur, Vat Phou, Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, and Mỹ Sơn are critically important to our understanding of Southeast Asian history. Within scholarly accounts of the past, these ruins sit somewhat uneasily between architecture, archaeology and art history. The focus here is on the shifting landscapes of scholarship that have framed them over the last century and a half, read in relation to the broader political economies within which particular modes of knowledge production have occurred. In order to discern between an era of colonial research, the formation of expert networks in the mid twentieth century and more recent changes therein, the chapter foregrounds the idea of heritage diplomacy as its explanatory frame. Specific attention is given to Bagan in Myanmar, as it is suggested the site represents an important signpost to some likely shifts in the way Southeast Asia’s antiquity will be framed, narrated, valued and symbolically coded over the coming years. In that regard, the chapter takes up the question of futures, a theme that comes with the usual risks and caveats.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Asian Studies, Archaeology, International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, and 11 moreMuseum Studies, Cultural Heritage, Material Culture Studies, Heritage Studies, Heritage Conservation, Diplomacy, Cultural Heritage Law, China, Cultural Diplomacy, Asian Art, and "Belt and Road" Initiative
China’s “One Belt One Road” initiative clearly reads as an audacious vision for transforming the political and economic landscapes of Eurasia and Africa over the coming decades via a network of infrastructure partnerships across the... more
China’s “One Belt One Road” initiative clearly reads as an audacious vision for transforming the political and economic landscapes of Eurasia and Africa over the coming decades via a network of infrastructure partnerships across the energy, telecommunications, logistics, law, IT, and transportation sectors. While such themes have become the subject of intense debate and expert commentary in the past couple of years, one of the Belt and Road’s core “Cooperation Priorities,” that of “people-to-people” connections, has passed largely unnoticed outside China. I focus here on the theme of heritage diplomacy in order to suggest that histories of silk, porcelain, and other material pasts, together with competing ideas about civilizations and world history, will play a distinct role in shaping trade, infrastructure, and security within and across countries in the coming years
Research Interests: History, Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Asian Studies, Maritime Archaeology, and 27 moreInternational Relations, Tourism Studies, Development Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Middle East Studies, Cultural Heritage, Tourism Planning and Policy, International Development, Conservation, Maritime History, South Asian Studies, Heritage Tourism, Political Science, Sustainable Development, Central Asian Studies, Heritage Conservation, Silk Road, Silk Road Studies, Cultural Tourism, Turkish and Middle East Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Sustainable Tourism, Southeast Asian Politics, Maritime Security, Arabian/Persian Gulf Archaeology, Maritime Studies, and ‘one Belt, One Road’
This Forum evolved from a provocation by the Editors of this special issue of Fabrications that “too often heritage conservation assumes an apolitical stance by neglecting to acknowledge its own unsettling agendas.” The Forum's five... more
This Forum evolved from a provocation by the Editors of this special issue of Fabrications that “too often heritage conservation assumes an apolitical stance by neglecting to acknowledge its own unsettling agendas.” The Forum's five contributors highlight a range of challenges and trends that architectural heritage professionals – including historians – have begun to identify and engage with in a critical fashion. These pieces demonstrate the need to commit to historical practice that embraces the “critical turn,” and to acknowledge our responsibilities as “gatekeepers” and producers of knowledge. While we cannot control the multitude of interpretations that our work will surely generate across time and space, we can consider whether we are contributing to, or challenging, existing silences, inaccuracies, and regimes of knowledge. This Forum does not claim to provide answers, but instead seeks to foster discussion and identify some of the avenues along which work in the general realm of “Architecture / Heritage / Politics” is – or should be – progressing.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The paper explores the concept of heritage diplomacy in order to critically examine the links between conservation, cultural aid and hard power, and the dance between nationalism and internationalism. Three themes - venues, cooperation,... more
The paper explores the concept of heritage diplomacy in order to critically examine the links between conservation, cultural aid and hard power, and the dance between nationalism and
internationalism. Three themes - venues, cooperation, and borders - orient the discussion, opening lines of enquiry previously ignored by scholars in a variety of fields concerning the
entanglements between the past and the enterprise of preserving its material culture, and our unfolding histories of globalization and international affairs.
internationalism. Three themes - venues, cooperation, and borders - orient the discussion, opening lines of enquiry previously ignored by scholars in a variety of fields concerning the
entanglements between the past and the enterprise of preserving its material culture, and our unfolding histories of globalization and international affairs.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Archaeology, Southeast Asian Studies, Architecture, Middle East Studies, and 15 moreCultural Heritage, Material Culture Studies, Heritage Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Heritage Tourism, Cultural Theory, Heritage Conservation, Architectural History, Diplomacy, Architectural Theory, Cultural Heritage Management, Intangible Cultural Heritage (Culture), Cultural Diplomacy, Material Culture, and heritage diplomacy
Association of Critical Heritage Studies, 4th Biennial Conference
Heritage Across Borders, 1-6 September 2018,
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Call For Sessions, Deadline 31st March, 2017
Heritage Across Borders, 1-6 September 2018,
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
Call For Sessions, Deadline 31st March, 2017
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Geography, Asian Studies, Archaeology, Anthropology, and 34 moreInternational Relations, Tourism Studies, Development Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Architecture, Museum Studies, Cultural Heritage, Heritage Studies, Landscape Archaeology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, South Asian Studies, Heritage Tourism, Cultural Theory, Urban Planning, Industrial Heritage, Museum Education, Heritage Conservation, Unesco, History of Museums, East Asian Studies, China, Environmental Sustainability, Cultural Heritage Management, World Cultural Heritage, Intangible Cultural Heritage (Culture), Sustainable Architecture, Architectural Heritage, Museology, Contemporary China, Southeast Asian Politics, Heritage, Tourism, Museum and Heritage Studies, and South America
The ongoing destruction of cultural heritage by Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq brings to the fore a glaring paradox. On the one hand, preventing the deliberate destruction of culture now appears to hold little moral ambiguity, with... more
The ongoing destruction of cultural heritage by Islamic State
(IS) in Syria and Iraq brings to the fore a glaring paradox. On
the one hand, preventing the deliberate destruction of culture
now appears to hold little moral ambiguity, with such acts now
regularly condemned by various governments and agencies
around the world as both “war crimes” and a “ crimes against
humanity.” And yet, the failure to prevent IS’s campaign of destruction
is a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities of culture in
times of conflict, and the inability of the so-called international
community to act upon the imperative to preserve. Indeed,
today it appears as though the threat to cultural heritage is increasing
in magnitude in accordance with the changing nature
of international conflict and terrorism.........
(IS) in Syria and Iraq brings to the fore a glaring paradox. On
the one hand, preventing the deliberate destruction of culture
now appears to hold little moral ambiguity, with such acts now
regularly condemned by various governments and agencies
around the world as both “war crimes” and a “ crimes against
humanity.” And yet, the failure to prevent IS’s campaign of destruction
is a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities of culture in
times of conflict, and the inability of the so-called international
community to act upon the imperative to preserve. Indeed,
today it appears as though the threat to cultural heritage is increasing
in magnitude in accordance with the changing nature
of international conflict and terrorism.........
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Archaeology, International Relations, Cultural Sociology, Architecture, and 14 moreMiddle East Studies, Cultural Heritage, Historic Preservation, Political Science, World History, Heritage Conservation, Digital Preservation, Diplomacy, Cultural Heritage Management, World Cultural Heritage, Architectural Heritage, Association of Critical Heritage Studies, Diplomacy and international relations, and Critical Heritage Studies
Details of Special Issue on Preservation and Diplomacy, Future Anterior
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, International Relations, International Relations Theory, Architecture, Cultural Heritage, and 12 moreHistoric Preservation, Cultural Theory, Political Science, World History, Heritage Conservation, Cultural Tourism, Digital Preservation, Diplomacy, Cultural Heritage Management, World Cultural Heritage, Cultural Diplomacy, and Diplomacy and international relations
Today the preservation and commemoration of cultural heritage in Asia occupies a complex place in an increasingly integrated and interconnected region. In comparison to ten years ago we are seeing a significant growth in the level of... more
Today the preservation and commemoration of cultural heritage in Asia occupies a complex place in an increasingly integrated and interconnected region. In comparison to ten years ago we are seeing a significant growth in the level of international hostility concerning the past and its remembrance. Histories of conflict, for example, are the source of ongoing tension in East Asia at a time of escalating militarisation. The diplomatic tensions between Japan, Korea and China concerning the events of World War 2 are being further exacerbated by the approach of museums in the region and attempts to have remnants ‒ whether it be buildings, letters or landscapes ‒ recognised by international heritage agencies. At the same time, however, we are also seeing major growth in the scale and scope of international cooperation between countries across Asia regarding the preservation of the past. Heritage conservation is fast emerging as an important component of the intra-regional economic and political ties that are binding states
and populations in the region. In the coming decade one initiative in particular will take this heritage diplomacy to a whole new level, China’s One Belt One Road.
and populations in the region. In the coming decade one initiative in particular will take this heritage diplomacy to a whole new level, China’s One Belt One Road.
Research Interests: Asian Studies, Archaeology, Anthropology, International Relations, Southeast Asian Studies, and 15 moreCultural Heritage, Heritage Tourism, Cultural Heritage Conservation, Heritage Conservation, Silk Road Studies, Diplomacy, China, Cultural Heritage Management, World Cultural Heritage, Architectural Heritage, Cultural Diplomacy, Silk Road Archaeology, Archaeology of the Silk Road, Soft Power and Public Diplomacy, and ‘one Belt, One Road’
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Within the debate about fostering more sustainable built environments one of the key battlegrounds surrounds thermal comfort, and in particular the use of air conditioning. In the search for less energy-intensive alternatives, a renewed... more
Within the debate about fostering more sustainable built environments one of the key battlegrounds surrounds thermal comfort, and in particular the use of air conditioning. In the search for less energy-intensive alternatives, a renewed interest has emerged around the design vocabulary of ‘passive cooling’. The paper argues that the terminology of passive/active needs inverting for such approaches to gain wider support as a viable alternative to mechanical cooling.
It is argued that non-air-conditioned buildings actively engage with their environments and that the current notion of passive cooling leaves us blind to the ways occupants, buildings and the material culture of interior spaces are all entangled in relations that enable thermal comfort to be actively achieved and maintained. To present this argument for re-categorising low-carbon architecture design as active cooling, the paper draws on the concept of entanglement.
It is argued that non-air-conditioned buildings actively engage with their environments and that the current notion of passive cooling leaves us blind to the ways occupants, buildings and the material culture of interior spaces are all entangled in relations that enable thermal comfort to be actively achieved and maintained. To present this argument for re-categorising low-carbon architecture design as active cooling, the paper draws on the concept of entanglement.
Research Interests: Design, Architecture, Cultural Heritage, Material Culture Studies, Heritage Studies, and 17 moreUrban Planning, Cultural Heritage Conservation, Sustainable Building Design, Heritage Conservation, Sustainable Urban Environments, Low Carbone Cities, Environmental Sustainability, Architectural Conservation, Sustainable Architecture, Architectural Heritage, Sustainable Design, History of architecture, Passive Design, Indoor environment - thermal comfort, indoor air quality health and wellbeing, Thermal comfort, Thermal comfort & Energy efficiency in hot climates, and Natural ventilation as a passive cooling strategy
The economic and political shifts that together constitute contemporary globalisation are opening up new spaces for non-Western modes of heritage governance in the international arena. Perhaps most notable here is the so-called rise of... more
The economic and political shifts that together constitute contemporary globalisation are opening up new spaces for non-Western modes of heritage governance in the international arena. Perhaps most notable here is the so-called rise of Asia, wherein a growing number of countries are investing heavily in a range of institutions and initiatives designed to provide cultural sector aid across the region. These new forms of heritage diplomacy hold significant implications for the governance of heritage at the global level, such that they promise to unsettle those structures and norms which emerged from Europe and North America and stabilised internationally over the course of the twentieth century. The paper explores such changes and some of the ways the Australian heritage conservation sector might respond to this rapidly shifting landscape of heritage diplomacy.
Research Interests:
This paper explores the concept of heritage diplomacy. To date much of the analysis regarding the politics of heritage has focused on contestation, dissonance and conflict. Heritage diplomacy seeks to address this imbalance by critically... more
This paper explores the concept of heritage diplomacy. To date much of the analysis regarding the politics of heritage has focused on contestation, dissonance and conflict. Heritage diplomacy seeks to address this imbalance by critically examining themes such as cooperation, cultural aid and hard power, and the ascendency of intergovernmental and non-governmental actors as mediators of the dance between nationalism and internationalism. The paper situates heritage diplomacy within broader histories of international governance and diplomacy itself. These are offered to interpret the interplay between the shifting forces and structures, which, together, have shaped the production, governance and international mobilisation of heritage in the modern era.
A distinction between heritage as diplomacy and in diplomacy is outlined in order to reframe some of the ways in which heritage has acted as a constituent of cultural nationalisms, international relations and globalisation. In mapping out directions for further enquiry, I argue the complexities of the international ordering of heritage governance have yet to be teased out. A framework of heritage diplomacy is thus offered in the hope that it can do some important analytical work in the field of critical heritage theory, opening up some important but under theorised aspects of heritage analysis.
A distinction between heritage as diplomacy and in diplomacy is outlined in order to reframe some of the ways in which heritage has acted as a constituent of cultural nationalisms, international relations and globalisation. In mapping out directions for further enquiry, I argue the complexities of the international ordering of heritage governance have yet to be teased out. A framework of heritage diplomacy is thus offered in the hope that it can do some important analytical work in the field of critical heritage theory, opening up some important but under theorised aspects of heritage analysis.
Research Interests: History, Cultural Studies, Geography, Archaeology, International Relations, and 12 moreHistorical Archaeology, Museum Studies, Cultural Heritage, Material Culture Studies, Cultural Heritage Conservation, Politics, Heritage Conservation, Diplomacy, Cultural Heritage Management, Architectural Conservation, World Cultural Heritage, and Cultural Diplomacy
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Archaeology, Anthropology, Tourism Studies, Architecture, Cultural Heritage, and 14 moreMaterial Culture Studies, Heritage Studies, Conservation, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Heritage Tourism, Cultural Theory, Urban Planning, Industrial Heritage, Heritage Conservation, Culture, Cultural Tourism, Sustainable Tourism, Intangible Cultural Heritage (Culture), and Built Heritage, Cultural Heritage, Urban Art, Urban Design, Urban Regeneration Through Art, Urban Light, Urban Development, Rehabilitation, Reuse of Industrial Buildings.
The Association of Critical Heritage Studies is network of scholars and researchers working in the broad and interdisciplinary field of heritage studies. The primary aim of ACHS is to promote heritage as an area of critical enquiry. The... more
The Association of Critical Heritage Studies is network of scholars and researchers working in the broad and interdisciplinary field of heritage studies. The primary aim of ACHS is to promote heritage as an area of critical enquiry.
The ACHS has made many positive contributions to promoting heritage as an area of critical enquiry over the past few years and this week we are launching a brand new website: http://www.criticalheritagestudies.org
The site is designed to be a platform for information sharing, networking and establishing communities between those with shared interests in heritage. Furthermore, there are pages dedicated to job announcements, PhD opportunities, book reviews, heritage journals and book series, etc.
As part of the re-launch of our website, we are also encouraging new members to join the ACHS.
The Benefits of Signing Up include:
• The ACHS quarterly newsletter.
• Opportunity to promote your events to the world of ACHS
• Occasional announcements about events in your region, jobs, conferences or scholarship and funding opportunities. (we will NOT bombard you with emails)
• Access to the membership directory and ACHS community - members can find colleagues with interests and expertise for future collaborations.
• Updates about the ACHS Montreal 2016 Conference and other ACHS events
If you would like to become a member, please visit the ACHS website, select ‘Get Involved’ and then ‘Become a Member’ from the top navigation menu. Under ‘Profile’ upload a recent photo of yourself, add a brief description of your interests and area of work and select your areas of Interest.
If you have any questions or would like further information, please send an email to info@criticalheritagestudies.org or submit an online enquiry via the contact page on the ACHS website.
The ACHS has made many positive contributions to promoting heritage as an area of critical enquiry over the past few years and this week we are launching a brand new website: http://www.criticalheritagestudies.org
The site is designed to be a platform for information sharing, networking and establishing communities between those with shared interests in heritage. Furthermore, there are pages dedicated to job announcements, PhD opportunities, book reviews, heritage journals and book series, etc.
As part of the re-launch of our website, we are also encouraging new members to join the ACHS.
The Benefits of Signing Up include:
• The ACHS quarterly newsletter.
• Opportunity to promote your events to the world of ACHS
• Occasional announcements about events in your region, jobs, conferences or scholarship and funding opportunities. (we will NOT bombard you with emails)
• Access to the membership directory and ACHS community - members can find colleagues with interests and expertise for future collaborations.
• Updates about the ACHS Montreal 2016 Conference and other ACHS events
If you would like to become a member, please visit the ACHS website, select ‘Get Involved’ and then ‘Become a Member’ from the top navigation menu. Under ‘Profile’ upload a recent photo of yourself, add a brief description of your interests and area of work and select your areas of Interest.
If you have any questions or would like further information, please send an email to info@criticalheritagestudies.org or submit an online enquiry via the contact page on the ACHS website.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Geography, Archaeology, Anthropology, Tourism Studies, and 9 moreMedia and Cultural Studies, Development Studies, Architecture, Ethnomusicology, Cultural Heritage, Heritage Conservation, Environmental Sustainability, Intangible Cultural Heritage (Culture), and Architecture and Public Spaces
This paper examines shifting approaches to urban sustainability in the Arabian Gulf by focusing on the issue of air conditioning and thermal comfort. It considers the recent foregrounding of tradition and heritage within the arena of... more
This paper examines shifting approaches to urban sustainability in the Arabian Gulf by focusing on the issue of air conditioning and thermal comfort. It considers the recent foregrounding of tradition and heritage within the arena of mega-project development in Qatar, using the Msheireb Downtown Doha Project as an example of a wider regional trend around urban sustainability. Through its focus on air conditioning, the paper draws on Appadurai’s recent critique of design singularity to examine built environment sustainability in relation to the indoor comfort norms and practices, for both bodies and objects, which are now well established across the Gulf region.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Urban Geography, Design, Architecture, Cultural Heritage, and 13 moreCultural Theory, Urban Planning, The Persian Gulf, Heritage Conservation, Arabian Gulf, Urban Sociology, Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Architecture, Qatar, Cities, Urban Design, Sustainability in construction industry, and Architecture and Public Spaces
Heritage is a powerful witness to mindsets and zeitgeist; it is commonly understood that it gives way to a better understanding of societies and even brings together communities. But how would this happen? Can heritage affect reality?... more
Heritage is a powerful witness to mindsets and zeitgeist; it is commonly understood that it gives way to a better understanding of societies and even brings together communities. But how would this happen? Can heritage affect reality? What does it change?
The Conference considers the manifestations, discourses, epistemologies, policies, and stakes of heritage—as a phenomenon, a symptom, an effect or a catalyst; as a tool of empowerment or leverage; as a physical or intangible restraint or kick-off; in communities, societies, or any material or mental environment. Subthemes range from gender-related issues to identity-making, mythologies of cultural diversity and the rethinking of heritage policies beyond the authorized heritage discourse.
Submissions to the 2016 ACHS Conference should bring innovative reflections and interdisciplinary methodologies or approaches to the critical enquiries about how and why heritage is, has been or could be made, used, studied, defined and managed, and with what effects, if any, on a society, a territory, an economy. Contributions might, for example, explore the reconstruction of narratives, the reconfiguration of social relations, knowledge production and cultural expressions, the transformation of the environment or the (de)valuation of the land. We particularly welcome papers that go beyond canon theories to interrogate discipline- based norms about heritage, and the assumptions that orient practice or decision-making. In this respect, this conference aims to continue important debates about heritage as a domain
of politics and citizenship, a living environment, a source of identity and an assemblage of human-non-human relations.
In order to bring new insights to the study of heritage, the 2016 ACHS Conference is framed by the general question of “What Does Heritage Change?” It is hoped that this general question will encourage submissions relating to one of the over-arching themes found id the pdf of the second announcement or on the conference website (achs2016.uqam.ca); other proposals are nonetheless welcome.
This second announcement calls for submissions of roundtables, sessions, posters or papers.
The deadline for the call for sessions is 1st July 2015
The deadline for the call for papers and posters is 1st November 2015
Submissions are to be made online, in French or English, at www.achs2016.uqam.ca
The conference will mainly host four session types:
- Regular paper sessions (20-minutes papers in any number);
- Poster sessions;
- Roundtables;
- Research-creation sessions or installations.
All other proposals are welcome.
More on the session formats, papers and posters is to be found on www.achs2016.uqam.ca
The Conference considers the manifestations, discourses, epistemologies, policies, and stakes of heritage—as a phenomenon, a symptom, an effect or a catalyst; as a tool of empowerment or leverage; as a physical or intangible restraint or kick-off; in communities, societies, or any material or mental environment. Subthemes range from gender-related issues to identity-making, mythologies of cultural diversity and the rethinking of heritage policies beyond the authorized heritage discourse.
Submissions to the 2016 ACHS Conference should bring innovative reflections and interdisciplinary methodologies or approaches to the critical enquiries about how and why heritage is, has been or could be made, used, studied, defined and managed, and with what effects, if any, on a society, a territory, an economy. Contributions might, for example, explore the reconstruction of narratives, the reconfiguration of social relations, knowledge production and cultural expressions, the transformation of the environment or the (de)valuation of the land. We particularly welcome papers that go beyond canon theories to interrogate discipline- based norms about heritage, and the assumptions that orient practice or decision-making. In this respect, this conference aims to continue important debates about heritage as a domain
of politics and citizenship, a living environment, a source of identity and an assemblage of human-non-human relations.
In order to bring new insights to the study of heritage, the 2016 ACHS Conference is framed by the general question of “What Does Heritage Change?” It is hoped that this general question will encourage submissions relating to one of the over-arching themes found id the pdf of the second announcement or on the conference website (achs2016.uqam.ca); other proposals are nonetheless welcome.
This second announcement calls for submissions of roundtables, sessions, posters or papers.
The deadline for the call for sessions is 1st July 2015
The deadline for the call for papers and posters is 1st November 2015
Submissions are to be made online, in French or English, at www.achs2016.uqam.ca
The conference will mainly host four session types:
- Regular paper sessions (20-minutes papers in any number);
- Poster sessions;
- Roundtables;
- Research-creation sessions or installations.
All other proposals are welcome.
More on the session formats, papers and posters is to be found on www.achs2016.uqam.ca
Research Interests: History, Cultural Studies, Geography, Latin American Studies, Archaeology, and 10 moreTourism Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Architecture, Cultural Heritage, Heritage Studies, Cultural Heritage Conservation, Heritage Conservation, South Asian Archaeology, Architectural Conservation, and Critical Heritage Studies
This paper develops the concept of thermal modernity in order to offer a more detailed understanding of air conditioning and the historical role it has played in transforming urban and built space. An analysis oriented by the insights of... more
This paper develops the concept of thermal modernity in order to offer a more detailed understanding of air conditioning and the historical role it has played in transforming urban and built space. An analysis oriented by the insights of Science and Technology Studies stresses how the international ascendancy of air conditioning has been contingent upon certain socio-political forces and cultural changes that occur at the local level. The productive example of Singapore—often referred to as the ‘air-conditioned’ nation—is given to reveal the entanglements between indoor comfort provision, economic development and post-colonial nation-building. At a broader level, the paper points towards the importance of understanding air conditioning's impact on the spread of international modernism in analytically expansive ways, such that we can more fully appreciate how it has acted to remodel the built environment at different scales and reconfigure indoor and outdoor relationships.
Research Interests: Southeast Asian Studies, Architecture, Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Building Design, Urban Studies, and 10 moreModernity, Green architecture, Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Architecture, Air Conditioning (Architecture), History of architecture, Refrigeration Air Conditioning, Histories and theories of modernity, Sustainability in construction industry, and Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality
In 2010, the city of Shanghai hosted the largest and most spectacular World’s Fair ever. Shanghai Expo attracted a staggering 73 million visitors, around 98% of whom were domestic Chinese, and involved the participation of 190 countries.... more
In 2010, the city of Shanghai hosted the largest and most spectacular World’s Fair ever. Shanghai Expo attracted a staggering 73 million visitors, around 98% of whom were domestic Chinese, and involved the participation of 190 countries. As a forum of “virtual tourism,” the event is significant given the rapid and long-term growth in outbound Chinese tourism. This article pursues a closer reading of how “the world” was performed and exhibited to these visitors.
Oriented by two theoretical considerations—the spatial configuration of the expo site and its cosmopolitan imagination—the article considers how the format of the Expo revealed and declared certain elements of the global, while simultaneously effacing and squeezing out others.
The Expo is thus interpreted as an important mechanism in the creation of a new national citizenry in China and as part of the ceremonialization of a global polity of a “family of nations.”
Oriented by two theoretical considerations—the spatial configuration of the expo site and its cosmopolitan imagination—the article considers how the format of the Expo revealed and declared certain elements of the global, while simultaneously effacing and squeezing out others.
The Expo is thus interpreted as an important mechanism in the creation of a new national citizenry in China and as part of the ceremonialization of a global polity of a “family of nations.”
Research Interests:
This article argues that international conservation and heritage governance are now entering new and historically important phases. The economic and political shifts that characterize globalization today are providing a platform for... more
This article argues that international conservation and heritage governance are now entering new and historically important phases. The economic and political shifts that characterize globalization today are providing a platform for non-Western modes of heritage governance to gain newfound legitimacy on the international stage. With the appropriation of cultural heritage for commercial and political purposes occurring at all levels within the emerging economies of Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa, heritage conservation aid now plays an important role in the cultural diplomacy and soft power strategies of numerous countries in these regions.
Analyses of the globalization of heritage governance in the mid-late twentieth century have focused primarily on intergovernmental bodies such as UNESCO, at the expense of critically reading the role nation-states continue to play in international conservation and heritage governance policy. Using examples from Asia, this paper addresses this imbalance by re-centering the nation-state in an account that argues the rise of heritage diplomacy, coupled with today’s shifting global order and ongoing reduction in UNESCO’s capacity, hold important implications for heritage conservation over the coming decades.
Analyses of the globalization of heritage governance in the mid-late twentieth century have focused primarily on intergovernmental bodies such as UNESCO, at the expense of critically reading the role nation-states continue to play in international conservation and heritage governance policy. Using examples from Asia, this paper addresses this imbalance by re-centering the nation-state in an account that argues the rise of heritage diplomacy, coupled with today’s shifting global order and ongoing reduction in UNESCO’s capacity, hold important implications for heritage conservation over the coming decades.
Research Interests: Asian Studies, Archaeology, Southeast Asian Studies, Architecture, Cultural Heritage, and 12 moreHeritage Studies, Conservation, Postcolonial Studies, Public Diplomacy, Cultural Heritage Conservation, Heritage Conservation, Diplomacy, Cultural Heritage Management, World Cultural Heritage, Cultural Diplomacy, Material Culture, and Science for Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage
"This paper considers the term critical in the unfolding formulation of critical heritage studies. It argues for a shift in emphasis from the subject of our effort to the object of attention, in other words focusing primarily on the... more
"This paper considers the term critical in the unfolding formulation of critical heritage studies. It argues for a shift in emphasis from the subject of our effort to the object of attention, in other words focusing primarily on the critical issues that face the world today, the larger issues that bear upon and extend outwards from heritage. To that end, the paper presents two key directions. It suggests much is to be gained from tackling the uneasy relationship that currently exists between social science and humanities-based approaches to heritage and the professional conservation sector oriented by a scientistic materialism. Second, there is a need for heritage studies to account for its relationship to today’s regional and global transformations by developing post-western understandings of culture, history and heritage and the socio-political forces that actualise them.
Keywords: critical heritage theory; conservation; heritage studies; material culture; post western"
Keywords: critical heritage theory; conservation; heritage studies; material culture; post western"
Research Interests:
Heritage studies is yet to have a debate about its theorisation at the global level. Many of the core ideas that shape the field are rooted in the contexts of Europe and the USA and geographically rolled out in normative ways. This paper... more
Heritage studies is yet to have a debate about its theorisation at the global level. Many of the core ideas that shape the field are rooted in the contexts of Europe and the USA and geographically rolled out in normative ways. This paper argues it is important we embark on pluralising how heritage is studied and theoretically framed, in ways that better address the heterogeneous nature of heritage, for both the West and the non-West. The themes of modernity, cities and international cultural policy provide evidence of why we need to better position the academic study of heritage in relation to the rapid geo-political and geo-cultural shifts now taking place.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Over the coming two decades Asia will be the main driver of a 40% increase in global energy consumption. Ambitions for a more sustainable future in the region are severely compromised by the widespread and rapid take-up of... more
Over the coming two decades Asia will be the main driver of a 40% increase in global energy consumption. Ambitions for a more sustainable future in the region are severely compromised by the widespread and rapid take-up of energy-intensive methods for cooling the built environment. For the majority of Asia’s countries buildings account for more than 50% of all national greenhouse gas emissions. With around half that energy consumption typically associated with cooling or heating interior spaces, national carbon footprints have increased dramatically in recent decades through the introduction of electronic airconditioning.
This paper argues such trends are unsustainable and low-carbon alternatives for environmental comfort are required urgently. It traces shifts in how air has been ‘materially imagined’ over the last century or so in Asia and how this bears upon the future of sustainable urbanism. Air-conditioning is seen as pivotal to transformations in urban design and living, such that two phases of modernity are identified: preconditioned and conditioned. By foregrounding the need for low-carbon alternatives, the paper advocates for an alternative, low-carbon regime of thermal governance.
This paper argues such trends are unsustainable and low-carbon alternatives for environmental comfort are required urgently. It traces shifts in how air has been ‘materially imagined’ over the last century or so in Asia and how this bears upon the future of sustainable urbanism. Air-conditioning is seen as pivotal to transformations in urban design and living, such that two phases of modernity are identified: preconditioned and conditioned. By foregrounding the need for low-carbon alternatives, the paper advocates for an alternative, low-carbon regime of thermal governance.
Research Interests: Asian Studies, Architecture, Cultural Heritage, Computational Fluid Dynamics, International Development, and 28 moreEnergy, Sustainable Building Design, Southeast Asia, Energy Efficiency Buildings, Corporate Sustainability, Asia Pacific Region, Modernity, Environmental Design, Energy and Environment, Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Architecture, Energy efficiency, Air Conditioning (Architecture), History of architecture, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling and simulation, Indoor environment - thermal comfort, indoor air quality health and wellbeing, Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, Environmental Design of Buildings, Greenhouse Effect, Thermal comfort & Energy efficiency in hot climates, Natural ventilation as a passive cooling strategy, Institutional Sustainability, Sustainability in construction industry, Architecture and Public Spaces, Buildings’ Monitoring, Sustainable Water & Sanitation, Waste, Materials and Consumption, and Social Aspects of Sustainability
Research Interests:
This Handbook is the first major volume to examine the conservation of Asia’s culture and nature in relation to the wider social, political and economic forces shaping the region today. Throughout Asia rapid economic and social change... more
This Handbook is the first major volume to examine the conservation of Asia’s culture and nature in relation to the wider social, political and economic forces shaping the region today.
Throughout Asia rapid economic and social change means the region’s heritage is at once under threat and undergoing a revival as never before. As societies look forward, competing forces ensure they re-visit the past and the inherited, with the conservation of nature and culture now driven by the broader agendas of identity politics, tradition, revival, rapid development, environmentalism and sustainability. In response to these new and important trends, the twenty three accessible chapters here go beyond sector specific analyses to examine heritage in inter-disciplinary and critically engaged terms, encompassing the natural and the cultural, the tangible and intangible. Emerging environmentalisms, urban planning, identity politics, conflict memorialization, tourism and biodiversity are among the topics covered here.
This path-breaking volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars working in the fields of heritage, tourism, archaeology, Asian studies, geography, anthropology, development, sociology, and cultural and postcolonial studies.
Throughout Asia rapid economic and social change means the region’s heritage is at once under threat and undergoing a revival as never before. As societies look forward, competing forces ensure they re-visit the past and the inherited, with the conservation of nature and culture now driven by the broader agendas of identity politics, tradition, revival, rapid development, environmentalism and sustainability. In response to these new and important trends, the twenty three accessible chapters here go beyond sector specific analyses to examine heritage in inter-disciplinary and critically engaged terms, encompassing the natural and the cultural, the tangible and intangible. Emerging environmentalisms, urban planning, identity politics, conflict memorialization, tourism and biodiversity are among the topics covered here.
This path-breaking volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars working in the fields of heritage, tourism, archaeology, Asian studies, geography, anthropology, development, sociology, and cultural and postcolonial studies.
Research Interests:
There is a long-standing debate concerning the suitability of European or ‘western’ approaches to the conservation of cultural heritage in other parts of world. The Cultural Charter for Africa (1976), The Burra Charter (1979) and Nara... more
There is a long-standing debate concerning the suitability of European or ‘western’ approaches to the conservation of cultural heritage in other parts of world. The Cultural Charter for Africa (1976), The Burra Charter (1979) and Nara Document on Authenticity (1994) are notable manifestations of such concerns. These debates are particularly vibrant in Asia today. This article highlights a number of charters, declarations and publications that have been conceived to recalibrate the international field of heritage governance in ways that address the perceived inadequacies of documents underpinning today’s global conservation movement, such as the 1964 Venice Charter. But as Venice has come to stand as a metonym for a ‘western’ conservation approach, intriguing questions arise concerning what is driving these assertions of geographic, national or civilisational difference in Asia. To address such questions, the article moves between a number of explanatory frameworks. It argues declarations about Asia’s culture, its landscapes, and its inherited pasts are, in fact, the combined manifestations of post-colonial subjectivities, a desire for prestige on the global stage of cultural heritage governance and the practical challenges of actually doing conservation in the region.
Research Interests:
"For many postcolonial countries, articulating a sense of identity and cultural nationalism has involved negotiating those histories and identities constructed and ascribed upon them by others. Indeed, such themes have long troubled... more
"For many postcolonial countries, articulating a sense of identity and cultural nationalism has
involved negotiating those histories and identities constructed and ascribed upon them by others.
Indeed, such themes have long troubled many postcolonial intellectuals and been the subject of intense debates. Shanghai Expo 2010 brought this issue into focus once again, an event where national identities were performed to an audience of 73 million. This article examines the objects and architecture of cultural nationalism in relation to questions of sovereignty and enduring colonialities for a number of Asian and African countries participating in previous world’s fairs and at Shanghai. It draws on the ideas of Partha Chatterjee to interpret why they embraced a language of tradition and heritage, reproducing the same geo-cultural hierarchies familiar to the age of European empire. The author argues that, within the cultural economies of globalization today, such countries engage in a form of auto-exoticism."
involved negotiating those histories and identities constructed and ascribed upon them by others.
Indeed, such themes have long troubled many postcolonial intellectuals and been the subject of intense debates. Shanghai Expo 2010 brought this issue into focus once again, an event where national identities were performed to an audience of 73 million. This article examines the objects and architecture of cultural nationalism in relation to questions of sovereignty and enduring colonialities for a number of Asian and African countries participating in previous world’s fairs and at Shanghai. It draws on the ideas of Partha Chatterjee to interpret why they embraced a language of tradition and heritage, reproducing the same geo-cultural hierarchies familiar to the age of European empire. The author argues that, within the cultural economies of globalization today, such countries engage in a form of auto-exoticism."
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Asian Studies, Museum Studies, Cultural Heritage, Material Culture Studies, and 8 moreHeritage Studies, Heritage Tourism, China, Postcolonial theory (Cultural Theory), Exhibition, Museum, Expositions and Worlds Fairs, Cultural Diplomacy, Museum and Heritage Studies, and Shanghai Urban Studies
Research Interests:
In 2010 the city of Shanghai hosted the largest and most spectacular World’s Fair ever. Shanghai Expo attracted a staggering 73 million visitors, around 98% of whom were domestic Chinese, and involved the participation of 190 countries.... more
In 2010 the city of Shanghai hosted the largest and most spectacular World’s Fair ever. Shanghai Expo attracted a staggering 73 million visitors, around 98% of whom were domestic Chinese, and involved the participation of 190 countries. As a forum of ‘virtual tourism’, the event is significant given the rapid and long term growth in outbound Chinese tourism. This paper pursues a closer reading of how ‘the world’ was performed and exhibited to these visitors. Oriented by two theoretical considerations – the spatial configuration of the expo site and its cosmopolitan imagination – the paper considers how the format of the Expo revealed and declared certain elements of the global, whilst simultaneously effacing and squeezing out others. The Expo is thus interpreted as an important mechanism in the creation of a new national citizenry in China and as part of the ceremonialization of a global polity of a ‘family of nations’.
Research Interests:
"Angkor, Cambodia’s only World Heritage Site, is enduring one of the most crucial, turbulent periods in its 1200-year history. Given Cambodia’s need to restore its shattered social and physical infrastructures after decades of violent... more
"Angkor, Cambodia’s only World Heritage Site, is enduring one of the most crucial, turbulent periods in its 1200-year history. Given Cambodia’s need to restore its shattered social and physical infrastructures after decades of violent conflict, and with tourism to Angkor increasing by a staggering 10,000 percent in just over a decade, the site has become an intense focal point of competing agendas. Angkor’s immense historical importance, along with its global prestige, has led to an unprecedented influx of aid, with over 20 countries together donating millions of dollars for conservation and research. For the Royal Government, however, Angkor has become a ‘cash cow’ of development.
Post-Conflict Heritage, Postcolonial Tourism critically examines this situation and locates Angkor within the broader contexts of post-conflict reconstruction, nation building, and socio-economic rehabilitation. Based on two years of field- work, the book explores culture, development, the politics of space, and the relationship between consumption, memory and identity to reveal the aspirations and tensions, anxieties and paradoxical agendas, which form around a heritage tourism landscape in a post-conflict, postcolonial society."
Post-Conflict Heritage, Postcolonial Tourism critically examines this situation and locates Angkor within the broader contexts of post-conflict reconstruction, nation building, and socio-economic rehabilitation. Based on two years of field- work, the book explores culture, development, the politics of space, and the relationship between consumption, memory and identity to reveal the aspirations and tensions, anxieties and paradoxical agendas, which form around a heritage tourism landscape in a post-conflict, postcolonial society."
For the past few weeks, billboard posters across Doha have promoted the International Climate talks with the < 2°C logo – a reference to the ambition of maintaining average global temperatures less than 2 degrees centigrade above... more
For the past few weeks, billboard posters across Doha have promoted the International Climate talks with the < 2°C logo – a reference to the ambition of maintaining average global temperatures less than 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels.
Given current CO2-equivalent emissions, and the rapid economic growth in developing countries, many now suggest the 2°C goal is proving increasingly unlikely. Within this far reaching agenda, > 2°C might also prove a critical, and perhaps equally challenging target.
The talks took place in the type of desert urban environment that should sharply focus our attention on the energy intensive methods for cooling buildings which have become common place across the world today........[article continues in link]
Given current CO2-equivalent emissions, and the rapid economic growth in developing countries, many now suggest the 2°C goal is proving increasingly unlikely. Within this far reaching agenda, > 2°C might also prove a critical, and perhaps equally challenging target.
The talks took place in the type of desert urban environment that should sharply focus our attention on the energy intensive methods for cooling buildings which have become common place across the world today........[article continues in link]
Research Interests:
For many years tourism has been one of the principal ways through which the relationship between heritage and globalisation is analytically articulated. Countless studies since the 1970s have considered the arrival of tourism as the... more
For many years tourism has been one of the principal ways through which the relationship between heritage and globalisation is analytically articulated. Countless studies since the 1970s have considered the arrival of tourism as the precipitator of modernity, of modernisation and of widespread social transformation. There is little doubt this tradition of scholarship will continue to thrive and evolve. By way of a contribution to this research, this chapter sets out to illustrate why current debates in this field need to shift direction, and why frameworks which better reflect the realities of today's global tourism industry need to be developed, most notably ones which can better account for the ongoing rise of non-Western forms of tourism.
Research Interests:
rom the Great Game to the present, an international cultural and political biography of one of our most evocative, compelling, and poorly understood narratives of history. The Silk Road is rapidly becoming one of the key geocultural and... more
rom the Great Game to the present, an international cultural and political biography of one of our most evocative, compelling, and poorly understood narratives of history. The Silk Road is rapidly becoming one of the key geocultural and geostrategic concepts of the twenty-first century. Yet, for much of the twentieth century the Silk Road received little attention, overshadowed by nationalism and its invented pasts, and a world dominated by conflict and Cold War standoffs. In The Silk Road, Tim Winter reveals the different paths this history of connected cultures took towards global fame, a century after the first evidence of contact between China and Europe was unearthed. He also reveals how this remarkably popular depiction of the past took hold as a platform for geopolitical ambition, a celebration of peace and cosmopolitan harmony, and created dreams of exploration and grand adventure. Winter further explores themes that reappear today as China seeks to revive the Silk Roads for the twenty-first century. Known across the globe, the Silk Road is a concept fit for the modern world, and yet its significance and origins remain poorly understood and are the subject of much confusion. Pathbreaking in its analysis, this book presents an entirely new reading of this increasingly important concept, one that is likely to remain at the center of world affairs for decades to come.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This Handbook is the first major volume to examine the conservation of Asia’s culture and nature in relation to the wider social, political and economic forces shaping the region today. Throughout Asia rapid economic and social change... more
This Handbook is the first major volume to examine the conservation of Asia’s culture and nature in relation to the wider social, political and economic forces shaping the region today.
Throughout Asia rapid economic and social change means the region’s heritage is at once under threat and undergoing a revival as never before. As societies look forward, competing forces ensure they re-visit the past and the inherited, with the conservation of nature and culture now driven by the broader agendas of identity politics, tradition, revival, rapid development, environmentalism and sustainability. In response to these new and important trends, the twenty three accessible chapters here go beyond sector specific analyses to examine heritage in inter-disciplinary and critically engaged terms, encompassing the natural and the cultural, the tangible and intangible. Emerging environmentalisms, urban planning, identity politics, conflict memorialization, tourism and biodiversity are among the topics covered here.
This path-breaking volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars working in the fields of heritage, tourism, archaeology, Asian studies, geography, anthropology, development, sociology, and cultural and postcolonial studies.
Throughout Asia rapid economic and social change means the region’s heritage is at once under threat and undergoing a revival as never before. As societies look forward, competing forces ensure they re-visit the past and the inherited, with the conservation of nature and culture now driven by the broader agendas of identity politics, tradition, revival, rapid development, environmentalism and sustainability. In response to these new and important trends, the twenty three accessible chapters here go beyond sector specific analyses to examine heritage in inter-disciplinary and critically engaged terms, encompassing the natural and the cultural, the tangible and intangible. Emerging environmentalisms, urban planning, identity politics, conflict memorialization, tourism and biodiversity are among the topics covered here.
This path-breaking volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars working in the fields of heritage, tourism, archaeology, Asian studies, geography, anthropology, development, sociology, and cultural and postcolonial studies.
Research Interests:
In 2010 Shanghai hosted the largest, most spectacular and most expensive expo ever. Attracting a staggering 73 million visitors, and costing around US$45 billion dollars, Shanghai Expo broke the record books in the history of world's... more
In 2010 Shanghai hosted the largest, most spectacular and most expensive expo ever. Attracting a staggering 73 million visitors, and costing around US$45 billion dollars, Shanghai Expo broke the record books in the history of world's fairs and universal expositions. With more than half of the world’s population now living in cities, many of which face uncertain futures, this mega event confronted some of the key challenges facing humanity in the 21st Century, with its theme Better City, Better Life.
Held just two years after the Beijing Olympics, Shanghai Expo was encapsulated by a moment in history defined by China’s rise as a global superpower, and by the multiple challenges associated with developing more sustainable cities. The thirteen essays here, written by a team of inter-disciplinary researchers, offer a uniquely detailed analysis of this globally significant event. Chapters examine displays of futurity and utopia, the limitations of inter-cultural dialogue, and the ways in which this mega-event reflected its geo-political and cultural moment. Substantive attention is also given to the interplay between declarations towards urban sustainability and the recent economic, demographic and socio-political trajectories of Shanghai and China more broadly.
Held just two years after the Beijing Olympics, Shanghai Expo was encapsulated by a moment in history defined by China’s rise as a global superpower, and by the multiple challenges associated with developing more sustainable cities. The thirteen essays here, written by a team of inter-disciplinary researchers, offer a uniquely detailed analysis of this globally significant event. Chapters examine displays of futurity and utopia, the limitations of inter-cultural dialogue, and the ways in which this mega-event reflected its geo-political and cultural moment. Substantive attention is also given to the interplay between declarations towards urban sustainability and the recent economic, demographic and socio-political trajectories of Shanghai and China more broadly.
Research Interests:
Little more than a decade ago, Cambodia witnessed a series of rapid transitions, from civil war to peace, from a socialist-style authoritarianism to multi-party democracy, and from geographic isolation to a free-market economy. Requiring... more
Little more than a decade ago, Cambodia witnessed a series of rapid transitions, from civil war to peace, from a socialist-style authoritarianism to multi-party democracy, and from geographic isolation to a free-market economy. Requiring the United Nations to undertake its biggest ever peace-time operation, the elections of 1993 triggered an influx of foreign aid unparalleled in Southeast Asia. Intense international interest since then has been accompanied by a re-emerging field of scholarship that has principally sought explanations for genocide and war, or attempted to map more recent economic and political developments. The social and cultural
implications of a society that has undergone such profound change has received little scholarly examination until now.
Drawing upon multidisciplinary theoretical perspectives and up-to-date empirical research, Expressions of Cambodia reveals the tensions and contradictions involved in post-conflict nation building and socio-cultural recovery. Together a team of international contributors take scholarship on the country in new directions, focusing on the politics of tradition and modernity, tourism, the performance of identity, post-conflict nation building, and the on-going renewal of ties between diaspora and home. Timely and much needed, the book brings Cambodia back into dialogue with its
neighbors and as such, makes a valuable contribution to the growing field of cultural studies in Asia. Written in an accessible style, Expressions of Cambodia will be of particular interest to those working in the fields of Asian studies, tourism, diaspora, and postcolonial and cultural studies.
implications of a society that has undergone such profound change has received little scholarly examination until now.
Drawing upon multidisciplinary theoretical perspectives and up-to-date empirical research, Expressions of Cambodia reveals the tensions and contradictions involved in post-conflict nation building and socio-cultural recovery. Together a team of international contributors take scholarship on the country in new directions, focusing on the politics of tradition and modernity, tourism, the performance of identity, post-conflict nation building, and the on-going renewal of ties between diaspora and home. Timely and much needed, the book brings Cambodia back into dialogue with its
neighbors and as such, makes a valuable contribution to the growing field of cultural studies in Asia. Written in an accessible style, Expressions of Cambodia will be of particular interest to those working in the fields of Asian studies, tourism, diaspora, and postcolonial and cultural studies.
Research Interests: Cultural Studies, Asian Studies, Cultural Heritage, Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development, Post-Colonialism, and 15 morePeacekeeping, Intangible Cultural Heritage (Culture), Empire, Peacebuilding, Conflict and security, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, Post Colonial Theory, Stabilization and Reconstruction, Post Conflict Issues, Governance and Democracy, Colonialism and Imperialism, Nationalism and Decolonization, Belonging and Citizenship, Ethnicity and Nationality, and Nation building and State making
Research Interests:
Today the Silk Road is rapidly becoming one of the key geocultural and geostrategic concepts of the 21st century. A narrative of connected histories, it now operates as a platform for international trade, heritage diplomacy,... more
Today the Silk Road is rapidly becoming one of the key geocultural and geostrategic concepts of the 21st century. A narrative of connected histories, it now operates as a platform for international trade, heritage diplomacy, infrastructure development and geopolitical ambition. Identified by two principal routes - maritime and overland, the Silk Road stretches across the Indian Ocean and Eurasian landmass, regions that will be of paramount importance in an increasingly multi-polar world.
This presentation examines how these narratives of historical connectivity and the idea of a Maritime Silk Road came about. It poses the question: Does the Maritime Silk Road stretch back millennia or is it merely an invented history less than five decades old? And if it is invented, does that matter?
This presentation examines how these narratives of historical connectivity and the idea of a Maritime Silk Road came about. It poses the question: Does the Maritime Silk Road stretch back millennia or is it merely an invented history less than five decades old? And if it is invented, does that matter?