Assistant professor in cultural heritage politics. Anthropologist working in Altai Republic (Russia), Georgia and Flanders. Interested in cultural politics, diplomacy, bureaucracy and agency of technology.
Critical Heritage Studies and the Futures of Europe, 2023
Enchantment with digital heritage and 'overtrust' in technology Over the past two decades, digita... more Enchantment with digital heritage and 'overtrust' in technology Over the past two decades, digital media and platforms in heritage institutions in Europe 1 have been framed within celebratory discourses of accessibility, transparency and e ciency (Cameron and Kenderdine 2010; Musiani and Schafer 2017). In a suite of policy documents across Europe, ranging from funding tenders within, for example, the Horizon 2020 framework of the European Union (EU) to the programmes of national heritage agencies, digital technologies and platforms have been embraced as the solution to challenges of preservation, conservation and accessibility. During the COVID-19 pandemic, during which brickand-mortar heritage spaces were closed, digital heritage was further embraced, not only as a temporary emergency solution, but as o ering foundational perspectives on the future. Successful digital exhibitions, augmented reality (AR) apps, recommender systems, guided virtual tours and 3-D immersive websites showcased the capacity of digital heritage to expand audiences, to render both objects and intangible heritage visible and to inculcate new forms of engagement and sociality (Samaroudi, Rodriguez Echavarria and Perry 2020; European Heritage Days 2020). An expectant attitude towards the digitalisation of heritage collections is strongly encouraged by the EU, which has adopted digital
Europeana is a digital infrastructure aggregating the most extensive collection of cultural herit... more Europeana is a digital infrastructure aggregating the most extensive collection of cultural heritage data in Europe. Launched in 2008, it has enjoyed the political and financial support of the European Union and its member states, becoming the most ambitious and
Over the past two decades, heritage has become a political instrument in the nation-building port... more Over the past two decades, heritage has become a political instrument in the nation-building portfolio of the Kremlin. To restore Russia as a great geopolitical power and promote Russian national identity, culture has become a vehicle to instill national pride. World Heritage (WH) Sites have played a small but important role in cultural politics in Russia. UNESCO-labeled cultural landscapes, architecture, and classical sites are mobilized to instill patriotism at home and convince international audiences that Russia is a grand civilization.
The discourses presented at WH Sites might help in normalizing the patriotic ideas and geopolitical ambitions of the Kremlin, but it is regional governments and nongovernmental actors that implement Russia's world heritage agenda. These players have agency and use existing conventions and standards to further their own agenda and craft a political environment favorable to their needs. However, compared to the late Soviet period, especially the Yeltsin years, the power relations have dramatically evolved.
This paper describes and analyzes the mobilization of world heritage and UNESCO more broadly since Putin's first term in 2000. World heritage is used as a lens through which broader developments in the field of cultural and heritage politics are discussed. We focus on (1) how World Heritage Sites are key in narrating patriotic histories, (2) the instrumentalization of UNESCO in Russia's ambition to establish a multipolar world order, and (3) the power relations between the Kremlin and stakeholders in the cultural heritage field.
Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a E... more Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a European identity. One of the main flagship initiatives promoted to this end has been Europeana, the most extensive digital cultural project financed by the EU. At the core of the project stands europeana.eu, a digital cultural portal aggregating metadata provided by national and local heritage institutions. Central in our analysis is the Europeana Data Model (EDM). Using standardised thesauri and vocabularies, EDM offers the possibility to create a semantic contextualisation for objects, allowing semantic operations on the metadata and their enrichment with Linked Open Data on the web. Due to its overarching nature, EDM cannot deliver the granularity that cultural heritage institutions need when documenting their resources. Nonetheless, heritage institutions accept to sacrifice accuracy to have their information represented in a Europewide collection. We study how this digital heritage i...
How does corporate sponsorship shape the narration and curation of Dutch history in public museum... more How does corporate sponsorship shape the narration and curation of Dutch history in public museums? This article evaluates the significance and impact of private funding in the Dutch heritage and museum sector. By focusing on three museums that have received funding from Dutch oil and gas companies we foreground specifically the nexus heritage, oil, and funding. We show how a particular type of ‘energy literacy’ is promoted, a narrative that is favourable to the agenda of the gas and oil sector. Our explorations are based on interviews with museum officials, an analysis of policy documents, and a close reading of exhibitions. By describing the impact of oil and gas money on the Dutch heritage sector, this article charts the growing influence of corporate players in the Dutch public cultural sector. Following neoliberal reforms in 2011-2012 promoting cultural entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency, museums and heritage sites had to act even more like businesses and attract sponsorships and gifts from private players. This development is part of a global retraction of the state in the public sector. Our discussion of the intricacies of corporate heritage funding in the Netherlands shows that through a fairly limited investment, enterprises acquire disproportionate outreach and influence in the cultural heritage field, an environment that is generally perceived by the public as reliable and independent.
Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a E... more Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a European identity. One of the main flagship initiatives promoted to this end has been Europeana, the most extensive digital cultural project financed by the EU. At the core of the project stands europeana.eu, a digital cultural portal aggregating metadata provided by national and local heritage institutions. Central in our analysis is the Europeana Data Model (EDM). Using standardised thesauri and vocabularies, EDM offers the possibility to create a semantic contextualisation for objects, allowing semantic operations on the metadata and their enrichment with Linked Open Data on the web. Due to its overarching nature, EDM cannot deliver the granularity that cultural heritage institutions need when documenting their resources. Nonetheless, heritage institutions accept to sacrifice accuracy to have their information represented in a Europewide collection. We study how this digital heritage infrastructure was designed to enact a sense of Europeanness amongst national and local institutions. Policy documents, ethnographic research and a systematic survey amongst the European heritage institutions enabled us to trace how a standardised European metadata structure plays a role in governing local and national heritage institutions. The EDM might enable heritage stakeholders to benefit from Europeana’s online exposure while enacting a European mindset. Ultimately, this study of the metadata model enriches the debate on the EU’s cultural heritage politics, which has not fully explored the role of the digital. At the same time, it also taps into debates about infrastructure and digital governmentality.
Ga onmiddellijk naar paginanavigatie. Error: You do not have the rights to download this document... more Ga onmiddellijk naar paginanavigatie. Error: You do not have the rights to download this document. Paginanavigatie. Home; Contact; Demo's; Deponeringsmandaat; FAQ; Woordenlijst; Download|API. Ghent University Academic Bibliography & Institutional Repository. ...
A B S T R A C T Due to difficult access, the Southern Chinese Altai has so far been understudied,... more A B S T R A C T Due to difficult access, the Southern Chinese Altai has so far been understudied, despite being a key region for understanding cultural transfers and the spread of ideas between East and West during the Eurasian Bronze and Iron Age. The Dzungaria Landscape Project in its first campaigns has set out to document the variety of archaeological monuments in the southern Chinese Altai by means of remote sensing and GPS-based intensive survey. It can be shown that the region experienced a peak in anthropogenic activity during the early and middle Iron Age which culturally ties in with the northern Russian Altai (Pazyryk culture) and later shifts towards strong influences from the Semirechye.
A growing number of scholarly works in the field of archaeology and heritage studies have been in... more A growing number of scholarly works in the field of archaeology and heritage studies have been investigating the role of culture in relationship management. By assessing the use of heritage and repatriation of archaeological finds by multinational Gazprom, a natural gas company, in the Russian Federation, this paper contributes to this heritage diplomacy research by critically repositioning some of its core paradigms and its predominant emphasis on interstate diplomatic processes. As explored in this paper, archaeology and heritage are cultural technologies that have to be framed in the broader statecraft policies of the nation state, and are enmeshed with different types of power and include a plethora of agents. By exploring a case study investigating the corporate security initiatives of a resource extraction and transport giant in Russia, this paper contributes to the extensive literature on neoliberalism, corporate social responsibility and federalism in newly developing economies.
A growing number of scholarly work in the field of cultural studies has been investigating the ro... more A growing number of scholarly work in the field of cultural studies has been investigating the role of culture in corporate relationship management. By assessing the use of indigenous heritage and the repatriation of archaeological finds by multinational Gazprom, a natural gas company, in the Russian Federation, this paper contributes to the cultural politics research in Russia by critically repositioning some of its core paradigms and its predominant emphasis on nationalist patriotic projects. As explored in this paper, archaeology and heritage are cultural technologies of rule that help a plethora of non-state agents in shaping local subjectivities and regional governmental frameworks. By exploring a case study investigating the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of a resource extraction and transport giant in Russia, this paper contributes to the extensive literature on neoliberalism in developing economies characterized by an authoritarian electoral regime. By usi...
Since the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East, anthropological research has focused on t... more Since the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East, anthropological research has focused on the many deliberate destructions of cultural heritage in the region. Whilst such analyses can offer important insights into the multidimensionality of contemporary warfare and the important role of culture in perpetuating physical violence, heritage ethnographers should also spotlight the post-conflict futures of Syria and Iraq's war-torn heritage. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research on (world) heritage politics in the Russian Federation, this article highlights the strategic manipulation of Palmyra by the Russian Federation and investigates how conservation and reconstruction are also important political episodes in a heritage object's cultural biography.
Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a E... more Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a European identity. One of the main flagship initiatives promoted to this end has been Europeana, the most extensive digital cultural project financed by the EU. At the core of the project stands europeana.eu, a digital cultural portal aggregating metadata provided by national and local heritage institutions. Central in our analysis is the Europeana Data Model (EDM). Using standardised thesauri and vocabularies, EDM offers the possibility to create a semantic contextualisation for objects, allowing semantic operations on the metadata and their enrichment with Linked Open Data on the web. Due to its overarching nature, EDM cannot deliver the granularity that cultural heritage institutions need when documenting their resources. Nonetheless, heritage institutions accept to sacrifice accuracy to have their information represented in a Europewide collection. We study how this digital heritage infrastructure was designed to enact a sense of Europeanness amongst national and local institutions. Policy documents, ethnographic research and a systematic survey amongst the European heritage institutions enabled us to trace how a standardised European metadata structure plays a role in governing local and national heritage institutions. The EDM might enable heritage stakeholders to benefit from Europeana's online exposure while enacting a European mindset. Ultimately, this study of the metadata model enriches the debate on the EU's cultural heritage politics, which has not fully explored the role of the digital. At the same time, it also taps into debates about infrastructure and digital governmentality.
To date, the evolution of archaeological knowledge production and theory has been discussed and a... more To date, the evolution of archaeological knowledge production and theory has been discussed and analyzed using qualitative methods by reading vast amounts of archaeological texts in search of specific discourses or framings of the past. In this paper, we present text mining methodologies from digital humanities that can be applied to large corpora of archaeological texts to trace and evaluate changing knowledge practices. Such a big data approach is imperative. Due to the rapid increase of archaeological publications, qualitative research into the intellectual history of archaeology has become complicated and highly selective. The big data methods presented in this study were tested on a large corpus (4,811 texts totaling over 51 million words) of different types of archaeological texts from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. The different text mining tools were successful in identifying theoretical trends. Our tools were also successful in charting the decrease in quality due to changed organizational circumstances (developer-led archaeology). Furthermore, we could also map changing banal nationalist framings of the past.
International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity
This paper studies the struggle over the rehabilitation of the Patarei Sea Fort in Tallinn (Eston... more This paper studies the struggle over the rehabilitation of the Patarei Sea Fort in Tallinn (Estonia), a former prison where during the Soviet period political prisoners were held and corralled before deportation to Siberia. We explore how three groups of stakeholders assemble and define the future of the site: The Estonian State; ngo Eesti Muinsuskaiste Selts (the Estonian Heritage Society); and Europa Nostra. Each of these groups have a competing future for the site in mind. The struggle over the Patarei Sea fort is connected to discussions over heritage politics in those countries that entered the European Union around the early 2000s. In comparison to other memory practices in the region, the Patarei Sea Fort is not instrumentalized by the state to support a national historical narrative othering the Russian Federation. Rather the state’s engagement with the site is restricted and textured by ambitions to gentrify the district it is situated in. Not the state, but an ngo, assiste...
В работе представлены результаты разведочных работ на поселении Кожолю-1, находящегося на восточн... more В работе представлены результаты разведочных работ на поселении Кожолю-1, находящегося на восточной окраине с. Купчегень Онгудайского района Республики Алтай. Поселение расположено на площадке пологого склона в урочище Большой Кожолю. В нескольких местах памятник размывается сезонными стоками воды. На поселении собран подъемный материал, а также осуществлена зачистка двух участков самого крупного размыва в северо-восточной части памятника. В ходе работ получен относительно немногочисленный материал, представленный пятью десятками фрагментов венчиков, придонных частей и стенок керамических сосудов, куском железного шлака, зернотеркой, фрагментом костяного наконечника стрелы и фрагментами костей животных. Орнаментация керамики представлена крупными и небольшими защипами и различными вдавлениями (уголка лопатки, трубочки, прямоугольного штампа и вытянутого плоского штампа). Аналогии керамическому комплексу находятся в верхних слоях многослойных поселений Алтая, относящихся исследователями к средневековой эпохе.
The Patarei Sea Fort: Perspectives on Heritage, Memory and Identity Politics in Post-Soviet Estonia, 2020
This paper studies the struggle over the rehabilitation of the Patarei Sea Fort in Tallinn (Eston... more This paper studies the struggle over the rehabilitation of the Patarei Sea Fort in Tallinn (Estonia), a former prison where during the Soviet period political prisoners were held and corralled before deportation to Siberia. We explore how three groups of stakehold-ers assemble and define the future of the site: The Estonian State; ngo Eesti Muinsus-kaiste Selts (the Estonian Heritage Society); and Europa Nostra. Each of these groups have a competing future for the site in mind. The struggle over the Patarei Sea fort is connected to discussions over heritage politics in those countries that entered the Eu-ropean Union around the early 2000s. In comparison to other memory practices in the region, the Patarei Sea Fort is not instrumentalized by the state to support a national historical narrative othering the Russian Federation. Rather the state's engagement with the site is restricted and textured by ambitions to gentrify the district it is situated in. Not the state, but an ngo, assisted by a European heritage association, promotes a heritage discourse geared at strengthening the Estonian national narrative. Keywords post-soviet heritage-Estonia-politics of history and memory-gentrification-national narratives Downloaded from Brill.com10/23/2020 07:41:57AM via free access
Critical Heritage Studies and the Futures of Europe, 2023
Enchantment with digital heritage and 'overtrust' in technology Over the past two decades, digita... more Enchantment with digital heritage and 'overtrust' in technology Over the past two decades, digital media and platforms in heritage institutions in Europe 1 have been framed within celebratory discourses of accessibility, transparency and e ciency (Cameron and Kenderdine 2010; Musiani and Schafer 2017). In a suite of policy documents across Europe, ranging from funding tenders within, for example, the Horizon 2020 framework of the European Union (EU) to the programmes of national heritage agencies, digital technologies and platforms have been embraced as the solution to challenges of preservation, conservation and accessibility. During the COVID-19 pandemic, during which brickand-mortar heritage spaces were closed, digital heritage was further embraced, not only as a temporary emergency solution, but as o ering foundational perspectives on the future. Successful digital exhibitions, augmented reality (AR) apps, recommender systems, guided virtual tours and 3-D immersive websites showcased the capacity of digital heritage to expand audiences, to render both objects and intangible heritage visible and to inculcate new forms of engagement and sociality (Samaroudi, Rodriguez Echavarria and Perry 2020; European Heritage Days 2020). An expectant attitude towards the digitalisation of heritage collections is strongly encouraged by the EU, which has adopted digital
Europeana is a digital infrastructure aggregating the most extensive collection of cultural herit... more Europeana is a digital infrastructure aggregating the most extensive collection of cultural heritage data in Europe. Launched in 2008, it has enjoyed the political and financial support of the European Union and its member states, becoming the most ambitious and
Over the past two decades, heritage has become a political instrument in the nation-building port... more Over the past two decades, heritage has become a political instrument in the nation-building portfolio of the Kremlin. To restore Russia as a great geopolitical power and promote Russian national identity, culture has become a vehicle to instill national pride. World Heritage (WH) Sites have played a small but important role in cultural politics in Russia. UNESCO-labeled cultural landscapes, architecture, and classical sites are mobilized to instill patriotism at home and convince international audiences that Russia is a grand civilization.
The discourses presented at WH Sites might help in normalizing the patriotic ideas and geopolitical ambitions of the Kremlin, but it is regional governments and nongovernmental actors that implement Russia's world heritage agenda. These players have agency and use existing conventions and standards to further their own agenda and craft a political environment favorable to their needs. However, compared to the late Soviet period, especially the Yeltsin years, the power relations have dramatically evolved.
This paper describes and analyzes the mobilization of world heritage and UNESCO more broadly since Putin's first term in 2000. World heritage is used as a lens through which broader developments in the field of cultural and heritage politics are discussed. We focus on (1) how World Heritage Sites are key in narrating patriotic histories, (2) the instrumentalization of UNESCO in Russia's ambition to establish a multipolar world order, and (3) the power relations between the Kremlin and stakeholders in the cultural heritage field.
Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a E... more Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a European identity. One of the main flagship initiatives promoted to this end has been Europeana, the most extensive digital cultural project financed by the EU. At the core of the project stands europeana.eu, a digital cultural portal aggregating metadata provided by national and local heritage institutions. Central in our analysis is the Europeana Data Model (EDM). Using standardised thesauri and vocabularies, EDM offers the possibility to create a semantic contextualisation for objects, allowing semantic operations on the metadata and their enrichment with Linked Open Data on the web. Due to its overarching nature, EDM cannot deliver the granularity that cultural heritage institutions need when documenting their resources. Nonetheless, heritage institutions accept to sacrifice accuracy to have their information represented in a Europewide collection. We study how this digital heritage i...
How does corporate sponsorship shape the narration and curation of Dutch history in public museum... more How does corporate sponsorship shape the narration and curation of Dutch history in public museums? This article evaluates the significance and impact of private funding in the Dutch heritage and museum sector. By focusing on three museums that have received funding from Dutch oil and gas companies we foreground specifically the nexus heritage, oil, and funding. We show how a particular type of ‘energy literacy’ is promoted, a narrative that is favourable to the agenda of the gas and oil sector. Our explorations are based on interviews with museum officials, an analysis of policy documents, and a close reading of exhibitions. By describing the impact of oil and gas money on the Dutch heritage sector, this article charts the growing influence of corporate players in the Dutch public cultural sector. Following neoliberal reforms in 2011-2012 promoting cultural entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency, museums and heritage sites had to act even more like businesses and attract sponsorships and gifts from private players. This development is part of a global retraction of the state in the public sector. Our discussion of the intricacies of corporate heritage funding in the Netherlands shows that through a fairly limited investment, enterprises acquire disproportionate outreach and influence in the cultural heritage field, an environment that is generally perceived by the public as reliable and independent.
Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a E... more Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a European identity. One of the main flagship initiatives promoted to this end has been Europeana, the most extensive digital cultural project financed by the EU. At the core of the project stands europeana.eu, a digital cultural portal aggregating metadata provided by national and local heritage institutions. Central in our analysis is the Europeana Data Model (EDM). Using standardised thesauri and vocabularies, EDM offers the possibility to create a semantic contextualisation for objects, allowing semantic operations on the metadata and their enrichment with Linked Open Data on the web. Due to its overarching nature, EDM cannot deliver the granularity that cultural heritage institutions need when documenting their resources. Nonetheless, heritage institutions accept to sacrifice accuracy to have their information represented in a Europewide collection. We study how this digital heritage infrastructure was designed to enact a sense of Europeanness amongst national and local institutions. Policy documents, ethnographic research and a systematic survey amongst the European heritage institutions enabled us to trace how a standardised European metadata structure plays a role in governing local and national heritage institutions. The EDM might enable heritage stakeholders to benefit from Europeana’s online exposure while enacting a European mindset. Ultimately, this study of the metadata model enriches the debate on the EU’s cultural heritage politics, which has not fully explored the role of the digital. At the same time, it also taps into debates about infrastructure and digital governmentality.
Ga onmiddellijk naar paginanavigatie. Error: You do not have the rights to download this document... more Ga onmiddellijk naar paginanavigatie. Error: You do not have the rights to download this document. Paginanavigatie. Home; Contact; Demo's; Deponeringsmandaat; FAQ; Woordenlijst; Download|API. Ghent University Academic Bibliography & Institutional Repository. ...
A B S T R A C T Due to difficult access, the Southern Chinese Altai has so far been understudied,... more A B S T R A C T Due to difficult access, the Southern Chinese Altai has so far been understudied, despite being a key region for understanding cultural transfers and the spread of ideas between East and West during the Eurasian Bronze and Iron Age. The Dzungaria Landscape Project in its first campaigns has set out to document the variety of archaeological monuments in the southern Chinese Altai by means of remote sensing and GPS-based intensive survey. It can be shown that the region experienced a peak in anthropogenic activity during the early and middle Iron Age which culturally ties in with the northern Russian Altai (Pazyryk culture) and later shifts towards strong influences from the Semirechye.
A growing number of scholarly works in the field of archaeology and heritage studies have been in... more A growing number of scholarly works in the field of archaeology and heritage studies have been investigating the role of culture in relationship management. By assessing the use of heritage and repatriation of archaeological finds by multinational Gazprom, a natural gas company, in the Russian Federation, this paper contributes to this heritage diplomacy research by critically repositioning some of its core paradigms and its predominant emphasis on interstate diplomatic processes. As explored in this paper, archaeology and heritage are cultural technologies that have to be framed in the broader statecraft policies of the nation state, and are enmeshed with different types of power and include a plethora of agents. By exploring a case study investigating the corporate security initiatives of a resource extraction and transport giant in Russia, this paper contributes to the extensive literature on neoliberalism, corporate social responsibility and federalism in newly developing economies.
A growing number of scholarly work in the field of cultural studies has been investigating the ro... more A growing number of scholarly work in the field of cultural studies has been investigating the role of culture in corporate relationship management. By assessing the use of indigenous heritage and the repatriation of archaeological finds by multinational Gazprom, a natural gas company, in the Russian Federation, this paper contributes to the cultural politics research in Russia by critically repositioning some of its core paradigms and its predominant emphasis on nationalist patriotic projects. As explored in this paper, archaeology and heritage are cultural technologies of rule that help a plethora of non-state agents in shaping local subjectivities and regional governmental frameworks. By exploring a case study investigating the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of a resource extraction and transport giant in Russia, this paper contributes to the extensive literature on neoliberalism in developing economies characterized by an authoritarian electoral regime. By usi...
Since the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East, anthropological research has focused on t... more Since the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East, anthropological research has focused on the many deliberate destructions of cultural heritage in the region. Whilst such analyses can offer important insights into the multidimensionality of contemporary warfare and the important role of culture in perpetuating physical violence, heritage ethnographers should also spotlight the post-conflict futures of Syria and Iraq's war-torn heritage. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research on (world) heritage politics in the Russian Federation, this article highlights the strategic manipulation of Palmyra by the Russian Federation and investigates how conservation and reconstruction are also important political episodes in a heritage object's cultural biography.
Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a E... more Over the past two decades, the European Commission has mobilised cultural heritage to bolster a European identity. One of the main flagship initiatives promoted to this end has been Europeana, the most extensive digital cultural project financed by the EU. At the core of the project stands europeana.eu, a digital cultural portal aggregating metadata provided by national and local heritage institutions. Central in our analysis is the Europeana Data Model (EDM). Using standardised thesauri and vocabularies, EDM offers the possibility to create a semantic contextualisation for objects, allowing semantic operations on the metadata and their enrichment with Linked Open Data on the web. Due to its overarching nature, EDM cannot deliver the granularity that cultural heritage institutions need when documenting their resources. Nonetheless, heritage institutions accept to sacrifice accuracy to have their information represented in a Europewide collection. We study how this digital heritage infrastructure was designed to enact a sense of Europeanness amongst national and local institutions. Policy documents, ethnographic research and a systematic survey amongst the European heritage institutions enabled us to trace how a standardised European metadata structure plays a role in governing local and national heritage institutions. The EDM might enable heritage stakeholders to benefit from Europeana's online exposure while enacting a European mindset. Ultimately, this study of the metadata model enriches the debate on the EU's cultural heritage politics, which has not fully explored the role of the digital. At the same time, it also taps into debates about infrastructure and digital governmentality.
To date, the evolution of archaeological knowledge production and theory has been discussed and a... more To date, the evolution of archaeological knowledge production and theory has been discussed and analyzed using qualitative methods by reading vast amounts of archaeological texts in search of specific discourses or framings of the past. In this paper, we present text mining methodologies from digital humanities that can be applied to large corpora of archaeological texts to trace and evaluate changing knowledge practices. Such a big data approach is imperative. Due to the rapid increase of archaeological publications, qualitative research into the intellectual history of archaeology has become complicated and highly selective. The big data methods presented in this study were tested on a large corpus (4,811 texts totaling over 51 million words) of different types of archaeological texts from the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. The different text mining tools were successful in identifying theoretical trends. Our tools were also successful in charting the decrease in quality due to changed organizational circumstances (developer-led archaeology). Furthermore, we could also map changing banal nationalist framings of the past.
International Journal for History, Culture and Modernity
This paper studies the struggle over the rehabilitation of the Patarei Sea Fort in Tallinn (Eston... more This paper studies the struggle over the rehabilitation of the Patarei Sea Fort in Tallinn (Estonia), a former prison where during the Soviet period political prisoners were held and corralled before deportation to Siberia. We explore how three groups of stakeholders assemble and define the future of the site: The Estonian State; ngo Eesti Muinsuskaiste Selts (the Estonian Heritage Society); and Europa Nostra. Each of these groups have a competing future for the site in mind. The struggle over the Patarei Sea fort is connected to discussions over heritage politics in those countries that entered the European Union around the early 2000s. In comparison to other memory practices in the region, the Patarei Sea Fort is not instrumentalized by the state to support a national historical narrative othering the Russian Federation. Rather the state’s engagement with the site is restricted and textured by ambitions to gentrify the district it is situated in. Not the state, but an ngo, assiste...
В работе представлены результаты разведочных работ на поселении Кожолю-1, находящегося на восточн... more В работе представлены результаты разведочных работ на поселении Кожолю-1, находящегося на восточной окраине с. Купчегень Онгудайского района Республики Алтай. Поселение расположено на площадке пологого склона в урочище Большой Кожолю. В нескольких местах памятник размывается сезонными стоками воды. На поселении собран подъемный материал, а также осуществлена зачистка двух участков самого крупного размыва в северо-восточной части памятника. В ходе работ получен относительно немногочисленный материал, представленный пятью десятками фрагментов венчиков, придонных частей и стенок керамических сосудов, куском железного шлака, зернотеркой, фрагментом костяного наконечника стрелы и фрагментами костей животных. Орнаментация керамики представлена крупными и небольшими защипами и различными вдавлениями (уголка лопатки, трубочки, прямоугольного штампа и вытянутого плоского штампа). Аналогии керамическому комплексу находятся в верхних слоях многослойных поселений Алтая, относящихся исследователями к средневековой эпохе.
The Patarei Sea Fort: Perspectives on Heritage, Memory and Identity Politics in Post-Soviet Estonia, 2020
This paper studies the struggle over the rehabilitation of the Patarei Sea Fort in Tallinn (Eston... more This paper studies the struggle over the rehabilitation of the Patarei Sea Fort in Tallinn (Estonia), a former prison where during the Soviet period political prisoners were held and corralled before deportation to Siberia. We explore how three groups of stakehold-ers assemble and define the future of the site: The Estonian State; ngo Eesti Muinsus-kaiste Selts (the Estonian Heritage Society); and Europa Nostra. Each of these groups have a competing future for the site in mind. The struggle over the Patarei Sea fort is connected to discussions over heritage politics in those countries that entered the Eu-ropean Union around the early 2000s. In comparison to other memory practices in the region, the Patarei Sea Fort is not instrumentalized by the state to support a national historical narrative othering the Russian Federation. Rather the state's engagement with the site is restricted and textured by ambitions to gentrify the district it is situated in. Not the state, but an ngo, assisted by a European heritage association, promotes a heritage discourse geared at strengthening the Estonian national narrative. Keywords post-soviet heritage-Estonia-politics of history and memory-gentrification-national narratives Downloaded from Brill.com10/23/2020 07:41:57AM via free access
In the course of their research campaign in Siberia, Ghent University archaeologists have develop... more In the course of their research campaign in Siberia, Ghent University archaeologists have developed a simple and cost effective method for the rapid 3D imaging of rock art, standing stelae and surface monuments. Their procedure will undoubtedly have a big role to play in archaeological research in advance of the oil pipeline expected soon.
The unique rock art of the Russian Altai is increasingly suffering from human and natural process... more The unique rock art of the Russian Altai is increasingly suffering from human and natural processes. Without well-directed action and documentation it will be practically impossible to establish conservation initiatives and, eventually, many of these sites will be lost. This paper presents an overview of the different processes affecting this rock art, based on fifteen years of observations in the region and recent three-dimensional (3D) photorealistic documentation. A cost-effective 3D workflow for rock art recording and research is discussed as a possible way to tackle this worsening situation. The application of 3D documentation in rock art research has seen an explosive growth during recent years, but its use is still maturing and a strategy of how to deal with the models is still lacking.
In the course of their research campaign in Siberia, Ghent University archaeologists have develop... more In the course of their research campaign in Siberia, Ghent University archaeologists have developed a simple and cost effective method for the rapid 3D imaging of rock art, standing stelae and surface monuments. Their procedure will undoubtedly have a big role to play in archaeological research in advance of the oil pipeline expected soon.
Archaeological practice within the European context of heritage management is facing huge challen... more Archaeological practice within the European context of heritage management is facing huge challenges in ways of recording and reproduction of ex-situ preserved sites. As a consequence of the Valletta-treaty, numbers of archived images and drawings of excavated structures as prime sources of past human activity, are exponentially growing. Contrarily to portable remains however, their future study and revision is biased by the two-dimensional character of the recorded data, rendering difficult their future reconstruction for new study or public dissemination. A more realistic three-dimensional (3D) way of recording and archiving should be pursued. In this paper the possibilities for 3D registration of archaeological features are examined in a computer vision-based approach using the PhotoScan software package (Agisoft LCC). It proved to be a scientific and cost-effective improvement compared to traditional documentation methods. Advantages can be found in the high accuracy and straightforwardness of the methodology. The extraction of an orthophoto or a Digital Terrain Model from the 3D model makes it feasible to integrate detailed and accurate information into the digital archaeological excavation plan. The visual character of 3D surface modeling offers enhanced output-possibilities allowing a better documentation of in-situ structures for future research and a higher public participation and awareness for the archaeological heritage."
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Papers by Gertjan Plets
The discourses presented at WH Sites might help in normalizing the patriotic ideas and geopolitical ambitions of the Kremlin, but it is regional governments and nongovernmental actors that implement Russia's world heritage agenda. These players have agency and use existing conventions and standards to further their own agenda and craft a political environment favorable to their needs. However, compared to the late Soviet period, especially the Yeltsin years, the power relations have dramatically evolved.
This paper describes and analyzes the mobilization of world heritage and UNESCO more broadly since Putin's first term in 2000. World heritage is used as a lens through which broader developments in the field of cultural and heritage politics are discussed. We focus on (1) how World Heritage Sites are key in narrating patriotic histories, (2) the instrumentalization of UNESCO in Russia's ambition to establish a multipolar world order, and (3) the power relations between the Kremlin and stakeholders in the cultural heritage field.
The discourses presented at WH Sites might help in normalizing the patriotic ideas and geopolitical ambitions of the Kremlin, but it is regional governments and nongovernmental actors that implement Russia's world heritage agenda. These players have agency and use existing conventions and standards to further their own agenda and craft a political environment favorable to their needs. However, compared to the late Soviet period, especially the Yeltsin years, the power relations have dramatically evolved.
This paper describes and analyzes the mobilization of world heritage and UNESCO more broadly since Putin's first term in 2000. World heritage is used as a lens through which broader developments in the field of cultural and heritage politics are discussed. We focus on (1) how World Heritage Sites are key in narrating patriotic histories, (2) the instrumentalization of UNESCO in Russia's ambition to establish a multipolar world order, and (3) the power relations between the Kremlin and stakeholders in the cultural heritage field.