SCOPE AND PURPOSES

Urban transformations and unsustainable expansion processes, climate change, predatory tourism, degradation of protected areas, transnational exodus and the consequent generalized exhaustion of relations between society and nature, as well as socio-environmental and armed conflicts, bring new challenges to our collective heritage in the 21st century.

Most contemporary society has chosen urban centers and megacities to live. Urbanization processes had increasingly intensified and, at the same time, created opportunities. They also generated problems, tensions and impacts in different scales and territorial contexts that will need to be faced and overcome in the coming decades.

In view of the multiple environmental and socio-cultural challenges faced in a context of economic crisis deepened by the Covid-19 pandemic, which affect societies in different spheres, the role and meaning of heritage will need to absorb theoretical, conceptual and practical demands and renewed agendas to reflect on the existing urban social structures beyond the consolidated concepts that traditionally define the relations between society and its traditional historical groups and its interface with the environment and the landscape.

New approaches to heritage need to ask why and for whom heritage sites are protected, providing meaningful narratives for users to ensure their preservation. Gender, ethnicity, race and income are key aspects of diversity and inequality in the current geopolitical context to be considered.

In this way, it becomes relevant to create spaces for dialogue and exchange of knowledge and sharing of experiences, training and work opportunities for young professionals in the countries of Latin America and Lusophone Africa.

The spoken and written language, in addition to the form of communication, is an important cultural component. Portuguese is now a language spoken by around 250 million people worldwide. Although a significant part of scientific production and works related to UNESCO and World Heritage are carried out in English, if we want to have an effort of local dialogue and reflection on strategies and needs related to new approaches to heritage in the Portuguese-speaking world, we also need to do it in Portuguese.

In this sense, the intention is to interweave common concepts and methods in the context of diversity and cultural influences between the Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America and Africa and the search for awareness, insertion and training of diverse social extracts in the conservation of heritage.

PROGRAMM

1. General context of the #2021Debates – Monica Bahia Schlee

2. New Approaches to Heritage: listening, connections and interdisciplinary dialogues – Vera Tangari, Rubens de Andrade, Monica Bahia Schlee

3. New narratives and interpretations: introduction and regional context – Albino Jopela and Rafael Winter Ribeiro

4. Hamilton Jair Fernandes – Cidade Velha, Cabo Verde

   Claudio Zunguene – Ilha de Moçambique, Moçambique

   Ziva Domingos – Mbaza Kongo, Angola

   Bruno Coutinho – Paraty e Ilha Grande, Brasil

QUESTIONS FOR THE DEBATE

First block: question for all the speakers

1. What are the main impacts and challenges that the collective heritage and especially the world heritage (natural, cultural and intangible) face in your country today?

2. What has been the heritage conservation approach, policy and practices adopted locally?

Second block: questions to be chosen by the speakers

3. Does the division between culture and nature still make sense in heritage conservation?

4. How to unite and integrate tangible and intangible aspects of heritage?

Third block: questions to be chosen by the speakers

5. How to adopt new functions, including social and economic functions aimed at new labor markets related to heritage preservation and conservation?

6. What strategies can be adapted or proposed for the conservation of heritage with vulnerable communities surrounding heritage property?

Forth block: questions to be chosen by the speakers

7. How to reconcile heritage conservation as an identity value for local populations, with its global value for civilization and as a driving force for sustainable development in Latin American countries, including Brazil, and the countries of America Lusophone?

8. What alternatives and possibilities would you recommend for the conservation of heritage in the next 50 years?

The speakers are invited to choose which questions they prefer to answer from blocks 2, 3 and 4 and the order of the speeches will be accommodated according to their choices. The purpose of these questions is to serve as a guide to the speeches of the speakers, to which we ask to kindly answer them in the context of the case study addressed by each one.

We kindly ask you to respond to this invitation indicating the availability to participate in the round table and also indicating the questions you would like to answer in your speeches, relating them to your case study. Questions not chosen will be removed from the agenda.