Heritage diplomacy through the lens of the European Capitals of Culture programme

ABSTRACT

This article will contribute to the existing debates on heritage diplomacy. It will build on an understanding of heritage diplomacy through the lenses of decolonial thinking. The core case study is one of the main policy programmes for culture at the European level, the European Capital of Culture, which contributes to the building of a shared European Heritage. Whereas the opportunities for diplomacy work afforded by the programme itself will be considered, the analysis will mainly focus on the representation of colonial heritage in ECoC programmes. The article draws on work conducted in the EU-funded ECHOES project (European Colonial Heritage Modalities in Entangled Cities). The analysis presented will query why dissonant heritage, such as that of a colonial nature, is often left out of discussions of European heritage more generally. Lessons will be drawn on what the implications might be for advancing European heritage diplomacy and cultural policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Heritage diplomacy
• festivals
• European Capitals of Culture

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Research for this article was developed in the framework of the ECHOES (European Colonial Heritage Modalities in Entangled Cities) project, funded through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, GA No 770248.

Notes on contributors

Cristina Clopot

Cristina Clopot currently contributes to the development of the Scottish Arts and Humanities Alliance initiative, acting as a Policy and Communications Officer for the host organisation, the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Scotland, UK). She holds a PhD in Heritage Studies from Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh, UK) (2017) and has conducted research on festivals and heritage diplomacy in two EU-funded Horizon 2020 projects: ECHOES (European Colonial Heritage Modalities in Entangled Cities) and CoHERE (Critical Heritages of Europe). Cristina is a board member of the Anthropological Journal of European Cultures and a committee member of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies’ Intangible Cultural Heritage Network. She is co-editor of the 2020 Routledge collection Heritage and Festivals in Europe: Performing Identities.