Politics of solidarity in the context of European heritage. The cases of the European Solidarity Centre and Hambach Castle

ABSTRACT

This article explores the politics of solidarity in the framework of constructing a common cultural heritage of the European Union. The politics of solidarity stems from the notion of solidarity embedded to European heritage. We use critical heritage studies as a theoretical approach that understands heritage as an inherently dissonant social construct, produced by various actors according to political, economic and social interests. The study analyses empirical data from the European Heritage Label (EHL), a flagship heritage action of the EU that communicates shared values and a sense of identification to European citizens. Our empirical data includes ethnographic observation as well as interviews with experts and visitors at two EHL sites, the Hambach Castle (Germany) and the European Solidarity Centre (Poland). The sites specifically mediate the notion of solidarity to the visitors as a bottom-up process that has a strong potential to produce societal change. Our analysis shows how the EHL conducts twofold politics of solidarity. First, by designating the label to this kind of site, solidarity is embedded into European heritage. Second, by heritagising solidarity, the EHL endeavours to evoke a sense of solidarity among contemporary Europeans.

KEYWORDS:

• Politics of solidarity
• critical heritage studies
• communication
• transformation
• EU
• EHL

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant No. 636177, EUROHERIT).

Notes on contributors

Viktorija L. A. Čeginskas

Viktorija L. A. Čeginskas (PhD; ORCID: 0000-0002-5794-9503) currently works as a post-doctoral researcher in the research project ‘Legitimation of European Cultural Heritage and the Dynamics of Identity Politics in the EU’ (EUROHERIT, ERC Starting Grant 2015-2020) at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Čeginskas has a PhD in Cultural Heritage Studies from the University of Turku, Finland and a MA in contemporary history, East-European history and European Ethnology from Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, Germany. Her research interests include narratives of belonging, identity politics, transnational mobility and heritage studies in a European context.

Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus

Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus (DSocSc; ORCID: 0000-0002-6424-5520) is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. She currently works in the research project Legitimation of European Cultural Heritage and the Dynamics of Identity Politics in the EU (EUROHERIT), funded by the European Research Council. From 2015‒2018 she was a member of the Jean Monnet Module East within Europe funded by the Erasmus+ at the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki. Kaasik-Krogerus specialises in media and communication, identity politics, heritage, and European studies in the context of the EU and especially Central and East European countries.