Towards a critical heritage studies

Abstract

Anna Karlström’s article made me think of the inaugural conference of the International Association of Critical Heritage Studies held in Gothenburg in June 2012. At the conference, heritage scholars and graduate students gathered from around the world—though mainly from Britain, Australia, and Sweden— to discuss key debates in the rapidly developing, wide-ranging field of heritage. The location, the University of Gothenburg, was one of the most prominent sites for the new research field of heritage, as a platform for research and graduate education from about the mid-2000s. The conference was organized through Swedish, British, and Australian international collaboration, with participation by the International Journal of Heritage Studies. The recent careers of two of the main organizers—Laurajane Smith and Rodney Harrison—had seen them circulate between Australia and Britain, and in Smith’s case, to Sweden as well.