Abstract
We have invited authors of both theoretical contributions and empirical research studies to join us at a research workshop focused on exploring the relationship between urban heritage and cultural identities in their historical, geopolitical and socio-cultural dimensions and contexts. After Graham and Howard, we approach heritage as "the ways in which very selective past material artefacts, natural landscapes, mythologies, memories and traditions become cultural, political and economic resources for the present." (Graham and Howard 2008, 2) We recognize identities as ongoing processes of adaptation, which we understand as practices of positioning vis-a-vis global flows that intersect in urban hubs (Appadurai 1996) and involve the formation of diverse local senses of belonging and being in the world.
We focus on the contested and diverse terrains of identity and belonging in an effort to understand how hegemonic discourses become translated, used and challenged by communities and individuals in local settings. During a two-day workshop in Prague (May 24-25, 2018), we wanted to learn from each other's work to develop our understanding of the concepts of adaptation and diversity.
The participants were sociologists, urban anthropologists and social and urban historians.