Register now for the Endangered Cultural Heritage in the Global South Hub (online conference)
Call for Papers
Online Conference:
Reporting Heritage Destruction: A Double-Edged Sword?
15th of November 2023
The destruction and threats posed to cultural heritage in conflicts, terrorist operations, and instances of political and social unrest by both state and non-state actors have brought significant attention to the human rights implications associated with cultural heritage. Impartial and objective reporting on such destruction plays a vital role in raising awareness, monitoring, documenting, and mitigating these threats. It ensures that victims of destruction are given a voice and acknowledged, facilitates the gathering of evidence for potential prosecution, and encourages measures for protection or reconstruction. However, it is crucial that reporting on heritage destruction takes into account cultural, ethnic, racial, gender, religious, and other human rights considerations. Failure to do so can result in discrimination, negative emotions, shame, and dissatisfaction among communities and individuals. Moreover, it can be exploited as political propaganda or transformed into 'war tourism' without proper consideration of the broader socio-political context of conflicts and crises.
The aim of the conference, titled "Reporting Heritage Destruction: A Double-Edged Sword?" is to explore comprehensively the various dimensions of reporting on the destruction of cultural heritage, including its portrayal in mainstream media, social media, and its relationship with academia and communities.
The online conference is organised by the Endangered Cultural Heritage in the Global South (ECHGS) Hub, in the School of Archaeology of the University of Oxford, bringing together a diverse group of academics and journalists specialising in cultural heritage.
We cordially invite all interested researchers and journalists to submit abstracts, which should not exceed 300 words, for short presentations, to reporting.heritage@gmail.com by September 10th. The submissions should address one of the conference themes outlined below.
The conference themes are:
Theme 1: Who owns and values cultural heritage?
Key speaker and theme presenter: Dr Ammar Azzouz, University of Oxford
Theme 2: Cultural Heritage as a human right
Key speaker and theme presenter: Professor Karima Bennoune, University of University of Michigan
Theme 3: Media reporting and heritage destruction
Key speaker and theme presenter: Mr Sebastian Usher, Middle East editor at BBC News
For further information please visit the conference website by clicking here.
