First Awards within Programme Cultural Dynamics

11 februari 2008

On 4 February 2008 the first applications within the research programme Cultural Dynamics were granted. A total number of eight research projects, three of which are related to the research field of WOTRO, will contribute to solutions for societal issues in which culture and the dynamics of cultural heritage play a central role.

Within the Cultural Dynamics programme, the three projects related to WOTRO research are:

Prof. dr. S. Legêne (VU), Sites, Bodies and Stories: The Dynamics of Heritage Formation in Colonial and Postcolonial Indonesia and the Netherlands
The research programme 'Sites, Bodies and Stories' investigates cultural heritage formation in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia and the Netherlands since the beginning of the nineteenth century. It analyses the emergence of a colonial canon of Indonesian culture, and its impact on the dynamics of appropriation and belonging, inclusion and exclusion, during the process of (post)colonial state formation. Three case studies, focussing on different heritage domains, will be the prisms through which the political dimensions and colonial threads of heritage formation across the colonial divide will be investigated. The case studies concern: (1) archaeological-historical sites; (2) human remains and physical anthropological data; and (3) contemporary performing traditions and performance practices.

Prof. dr. B. Meyer (VU), Heritage Dynamics: Politics of Authentication and Aesthetics of Persuasion in Brazil, Ghana, South Africa and the Netherlands
This multidisciplinary, international, comparative program focuses on (a) the framing of cultural heritage in multicultural arenas, (b) its intersection with citizenship and identity, (c) attempts to design cultural heritage in such a way that it appear as 'authentic' and 'real' (politics of authentication) and (d) the extent to which cultural heritage is - or is not - subjectively experienced as objectively real (aesthetics of persuasion) in Brazil, Ghana, South Africa and the Netherlands. Combining (1) a thorough analysis of the processes by which canons-in-the-making are re-mediated with (2) an in-depth empirical study of how cultural heritage becomes inscribed into understandings of self through embodied performances, this project seeks (3) to develop a comparative framework, and (4) to move cultural analysis beyond the trodden paths of constructivist and essentializing approaches.

Dr. K.V.Q. Vintges (UvA), Women and Islam: New Perspectives
The programme will study the voices of Moroccan Muslim women who, both individually and through organized efforts, claim various forms of full citizenship (religious, national, ethnic) by appropriating/reinventing traditions from 'the Islamic heritage'. Integrating literary, anthropological and philosophical perspectives, the project aims to (1) explore the discursive practices through which such claims are made and (2) analyse the cultural dynamics involved in such articulations. In order to study the situated politics of belonging and the possible fusion of horizons, the project focuses on Moroccan women in Morocco and in the Netherlands. The central research questions are: (1) How are ideals of gender equality presented in terms of 'the Islamic heritage'? (2) How are such claims informed by processes of migration, individualization, and the spread of communication technology and what are the similarities, differences and relations between the discourses of Moroccan women on either side of the Mediterranean? (3) Do current Muslim gender equality claims have an impact for the basic assumptions of mainstream Western feminism and do they open up new perspectives for more inclusive emancipatory programmes and policies? By answering these questions, we aim to contribute to the articulation of new perspectives and practices for (Dutch) emancipatory policies which are more inclusive to Muslim women.