Webinar on World Heritage Interpretation with the Theme 'One Heritage, Different Memories'
"Managing World Heritage with Diverse Perspectives and Interpretations Emerges as an International Challenge"
The Cultural Heritage Administration and the UNESCO World Heritage International Interpretation and Presentation Centre Establishment Task Force announced on the 16th that they will hold a monthly webinar on world heritage interpretation under the theme "One Heritage, Different Memories" from this month through July.
The webinar aims to examine the essence of conflicts surrounding world heritage and discuss how to resolve them. A representative example is Japan's "Meiji Industrial Revolution Heritage," which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July 2015. Among the 23 registered sites, seven bear the sorrow of forced labor by Koreans. These include the Hashima (Gunkanjima) coal mine, Miike coal mine, Takashima coal mine, Yahata Steelworks, and Mitsubishi Shipyard’s 3rd dry dock, large crane, and pattern shop.
However, instead of measures to commemorate the victims, Japan decorated the Industrial Heritage Information Centre, opened in June last year, with testimonies and materials denying the facts of forced labor. In the implementation plan report (SOC) submitted to the World Heritage Centre in December last year by Japan’s Cabinet Secretariat, local governments, and individual heritage element owners, there is no mention of forced labor.
The webinar will be held six times. International cultural heritage experts, including moderators and panelists, will discuss the topics in a debate format. The first webinar, scheduled for 9 a.m. (Korean time) on the 17th, will focus on "A New Approach to World Heritage Protection: Heritage Interpretation and Presentation." Christina Cameron, Professor Emerita of Architecture at the University of Montreal, Canada, will serve as the moderator. It will be broadcast via the International Centre Establishment Task Force’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
In May, there will be presentations and discussions by winners of a video essay contest on the theme "Peace and Reconciliation through World Heritage," and in July, during the 44th World Heritage Committee meeting in China, a comprehensive discussion will be held under the theme "How Should We Handle Different Memories and Interpretations of Heritage?" The discussions will consist of 60 minutes of debate and 20 minutes of Q&A, conducted in English.
The Cultural Heritage Administration stated, "We aim to highlight the peaceful management of world heritage sites, such as Japan’s 'Meiji Industrial Revolution Heritage,' where different perspectives and interpretations may arise depending on stakeholders, as a challenge for the international community to solve." They added, "We hope to propose an integrated and comprehensive approach to conflicted world heritage and find ways for world heritage to contribute to reconciliation and peace."
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