EUROHERIT – Legitimation of European cultural heritage and the dynamics of identity politics in the EU

Abstract

The EUROHERIT project conducted ethnographic field research in 10 countries at 11 sites awarded with the European Heritage Label (EHL) by the European Commission. The field research took place in autumn 2017 and at the beginning of 2018. The field research sites were: Alcide De Gasperi House Museum, Italy; Archaeological Park Carnuntum, Austria; Camp Westerbork, The Netherlands; European District of Strasbourg, France; Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Hungary; Great Guild Hall, Estonia; Hambach Castle, Germany; Historic Gdańsk Shipyard, Poland; Mundaneum, Belgium; Robert Schuman’s House, France; and Sagres Promontory, Portugal. Moreover, the project interviewed European Commission policy officers dealing with cultural heritage and a representative of the European panel (selecting the sites for the European Heritage Label) in Brussels, Belgium.

Quantity of the data: The data gathering encompassed a) interviews with key EU heritage officials and a representative of the European panel (n = 7), practitioners working at the selected EHL sites (n = 37), and visitors to these sites (n = 271); b) photos taken by these visitors at the EHL sites (n = 646); c) a survey of national coordinators of the EHL (n = 6 documents) in the selected countries; and d) informal discussions with guides and various stakeholders of the sites, such as the staff of tourist information centers nearby the field research sites. In addition, the data includes multifaceted observation of these sites (e.g. their exhibition narratives) collected as videos, photographs, audio recordings, and notes in field journals and site memos as well as diverse (multimodal) textual material, such as websites, promotional and educational materials, and policy documents. The data also include 16 EHL applications.

Formats of the data: - interviews (audio files) and transcriptions (doc.) - EHL materials (pedagogical materials, brochures, books, etc.) - images (photos taken by the researchers and interviewees) (jpeg.) - videos

See the appendixes attached: - Information of participants - Descriptions of fieldwork sites - Interview questions - Consent forms English