UNESCO Chair: 1st International Conference – Heritages and Memories from the Sea

The conference, organized by the UNESCO Chair in Intangible Heritage and Traditional Know-How: Linking Heritage, will take place from 29 October to 1 November 2014.

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 30 June 2014. 

The UNESCO Chair in Intangible Heritage and Traditional Know-How: Linking Heritage was officially launched in March 2013. On the occasion of its first anniversary, the Chair proposes that its first International Conference should explore new approaches to a range of questions related to Sea Heritages, especially with regard how the sea shaped our cultural identities.

The focus of the conference lies on two complementary topics that are also central research themes of the Chair:

• Heritages of the sea, focusing on social aspects of sea multiculturalism, cultures of fishing, industrial structures, and archaeological artefacts. Without excluding other regions, particular attention will be given to places where Portuguese culture took root. This topic can be exemplified by the history of how Portuguese immigrants contributed to the culture of whaling first in Hawaii and later on at the West and East coast of the United States.
• The Chair seeks to shed new light on a number of different media, such as travel books, drawings, correspondence, literature or photography, which are all representing aspects of intangible heritage.

In providing an opportunity for the presentation of current research and future projects in the fields of heritage, tourism, cultural studies and architecture, the conference also fosters academic exchange among researchers.

The conference proceedings will be published in one of the Chair’s monographic editions. The conference itself will take place from October 29 to November 1, 2014 in Évora (Portugal).