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Local Vocabularies of “Heritage”Variabilities, Negotiations, Transformations8-10th February 2012University of Évora – PortugalOrganisationCidehus-University of Évora-FCTand Network of Researchers on HeritagisationsCall for paperDead-line 1st of June 2011Concern for “heritage”, in its French version of “patrimoine” or the  Anglo-Saxon one of “heritage”, is often associated with Western cultural  history’s originality and the spreading of the values related to it  with a universalist and globalizing vocation. But the objects  (artifacts, monuments, sites, animals, plant species and social  practices) and the uses (memory and identity processes, transmission  dynamics, links with the past and with history) today covered by the  sphere of  the Western “cultural heritage” are sometimes already part of  the cultural practices and collective representations of non-Western  societies. This plurality of “heritage” conceptions makes it possible to  go beyond the rhetorical motif of the “great division” and to better  redefine what makes world cultures different and what connects them.  Moreover, though all societies do not attribute the same meaning or the  same values to their heritage terminology, they are nonetheless part of a  recent semantic and conceptual translation process of the international  norms propagated by “heritage” institutions.The difficulty in analyzing the layers and the differentiations of  “heritage” vocabularies stems from the fact that international bodies  have gradually included in the “heritage” field very different objects  (architecture, town planning, art, landscape, environment, languages or  practices and social representations) and have thus encouraged the  actors to interpret certain local terminologies in terms of “heritage”,  even though “tradition”, “culture”, “custom”, “memory” or “transmission”  could have been considered autonomously. Moreover, the division of the  “heritage” field into “cultural heritage”, “natural heritage” and  “intangible heritage” contains in itself a classification of the real  which is not directly transferred to social situations and which also  obliges local actors to redefine their own categories of thought.Besides, Western “heritage” terminology is perhaps only pertinent to  the extent that the actors themselves assert their right to this  vocabulary and use it. This relativistic position makes it possible to  speculate on three aspects : firstly, on the terminologies applied to  “heritage” type activities already at work locally in cultures outside  international frameworks ; secondly, on the translations of the terms  “heritage”, “safeguarding”, “preservation”, “restoration”,  “valorization” etc. in conceptual negotiations which take place locally  and, thirdly, on the differences existing between these two levels and  on the incomprehension this disparity creates in the local  implementation of programs using international categories.Is it possible to draw up a comparative inventory of “heritage”  notions present throughout human societies? What are the local notions  that come into play in the contemporary “heritage” arena? What exactly  do these notions cover in the autonomous regions of Europe or in those  seeking independence and in the nations resulting from decolonization?  How are the meanings and requalifications of vocabulary distributed in  minority and fringe groups? To what extent can the heritage field be  taken as a vantage point for a society’s historical evolution?The central idea of this symposium is to carry out an international  comparison of vocabulary variants and local linguistic uses of  “heritage”, both in the context of contact with international  institutions and in the limited one of indigenous and customary uses.  The symposium therefore proposes to take seriously the emic definitions  and redefinitions of “indigenous terms” and to draw up a critical  inventory of them, by going beyond the fiction of a continuous and  globalized homogeneous “heritage” field. A comparative analysis and the  confrontation of related concepts in the different local vocabularies  would also make it possible to get the measure of the transactions,  mutations, misunderstandings and transfers that may arise from the  global contact initiated in cultural exchanges over the last two  centuries.In this perspective, four main fields of reflection seem to emerge:1.     The variability of “heritage” vocabularies and the social  effects of this in different cultural, historical and political  contexts. How should we today consider the originality of Western  systems of preservation, transmission and archiving and those of “other”  cultures?2.     The conceptual negotiations at stake in the adjustments of  local terms on a regional, national or international level. How are  these negotiations part of the public space of terminological  requalification of “heritage” vocabularies and practices, sometimes  embodied in the form of “heritage” specialists or collective  organizations?3.     The transformations the artifacts go through in the  translation and exchange processes. What material changes do heritagized  objects and representations have to undergo in order to correspond to  local and/or international criteria?4.     The variability of scientific uses of the term “heritage” in  academic traditions and the repercussions of this in experts’ practices  and in interdisciplinary dialogue.The symposium is open to all researchers working on the political,  cultural, historical and social uses of “heritage”, in a perspective of  exchange and interdisciplinary comparison, and able to provide a  detailed account of a specific geographical area in order to contribute  an element to the group reflection. Working languages will be English,  French and Portuguese.Proposition (250 words, contact details, scientific affiliation and  biographical note of 50 words) should be submitted before the 1st of  June 2011 to lvh2012@uevora.pt. The results will be made public on the  1st of July 2011.Keynote SpeakersCrispin Paine, University College London, Great-BritainIsmail Ali Ahmed El-Fihail, Ministery of Culture, United Arab EmiratesSalia Malé, National Museum, MaliOrganisation committeeJulien Bondaz, Musée du Quai Branly, FranceSylvie Grenet, Ministery of Culture and Communication, FranceCyril Isnart, Cidehus-University of Évora, PortugalAnais Leblon, University of Aix-Marseille I, FranceMaria Cardeira da Silva, FCSH/ Lisbon New University, PortugalElsa Peralta, ISC-IL, PortugalRegina Bendix, University of Gottingen, GermanyPascale Maizi, Centre Nationale d’Etudes Agronomiques des Régions Chaudes, FranceFeesThe price of 150 € includes 3 lunches, 3 dinners, 6 coffee breaks, the  guided tour of the historical center of Evora (Unesco World Heritage),  Wifi access and documentation. The registration will only be complete  once we have received the full registration fee. Cancellation and  reimbursement will be possible till 2 months before the congress.Agenda1st of June: Dead-line for the proposal1st of July: List of accepted papers – Call for registration1st of November:  Dead-line registration15 of November: Final programMore information lvh2012@uevora.pt or site of the congress