Core results and their exploitation and dissemination:
- The vague concept of European cultural heritage is frequently referred to — but rarely explicitly defined — in a scholarly discussion. The use of the concept in academia constructs a European cultural heritage as a category in research and explicitly and implicitly produces its focuses and outlines. Although the heritage policy discourse and initiatives can be explicitly defined in the scholarly texts as the construction of European cultural heritage, the repetitive linking of the concept to European organizations in these texts at the same time establishes them as European-level heritage agents and naturalizes their role as meaning-makers of heritage. (See e.g. Lähdesmäki, T. 2016 Scholarly discussion as engineering the meanings of European cultural heritage. European Journal of Cultural Studies 19:6, 529-546.)
- Emotionality, affectivity, and morality intertwine in the politics of EU heritage initiatives. The politics of affect in these initiatives stems from their capacity to produce ‘emotional truths’ that are not based only or even primarily on their historical accuracy, but rather on their moral appropriateness and fit. (See e.g. Lähdesmäki, T. (2017) Politics of Affect in the EU Heritage Policy Discourse: An Analysis of Promotional Videos of Sites Awarded with the European Heritage Label. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 23:8, 709-722.)
- The EU seeks to increase cohesion between diverse people(s) in Europe and thereby strengthen a feeling of belonging to the same community. Cultural heritage is, however, a challenging policy tool for creating inclusion. Although EU’s emphasis on common cultural heritage seeks to overcome diverse tensions in Europe, by fostering communality, and creating a positive feeling of belonging to Europe, may simultaneously create new explicit and implicit boundaries and divisions, and exclude some while including others in the practice. (See e.g. Lähdesmäki, Tuuli, Čeginskas, Viktorija L. A., Kaasik-Krogerus, Sigrid, Mäkinen, Katja, and Turunen, Johanna. 2020. Creating and Governing Cultural Heritage in the European Union: The European Heritage Label. London: Routledge)
- EU initiatives dealing with European cultural heritage construct the idea that ‘Europe’ and ‘Europeans’ have some shared cultural heritage. These initiatives function as a tool and an arena to generate, facilitate, and govern the idea, discourses, and narratives on Europe and its shared heritage. (See e.g. Lähdesmäki, Tuuli, Mäkinen, Katja, Čeginskas, Viktorija, and Kaasik-Krogerus, Sigrid. (2020): Europe from Below. Notions of Europe and the European among Participants of EU Cultural Initiatives. Leiden: Brill.)
- Difficult histories are often neglected in the EU's heritage initiatives that focus on highlighting the common ground based on the 'positive sides' of European heritage. At the same time, the expansion of imperial domination, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and colonialism contributed to the European prosperity that is commonly celebrated in these heritage narratives of Europe. Together with their continuing legacies in European racism and the ongoing militarization of Europe's borders, they are examples of European experiences and memories that do not seem to fit into the dimension of Europe constructed through the EU heritage policy discourses. (See e.g. Lähdesmäki, Tuuli, Čeginskas, Viktorija L. A., Kaasik-Krogerus, Sigrid, Mäkinen, Katja, and Turunen, Johanna. 2020. Creating and Governing Cultural Heritage in the European Union: The European Heritage Label. London: Routledge)
The results have been disseminated to scholars, decision-makers, and heritage managers and educators through various publication channels, conferences, panel and round table discussions, events popularizing science, policy briefs, media texts, and personal contacts.
