Cultural heritage in the realm of the commons: Conversations on the Case of Greece

Cultural heritage in the realm of the commons: Conversations on the Case of Greece 

Stelios Lekakis (ed.) 

Cultural heritage was invented in the realm of nation-states, and from an early point it was considered a public asset, stewarded to narrate the historic deeds of the ancestors, on behalf of their descendants. Nowadays, as the neoliberal narrative would have it, it is for the benefit of these tax-paying citizens that privatisation logic on heritage sector have been increasing over recent decades, to cover their needs in the name of social responsibility and other truncated views of the welfare state.

This volume examines whether we can place cultural heritage at the other end of the spectrum, as a common good and potentially as a commons. It does so by looking at Greece as a case study, lately a battlefield of harsh and experimental austerity measures but also of inspiring grass-roots mobilisation and scholarship, currently blossoming to defend the right of communities to enjoy, collaboratively manage and co-create goods by the people, for the people.

Since cultural heritage -and culture in general- is hastily bundled up with other goods and services in various arguments for and against their public character, this volume invites several experts to discuss their views on their field of expertise and reflect on the overarching theme: Can cultural heritage be considered a commons? If so, what are the advantages and pitfalls concerning theory, practice and management of heritage? What can we learn from other public resources with a longer history in commons-based or market-oriented interpretation and governance? Can a commons approach allow us to imagine and start working towards a better, more inclusive and meaningful future for heritage?

• The Wisdom of the Commons: ‘Together’ is Always Better

  Graham Fairclough

• Cultural Heritage in the Realm of the Commons: Reading a Letter from the Future

  Stelios Lekakis

• A Political Economy of Heritage and the Commons: A First Sketch Focusing on Greece

  Stelios Lekakis

• An Economic Analysis of Heritage as Commons: Reflections on Theory, Methodology and Social Imagery

  Mina Dragouni

• Heritage, Openness and the Commons in Urban Environments: Some Thoughts on the Archaeological Parks of Philopappos Hill and Plato’s Academy in Athens

  Despina Catapoti et al.

• Cultural Life Reconfigured: From the Ancestral to the Digital Commons and Beyond

  Nicholas Anastasopoulos

• State, Netocrats and the Commons: Developing a Cultural Policy in the Era of Platforms

  Prodromos Tsiavos

• “Capture and Release of the Chthonic Beasts”: Archaeological Heritage as Digital Commons in Contemporary Art Practice. Various Thoughts on the Occasion of the Artwork ‘Future Bestiary’

  Marina Markellou & Petros Moris

• Seeds as Common Cultural Heritage

  Vasso Kanellopoulou

• From Cooking to Commoning: The Making of Intangible Cultural Heritage in OneLoveKitchen, Athens

  Penny Travlou

• Urban Experiments in Times of Crisis: From Cultural Production to Neighbourhood Commoning

  Giorgos Chatzinakos

• Commoning Over a Cup of Coffee: The Case of Kafeneio, a Co-op Cafe at Plato’s Academy

  Chrysostomos Galanos

• The Alternative of the Commons, New Politics and Cities

  Alexandros Kioupkiolis

• Making Politics Meaningful: The Pitfalls of the ‘Commons’ and the Importance of Anthropological Analysis

  Dimitris Markopoulos

• This is not a Manifesto: Precipitating a Paradigm Shift in Cultural Management

  Stelios Lekakis

 

How to cite this book

Lekakis, S. (ed.) 2020. Cultural heritage in the realm of the commons: Conversations on the Case of Greece. London: Ubiquity Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/bcj

License

This is an Open Access book distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (unless stated otherwise), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Copyright is retained by the author(s).

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Additional Information

Published on Oct. 5, 2020

Language

English

Pages:

286

ISBN

EPUB	978-1-911529-62-0
Mobi	978-1-911529-63-7
Paperback	978-1-911529-60-6
PDF	978-1-911529-61-3

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5334/bcj