2020 | Building Peace through Heritage
The Abuab project
Multaka is joined by a second project called Abuab , ( Doors in Arabic language ), that aims to work on the use of cultural heritage as a tool of social integration for Arab-speaking refugees / immigrants . It was proposed by the CSIC ’ s Milà i Fontanals Institution and the University of Girona with the contribution of the NGO Heritage for Peace , chaired by Syrian archaeologist Isber Sabrine and will depend on the essential participation and collaboration of museums in Catalonia and – on perspective – Italy too . Abuab is a project originating from a proposal by the Spanish NGO Heritage for Peace and was presented at two international conferences , dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage at risk and the integration of migrants through cultural initiatives , held at the University of Bologna , respectively , Science for preservation of cultural heritage at risk , on the occasion of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 , Bologna , Academy of Sciences , 13 June 2018 – Ravenna , University of Bologna , Department of Cultural Heritage , 14 June 2018 , and ABC Accoglienza e Beni Culturali – Welcome and Cultural Heritage , Bologna , Institute for Advanced Studies , 24 October 2019 . Abuab is a proposal to use museums for intercultural dialogue with refugees and immigrants from the Near East and North Africa . With this goal , we propose the development of a multidisciplinary project that will work on the management of heritage , anthropology , art history , education and archaeology . The proposal aims to help solve a socio-political problem of great importance at the present time by working together to build an instrument of mutual understanding that consists of fostering intercultural dialogue on the values represented by cultural heritage . The project aims to have an impact on both newcomers and local populations . The former will discover the values of the host society through their artistic and cultural creations , at the same time as they will appreciate the contribution of the heritage that their countries of origin have made to universal culture . The latter will discover the interest of migrants in understanding what the host society offers culturally relevant . This dialogue can help to create complicity in the construction of a society in the process of great changes and transformations . The cultural contrast between migrants and local population generates tensions on both sides and consequently an increase in xenophobic and isolationist movements . The lack of involvement of migrants often leads to their marginalisation in socio-economic terms and can lead to the development of attitudes that hinder peaceful coexistence and social cooperation . In the face of this problem , cultural heritage can serve as a tool for social integration . When we talk about social integration , we are referring to the integration of citizens with equal rights and opportunities , which affects migrants and also the host population , not cultural integration as a form of assimilation . The first pilot experience of the Abuab project was carried out in Spain , in the Pyrenees region : a group of migrants from the barrio El Raval ( one of Barcelona ’ s historic districts ) visited the Valls d ’ Àneu , in order to promote places of culture ( churches , museums ) as spaces of social coexistence , starting with the Ecomuseum of Esterri d ’ Aneu .
An international conference on migration and cultural heritage
For the 2019 / 2020 academic year , the Institute of Advanced Studies ( ISA ) of the University of Bologna has chosen the ISA Topic Identity : one none one hundred thousand , which was inaugurated by the Fluid Identity initiative : representations and historical and current perspectives , promoted by Silvia Albertazzi and Eva-Maria Christina Thune of the LILEC Department ( Languages , Literature and Modern Culture ) and by Donatella Biagi Maino , of the Cultural Heritage Department , who oversaw the international conference ABC – Welcome and Cultural Heritage , which took place on 24 October 2019 in Bologna , and represented the opportunity to present to the participants and to the invited speakers , many of them representatives of institutions whose contribution may be sensitive to the success of the project , the Abuab initiative .
Invited talks were given by Salma Jreige ( Museum of Islamic Art , Berlin , Germany ), Eric Jong Yoong Lee ( Dongguk University College of Law , YIJUN Institute of International Law , Seoul , Korea ), Olimpia Niglio ( Kyoto University , Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies , Japan ; Asian Cultural Landscape Association , Seoul , Korea ), Corinna Del Bianco and Simone Giometti ( Romualdo del Bianco Foundation , Florence , Italy ), Massimo Carcione ( Centro di Documentazione della Benedicta , Regione
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