Guest Lecture by Alisa Santikarn: What is Heritage?
Yesterday, Alisa Santikarn joined Noémie Etienne’s lecture Grundlagen historisch-kulturwissenschaftlichen Denkens, with her guest lecture What is Heritage?. The session focused on the broad and complex question of what heritage is, encouraging students to reflect critically on the concept and its implications.
Drawing on her experience as a tour guide, Alisa adopted a highly interactive approach, engaging students with thought-provoking questions: Is this heritage to you? Why or why not? Students examined a range of examples ranging from Alisa’s grandma’s cake recipe, Uluru in Australia, graffiti in Freetown Christiania, and Pompei, to Sak Kha Lai in Northern Thailand and the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and discussed whether and why they might be considered heritage.
The discussion was enriched by academic definitions from scholars and institutions such as UNESCO and international heritage charters, providing context while also prompting critical reflection: Who drafts these charters? Who serves on these commissions? Whose perspectives are represented?
Key topics included:
Differences and overlaps between cultural and natural heritage
The role of intangible heritage
The relevance of labels, age, significance, and emotional connection in defining heritage
Questions of authenticity and mixed cultural-natural heritage
The ethics and politics of who decides what counts as heritage
Alisa emphasized that most of these questions have no simple answers, and that multiple perspectives can coexist. Her own definition of heritage is straightforward yet profound:
“The past and the present for the future.”
The session offered a lively, reflective, and participatory introduction to thinking critically about heritage, demonstrating the students’ enthusiasm and curiosity while challenging them to consider not only what counts as heritage, but why and for whom.
