International Summer School "Contested Heritages, Heritage Contestations"
Sofia | 15–19 September 2025 | 3 ECTS
Organiser: Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"
Partners: University of Primorska, Saarland University and University of Rijeka
About the Summer School
The international summer school “Contested Heritages, Heritage Contestations” invites students and researchers to critically engage with how the past is remembered, silenced, or contested in contemporary societies. Hosted by the Department of Cultural Studies at Sofia University, the program explores the political dimensions of heritage dissonance, with a particular focus on Ottoman and socialist/communist legacies in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe.
Heritage dissonance arises not merely from conflicting interpretations of the past, but from unequal power structures that determine which narratives are legitimized, remembered, or silenced. In Sofia, the layered legacies of Ottoman rule and communist governance offer a compelling terrain for exploring how dominant discourses shape collective memory – through both monumentalization and erasure of material and symbolic traces. By engaging with these contested places in situ, participants will critically examine how heritage functions as a tool of ideological control, but also as a space for resistance, negotiation, and the reclaiming of marginalized histories.
Online Introduction
The video is also available on YouTube.
Preparatory Readings
Participants are required to read 6 selected texts (available here) before arriving in Sofia. The readings are divided into two groups:
1. Theoretical Foundations
- Tunbridge, John E., and Gregory J. Ashworth. 1996. Dissonant heritage. The Management of the Past as a Resource in Conflict. Wiley. — Chapter 2. Dissonance in Heritage, pp. 20–33.
- Tunbridge, John E., and Gregory J. Ashworth. 1999. "Old cities, new pasts: Heritage planning in selected cities of Central Europe". GeoJournal 49: 105–116.
- Macdonald, Sharon. 2009. Difficult heritage: Negotiating the Nazi past in Nuremberg and beyond. Routledge. — Introduction, pp. 1–24.
- Silverman, Heleine. 2011. "Contested Cultural Heritage: A Selective Historiography". In: Silverman, H. (ed.) Contested Cultural Heritage: Religion, Nationalism, Erasure, and Exclusion in a Global World. Springer, pp. 1–29.
2. Focus on Communist and Ottoman heritages
- Koleva, Daniela. 2025. "The Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia: A Case of Contested Heritage". In: Nesselhauf, J. and J. Rees (eds.) Dissonant Cultural Heritage / Dissonantes Kunst- und Kulturerbe / Art et patrimoine culturel dissonants. Transcript, 123–138.
- Bryce, Derek, and Senija Čaušević. 2019. "Orientalism, Balkanism and Europe's Ottoman heritage." Annals of Tourism Research 77: 92–105.
Additional Readings
Before We Meet in Sofia
After completing the preparatory readings, please upload one photograph of a heritage object from your city or country that you consider contested or dissonant. Your example can come from any form of heritage – not only physical monuments or sites, but also objects and artefacts in museums or in public spaces, landscapes, elements of intangible heritage, digital heritage, etc.
Program: available here (updated 13.09.2025)
The summer school is supported by Sofia University Scientific Fund and Erasmus+.
