‘Euros’ versus ‘Anglos’? Heritage Definitions and Discourses in Continental Europe, Britain and the United States
Speaker: Miles Glendinning
Date: December 14, 2020 (Monday)
Time: 7:00-8:30 pm
Online Via Zoom
Zoom Link
https://hku.zoom.us/j/96919053719?pwd=anVZS0tYbis2Y2pTaWFRcHJGQ2dNUT09
Meeting ID: 969 1905 3719
Password: dla04
Today, it is more common to stress international and global commonality in heritage. Yet architectural conservation, ever since it emerged a couple of centuries or so ago, has always been subdivided by sharp cultural polarisations. The hegemonic ‘Enlightenment’ discourse of the conservation movement up to the late 20th century has been overwhelmingly concentrated in Europe and North America – a position that’s only changed recently with growth of ‘world heritage’. But should we envisage that heritage stronghold as being fundamentally split into two? Or have there been other equally important subdividing factors?
This discussion questions whether there ever have been distinct and contrasting Anglo and Euro heritage world-outlooks at any stage in the history of the modern conservation movement, by tracing a narrative from the age of laissez-faire individualism of the 19th century to the era of mass state intervention of the 20th century, and to today’s market-led globalisation.
About the Speaker
Miles Glendinning studied Classics at King’s College, Cambridge in 1974-6, followed by an architectural history master’s at UEA Norwich. After working in the architectural field survey department of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland from 1978-2005, latterly as Head of Architecture, he moved to Edinburgh College of Art (University of Edinburgh) to head the Scottish Centre for Conservation Studies; since 2011 he has held the chair of Architectural Conservation at the University. His current external liaisons and collaborations focus especially on the architecture of the 20th (and early 21st) centuries, including a longstanding and multifaceted involvement with DOCOMOMO (the international network for documentation and conservation of the Modern Movement). His main research activity in the last five years has focused on the global history of mass housing, encompassing both architectural and cultural-political aspects. Scheduled book outcomes include a global overview volume (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021), and a monograph focusing on the history of public housing in Hong Kong (Routledge, 2022).