Lecture
LUCAS Talks: Negotiating the Past
- Tina de Gendt
- Date
- Tuesday 27 May 2025
- Time
- Address
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 1.47
Super diverse urban spaces in a globalizing world: What do they have to do with heritage? Everything, according to public historian Tina De Gendt. She argues that super-diversity presents a unique opportunity to democratize our relationship with the past - an opportunity we simply can’t afford to miss. But how?
For the past six years Tina has worked as a ‘historian in residence’ in five neighborhoods across her hometown Ghent (for a project commissioned by the City Museum STAM). In every neighborhoods, she collaborated with locals to uncover hidden histories. Starting from walks in public space, working alongside grassroots-organisations, artists, archivists, researchers and many more, she created a platform for new and counter narratives to emerge.
Throughout this process, she developed a new ethical framework and methodology for bottom up heritage work in superdiversity, called ‘negotiating the past’. This innovative approach was recognized with the prestigious European Heritage Award in 2024. The project was finalized last year, resulting in a large scale exhibition in the City Museum STAM: ‘The Gates. On the Edge of the City’ (nov 2024-aug 2025).
