Industrial Heritage Reloaded. New Territories, Changing Culturescapes

Among the Congress keynote speakers, you will meet and hear:
Prof. Laurajane Smith
Dr. Cathy Stanton
Prof. Sharon Zukin
Prof. Stefan Berger

The theme is designed to encourage a redeployment of reflections and practices beyond classical “post-industrial” formulations coloured by escheat and obsolescence. It thus aims to further decompartmentalize industrial heritage, as instigated by previous congresses. While reserving a space for discussion on buildings and their conservation, as well as, naturally, on other industrial infrastructure and artefacts, the 2021 TICCIH congress in Montreal is designed to perpetuate and renew research and exchanges on less-discussed areas of industrial heritage, by addressing the identity of industrial civilization from the angle of its representations, culture, territories, of its inheritance (positive or negative) and of their documentation and development.

As such, beyond the manufacturing industry, the congress questions what is “the industrial” in the contemporary world, both in terms of what remains and with regard to current productions: is the knowledge economy an industry? How does the major multinational industry of the 20th century view itself, faced with “castles of the industry” and at the time of its own demise? Beyond a generic narrative on progress, how can we address the legacy of the scientific breakthroughs that supported its expansion? How to discuss neighbourhoods where the working-class identity is disappearing? Or how, conversely, to preserve the brand of industry in the urban centres that it forged, including modern cities, company towns, or working-class neighbourhoods undergoing significant economic, social, and cultural changes? One can, likewise, question the methods and practices beyond mere preservation: what are the contributions and issues of increasingly popular oral history? What about branding strategies, which have positioned vast requalification operations on a planetary scale? How to conciliate environmental assessment and heritage assessment? How can industrial tourism adapt to the new desires of visitors whose relationship with the industry is more and more distant?

In the wake of such questions, the Congress will enthusiastically welcome especially those proposals of research or intervention on industrial heritage that will bring to discussion, together with a more traditional corpus or a new one, with a specific case or with a more theoretical reflection, themes like:
Functional or symbolic requalification;
Belonging and social acceptability;
Social engagement with the scientific discourse;
Memory and people’s participation;
Sustainable development;
Uses and aims of heritage;
Environmental challenges of industrial heritage.

These questions and themes aim to thus “reload” the industrial heritage by targeting its social and territorial realities, to reflect on its new or potential identities and to situate it in the changing cultural landscapes or our times.

This XVIII TICCIH Congress considers the manifestations, discourses, policies, and stakes of industrial heritage—as an artifact, a phenomenon, a tool of empowerment; in communities, societies, or any material or mental environment. It seeks to strengthen the investigation and the understanding of industrial heritage as an inclusive topic to be addressed from diverse geographical regions and disciplinary fields, such as public history, memory studies, museology, archaeology, tourism studies, architecture and planning, urban studies, archaeology, geography, sociology, cultural studies, political science, anthropology, ethnology and artistic research. Subthemes range from the legacies of the Second Industrial Revolution to the future of working-class, company towns to heritage-based sustainable development, deindustrialization to issues of urban preservation.
.

Local organizing committee

Michelle Bélanger, Postdoctoral fellow, Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage

René Binette, Director, Écomusée du Fier-Monde, Montréal

Dinu Bumbaru, Directeur des politiques, Héritage Montréal

Justin Bur, PhD candidate, Urban Studies, University of Quebec in Montreal

Martin Drouin, professor, Department of Urban and Tourism Studies, University of Quebec in Montreal

Marie-Blanche Fourcade, Head, Collections and Exhibitions, Montreal Holocaust Museum

Alain Gelly, historian, Archaeology and History Branch, Parks Canada

Steven High, professor, Co-Director of the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, Concordia University

Myriam Joannette, phD Student, Études urbaines, University of Quebec in Montreal

Josée Laplace, coordinator, Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage, University of Quebec in Montreal

Lucie K. Morisset, professor, Chairholder of the Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage, University of Quebec in Montreal

Luc Noppen, professeur, Director of partnerships, Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage, University of Quebec in Montreal

Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage

Created in June 2001 within UQAM’s School of Management, the CRC on Urban Heritage is part of the Canada Research Chairs Program, a national strategy designed to support excellence in research and development.  Bolstered by many knowledge mobilization events, the Chair’s program tackles the processes and mechanisms that contribute to heritage building and its incorporation into collective identities. The Chair also aspires to contribute to the renewal of heritage theories and practices through a differentiated understanding of the concepts that support them in various post-industrial and post-colonial contexts.

Association québécoise pour le patrimoine industriel

The Association québécoise pour le patrimoine industriel promotes the study, knowledge, preservation, and development of industrial heritage in Quebec. Founded in 1988 by historians, consultants, civil servants from Quebec’s Ministère de la Culture et des Communication (MCC), and museologists, Aqpi brings together professionals and individuals with an interest in industrial heritage. In addition to organizing congresses, conferences, and field visits, Aqpi publishes a newsletter and collaborates with organizations and individuals who defend industrial heritage. Funded by the MCC, Aqpi educates the general public on the importance of industrial heritage.