Preface
the second issue of the ijems brings into focus arts
and heritage as the key issues in the processes of cultural dynamics
and negotiations in the Mediterranean, and it reflects on their role
as the central concepts in the imagination and representation of the
Mediterranean in both official and popular discourses. The narratives
of a ‘shared intangible Mediterranean heritage’ as the most important
European ‘culture capital’ (Bourdieu 1984 )areusedintheo fficial eu
rhetoric of integration and Europeanization processes, particularly in
promoting multicultural citizenship and European transnational, cos-
mopolitan identity. These discourses are often uncritically employed
by local and national elites in Mediterranean societies, further lead-
ingtospecificauto-stereotypingandpoliticsofreductionandcultural
inferiority. Such internalization of Eurocentric discourses is a result
ofcenter-peripherydynamics,whichbringnewchallengestoMediter-
ranean societies and to the Euro-Mediterranean idea in general. The
presentissueaimstospeakaboutthesecontradictorydiscoursesofthe
Mediterranean as ‘the cradle’ of European culture, which at the same
time construct the image of Mediterranean cultures as traditional, ar-
chaic,andexotic.Togetherthey(re)producecomplexnarratives,repre-
sentations and imaginations of Mediterranean art and heritage, which
the issue aims to theorize.
With transnational mobility, flow of capital, labor, and media, the
culturalproductionsintheMediterraneancanbeseenastransnational
and global. In a generally volatile economic and political climate, the
issues of cultural property, arts and heritage are becoming the main
arena for negotiation of identities and imaginary boundaries between
cultures. This issue addresses the role that expressive culture and ‘ma-
terial’culturalrepresentations,suchasmemorialsitesandarchitecture,
play inperforming ‘Mediterraneannes.’ The first articlethus addresses
theintersectionsbetweenmigrationandheritageinsouthernItaly.Be-
yond offering an anthropological analysis of these processes, Albahari
also provides a critical consideration of the Southern Question narra-
tive. Pistrick and Dalipaj’s case study is located in the South Albanian
regions of Labëria and Toskëria, marked by the coexistence of Mus-
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Ana Hofman
lim and Orthodox Christian communities. It reflects the religious and
regional diversity as expressed in the collective village feasts that are
connected to religious rituals such as Bajram, the commemoration of
BektashiSaintsorOrthodoxEaster,Christmasandthechurchpatrons’
feasts. Kozbuska’s article examines the period of the late Renaissance
in Ukrainian towns, when the process of reception and adaptation of
the Italian architectural model as the Mediterranean heritage, was un-
derstoodastheinfluenceofthe‘real’EuropeontheEuropean‘periph-
eries.’ThearticleofLebelandDrorypresentsofficialIsraelidiscourses
on memory, commemoration, and setting collective boundaries. It ex-
plores how memory representations in monuments and commemora-
tions are often used as an interface between collective remembrance
and historical representations, and focuses on strugglesover ‘the valid’
interpretations of the past. The last contribution concentrates on dy-
namics between local-global and north-south using the example of
internationalization of Higher Education from a Mediterranean per-
spective. All contributions are attempting to give multifaceted views
on eu cultural politics referring to the Mediterranean and the ongo-
ing global processes within (trans)national heritage policies.
Ana Hofman
Editor
references
Bourdieu, P. 1984 . Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of taste. Trans.
R. Nice. Cambrige, ma : Harvard University Press.
ijems