Research funded with €3 million led by the UC kicks off to study changes in Europe's colonial cultural heritage
'CONCILIARE' will study the changes in Europe's colonial heritage, reactions and representations of European citizens, and propose ways to reduce conflict between these groups and foster greater trust in these changes.
Over the next three years, the University of Coimbra (UC) will lead the European consortium 'CONCILIARE' - 'Confidently Changing Colonial Heritage'. The project will study the changes in Europe's colonial heritage, explore the reactions and representations of European citizens, and propose ways to reduce conflict between these groups and promote greater trust in these changes. The project was launched in March.
Funded by the European Commission's HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-01-04 grant (GA no. 101132582), the 'CONCILIARE' project has received approximately three million euros. Led by Joaquim Pires Valentim, a Professor at the UC Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, the project brings together nine scientific institutions from across Europe, including the University of Coimbra (Portugal), Free University of Brussels (Belgium), University of Utrecht (Netherlands), University of Rome "La Sapienza" (Italy), University of Helsinki (Finland), Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar (Croatia), University of Minho and Centre for Social Studies (Portugal), and CegeSoma (Belgium). Additionally, there are two non-scientific institutions involved: the Afropean project and ICOM (Belgium).
CONCILIARE's history and team emerged partly from COST IS 1205 "Socio-psychological dynamics of historical representations in the enlarged European Union", which ran from 2012 to 2016.
This consortium addresses four key areas of change: school textbooks, public spaces, museums, and cultural artifacts and traditions associated with the colonial past. Grounded in social psychology, it adopts an innovative interdisciplinary approach, drawing from the humanities and social sciences. The methodology is diverse, encompassing the study of groups from different backgrounds, generations, and cultural contexts.
The focus extends beyond countries with a colonial past; the consortium aims to explore how Europe's colonial history intersects with contemporary representations of European identity.
This consortium addresses four key areas of change: school textbooks, public spaces, museums, and cultural artefacts and traditions associated with the colonial past. Based on social psychology, it takes an innovative interdisciplinary approach, involving the humanities and social sciences. The methodology is diverse and includes the study of groups from different backgrounds, generations and cultural contexts. Its focus extends beyond countries with a colonial past; the consortium aims to explore how Europe's colonial history intersects with contemporary representations of European identity.
The studies and activities to be carried out will also involve experts in the target areas from the University of Kinshasa (Congo), Rutgers University (United States), the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain), the University of York & Salford (United Kingdom), the University of Basel (Switzerland), CARMAH (Germany) and the Museums Association (United Kingdom).
The 11 CONCILIARE partners met in Rome from 18 to 20 March for the kick-off meeting of the project.