Young Leaders’ Forum:

Political contestation over sites of memory is a global phenomenon, seen recently in the way Black Lives Matter protests in many countries around the world were channelled through statues of controversial historical figures. Rather than rendered irrelevant by increasingly dispersed and digitalized forms of participation in contemporary political societies, the importance of sites of memory at which distinct narratives and histories congeal has been turbo-charged. Such sites become symbolic markers that reflect and refract existing political and social grievances, and their increasing prominence appears to lead to the accentuation of existing divisions, rather than their amelioration.

Given the importance of such sites of heritage and memory in the digital age, the central issue for this Young Leader’s forum was whether and how these borders of memory are able to be transformed into spaces of engagement. Controversial sites of memory easily serve as lightning rods for wider political and social issues, but is it possible for such sites to provide spaces in which such conflicts may be productively worked through? And how is any negotiation and reconciliation that occurs in and over such spatially-restricted sites able to be fostered and developed more broadly?

Hosted by Kyushu University Border Studies in collaboration with National University of Taiwan, Victoria University of Wellington, and the Asia New Zealand Foundation, the forum was devoted to seeking to understand whether sites of heritage are able to incorporate and promote diverse histories and memories, and how these may contribute to countering unitary and exclusionist narratives. The four workshops of the Forum collectively looked to:

·         Explore the potential places for indigenous heritage within national identity;

·         Reflect on territorial disputes as open to contestation and amelioration as heritage;

·         Understand how heritage engagement impacts across scales, from local to global.

These issues were talked through by 32 graduate students of 10 nationalities in the four Workshops, which provided a valuable space for young scholars to express their ideas.