Du 24 au 28 août prochain, l’Université Kyoto Seika accueillera la douzième édition de l'International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS). Cet été, le GIS Asie, partenaire de l'événement, vous propose de découvrir une sélection de communications qui seront présentées lors de l’événement.

Pijika Pumketkao-Lecourt présentera une communication intitulée "Thai Urban Heritage in the Making : Words and Representations Thai Urban Heritage in the Making : Words and Representations "

The notion of “heritage of the community” (moradok chumchon) has entered into professional discourse and has gained media attention in Thailand since the 1990s. As a reaction to the fear of a loss of local identity due to major urban restructuring and transformation, civil society organizations are taking into consideration the 'ordinary urban heritage' of the local communities which, until then, had been excluded from the heritage programmes of the national authorities. These organizations mobilize the concept of “heritage of the community” to support competing interpretations of the heritage and develop the approaches towards citizen participation for asserting their right to manage local heritage. This marks a turning point in the way of defining heritage and shaping the conservation project. This paper presents the results of my PhD thesis and recent researches that focus on the role of activist organizations in the constitution of the heritage field. It takes as the case studies the projects led by the group Little People in Conservation (LPC) who plays a leading role in the reactivation of the expression moradok chumchon in the 2010s and in the inscription of Chiang Mai (Thailand) on the Tentative List of World Heritage of UNESCO. This paper examines the strategy and actions of its leaders in regard to the concepts and practices developed by the national and international instances. The participatory approach of LPC is analysed through the words and discourses of heritage and the iconographic representations, in particular those of the “cultural mapping”, that are mobilized in their projects.

Dr Pijika Pumketkao-Lecourt is an architect specialized in heritage conservation, a researcher associated to UMR AUSser (CNRS, ENSA Paris-Belleville) and UMR Prodig (CNRS, Universités de Paris et de Paris 7, IRD, AgroParisTech) and a post-doctoral researcher of École Française d'Extrême-Orient (Paris). Her recent research relates to the academic field of Critical Heritage Studies. It highlights the role of civil society organizations and ordinary urban heritage in the constitution of the heritage field in Thailand and Southeast Asian cities.

ICAS 12
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Thai Urban Heritage in the Making : Words and Representations Thai Urban Heritage in the Making : Words and Representations
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