The CoHERE Project
CoHERE addresses an intensifying EU Crisis through a study of relations between identities and representations and performances of history.
The project was set up to investigate European heritages and identities, working with 11 other organisations across Europe (with €2.5million in funding provided by the EU Horizon 2020). Co-ordinated by Professor Chris Whitehead, the CoHERE project seeks to identify, understand and valorise European heritages, engaging with their socio-political and cultural significance and their potential for developing communitarian identities. This research group comprises Simon McKerrell (CI) with Chris Whitehead (PI) and Susanna Eckersley (CI, both at Media, Culture, Heritage, Newcastle University).
The project explores the ways in which heritages can be used for division and isolation, or to find common ground and ‘encourage modern visions and uses of its past.’ The research covers a carefully selected range of European territories and realities comparatively and in depth; it focuses on heritage practices in official and non-official spheres and engages with various cultural forms, from the living arts to museum displays, food culture, education, protest, commemorations and online/digital practice, among others. CoHERE is funded through Horizon 2020, and responds to the Reflective Societies programme.