This is a transcript of the keynote lecture I gave at the annual conference of the Riksantikvarieämbetet (the Swedish National Heritage Board) in Stockholm this week. The theme of the conference was ‘The Struggle for Cultural Heritage’. ‘The ministry of symbols.’ That’s how Mélanie Joly, the new Minister of Canadian Heritage in Justin Trudeau’s recently elected administration in Ottowa, this week described her portfolio. What kind of symbols? Not the ones promoted by the previous conservative government of Stephen Harper, but, in […]

Categories: Culture & Books, History, Multiculturalism • Tags: aya sofia, cordoba, cultural diversity, cultural heritage, culture, diversity, enlightenment, hagia sophia, herder, identity politics, multiculturalism, romanticism, unesco, will kymlicka