History and Conservation, As if People Mattered, Conference Proceedings
Authors: Edited by Jigna Desai and Gauri Bharat - CEPT University Conference in Collaboration with ICOMOS India (2017)
The symposium was envisaged as a platform for reflections and discussions on architectural historiography and processes of architectural conservation in the Indian subcontinent, with the intention of generating new ideas for architectural history and conservation. The theme note for the symposium contended that “discourses have become 'expert oriented' and have invariably subordinated the complex experiences of ordinary people.” There would be an attempt “to address this dislocation by focusing attention on people-centric approaches.” The Papers reflected upon conventional ways of documenting and recording historic sites that tend to be centred around monuments and built heritage, while highlighting unconventional methods or approaches that explore other ways of seeing. The papers also challenged mainstream or ‘expert oriented’ approaches and processes which often neglect socio-cultural aspects such as associations of communities with historic places, as also the role they play in the safeguarding of heritage.