Lecture
Shipwrecks and Cultural Diplomacy
- Date
- Thursday 20 February 2025
- Serie
- Culture and Politics Event Series
- Address
- Leiden University
The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) is tasked with managing all Dutch-owned shipwrecks globally. In this talk, Prof. Martijn Manders explains why shipwrecks and cultural diplomacy are very much connected to one another. Diplomacy is an important part of the protection and excavation of such underwater cultural heritage. But the significance of diplomacy goes well beyond just the management of shipwrecks. The cultural diplomacy of shipwrecks also concerns the broader political and public relations between the Netherlands and other countries and peoples. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session, so students are encouraged to come with thematic questions as well as questions related to career prospects and preparation.
Martijn Manders is Professor by Special Appointment in Underwater Archaeology and Maritime Heritage Management at the Faculty of Archaeology. Policies, international conventions, shared heritage, cognitive landscapes and cultural diplomacy in maritime heritage management are amongst the subjects that he researches. He is maritime and underwater archaeologist for the Netherlands government since 1990. After years of focusing on inventories, assessments and field excavations he moved to the heritage policy department in 2003 and since 2011 is leading the maritime programme for the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (heritage management and archaeology) where he and his team are responsible for almost 1600 shipwrecks with Dutch sovereignty all over the world.
Culture and Politics Event Series
The Culture and Politics Event Series serves to expose students to further themes related to their specialisation as well as to possible future career opportunities for which their specialisation provides required knowledge and skills.