https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/299 2026-04-17T03:20:41Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136276 Title: Songwashing and cultural boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest : a soft power/disempowerment analysis of Israel’s entry to Eurovision 2024 during the Israel-Hamas war Authors: Kosciejew, Marc Abstract: When the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 premiered on 7 May 2024, the Israel-Hamas war had been unfurling for precisely seven months. Protests against Israel’s entry plagued Eurovision with calls to ban Israel and boycott the event. Israel’s song choice was further condemned as political, resulting in the Israeli state engaging in songwashing to remain in competition. This article outlines the concept/practice of songwashing and explores how it became part of Israel’s soft power strategy to appease Eurovision. How this soft power strategy was used against Israel by its opponents, thereby transforming songwashing into soft disempowerment, is also examined. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136275 Title: The divergent fates of wartime Israeli and Gazan (Palestinian) cultural heritage : a preliminary inventory and conceptual analysis of heritagization processes in GLAMs on separate sides of the Israel-Hamas war Authors: Kosciejew, Marc Abstract: Divergent fates are befalling Israeli and Gazan cultural heritage during the continuing Israel-Hamas war. This article conducts a case study of the war’s implications for both Israeli and Gazan (Palestinian) cultural heritage sectors, represented by galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs), to help establish a preliminary account and overview of the state of cultural heritage over the war’s first half-year. A tripartite typology of heritagization processes is further furnished in which to situate, examine, and contrast the case study. Specifically, this tripartite typology involves: heritagization that creates or designates phenomena as cultural heritage; re-heritagization that reaffirms, revalidates, or reinforces existing cultural heritage; and deheritagization that damages, demolishes, or destroys cultural heritage. Foregrounding the case study of wartime Israeli and Gazan cultural heritage within this typology serves two purposes. First, it spotlights the parallel processes of heritagization, reheritagization and de-heritagization, to help describe, interpret, and understand them within this volatile setting. Second, it enables a conceptual and practical mapping of the convolutions regarding the war’s productive (heritagization/re-heritagization) and destructive (de-heritagization) effects on cultural heritage on separate sides of the conflict. Ultimately, parallel heritagization processes related to the war are simultaneously unfolding within and between Israel and Gaza, resulting in contrasting consequences on their respective cultural heritage sectors and contexts. Description: Supplemental data for this article is attached herewith and can be online accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/2159032X.2024.2383464 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136079 Title: A theory of cultural heritage : beyond the intangible [Book review] Authors: Kosciejew, Marc Abstract: Cultural heritage is a complex phenomenon both conceptually and materially. Conceptually, it involves multiple connecting, complementary, and competing concerns. Materially, it mani fests in tangible objects and emerges in intangible forms. Complications and confusions are often consequences of this complexity; in fact, attempting to ascribe meaning to, or construct a universal definition of, cultural heritage is fraught with theoretical and practical convolutions. [excerpt] 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/132860 Title: Unveiling the untold story : emotions in national archives Authors: Farrugia, Charles J. Abstract: National Archives are entrusted with the preservation of the memory and identity of nations and in so doing they are responsible for extensive holdings that need to be managed professionally and rendered accessible for public consultation. Such a mammoth task forces these institutions to dedicate a lot of energy to the design of systems and procedures aimed at regimenting the handling and access to documentation in their reading rooms. Th is process is a prerequisite to fulfi ll the legal obligations of the institution, guarantee the security of potentially sensitive data and archival items, and provide the widest possible access to information. It thus happens oft en that such a structured approach shift s the focus of the institution onto the records and services rather than onto the creators of the record and the emotions that the interaction with the records stirs in patrons. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z