5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

In academic and professional circles, heritage is no longer understood as a material, static entity with essential values linked exclusively to the cultural codes of the Western world. Instead, it is understood as both a material and intangible process concerning our past, which responds to a cultural construction closely linked to the context from which it originates. In the field of critical cultural heritage studies, the concept of “difficult heritage” is of interest to this panel. According to Macdonald (2009)—one of its first proponents— “difficult heritage” refers to objects and practices from the past (sometimes from dictatorial regimes) that, in the present, are uncomfortable and generate feelings of pain and/or repulsion (Macdonald, 2009, p. 1).

The panel invites the submission of papers that discuss the relationship between difficult heritage, memory, and urban space from a sociological and/or historical perspective. This implies focusing on the causes, factors, actors, implications, history, and consequences of memorialization in urban spaces. Specifically, the panel session welcomes papers on the following topics:

• Historical and ethical implications of “difficult heritage”.
• Architectural heritage as “difficult heritage”.
• Nationalism, memory, and “difficult heritage”.
• Urban toponymy and nomenclature.
• Conservation, institutional and civil management of “difficult heritage”.
• Studies on successful and failed memorialization in urban spaces.
• Methodological discussions on how to study memory in urban spaces.
• Comparative historical perspectives in the study of urban memory and "difficult heritage".