Helena Wangefelt Ström

Short presentation

PhD in Museology. Senior Lecturer in Museum and Heritage studies at the department of ALM. I teach within the Master's programs in ALM and Digital Humanities. My doctoral thesis investigates the transfers between sacredness and heritage, focusing 17th century Rome and Venice, with a background in History of ideas and science. I am interested in uses of heritage in relation to politics, identity, and the training of AI, and in collecting practices historically and today.

Keywords

• kulturarv
• artificial intelligence
• collections
• digital humanities
• human rights
• museer
• museums
• heritage management
• museologi
• heritage
• critical heritage stiudies
• critical heritage studies
• religious heritage
• early modern history
• religiöst kulturarv
• tidigmodern historia
• religious dissent
• early modern italy
• rom
• venedig
• history of collections

Research

My PhD thesis, Lighting candles before a headless Jesus. Sacred heritage, heritagized sacredness, and the many journeys between categories (Open Access: https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-201093), investigates the transfers between sacredness and heritage: as a production of categories, and as practice. The main case study of the production of sacred heritage is early modern Rome and Venice, and the investigation of practices includes examples from various times and religions.

My general field of interest is vast and includes, among other topics: heritage production and heritage politics, history of religion and history of ideas, visual and material culture, museum culture and authenticity, and cultural policy and politics. I am currently interested in classification and categorization practices, and how AI plays into these within the heritage field. Also, I am interested in developing methods through which scholars within heritage studies and history can meet and collaborate. Religion and its role in society today is an overarching theme for my research interests. My professional background includes museum practice at Skokloster castle, NGO project management, and cultural policy making and funding.

Member of the scientific advisory board of CRS, Center for Multi Disciplinary Research on Religion and Society at Uppsala University, and one of two leaders for the thematic group on Secularity, Secularism and Human Rights.

For more information, see Academia: https://uppsala.academia.edu/HelenaWangefeltStröm

Media

History Unfolds - Religion, Diversity and Museums. A conversation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyTtbNYfNCA&ab_channel=Historiskamuseet