In the current conditions of globalization, where people are moving every day and more and mainly to places unknown to them, Albania is a destination of attraction, encounters and professional and cultural exchanges, often narrated by foreigners. We are all aware of the important role of communication to convey the right image of the country to locals and foreigners who visit it. Universities are tasked with serving the development of the country and society as best as possible. Studies on cultural heritage, its promotion and territorial development progress simultaneously and in parallel in an ever more interdependent manner.
The University of Tirana sees itself with a special role to promote our cultural heritage, aiming at promoting the most effective linguistic and intercultural communication through new techniques of tourist discourse, preparation of profiles in the field of promotion and territory management, of cultural wealth resources, in the field of guaranteeing the protection of heritage rights and improving profiles, such as: the figure of the interlingual mediator, the operator, the guide or the messenger.
The globalization of media, cultures, exchanges and travels requires not only the resizing of these profiles, but also the redefinition of the global and the local, as well as the interaction between them.
This adds to the need for diversification of means of communication, publications, written, audiovisual and digital materials, as well as the challenge of updating, innovations and adaptation of university curricula to the needs and more, with an interdisciplinary approach in the field of economics, law, linguistic sciences and media communication.
As recent studies have shown that the interest and attraction for tourists more than the monuments is given by the atmosphere of the archaeological area and the territory, the art of living, the cultural and linguistic diversity, our work can be particularly promising.
In this context, the Faculty of Foreign Languages, the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of History and Philology, together with the UT branch in Saranda, organized the international scientific conference “How to make our cultural heritage speak?” – Creativity and mediation in the recognition of cultural heritage”.
Researchers, lecturers and experts from home and abroad presented their works proposing concrete and innovative actions in the field of development and promotion of cultural heritage and specifically with the elements related to the preservation of material and non-material cultural heritage rights, the importance of communication in the development of the Albanian economy, cultural and linguistic diversity, increasing the standards of media mediators and the profiles of interlinguistic mediators.
This conference was organized in eight categories, offering research studies in the following areas:
- Communication techniques in the recognition and reassessment of cultural heritage;
- Management of the territory and resources of cultural heritage for the development of the country;
- Information and Communication Technologies and the promotion of cultural heritage;
- Training in linguistic competence of specialists in the field;
- Culture and literature as an evocative tool and a guide for cultural promotion;
- The role and contribution of multilingualism in the promotion of cultural heritage;
- The right of cultural heritage and the rights referred to the UNESCO convention;
- Cultural agenda of the Council of Europe and the role of scientific research.
Publication: The best papers of the conference “How to make our cultural heritage speak?” Creativity and mediation in the recognition of cultural heritage “Saranda, December 8th – 9th, 2022, were published two issues of the FFL scientific journal.
