2018: Heritage, women´s legacy
Can our heritage be interpreted from the viewpoint of gender? This is a question that we are asking not just of cultural actors but of society as a whole. Can we see the contribution made by women to the creation, transfer, knowledge and conservation of the assets (buildings and objects, tangible and intangible) that make up the cultural heritage of Bizkaia? Are we really aware that women at all periods of history, whose names we do not know, have made their mark on Bizkaia and given it the character that it now has?
We wish to examine these issues from a broad, multi-disciplinary, integrational perspective, analysing the role of women in building the culture of Bizkaia: the roles and tasks that they have undertaken voluntarily, and also those that they have been forced to undertake; their work as vehicles for passing on traditions and fostering collective remembrance; their acceptance (or non-acceptance) of the patterns of behaviour assigned to them by society in each period; the breaks with established tradition that they have made in the past and continue to make day by day; the knowledge that they hold at home and elsewhere; their active participation in the history of Bizkaia, in politics, religion, the economy, etc.; their presence in the creation and patronage of culture; their work in the past and in the present; their image in myths, rituals ad popular beliefs, etc.
This is the 18th year in which Bizkaia has marked European Heritage Days. We therefore feel that the time has come to bring the role of women in Bizkaia into a more integrational historical and cultural narrative.
