What becomes of place in a time of placelessness? In an age shaped by global migration, digital afterlives, ecological urgency, heritage politics, and changing cultural rituals, the cemetery, once a fixed point of memory and mourning, may face radical transformation. This conference presents interdisciplinary perspectives on the evolving roles, meanings, and forms of the cemetery in contemporary and future societies.

11 February

5                        Introduction

5:15                  Keynote 1: Magdalena Nordin (University of Gothenburg)

6:15                  Refreshments

 

12 February

9                        Keynote 2: Heather Conway (Queen’s University, Belfast), “Confluence and Conflict: Navigating the Legal Landscape of the Cemetery”

10                     Coffee

10:30               Papers session I 

Helena Nordh & Cristina Prytz (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), “Future Dilemmas for Cemeteries: Abandon, Expand, Densify, or Reuse” 

Elin Ask (Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm), “Applicable Law of Eternal Grave Peace” 

Leon van den Broeke (Theological University Utrecht), “Freedom of religion between corpse discovery and eternal peace”

Julie Rugg (University of York), “The innately challenging nature of funeral heritage sustainability: using the Sustainable Development Goals to identify conflicting objectives”

12:30               Lunch

1:30                  Papers session II

Audun Kjus (Norsk Folkemuseum), “A Garden for the Dead. From the Introduction of a Park Regime in Rural Norwegian Cemeteries”

Marie Fongaard Seim (Norsk Folkemuseum), “The Face on the Urne. Photographic Memorials in Norwegian Cemeteries and Columbaria”

Félicien de Heusch (University of Copenhagen), “Managing the Repatriation of Bodies in the Senegalese Necropolis: The Interplay of Public, Religious, and Market Administrations” 

3                        Coffee

3:30                  Keynote 3: Marju Kõivupuu (University of Tartu)

4:30                  Papers session III

Oleg Reut (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz), “When cemeteries become estranged”

Ida Marie Hoeg (University of Agder), “Contestations and constitutions in ritual actions. Opening ceremony of public cemeteries”

7                        Conference dinner

 

13 February

9                        Keynote 4: John Wolffe (The Open University)

10                     Coffee

10:30               Papers session IV 

Milan Simonovic (Independent scholar), “Jewish Cemeteries and Burial Customs in the Territory of the Jewish Municipality of Pančevo”

Eglė Bazaraitė (Vilnius Tech), “A Dream to Remain Remembered:  The Hardscaped Reality of Cemeteries in Contemporary Lithuania”

Olga Nešporová (Charles University, Prague), “History and Future of Cemeteries in the Sudetenland”

Hans Hadders (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), “Deathscapes in diaspora: Hindu urn burial, mourning and memorialization at Norwegian cemeteries”

12:30               Lunch

1:30                  Papers session V 

Monica Sandberg (Landskapsgruppen Öresund, Lund), “Newly constructed cemeteries in Sweden with an eye to the future and the past - selected examples from a practicing landscape architect”

Brian L. Due & Jens Fogh (University of Copenhagen), “Garden of Grief: Practice-Based Grief Communities for Men 50+ in Cemetery Environments”

Jitka Cirklová (Czech Technical University in Prague), “Landscapes of Memory: Natural Cemeteries, Ritual Innovation, and the Reconfiguration of Mourning Practices”

3                        Summing up