Intangible cultural heritage is high on the agenda of the European Union, with special attention devoted to (intangible) Jewish Cultural Heritage (JCH). Jewish cultural heritage is recognised as an integral part of our European history and shared European values, and as a crucial lens through which to understand the history of Europe. However, Jewish intangible heritage is barely visible today whereas the tangible Jewish heritage is seriously endangered. This is why two recent briefings by the European Parliament, released in 2023 and in 2024 respectively, stress the urgency to undertake actions to preserve it. In 2024, an interdisciplinary team from the Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas) joined the European JEWELS TOUR project as advisory partner. Subsidised by Interreg Europe, the project aims to valorise European Jewish (in)tangible heritage as a catalyst for sustainable tourism while simultaneously preserving it for future generations.

We are living in a defining moment – a conjuncture. In this conjuncture of contemporary social life, there is an increasing reckoning with the afterlives of the slavery and colonial past across many Western European countries. Central to this current conjuncture are the increasing societal discussions about ‘decolonisation’, reparations, repair, and healing in the context of how to address the injustices of the past and to give space to related cultural memories in the present. The cultural memories of the slavery and colonial past are found both at the discursive and material levels of society. Discursively, cultural memories are held in the choice of which aspects of the past become part of what Smith (2006) has called authorized heritage discourse (AHD). At the material level, cultural memories are curated through for instance, statues, monuments, memorials and other spatial markers in public spaces to tell the story of the past. It is particularly at the material level that societal discussions in the current conjecture intersects with tourism and leisure. What do we do with those physical markers of the slavery and colonial past in many Western European countries that ‘glorify’ exploitation and subjugation of other people in other parts of the world?

In het hart van Friesland ligt een gebied dat rijk is aan cultuurhistorisch en natuurlijk erfgoed: de Trynwâlden. Deze regio, gelegen ten oosten van Leeuwarden, herbergt een unieke concentratie van adellijke buitenplaatsen, historische dorpen en waardevolle natuurgebieden. Toch blijft het toeristisch potentieel van dit parklandschap grotendeels onbenut. Met het project ‘Parklandschappen Trynwâlden’ slaan het Fries Erfgoed Collectief (FEC), Centre of Expertise in Leisure, Tourism & Hospitality (CELTH) en diverse regionale partners de handen ineen om van Trynwâlden een bewuste bestemming te maken voor bewoners, bezoekers en bedrijven. In dit artikel lichten we de achtergrond en opzet van het project toe en delen we de eerste resultaten van het eerste werkpakket: bestemmingsonderzoek.

Drie eeuwen lang vormde Paleis Het Loo het geliefde buitenverblijf van de Oranjes: stadhouders, koningen, koninginnen en hun hofhouding. Inmiddels is het al meer dan veertig jaar een museum waar iedereen welkom is. Het ademt geschiedenis en is tegelijkertijd springlevend: een historisch paleis en hedendaags museum, nauw verweven met het verhaal van Gelderland, Nederland en Europa.

within social and cultural constraints. Sparked by Surabhi Yadav’s search for the playful side of her late mother, the project has grown into a powerful visual archive and community. Through seven years of documentation, Yadav reveals how leisure becomes a rare, often hidden space where women can simply be themselves. Her work exposes disparities in access to public space, challenges stereotypes, and invites audiences to rethink freedom, visibility and equity in everyday life. Ultimately, it is a call to value leisure as a fundamental human need.

Dit nummer van Vrijetijdstudies is gecentreerd rondom maatschappelijke vraagstukken.