Sylff News

Artwork by Spanish artist Mar Muriel for the TEHIC (Towards a European Heritage Interpretation Curriculum) project.

Farhad Nazir, together with collegue Carlos Romaris of the University of Vigo in Spain, has published a paper in the proceedings of the Erasmus+ TEHIC conference on Training and Professionalisation in Heritage Interpretation: Challenges and Future Directions, held in May 2025 at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Nazir recently completed his doctoral degree in Tourism, Heritage, and Territory at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. He was awarded a Sylff fellowship in 2022 and a Sylff Research Grant in 2024.

His paper, titled “Community Heritage Interpretation and Sustainability of Heritage Sites: A Case Study of Swat, Pakistan,” argues that there is a significant correlation between the sustainability of heritage sites and the interpretation of such sites by the community, particularly in territories where socio-religious and socio-cultural disparities are prevalent.

The study substantiates the cultural narratives of the Muslim community in Bazira, Swat, Pakistan—a prominent Buddhist heritage site—through storytelling entailing dimensions of cultural pride and sense of ownership, using a qualitative research strategy.

Given the religious and cultural variances between the residing Muslim communities and Buddhist heritage, this study examines how the local community interprets the tangible and intangible dimensions of Buddhist heritage in comparison to their own culture.

The storytelling format of data collection through open-ended interviews revealed several semblances of architecture, wearables, and agriculture between the ancient Buddhist and existing Muslim communities. Given such cultural continuity, the current Muslim community advocates for and contributes to the sustainability of these sites. The study concludes with relevant implications and future research avenues.

Link to the portal of the University of Gothenburg: https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/90217

Link to the publication: https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/handle/2077/90217/TEHIC%20PROCEEDINGS%202025.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y