Below are short overviews of the research clusters. You can find more information on the projects in the list at the bottom of the page.

Umeå University has one heritage research cluster – the Department of Culture and Media Studies – which has three current projects.  Five other research projects are are found in different departments but may have connections to research environments at other heritage institutions.  (More information about this is found under ‘Scattered clusters’).

Department of Culture and Media Studies, Umeå University
(Institutionen för kultur- och mediavetenskaper)
Research at the department is conducted within museology, ethnology, literature, art, media and communication. One of three on-going projects is in museology (about museum identities and orientations, their tools to communicate and the response from visitors), while two projects that study ways to create regional or local identity.

Scattered projects
Most of the heritage research projects found at Umeå University are scattered over different centers and departments. At the Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies research is being conducted in archaeology, history, history of ideas, philosophy and theology.  At the university there is a Center for Sami Research (CeSam) and at the Department of Sociology there is research which is relevant to heritage studies, e.g. with a focus on ethnicity, national identities, migration and racism.
There are scattered projects on cultural revitalization, changes in Sami cultural landscapes, cultural meetings and new economic provision, conflicts in history writing and uses of the past. Nationalism and the rebuilding cultural heritage after conflicts are also being studied.