The excursion of the Heritage and Memory Studies is a practical intervention where students in the master program acquire new skills that help them understand heritage in context, theories about presentation, representation and narratives of heritage, think about practices of collecting, display and usage of heritage. It enhances the theoretical knowledge and practical experience of students with current debates about identity, belonging and remembrance.

In the past decade, we have witnessed challenges to otherwise enshrined political and cultural notions of the primacy of 'Western' Europe, the justness of the European Union project, the equity of principles of international law or those of human rights. The rise of far-right and nativism, contestations of gender and identity politics, 'othering' and exclusionary politics have engendered long-term changes to our political landscape. To understand these, scholarship generally focuses on political actors and narratives that might help localize and grasp the roots of these contestations, but there are other facets equally crucial to these debates.  Heritage is one of them, as are memory politics.

Throughout the 10-day excursion, the students visited several sites in Belgrade, Sarajevo and Srebrenica. Each student presented on a site relevant for their own research interests, leading to rich discussions on topics and issues relating to the complex heritage and memory politics and dynamics of the region. The excursion kicked off on October 19 in Belgrade, Serbia. In Belgrade, the programme included visits to the Ivo Andric Museum, the Eternal Flame Monument, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the site of former nightclub Industrija. In Sarajevo, students presented at the Sarajevo Roses memorials, and the War Childhood Museum and discussed Yugonostalgia at Café Tito. 

The excursion also included a visit to the Srebrenica Memorial Center and Cemetery, dedicated to the remembrance of the Srebrenica genocide of 1995. Here, the group was welcomed and shown around by genocide survivor and curator Azir Osmanović. At the Srebrenica  Memorial Center, students presented and discussed the topics of representation of women, remembrance through the annual Peace March and the canonisation of Srebrenica in the Netherlands.