Following our participation in the conference “Mountains of Greece,” organized by the British School at Athens and the University of St. Andrews, we had the pleasure of speaking with Jason König and Faidon Moudopoulos-Athanasiou for the podcast series “Mountain Stories, Mountain Futures.”
Last October, Boulouki had the pleasure of participating in the “Mountains of Greece” conference, organised by the British School of Athens and the University of St Andrews. Assembling a range of academics, policymakers, practitioners, and civil-society actors, the conference aimed to shed new light on the heritage of mountain regions in Greece- exploring how the engagement with history, heritage, and conservation can sustainably contribute to environmental and cultural preservation in the context of pressing challenges facing their landscapes.
Boulouki was represented by the team’s associate, Marilena Mela, Assistant Professor of Heritage Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her contribution focused on the important role of Boulouki in the socio-environmental ecosystem of the Tzoumerka Mountains in Epirus. It introduced a broad range of the collective’s projects: from participatory stone-masonry workshops and apprenticeships aimed at intergenerational transmission of building knowledge, to the gradual, participatory restoration of the Frasta primary school through annual seminars, and the preservation of ecological corridors for non-human mountain life. Ultimately, it showed how Boulouki’s multi-year engagement with mountain communities and their local knowledge is an example of heritage work and sustainability practice brought together. Through the vivid discussions with conference contributors and the audience, the conference became a medium of sharing and conceptualising the value of our work, both for cultural heritage and for future sustainability.
During the podcast, we talk about the beginnings of Boulouki, and focus on co-production with mountain and island communities, and on the combination of environmental preservation with cultural heritage restoration.
