Heritage as Placemaking participated with its own panel in ECSAS the bi-annual conference of the European Association of South Asian Studies, held from the 1st to the 4th of October, 2025 in Heidelberg, Germany. Heritage activism was investigated in its actions upon space through eight papers, moderated by HaP Principal Investigator Dr. Stefanie Lotter. The two further co-convenors of the panel, Principal Investigator Prof. Dr. Christiane Brosius and Research Fellow Dr. Monica Mottin, presented respectively the papers Heritage as placemaking through artistic means and Festivals and melas: activism and aesthetic commons in Janakpurdham, Nepal.

The Colombo Institute for Human Sciences has become the Heritage as Placemaking Project’s newest partner starting on May 1, 2025. Dr Sasanka Perera, one of our principal investigators, has become chairman of CI after moving to Sri Lanka from India in August 2024. Along with him, our research fellow Dr Pooja Kalita has also become affiliated with CI. 

The team of Herne Katha, the Nepal-based film documentary project known for its telling of everyday stories in Nepal, is coming to the UK! Join us for a free event on May 4 at SOAS University of London, when the Herne Katha team will preview their newest film, “The Lost Years”, and answer questions from the audience.

HaP post-doctoral researcher Monalisa Maharjan presented her paper “Constructing identity with the Chariot of Karunamaya. A case of Barahi Guthi from Patan (Nepal).” Her work, which examined aspects of placemaking in carpentry work necessary for the creation and maintenance of the Chariot of Karunamaya, was based on her recent fieldwork in the Kathmandu Valley.

On July 28, Christiane Brosius presented her work on placemaking and its infrastructures in the Kathmandu Valley as part of the ECSA2023 conference in Turin. The talk was part of a panel, 10 – Stasis and Motion in the Processional Culture of Kathmandu Valley: The Buṅgadyaḥ Yātrā Revisited, which was also convened by Christiane Brosius, alongside Manik Bajracharya and Rajan Khatiwoda.

On Friday, July 28th, Monica Mottin presented a paper at ECSAS 2023 in Turin. The paper, “The revival of Jhijhiya dance in Janakpur, Nepal,” demonstrated some of her findings from recent fieldwork in Janakpur. Her talk was part of Panel 47, Recent Cultural Heritage Initiatives in Nepal and the Himalayas, convened by Verena Widorn, Nina Mirnig, and Robin Coningham.

Binita Magaiya and Stefanie Lotter presented at the Annual Kathmandu Conference on Nepal & The Himalaya (26–28 July 2023), hosted at Social Science Baha, Kathmandu. Their presentation, which focused on their recent research at the sites of Mukundapur and Muchuck, formed part of Panel A8: “Identity and Community Formation through Discourse.” The panel was chaired by Kumud Rana, with Sanjay Sharma as the discussant.

HaP researcher Binita Magaiya presented a paper at the 2023 World Congress of Architects, which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her paper examined various levels of community involvement in the reconstruction process of the iconic monument of Kasthamandap, which was destroyed in the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake in Nepal.

Dr. Monalisa Maharjan presents her work on the Hiti water systems, part of her research for the Heritage as Placemaking project.

Dr. Pooja Kalita has presented her work on heritage infrastructures of Bodh Gaya as part of the Annual GAPS (Gesellschaft für anglophone postkoloniale Studien) Conference, which took place at the University of Konstanz from May 17–20, 2023. Her paper, “The infrastructure of 'Heritage': The Global, National and Local in Bodh Gaya,” presented her observations after six weeks of fieldwork in Bodh Gaya.

On May 16, 2023, Dr. Monica Mottin gave a guest lecture titled "Researching Theater and Social Change in Nepal." The event was jointly organized by the Department of Anthropology Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus in Ghantaghar, Kathmandu and the Tri-Chandra Anthropological Society.

On 31st March, at South Asian University (Sociology Classroom 006, ES Building) from 2:00 pm–4:00 pm, Heritage as Placemaking post-doctoral researcher Dr. Emiline Smith (Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, University of Glasgow) will give a presentation that traces the pathway of trafficked Asian cultural objects over the last 50 years. Please see the accompanying poster for the full abstract and further details.

On January 25, 2023, Dr. Monica Mottin led a workshop on theater in Nepal for MA Applied Theater students of Mountview College, London. The presentation highlighted her research on community and folk theater in Janakpur and Patan, Nepal, with an emphasis on the Kartik Naach.

HaP Researchers Binita Magaiya, Dr. Monalisa Maharjan, and Dr. Sabin Ninglekhu each presented their work as part of the seminar Community Resilience - A Reflection on 2015 Earthquake, an event in Kathmandu organized by Queen’s University Belfast, The British Academy, and the Royal Institute of British Architects.

On December 11, 2022, Heritage as Placemaking team members Dr. Monalisa Maharjan, Dr. Sabin Ninglekhu, and Binita Magaiya participated in a discussion hosted by the initiative Folk Lok as part of their initiative Dāphā Calling, an annual forum for the sharing of knowledge and practice on the Kathmandu Valley's historic Dāphā music tradition. The seminar presented the team’s experiences from the Heritage as Placemaking Summer School 2022.

On December October 21, 2022, Dr. Monalisa Maharjan presented a paper prepared by her and Dr. Stefanie Lotter for the conference Ethnographies of Urban Data and Technology, hosted by the IT University and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. The presentation explored the Alko Hiti water well in Patan, Kathmandu Valley, to ask how attempts to preserve the ancient heritage of water conduits intersect with local neighborhood governance and new forms of heritage activism.

Baakhan Nyane Waa presents its second episode of our Nostalgia Series, to hear the stories of the indigenous community of the Kirati. Our storyteller, Prof. Dr. Martin Gaenszle, will be answering questions in this storytelling session. (Organized by Baakhan Nyane Waa, conducted in collaboration with the Heritage as Placemaking Summer School 2022)