About

Tim Winter

Why exactly was history so badly taught at school, the obsession with the wives of Henry and the Tudor wars. Only years later did I realize there’s so much more at stake once we get beyond the elitist, periodized, actualized. We seem poorly equipped to understand the complex ways the past plays out in the present and why that matters; how futures are shaped by harnessing mythologies, and how the present continually invades the past to remake it as history. Increasingly asymmetric, interconnected times mean we need to better understand such processes in relation to nationalism and internationalism, geopolitics and conflicts rooted in culture and religion.

China's Belt and Road Initiative is emerging as a vast platform of heritage diplomacy. It challenges us to develop new ways of thinking about diplomacy and great power competition, and how culture and history are used for political gain in the twenty-first Century. As multiple players invest in the idea of “reviving” the Silk Roads, we are seeing new forms of cultural globalization and strategic ties form across Eurasia and Africa.

This project has led to a second book, which more fully addresses the Silk Road as one of the most compelling geocultural concepts of the modern era.

I will soon be taking up a research fellowship at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore to continue this work. Feel free to get in touch regarding Silk Road issues.

Toyah Horman - Researcher and Website Coordinator

Toyah works as a researcher in the areas of Heritage, Cultural Diplomacy and Sustainability within the School of Social Sciences, University of Western Australia. Obtaining a Masters in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies from Deakin University in 2011, she has been involved in a variety of projects at a number of Australian Institutions, including Museum Victoria, Heritage Victoria and the National Film and Sound Archive. Toyah has worked as a researcher on a number of large scale projects including on the ground data collection and writing reference material for the “Kelabit Highlands Museum Project” (Sarawak, Malaysia), and as a consultant on the international collaborative WARMAP project - producing short films and writing educational content for the project website. Toyah has worked with Tim on this Belt and Road project for a number of years, coordinating the development of the project’s website and assisting with other outcomes associated with the project.