An Ecological Approach to Heritage

Abstract

The study of heritage concerns fundamental questions about the human condition in the contemporary world. The right to control define and actively engage with one’s own heritage is increasingly framed as a fundamental human rights issue, as visible in twentieth-century articulations of an ever wider, political commitment to preserve the world’s cultural and natural diversity to make it accessible for present and future generations. The boundaries enforced through such toxic practices reflect that heritage is host to a wider non-human constituency, a “heritage biota” – “communities of organisms living on and in built heritage” that also partake in its transformation. An ecological understanding of heritage builds on the recognition that a heritage object often exceeds its historically specific figuration and is subject both to “creaturely” material change and dynamic practices of valuation. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.

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