Critical Theory and the Anthropology of Heritage Landscapes

Abstract

What are the cultural politics of making place? How do we reconcile the heritage landscapes we encounter in our work with their sociopolitical and historical contexts? What avenues are there to grapple with and present contemporary concerns? Critical Theory and the Anthropology of Heritage Landscapes examines landscapes as heritage and shows how these are engaged in a field of power. It argues that to not locate the political contexts of heritage work has consequences. Research experiences in Indigenous and descendant heritage landscapes in Alaska, Mongolia, and Western Australia serve as touchstones to show how heritage landscapes are enmeshed in political and environmental struggles: climate change, oil spills, environmental degradation, political instability, identity politics, and resource extraction. Drawing on the emergent field of critical heritage theory and using the metaphor of the resource frontier, Critical Theory and the Anthropology of Heritage Landscapes shows how these “new heritage landscapes” are also increasingly imbricated in development and extractive projects. Heritage experts, private and extractive interests, government representatives, and descendant groups negotiate and broker, promote and contest, and create value and meaning. In the process, changes in heritage legislation and corporate heritage strategies create significant changes that, in some cases, have reframed Indigenous lands and heritage as resources.