Heritage-making in the capitalocene: deconstructing fishing heritage and regeneration in an English fishing port

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper investigates how heritage-led regeneration has mediated the reconfiguration of North Shields Fish Quay. North Shields is a town in the North East of England, once home to among Britain’s largest deep-sea trawling fleets. Following the collapse of the trawling industry in the late twentieth century, ongoing fisheries crisis, and undelivered Brexit promises, fishing heritage has become valued as a tool for social and economic development. However, this deployment of heritage generates both opportunities and threats. Situated between contemporary archaeology and critical heritage studies, this paper employs archaeological ethnography and critical discourse analysis to examine the material and discursive unfolding of heritage-led regeneration at North Shields Fish Quay. I situate heritage-making in the Capitalocene and argue that heritage-led regeneration represents a capitalist response to capitalism-induced crisis. By foregrounding the long-term exploitation and alienation of fishing communities, and their physical and social separation from the landscape, this paper demonstrates that heritage-led regeneration profits from, perpetuates and obscures these abuses.