Alternative Economies of Heritage

Alternative Economies of Heritage is a groundbreaking edited volume that critically evaluates how the ‘work’ of heritage can be reimagined, as a multifarious field of thought and action, to resist the reductive economies of colonial capitalism.

In a global context of cultural financialisation and ecological crisis, where sustainable, anti-colonial and creative approaches are required to solve urgent problems, this volume provides readers with an enriched understanding of heritage as a transforming and multidisciplinary domain, which continues to question what is valued, discarded or shared with future generations. Bringing together researchers from the academy and industry, and from varied international contexts, this volume asks how does ‘heritage’ – as a complex intersection of contemporary practices with their own diverse histories – recognise and circulate cultural value between generations and communities? This volume brings together critical and creative perspectives from 29 authors, showcasing diverse, coexisting heritage economies across six continents that offer new horizons for cultural inheritance. It also platforms perspectives from professional and grassroots community-based heritage practitioners, which may be of interest to non-academic readers from not-for-profit and public sectors.

Readers of Alternative Economies of Heritage may include students and scholars of heritage and museum studies, contemporary art, urbanism, environmental humanities, archaeology, anthropology, digital humanities and Indigenous studies, among other disciplines.