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.

Denise Thwaites is a curator, writer and researcher specialising in contemporary cultural economies, who is currently Senior Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Arts at the University of Canberra. Denise was awarded her PhD in Aesthetics through the University of New South Wales (Australia) and l’Université Paris 8, Vincennes – Saint-Denis (France), before joining UNSW iCinema Research Centre as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research harnesses poetic, experimental and collaborative modes of working to destabilise political, cultural and economic imaginaries.

Bethaney Turner is a researcher who explores the multispecies relationships between people, place and the environment, concentrating on how best to build the resilience and capacity of communities to enact more sustainable futures in a time of climate change. She has particular expertise in local food systems (including community food production, food rescue and food waste management) and understanding the impacts of everyday food interactions on human and planetary health and well-being. She works as an Associate Professor in Global Studies at the University of Canberra.

Tracy Ireland is an archaeologist and community-focused heritage practitioner and academic, and Professor of Cultural Heritage at the University of Canberra. Tracy has published widely on heritage management and heritage studies, particularly in areas such as the social value of heritage, heritage ethics, Indigenous historic heritage and archaeological sites conservation.