1248 | | Our heritage common future. A counter-hegemonic perspective on natural heritage landscapes. | Giovanna Di Matteo (1); Margherita Cisani (2)
The concept of heritage is imbued in the past, while projecting towards the future. Scholars have demonstrated that dominant groups have the power to define what is worth preserving; however, heritage as a social and cultural construct is dynamic and can be challenged and contested. Similarly, meanings assigned to landscape by society can also change over time.
By considering heritage as a politicised process it is possible to expand the discourse beyond the perspective of conservation, management, and valorisation of natural and cultural heritage, in order to consider processes of deconstruction, reconstruction, and co-construction of everyday heritage landscapes, recognizing the role of individuals and groups in providing multivocal and alternative perspectives towards a common future.
This session draws from the concepts of authorised heritage discourse, heritage from below and counter-hegemonic discourse, which pose the challenge of taking into account the often hidden narratives of non-experts and ‘non-elites’, with attention to everyday and vernacular heritage, including decolonial and feminist heritage. In this sense, while there is an expanding literature concerning cultural heritage, less investigated is the perspective of natural or hybrid heritage.
Environmental geography and political ecology demonstrated that nature is a cultural concept that we use to understand the world. Thus, we wish to engage with heritage geographies which examine the connection between heritage, landscape, and nature, emphasising their interconnected, and cultural nature. Can we talk of heritage from below within so-called ‘natural landscapes’ and in what terms? Do individuals and communities participate in the definition of natural heritage or do they a-critically consume the idea of natural heritage defined by experts?
Within this frame we invite contributions that question the relationship between natural/cultural heritage (with particular attention to the first), landscape, tourism and recreational mobilities, and informal and counter-hegemonic practices.
References:
Arregui A., Mackenthun G., Wodianka S. (Eds.), 2018, DEcolonial Heritage. Natures, Cultures, and the Asymmetries of Memory, Waxmann.
Castiglioni B., 2022, Paesaggio e società. Una prospettiva geografica, Carocci.
Cisani M., 2020, Paesaggi e mobilità. Strumenti per le geografie del quotidiano, FrancoAngeli.
Haraway D., 1991, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women. The Reinvention of Nature. Routledge.
Harvey D., Waterton E., 2015, “Editorial: Landscapes of Heritage and Heritage Landscapes”, Landscape Research, 40:8, pp. 905-910.
Pettenati G. (Ed.), 2022, Landscape as Heritage: International Critical Perspectives, Taylor & Francis Ltd.
Robertson I., 2016, Heritage from Below, Routledge.
Smith L., 2008, “Heritage, Gender and Identity”, in Graham B., Howard P. (Eds.), The Ashgate Research Companion to Heritage and Identity, Ashgate, pp. 159-178. The session welcomes contributions in the form of presentations in English.
Giovanna Di Matteo (1); Margherita Cisani (2)
(1) Università degli Studi di Padova, (2) Università degli Studi di Padova
ID Abstract: