Heritage research in the 21st century: departing from the useful futures of sustainable development

Abstract

At the beginning of the 20th century, Dadaists were shouting, 'ruin the museums and heritage'. Near the end of it, Fukuyama (1989) prophetically questioned 'the end of history', while museum, heritage and memory rituals were becoming all but unavoidable. In the last two decades, in the wake of occupied and uncertain futures, the heritage field has boomed. Hundreds of museums have opened each year across the globe; heritage tourism has become an ever-stronger industry niche; heritage issues have made it into numerous policy areas other than culture; heritage studies have become an immensely dynamic and interdisciplinary field; heritage practices have extended their scope, aspirations and approaches with each new day; and conflicts in numerous parts of the world have incorporated references to heritage and history. Questions that have been raised and continuously discussed in these decades have transformed both heritage practice and research. What counts as heritage? Who has the right to define, safeguard and transform it? What is the role of memory institutions in ever more plural and fragmented memory landscapes? Which knowledges, skills and competences are needed to be engaged in heritage practice, professionally and otherwise? How is heritage to be understood and cared for?These and other questions have challenged the long-standing, Western European, hegemonic way of understanding and practising heritage. The push for critical reassessment within the heritage profession, the new muse-

Networked Heritage Management in the Lower Guadalquivir (Spain)

“…This is a relevant issue in many cities and monumental sites around the world. Advancing toward the creation of new heritage management approaches that replace abusive practices in support of more sustainable and socially responsible ones is thus a current challenge in the heritage sphere [20].…”