The limits of a ‘heritage at risk’ framework: The construction of post-disaster cultural heritage in Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Abstract

This paper discusses what it means to label heritage as being 'at risk' in post-disaster landscapes in the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. It questions the relevance of a 'heritage at risk' framework, pointing out the issues associated with starting from this popular threat-based model of preservation in the aftermath of near or total destruction. By challenging the hegemony of a 'heritage at risk' rhetorical device that constructs heritage typologies, this debate focuses instead on the emergence and mastering of new heritage in post-tsunami Aceh, and the ways in which a shift in focus is able to document and preserve the emergence of unique heritage constructs and priorities. This paper promotes the study of heritage as a performance that transcends an emphasis on victimhood, toward framing a heritage construct that is productive and dynamic, a steward for post-disaster identities.

Decoupling ‘Open’ and ‘Ethical’ Archaeologies: Rethinking Deficits and Expertise for Ethical Public Participation in Archaeology and Heritage

“…If the answer is to save money or boost professional capacity, this should prompt serious considerations of the necessity of the intervention that move well beyond platitudes of heritage being inherently valuable, endangered and at risk (cf. Holtorf and Ortman 2008, May 2009, Harrison 2013, Rico 2014, Vidal and Dias 2016, Fredheim 2018, DeSilvey and Harrison 2019. Similarly, any initiatives whose aims involve 'capacitybuilding', 'empowerment' or educating publics should query the origins of the perceived deficits that demand such interventions.…”

Reclaiming post-disaster narratives of loss in Indonesia

“…This dominant discourse posits that what has already been identified as having heritage value is integral to the wellbeing of a people, because, this discourse argues, the familiar or known built landscape matters in various ways. This is an essential element of a heritage rhetoric that anchors its preservation discourse on identifying the built landscape as a landscape 'at risk' (Rico 2014(Rico , 2015. It claims, for example, that a heritage landscape is integral to the construction of contemporary identities as traditions are put in an intimate relationship to landscapes and objects that had actual or speculative connection to the emergence of said identitiesa connection that must be preserved in perpetuity.…”

“…Therefore, while the emphasis of heritage discourses has remained focused on addressing near or total destruction of the built landscape with a view to maintain or enhance its material and social condition, I have argued elsewhere that this past-oriented emphasis prevents the articulation of emerging (creative or resistant) narratives that may be attached to new forms of postdestruction heritage (Rico 2014(Rico , 2016. This work, which emerges from the study of post-tsunami heritage reconstruction narratives, argues in support of valuing a study and embrace of destruction as a formative aspect of cultural heritage value.…”

La construcción discursiva del patrimonio agroalimentario en las sociedades contemporáneas: aproximaciones conceptuales y debates teóricos

“…Esta corriente analiza el esencialismo patrimonial, bajo enfoques teóricos post-estructuralistas como el análisis discursivo, la semiótica y el deconstruccionismo (Waterton y Watson, 2013;Brumann, 2014) que representan un marco teórico anti-hegemónico (Waterton et al, 2006;Contreras, 2014;Rico, 2014;Roberts y Cohen, 2014).…”