Heritage Contests: What Can We Learn from Social Movements?

A new framework integrating social movement theory with heritage research reveals how collective identity and heritage are co-produced through political and interpretive processes. By applying this approach to the World Heritage site of Pasargadae, Iran, the study demonstrates that heritage activists can successfully advance their perspectives within official discourse, leading to the inclusion of pre-Islamic heritage in the Islamic republic's narrative. This method addresses gaps in existing heritage research by offering a set of questions that open new avenues for analyzing heritage movements and contests.

Jones, T., Mozaffari, A., & Jasper, J. M. (2017). Heritage Contests: What Can We Learn from Social Movements? Heritage & Society, 10(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159032x.2018.1428445