Ethnographic reflections on ‘oppositional heritage discourse’ in two post-earthquake Italian cities

Oppositional heritage discourse, though intended to counter neoliberal urban processes and marketization of cultural heritage, paradoxically supports them by enforcing rigid boundaries on heritage citizenship and dismissing non-philological relationships with historic centers. This study reveals that such discourse, exemplified in post-earthquake Naples (1980) and L’Aquila (2009), is rooted in idealist notions of collective identity but ultimately perpetuates the very systems it opposes. Ethnographic research in both cities—including observations of protests against government inaction in L’Aquila and long-term fieldwork in Naples—exposes the tensions between civic heritage advocacy and its unintended consequences, challenging assumptions about heritage discourse as purely oppositional.

Dines, N. (2015). Ethnographic reflections on ‘oppositional heritage discourse’ in two post-earthquake Italian cities. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 22(2), 102–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2015.1053401