Living with Heritage: Involuntary Entanglements of the Anthropocene – An Introduction

Abstract

Heritage has come to be understood as a set of valued objects, landscapes and prac-tices to be preserved and maintained for the benefit of present and future generations (Harrison 2020, 20–31). In recent years, commitments to safeguard and care for heritage have proliferated, fuelled by perceptions of threat that urge caretakers to act before it is too late (Holtorf 2015; DeSilvey and Harrison 2020). This rhetoric has been exacerbated by the global climate crisis that has rendered archaeological sites, landscapes and monuments even more fragile, testing the limits of conventional ideas of stewardship and management of heritage resources.