Ecologies and Communities: Heritage as a social and multi-species practice

Research output: Other contribution

Abstract

Concepts of ecology and community increasingly come to the fore in discourse fuelled by environmental concerns, as well as analysis around social cohesion and diversity. Ecology is the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. Community concerns the people living in one particular area, or people who are considered as a unit because of their common interests, social group, or nationality. But what does it mean to make or perform community today? How do communities come together? What is the role of identity and power within community structures? How do issues and realities such as migration and diaspora, or homelessness and spatial redevelopment impact a concept of “Community”?

Both ecology and community concern the interconnectedness of things, and the complexity of layered relationships and interactions within, and between, human and more-than-human existence. Notably, ecology and community are tied up with practices and processes that are spatially situated. Multi-species ethnography and scholarship emphasises the plurality of communities and organisms, and offers ecological models for building and evolving new communities in times of stress, fear, grief, loss. This talk will consider how multi-species approaches offer opportunities for an expanded field of heritage studies and heritage practice, as we begin to consider the role of “ecology” and “community” for addressing the climate emergency, inequalities, and global movement.
Original languageEnglish
TypeTalk for the Scottish Civic Trust.
Media of outputVlog
Publication statusPublished - 2021

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