DEcolonial heritage

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This volume explores the interplay of postcolonial and decolonial perspectives on cultural conflicts, focusing on their ecological dimensions and implications for natural and cultural heritage. It presents examples from four continents, spanning from the medieval Middle East, impacted by ecological and social crises, to contemporary representations of Vikings, Indigenous knowledge in the Arctic, literary expressions of heritage, and the politics of Mediterranean urban architecture. The authors investigate how societies in developing nations strive to protect their cultural and ecological identities amid environmental threats and the dominance of Western heritage narratives. They also examine how Western societies often reconstruct their histories, evoking a nostalgic vision of a pre-modern past, frozen in an idealized moment. The essays reveal that colonial and historical processes of 'heritagization' respond to deep emotional needs for stability. However, this longing for nostalgia can clash with urgent demands for political and economic survival in a rapidly evolving landscape marked by aggressive extraction practices. While the volume does not resolve this tension, it offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the complex politics and poetics of heritage and collective cultural memory.