Ethnographies of Urban Heritage: Politics, Memories, Conflict

Drawing on historical and contemporary ethnographic research, this edited collection addresses tangible and intangible forms of urban heritage, their impact on urban policies, and their consequences for urban life, both at individual and social levels. The chapters look at culturally diverse concepts of heritage in their social and historical context, bringing out the potential conflict that cultural memories and ideological approaches may generate and the related processes of social and political legitimation. The book offers different perspectives on how culturally driven urban policies interlink with power dynamics. It will contribute to understanding how memory practices may reflect changing historical narratives, political and ideological projects, and the (re)definition of social identities. This book is of special interest to scholars and students of anthropology, sociology, urban history, ethnographic research, material culture, social and political sciences, and archaeology.

Giuliana B. Prato is Honorary Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Kent, UK, EASU Academician (European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine), and a co-founder and Secretary-Treasurer of the International Urban Symposium-IUS.

Marcello Mollica is Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Messina, Italy, and Deputy-chair of the IUAES Commission on Urban Anthropology.