12Heritage Practice: The Politics of Racism/Gender/Sexuality

Abstract

In this piece, I highlight the critical interventions presented in this collection for archaeology as heritage practice, as well as amplify many of the points that were made in relation to politics, particularly around the intersection of racism and gender/sexuality. Core tensions running through this collection are the many relationships between ways of being, concepts of heritage, visibility/invisibility of communities of people, and the practice and management of heritage. The interconnections between identity and heritage are shown as multiple and nuanced. This collection stands at the precipice of radically calling out the white heteropatriarchy that is the structural foundation of modern archaeology; rather than raising its voice, it is a polite, yet insistent, articulation of why inequity exists and how a feminist heritage practice might be able to address this issue in a new way. I will rely on the work of radical feminist scholars, thinkers, poets, and activists to support and articulate strength: each subheading cites a radical feminist thinker, and through the use of their words, I hope to elevate the work we are all engaged in—and it is work; much more needs to be done.