Trinidad Rico | Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (original) (raw)

Papers and Chapters by Trinidad Rico

Heritage Keywords: Rhetoric and Redescription in Cultural Heritage, 2015

Heritage Unbound: Rhetoric and Redescription in Cultural Heritage, 2015

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, May 2014

It could be said that the Arabian Gulf is a land of extremes for heritage conservation and manage... more It could be said that the Arabian Gulf is a land of extremes for heritage conservation and management, but these are extremes that are not often discussed in conjunction. On one hand, there is a process of development, redevelopment, and urbanization that can be said to be extreme due to the rate and intensity of change. The changing landscape of affl uent cities in this region poses unique challenges for the preservation of heritage, leading to growing efforts to restore, revive, and rescue cultural heritage sites. On the other hand, extreme environmental conditions are unusually harsh for the conservation of heritage sites, with notable rates of deterioration for all type of material. This special issue addresses these particular challenges, aiming to discuss how rapid change and a fast-growing desire to preserve and present cultural heritage translates into unique conservation and management practices in this region.

Cultural Heritage in the Arabian Peninsula: Debates, Discourses and Practices, May 2014

Cultural Heritage in the Arabian Peninsula: Debates, Discourses and Practices, May 2014

Journal of Social Archaeology, Jun 2014

This paper discusses what it means to label heritage as being 'at risk' in post-disaster landscap... more This paper discusses what it means to label heritage as being 'at risk' in post-disaster landscapes in the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. It questions the relevance of a 'heritage at risk' framework, pointing out the issues associated with starting from this popular threat-based model of preservation in the aftermath of near or total destruction. By challenging the hegemony of a 'heritage at risk' rhetorical device that constructs heritage typologies, this debate focuses instead on the emergence and mastering of new heritage in post-tsunami Aceh, and the ways in which a shift in focus is able to document and preserve the emergence of unique heritage constructs and priorities. This paper promotes the study of heritage as a performance that transcends an emphasis on victimhood, toward framing a heritage construct that is productive and dynamic, a steward for post-disaster identities.

World Archaeology, Dec 2013

This article discusses the construction of Qatari heritage in the context of pre-conceived ideas ... more This article discusses the construction of Qatari heritage in the context of pre-conceived ideas of 'cultural heritage' predominant in the global and regional spheres that operate in this country. It considers the location of Qatar within Middle Eastern heritage discourses and debates, and identifies productive similarities as well as unique avenues for further discussion. The authors identify the challenge of formulating methodologies that are able to recognize, accommodate, encompass and reflect local heritage dialogues and practices that exist in Qatar, which may aid in further researching the wider Arabian Peninsula, its histories and heritages.

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, Jan 1, 2008

Abstract: The degree to which the World Heritage List reflects the diversity of heritage types ha... more Abstract: The degree to which the World Heritage List reflects the diversity of heritage types has been a matter of recent discussions. The World Heritage Committee itself has identified geographical and typological imbalances for over a decade, but their Global Strategy, and ...

Books by Trinidad Rico

Offering key insights into critical debates on the construction, management and destruction of he... more Offering key insights into critical debates on the construction, management and destruction of heritage in Muslim contexts, this volume considers how Islamic heritages are constructed through texts and practices which award heritage value. It examines how the monolithic representation of Islamic heritage (as a singular construct) can be enriched by the true diversity of Islamic heritages and how endangerment and vulnerability in this type of heritage construct can be re-conceptualized. Assessing these questions through an interdisciplinary lens including heritage studies, anthropology, history, conservation, religious studies and archaeology, this pivot covers global and local examples including heritage case studies from Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, and Pakistan.

This critical ethnography shows the sociocultural, historical, and political agendas in the herit... more This critical ethnography shows the sociocultural, historical, and political agendas in the heritage discourse after the tsunami that swamped Banda Aceh, Indonesia, in 2004. Countering the typical Western ideology and practice of ameliorating heritage-at-risk are local, post-colonial trajectories that permitted the community to construct its own meaning of heritage.

Reviews by Trinidad Rico

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 9(1): 54-59, Mar 2007

Public Archaeology 10(2):116-118, May 2011

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, Jan 1, 2006

A conference on the theme 'Archaeology in conflict'was held from 10th to 12th November ... more A conference on the theme 'Archaeology in conflict'was held from 10th to 12th November 2006 at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London and was organized by the Centre for Applied Archaeology (CAA). The aims were to increase our understanding of ...

Conferences & Workshops by Trinidad Rico

Papers by Trinidad Rico

Archaeological Dialogues, Dec 1, 2021

loom large in the history of the field of heritage in Europe and the United States, Atatürk, one ... more loom large in the history of the field of heritage in Europe and the United States, Atatürk, one might argue, couldn’t have cared less what European preservationists thought. He had his own agenda. It was a local one, to serve local interests. The point here is not that we shouldn’t critique the ‘authorized heritage discourse’ (AHD) as hegemonic heritage discourse that leads to a distorted and unequal allocation of heritage value and resources (we should), but that in making the AHD the main focus of our critique we also, perhaps ironically, risk according it more value than it actually possesses, certainly in local communities. One complement to a necessary critique of any hegemonic narrative is to build alternate narratives, and defining a notion of the ‘Islamic’ in heritage helps build and give depth, value and visibility to a local model for heritage preservation practices (Mahdy 2019). Yet it is important to clarify a still frequently misunderstood point: that in its current usage ‘Islamic’ does not only refer to spiritual practice or religious faith alone but to the long, 1,400-year history of the entirety of cultural production in the lands that fell under the rule of Muslim sovereigns. As Shahab Ahmed and Wendy M.K. Shaw have recently argued, in this context, heritage sites and objects that were created by Christians, Jews, Hindus and others can justifiably be called ‘Islamic’ (Ahmed 2015; Shaw 2019). Thus, as has recently been argued, the classical heritage of the Middle East and Europe was and continues to be claimed as a crucial factor in shaping Islamic heritage (Munawar 2019). And this troubling of the ‘Islamic’ also challenges the tidy orthodoxies we use to define the ‘West’ – since Islam always was, and continues to be, a vital shaping force in the history of the West – indeed, a critical part of the history of the European Renaissance in which Western heritage values ultimately find their roots (Trivellato 2010). As Ahmed puts it, ‘Islam contains multitudes’; it has always been a vast sea of competing, sometimes contradictory, discourses. Its long history equally embodies a range of complex traditions with respect to heritage preservation (Rico 2020a; Mulder 2017). To define a site as ‘Islamic’ is not to fix it, then, within the narrow limits of a spiritual tradition – in fact, that narrow view of Islam is one forged by the Western intellectual tradition, and one I am certain that Rico would agree we’d do well to stop reinforcing. It’s our notion of ‘Islamic’ that needs to be expanded, and in doing so, our understanding of Islamic heritage must expand along with it.

Heritage Keywords: Rhetoric and Redescription in Cultural Heritage, 2015

Heritage Unbound: Rhetoric and Redescription in Cultural Heritage, 2015

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, May 2014

It could be said that the Arabian Gulf is a land of extremes for heritage conservation and manage... more It could be said that the Arabian Gulf is a land of extremes for heritage conservation and management, but these are extremes that are not often discussed in conjunction. On one hand, there is a process of development, redevelopment, and urbanization that can be said to be extreme due to the rate and intensity of change. The changing landscape of affl uent cities in this region poses unique challenges for the preservation of heritage, leading to growing efforts to restore, revive, and rescue cultural heritage sites. On the other hand, extreme environmental conditions are unusually harsh for the conservation of heritage sites, with notable rates of deterioration for all type of material. This special issue addresses these particular challenges, aiming to discuss how rapid change and a fast-growing desire to preserve and present cultural heritage translates into unique conservation and management practices in this region.

Cultural Heritage in the Arabian Peninsula: Debates, Discourses and Practices, May 2014

Cultural Heritage in the Arabian Peninsula: Debates, Discourses and Practices, May 2014

Journal of Social Archaeology, Jun 2014

This paper discusses what it means to label heritage as being 'at risk' in post-disaster landscap... more This paper discusses what it means to label heritage as being 'at risk' in post-disaster landscapes in the city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. It questions the relevance of a 'heritage at risk' framework, pointing out the issues associated with starting from this popular threat-based model of preservation in the aftermath of near or total destruction. By challenging the hegemony of a 'heritage at risk' rhetorical device that constructs heritage typologies, this debate focuses instead on the emergence and mastering of new heritage in post-tsunami Aceh, and the ways in which a shift in focus is able to document and preserve the emergence of unique heritage constructs and priorities. This paper promotes the study of heritage as a performance that transcends an emphasis on victimhood, toward framing a heritage construct that is productive and dynamic, a steward for post-disaster identities.

World Archaeology, Dec 2013

This article discusses the construction of Qatari heritage in the context of pre-conceived ideas ... more This article discusses the construction of Qatari heritage in the context of pre-conceived ideas of 'cultural heritage' predominant in the global and regional spheres that operate in this country. It considers the location of Qatar within Middle Eastern heritage discourses and debates, and identifies productive similarities as well as unique avenues for further discussion. The authors identify the challenge of formulating methodologies that are able to recognize, accommodate, encompass and reflect local heritage dialogues and practices that exist in Qatar, which may aid in further researching the wider Arabian Peninsula, its histories and heritages.

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, Jan 1, 2008

Abstract: The degree to which the World Heritage List reflects the diversity of heritage types ha... more Abstract: The degree to which the World Heritage List reflects the diversity of heritage types has been a matter of recent discussions. The World Heritage Committee itself has identified geographical and typological imbalances for over a decade, but their Global Strategy, and ...

Offering key insights into critical debates on the construction, management and destruction of he... more Offering key insights into critical debates on the construction, management and destruction of heritage in Muslim contexts, this volume considers how Islamic heritages are constructed through texts and practices which award heritage value. It examines how the monolithic representation of Islamic heritage (as a singular construct) can be enriched by the true diversity of Islamic heritages and how endangerment and vulnerability in this type of heritage construct can be re-conceptualized. Assessing these questions through an interdisciplinary lens including heritage studies, anthropology, history, conservation, religious studies and archaeology, this pivot covers global and local examples including heritage case studies from Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, and Pakistan.

This critical ethnography shows the sociocultural, historical, and political agendas in the herit... more This critical ethnography shows the sociocultural, historical, and political agendas in the heritage discourse after the tsunami that swamped Banda Aceh, Indonesia, in 2004. Countering the typical Western ideology and practice of ameliorating heritage-at-risk are local, post-colonial trajectories that permitted the community to construct its own meaning of heritage.

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites 9(1): 54-59, Mar 2007

Public Archaeology 10(2):116-118, May 2011

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, Jan 1, 2006

A conference on the theme 'Archaeology in conflict'was held from 10th to 12th November ... more A conference on the theme 'Archaeology in conflict'was held from 10th to 12th November 2006 at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London and was organized by the Centre for Applied Archaeology (CAA). The aims were to increase our understanding of ...

Archaeological Dialogues, Dec 1, 2021

loom large in the history of the field of heritage in Europe and the United States, Atatürk, one ... more loom large in the history of the field of heritage in Europe and the United States, Atatürk, one might argue, couldn’t have cared less what European preservationists thought. He had his own agenda. It was a local one, to serve local interests. The point here is not that we shouldn’t critique the ‘authorized heritage discourse’ (AHD) as hegemonic heritage discourse that leads to a distorted and unequal allocation of heritage value and resources (we should), but that in making the AHD the main focus of our critique we also, perhaps ironically, risk according it more value than it actually possesses, certainly in local communities. One complement to a necessary critique of any hegemonic narrative is to build alternate narratives, and defining a notion of the ‘Islamic’ in heritage helps build and give depth, value and visibility to a local model for heritage preservation practices (Mahdy 2019). Yet it is important to clarify a still frequently misunderstood point: that in its current usage ‘Islamic’ does not only refer to spiritual practice or religious faith alone but to the long, 1,400-year history of the entirety of cultural production in the lands that fell under the rule of Muslim sovereigns. As Shahab Ahmed and Wendy M.K. Shaw have recently argued, in this context, heritage sites and objects that were created by Christians, Jews, Hindus and others can justifiably be called ‘Islamic’ (Ahmed 2015; Shaw 2019). Thus, as has recently been argued, the classical heritage of the Middle East and Europe was and continues to be claimed as a crucial factor in shaping Islamic heritage (Munawar 2019). And this troubling of the ‘Islamic’ also challenges the tidy orthodoxies we use to define the ‘West’ – since Islam always was, and continues to be, a vital shaping force in the history of the West – indeed, a critical part of the history of the European Renaissance in which Western heritage values ultimately find their roots (Trivellato 2010). As Ahmed puts it, ‘Islam contains multitudes’; it has always been a vast sea of competing, sometimes contradictory, discourses. Its long history equally embodies a range of complex traditions with respect to heritage preservation (Rico 2020a; Mulder 2017). To define a site as ‘Islamic’ is not to fix it, then, within the narrow limits of a spiritual tradition – in fact, that narrow view of Islam is one forged by the Western intellectual tradition, and one I am certain that Rico would agree we’d do well to stop reinforcing. It’s our notion of ‘Islamic’ that needs to be expanded, and in doing so, our understanding of Islamic heritage must expand along with it.

Routledge eBooks, Apr 14, 2016

This book documents the emergence of local heritage places, practices, and debates countering the... more This book documents the emergence of local heritage places, practices, and debates countering the globalized versions embraced by the heritage professions offering a critical paradigm for post-destruction planning and practice that ...

Archaeological Dialogues, Dec 1, 2021

This article examines the ways in which global heritage discourse has operated across the Middle ... more This article examines the ways in which global heritage discourse has operated across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, from an ideological and historical perspective. Ideologically, I consider tensions between heritage preservation practice and religious traditions that share the same landscape or material culture. This discussion, which is relatively marginalized in the heritage literature, has an adverse effect on many attempts by heritage preservationists to mediate or resolve conflicts and contradictions surrounding this type of historic resource. Historically, I revisit the presence and inclusion of experts from the MENA region in the formative years of a global heritage ideology. In this discussion, I juxtapose the relative marginalization of the Middle East and North Africa in global heritage debates against the frequency with which sites and communities across this region are put in the spotlight of religion-driven heritage conflict. Addressing these two forms of (mis)representation, I aim to bring to the foreground the way in which heritage studies is implicated in the constructions of narratives about – not from or by – the MENA region.

Oxford University Press eBooks, Nov 10, 2020

This discussion features an ongoing conversation that seeks to reveal the way that preservation p... more This discussion features an ongoing conversation that seeks to reveal the way that preservation practices arise from or react to uniquely “Islamic” articulations of material and immaterial cultural traditions. Although the aim of this debate is to further ethical cultural heritage preservation practices, it reveals a tension between two intellectual debates within critical heritage studies: on the one hand, a concern for the study, articulation, and stewardship of alternative heritage preservation approaches and, on the other hand, a concern with a tendency in heritage preservation to Orientalize “non-Western” heritage preservation practices as forcefully distinct from long-established “Western” practices.

The Public Historian, Feb 1, 2019

The work and historiography of heritage studies and preservation rely significantly on a growth m... more The work and historiography of heritage studies and preservation rely significantly on a growth model. They present disciplinary engagements with their subject of study as a slow progression towards a more effective and sustainable involvement of diverse voices, values, and methodological approaches. In this paper, however, I address the role of failure in this field using the particular example of a heritage civil society in Doha, Qatar. How does the field of heritage studies address negative results and what does this reveal about the scope and aims of an expanding discipline?

International Journal of Heritage Studies, Dec 14, 2018

In this paper I examine discursive and practical approaches to heritage preservation that follow ... more In this paper I examine discursive and practical approaches to heritage preservation that follow the destruction of cultural heritage as a result of a natural disaster. Referring to post-tsunami reconstructions in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, between the years of 2006 and 2011, I argue that the remedial work that 'post-disaster' heritage preservation is asked to do following natural disasters involves an irreconcilable deployment of two opposite ontologies: heritage as a subject of preservation activity is either loyal to a set of heritage values that have already been articulated historically (that is, pre-disaster); or heritage is forced to become untethered from historical values in order to perform the functions of documenting and communicating contemporary (post-disaster) concerns with future wellbeing. At the heart of this issue, I argue, is the resistance of heritage preservation practices to acknowledge heritage value as temporally, socially, historically and politically constructed.

Change Over Time, Sep 1, 2022

Routledge eBooks, Feb 17, 2017

Review of Middle East studies, Aug 1, 2017

It is perhaps not surprising that discussions on the topic of destruction gain the most traction ... more It is perhaps not surprising that discussions on the topic of destruction gain the most traction in the work of heritage in public and academic discourses alike, since this is an instrumental part of the epistemology that constructs heritage as a subject of study—what is heritage if not a subject “at risk”? Concordantly, discussions of heritage destruction are a dominant theme in contemporary conversations and concerns for the fate and management of cultural heritage in the Middle East overall (i.e. Exell and Rico 2013), a tendency that is associated with the persistence and visibility of conflict in the region during a time when heritage concerns are significantly shaped by various global “observers.” What is problematic, however, is first the way that the inherently negative mantle of destruction dominateseveryconversation about the heritage of the Middle East, and how easily academic debates have incorporated institutional and public discourses about destruction, empowering a monolithic debate that would benefit from a more critical—and ethical—analysis. Secondly, what is also alarming is the degree to which destruction is often associated with specific perpetrators in this region, notably, a caricaturized Islam whose main feature is a dislike for preservation that articulates through scandalous acts of iconoclasm across the broad Middle East region (witnessed through highly circulated vignettes of destruction in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Mali, and other countries and regions). Yet, the representation of an Islam that is at odds with global heritage constructs has been extensively challenged academically, considering the varied and changing attitudes to non-Muslim forms of representation through time (Elias 2012), individual variations (Flood 2002), and their relationship to changes in political regimes (Elias 2007; Flood 2002), in such a way that a consistent or universal attitude to this type of representation cannot be supported. But, as I argue in this essay, the specter of the iconoclast unfortunately remains firmly established in popular discourse—and surprisingly, in some disciplinary discourses. But what happens outside of the realm of destruction in the heritage of the Middle East? Further, how can heritage studies support the integration of Islam in the heritage debates for the region in a way that circumvents the current misrepresentation?

Religion and spirituality have been scarcely addressed in heritage preservation history, discours... more Religion and spirituality have been scarcely addressed in heritage preservation history, discourse, and practice. More recently, increased interest in the intersections between the study of religion and heritage preservation in both academic studies and institutional initiatives highlight obstacles that the field has yet to overcome theoretically and methodologically. This Element surveys the convergences of religious and heritage traditions. It argues that the critical heritage turn has not adequately considered the legacy of secularism that underpins the history and contemporary practices of heritage preservation. This omission is what has left the field of heritage studies ill-equipped to support the study and management of a heritage of religion broadly construed.

Springer eBooks, Nov 13, 2016

A turn towards more technologically advanced approaches to heritage preservation and management i... more A turn towards more technologically advanced approaches to heritage preservation and management is global and undeniable, but not without drawbacks. An emerging field that relies increasingly on an array of technologies may be putting more emphasis on the infinite possibilities of a paradigm change for heritage–stakeholder relationships, and less attention on the nature, needs, and limitations of their use in practice. As heritage is increasingly recognized as a concept that is used to construct, reconstruct, and negotiate values and meanings, it is not just the significance of a process-oriented approach that becomes evident, but also the significance of identifying the user. This does not refer exclusively to the user of heritage as a product, but also the user of the processes—methodological approaches—that construct specific heritage forms and their agendas.

Cultural Heritage in the Arabian Peninsula

Archaeologies of “Us” and “Them”

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Archaeology, 2020

This discussion features an ongoing conversation that seeks to reveal the way that preservation p... more This discussion features an ongoing conversation that seeks to reveal the way that preservation practices arise from or react to uniquely “Islamic” articulations of material and immaterial cultural traditions. Although the aim of this debate is to further ethical cultural heritage preservation practices, it reveals a tension between two intellectual debates within critical heritage studies: on the one hand, a concern for the study, articulation, and stewardship of alternative heritage preservation approaches and, on the other hand, a concern with a tendency in heritage preservation to Orientalize “non-Western” heritage preservation practices as forcefully distinct from long-established “Western” practices.

Religion and spirituality have been scarcely addressed in heritage preservation history, discours... more Religion and spirituality have been scarcely addressed in heritage preservation history, discourse, and practice. More recently, increased interest in the intersections between the study of religion and heritage preservation in both academic studies and institutional initiatives highlight obstacles that the field has yet to overcome theoretically and methodologically. This Element surveys the convergences of religious and heritage traditions. It argues that the critical heritage turn has not adequately considered the legacy of secularism that underpins the history and contemporary practices of heritage preservation. This omission is what has left the field of heritage studies ill-equipped to support the study and management of a heritage of religion broadly construed.