Dr Magdalena Buchczyk

Weaving Ecologies - Intangible Heritage Between Social and Environmental Justice

This Fellowship brings together heritage ecology and social and environmental justice to push the boundaries of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) studies. It draws on ethnographic research of basket-makers harvesting plants for their craft in the Mediterranean wetlands. The artisans consider themselves the caretakers and gardeners of the lagoons. However, the threat of coastal erosion and climate change leads to new environmental policies restricting their access to landscapes. In Europe and Ramsar wetlands worldwide, ICH has become an area of conflicts about social and environmental justice, and contrasting claims about preserving traditions or conserving ecosystems.

The Fellowship at the School of Museum Studies in Leicester combines research and networking to situate the ethnography globally. Foregrounding social and more-than-human relations, it questions the underlying assumptions and the binary frameworks of safeguarding ICH and environmental conservation. The project seeks to pioneer a new approach to ICH for the heritage sector in the Anthropocene.