Heritage work in extractive zones

Abstract

This paper explores the role of heritage work in extractive zones, focusing on how different stakeholders—industries, communities, and governments—leverage heritage to assert claims and achieve visibility. This paper is based on a multiyear research project examining the now-canceled Jordan Cove Energy Project and Pacific Connector Pipeline in Oregon. The focus here centers on defining heritage work and its use by various actors to navigate claims of legitimacy and access. I argue that in extractive contexts, heritage work is more than legal work or documentation; it is also a tool that communities use to refuse the erasure of connections to land and culture and to affirm connections. By defining heritage work and extractive zones in the same frame, this paper directs attention to how heritage is taken up, dismissed, legitimized, or valorized.