Title: The Ethics of Critical Heritage Conservation
Subtitle: Memory, Law, and Society
Subject Classification:  Society and Culture, History, Built Environment  
BIC Classification: AM, JF, HB
BISAC Classification: SOC002020, SOC003000, ART056000
Binding: Hardback, eBook
Planned publication date: Aug 2026
ISBN (Hardback): 978-1-83711-607-2
ISBN (eBook): 978-1-83711-608-9

e-books available for libraries from   Proquest  and   EBSCO   with non-institutional availability from  GooglePlay

For larger orders, or orders where you require an invoice, contact us  admin@ethicspress.com

Description

This book proposes a critical rethinking of heritage conservation through the lens of ethics and communication. Moving beyond technical and normative frameworks, it explores conservation as a complex social and cultural practice—one that conveys meanings, negotiates identities, and reflects ethical choices. Drawing from sociology, legal theory, memory studies, conservation disciplines, and heritage practice, the volume argues that conservation is not only about preserving things, but about cultivating relations—between people and places, past and future, memory and transformation.

Each chapter addresses a key dimension of conservation as communication: legitimacy and social recognition; dissonance and contested meanings; sustainability and relational care; law and ethical boundaries. Through both theoretical inquiry and empirical cases (such as the Berlin Wall, Plaza de Dalí, or Expo Zaragoza 2008), the book offers a new framework for understanding conservation as an open-ended, communicative, and ethically situated process. Rather than proposing universal criteria, it invites readers to think of conservation as a site of translation, mediation, and negotiation—capable of responding to the plural and dynamic nature of cultural heritage. By connecting ethics, law, sustainability, and memory, this book speaks to scholars, practitioners and students across disciplines who seek to engage with heritage beyond technical prescriptions, and who are concerned with its role in shaping cultural futures.

Biography

Author(s):  Dr Stefano Magnolo is an assistant professor at the University of Salento, Italy. Dr Ana Galán-Pérez is an assistant professor at Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.

Reviews

This title is currently being reviewed. Please check back for further updates in due course.