Introducing the Routledge Handbook of Heritage Ethics

Andreas Pantazatos

June 2026

Back in 2012 when I designed and led the first postgraduate interdisciplinary module on heritage ethics in the UK, I was struck by the lack of a comprehensive reader which would address the ethical questions arising from the rapid development of heritage thinking within the realm of heritage studies. The publication of edited volumes between 2014 and 2019 such as Cultural Heritage Ethics: Between Theory and Practice (C. Sandis), The Ethics of Cultural Heritage (T. Ireland and J. Schofield), and Cultural Heritage, Ethics and Contemporary Migrations (Holtorf et al.) were the first successful attempts towards this direction.

I’m delighted to share with you the publication of The Routledge Handbook of Heritage Ethics (edited by Andreas Pantazatos, Tracy Ireland, John Schofield and Rouran Zhang). With its 34 original chapters, the Handbook offers a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the concepts, challenges and dilemmas that characterise and shape contemporary heritage ethics in theory and practice. The aim of the Handbook is to facilitate discussion and conversations about the significance of heritage ethics and the necessity for researchers and practitioners to engage and adopt an ethical approach in all that they do.

Our Handbook adds a new dimension in heritage ethics in three distinct ways

• It scrutinizes the relationship between ethics and heritage developing an understanding of heritage ethics beyond the narrow obligations of professionals and experts.
• It proposes that if heritage is social action, then heritage ethics can respond to contemporary world challenges by accommodating the dynamic context and fluidity of heritage. This renders ethics not as a mere addendum in heritage theory and practice, but part of the heritage making process.
• Finally, starting from the symbiotic relationship between people, places and things, it addresses the relational character of heritage ethics signaling the shift from stewardship to relational accountability.

I’m now going to highlight some of the novel content of the Handbook, drawing on some material from our editorial Introduction with some selected quotes. We have structured the Handbook in five sections: conceptual frameworks, difficult heritage, digital heritage, heritage interactions, and management and policy. The Introduction sheds light onto some significant aspects of the dialogue between heritage and ethics providing a critical and original discussion of the developments in ethics, heritage theory and practice, and how their evolvement shape heritage ethics for the future.
 

The first section provides some conceptual frameworks including moral awareness, values, hospitality, ethics of care, risk and queer ethics. The presented frameworks highlight the significance of ethical thinking for heritage theory and practice. As we outline in our Introduction, these concepts present both “compass, allowing navigation of context, and the opportunity to reveal characteristics that might otherwise remain hidden.”
 

The second section of the Handbook addresses ethical dilemmas associated with difficult heritage from different parts of the world such as Australia, India, Mexico, Spain and USA. “The section involves authors taking different perspectives and often varying definitions of what constitutes difficult heritage.” The chapters explore ethical aspects of difficult heritage rooted in racist legacies alongside colonialism, slavery to migrant heritage, gender and conflict.
 

The third section of the book engages with the ethical challenges associated with digital heritage. Each chapter presents an ethical dilemma that arises from digital heritage encounters including access and authenticity, digital colonialism, authorship and aesthetics, and Indigenous cultures.“In these chapters, the authors investigate the various ways that digital engagements can unsettle and destabilise established notions of heritage and ethics.”
 

Unlike the other sections, we have given the fourth section a particular regional focus (Asia) “to create balance with existing literature and to introduce some very particular themes which are exemplified through this regional focus.” The chapters focus on plurality of heritage values, participation, justice as a condition of preservation, the division between culture and nature, and the communication between heritage experts, local communities and other stakeholders.
 

The Handbook’s final section focuses on a variety of issues related to management and policy. These include World Heritage, everyday heritage places, the role of heritage in armed conflicts, collection policies, authenticity, food security, colonialism and the duty of care towards lunar sites. This final section emphasises that heritage ethics is not merely a tool for administrative compliance but a significant part of management decision process. “Management doesn’t (or shouldn’t) constitute the ending of any kind of heritage management process or dialogue but rather a beginning, with its expectation that we use management and policy decisions to help reframe or review our conceptual frameworks.”

As a final note, our Handbook has been a truly collaborative effort. I am more than grateful to my three co-editors, Tracy, John, and Rouran for their commitment, passion and time, and to each one of our 43 international contributors whose generosity of ideas, time and positive feedback has made this project possible.

The Routledge Handbook of Heritage Ethics starts the conversation about heritage ethics, let’s continue it together!

References 

• Holtorf, C., Pantazatos, A., Scarre, G. F. S. (eds.). (2019). Cultural Heritage, Ethics and Contemporary Migrations. London: Routledge.
• Ireland, T and Schofield, J. (eds.). (2015). The Ethics of Cultural Heritage. New York: Springer.
• Pantazatos, A., Ireland, T., Schofield, J. and Zhang R. (eds.). (2026). The Routledge Handbook of Heritage Ethics. London: Routledge.
• Sandis, C. (ed.) (2014). Cultural Heritage Ethics: Between Theory and Practice. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers.
   

Bio

Dr Andreas Pantazatos is Associate Professor in Heritage Studies, Deputy Director of the Cambridge Heritage Research Centre and Co-Director of the MPhil in Heritage Studies in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. Andreas’ work brings ethical and epistemological thinking to bear on the lived realities of heritage communities, from the legacy of psychiatric institutionalisation on the Greek island of Leros to the politics of memory in the coalfields of County Durham. His research is located at the intersection of critical heritage studies and applied philosophy, focusing on how the heritage process and the engagement of multiple stakeholders shape our understanding of our ethical obligations to heritage for local, global and marginalised communities. For more details about research and teaching visit his department page.