Cultural Heritage in the Middle East and North Africa : Non-state Actors, Mediators and De-Centralised Practices

With its focus on non-state actors and complex heritage ecosystems, the volume will be of interest to researchers, academics and students in museum and heritage studies, as well as those working in post-colonial and decolonial scholarship, Middle East and North Africa studies, cultural policy, anthropology, art history and related fields.

Cultural Heritage in the Middle East and North Africa: Non-state Actors, Mediators and De-centralised Practices explores the politically dynamic, contested and negotiated relationships through which state and non-state actors shape cultural heritage across the MENA region.Moving beyond scholarship that has tended to privilege state institutions and official frameworks, this edited volume foregrounds the central role of non-state actors within increasingly diverse heritage ecosystems. Drawing on case studies from Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, the volume examines how grassroots initiatives, private patrons, art collectors, cultural entrepreneurs and artists complement and reconfigure dominant heritage narratives, and how these practices intersect with broader questions of identity, memory, power and socio-economic change across the region.Situated within broader debates on heritage governance and de-centring methodologies, the volume analyses the tensionsbetween established heritage conventions and locally embedded realities. In doing so, it positions heritage as socially embedded practice shaped through collaboration, dialogue and negotiation among multiple stakeholders, while emphasising the critical role of non-state actors beyond state-sanctioned frameworks. With its focus on non-state actors and complex heritage ecosystems, the volume will be of interest to researchers, academics and students in museum and heritage studies, as well as those working in post-colonial and decolonial scholarship, Middle East and North Africa studies, cultural policy, anthropology, art history and related fields.