Heritage as a Bellwether for Peace: Developing Community-Based Indicators in Conflict-Affected Contexts

Elly Harrowell

doi:10.1080/13527258.2026.2642615

Heritage as a Bellwether for Peace: Developing Community-Based Indicators in Conflict-Affected Contexts

Elly Harrowell

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Abstract

This paper explores the development of community-based heritage indicators for peace, drawing on a collaborative project between an academic researcher and international heritage body. The approach discussed adapts the Everyday Peace Indicators (EPI) methodology for a heritage setting, demonstrating the value of innovative cross-sectoral use of tools and ideas to support heritage professionals working in conflict-affected contexts. Through an examination of the theoretical underpinnings, methodological adaptations, and implementation challenges, the paper highlights the potential of heritage as a culturally situated lens for understanding peace. It also reflects on the complexities of engaging with ‘the local’ in peacebuilding and heritage work, and the implications for policy and practice.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1007-1026
Number of pages	20
Journal	International Journal of Heritage Studies
Volume	32
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2026.2642615
Publication status	Published - 26 Mar 2026

Bibliographical note

© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

Keywords

Peace
conflict
heritage
indicators
peacebuilding

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Conservation
Cultural Studies
Geography, Planning and Development
History
Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
Museology

Access to Document

10.1080/13527258.2026.2642615Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Heritage as Bellwether Manuscript Accepted VersionAccepted author manuscript, 329 KB
Harrowell2026VoRFinal published version, 1.15 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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abstract = "This paper explores the development of community-based heritage indicators for peace, drawing on a collaborative project between an academic researcher and international heritage body. The approach discussed adapts the Everyday Peace Indicators (EPI) methodology for a heritage setting, demonstrating the value of innovative cross-sectoral use of tools and ideas to support heritage professionals working in conflict-affected contexts. Through an examination of the theoretical underpinnings, methodological adaptations, and implementation challenges, the paper highlights the potential of heritage as a culturally situated lens for understanding peace. It also reflects on the complexities of engaging with {\textquoteleft}the local{\textquoteright} in peacebuilding and heritage work, and the implications for policy and practice.",

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Heritage as a Bellwether for Peace: Developing Community-Based Indicators in Conflict-Affected Contexts

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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