The book Islam and Heritage in Europe: Pasts, Presents and Future Possibilities was edited by Katarzyna Puzon, Sharon Macdonald and Mirjam Shatanawi. Focusing on Islam, Heritage and Europe, it seeks to productively trouble all of these terms and throw new light on the relationships between them in various urban, national and transnational contexts.

Preservation of natural and cultural heritage is often said to be something that is done for the future, or on behalf of future generations, but the precise relationship of such practices to the future is rarely reflected upon. Heritage Futures draws on research undertaken over four years by an interdisciplinary, international team of 16 researchers and more than 25 partner organisations to explore the role of heritage and heritage-like practices in building future worlds.

In an edited excerpt, Chiara Garbellotto writes about her work on participation and citizen science in natural history museums. In her ethnographic research and writing, she critically engages with the concepts of ‘biodiversity’ and ‘participation’ as multiple and of ‘knowing’ and ‘caring’ as political, exploring current public engagement practices in natural history museums as more-than-human assemblages.

Feel invited to have a look at our Reflections page  where you can read about the digital opening of the Humboldt Forum, the exhibition Connecting Afro Futures at Berlin’s Kunstgewerbemuseum and ethnographic observations of digital museum practices during the Covid-19 crisis.