Beyond cultural heritage therapy: Human and ecological heritage, storytelling, and well-being.

Abstract

It is widely accepted that visiting culturally humancentric heritage sites is potentially therapeutic, although how this process unfolds is still relatively under studied. Most studies reviewed see interventions through the lens of Cultural Heritage Therapy or, if human heritage is not foregrounded, ecotherapy. In this paper, these approaches are critiqued for their polarised stance, leading to a suggestion that an interdisciplinary approach could be applicable where human and ecological heritage overlap. A new ontology is suggested, that of archaeotherapy. We use a qualitative study of accounts from a sample of thirty-one participants. A hybridised methodology, where Westernised analysis tools are utilised in tandem with Indigenous Torres Straits, Māori and Australian Aboriginal perspectives on land, ancestors, and cultural belonging, to better understand participants' experiences. Ecologically enmeshed qualities of place, which include human ones, are identified as pivotal to ideas of connectedness, healing, and understanding. This study revealed a five-stage narrative process is employed by respondents, highlighting individually chosen sites as meaningful: 1) Physical site arrival, 2) Connection made, 3) Transformation point reached and passed, 4) Outcome of connectedness, understanding, or health and healing, 5) Incorporation or sense making. The five stages are transcended in specific order, over varying timescales.