The Power of Heritage Norms: Bridging Critical Heritage Theory and Norm Circle Theory

ABSTRACT

This article brings Norm Circle Theory (NCT) into dialogue with Critical Heritage Theory (CHT) to examine normative authority in the heritage field. Although strands of CHT that draw on discourse analysis and assemblage approaches illuminate the ideological formations shaping heritage and the relationships between humans, cultural objects and nature, they often operate with a relatively “flat” ontology that tends to leave the causal powers and ontological depth of these components undertheorized. Drawing on depth ontology and a realist theory of emergence, NCT grounds normativity in real social entities whose enduring properties and relations generate emergent causal powers. In light of CHT's ongoing concern with power and hegemony in heritage governance, NCT offers a stronger explanatory account of how norms are produced, contested and stabilised over time. Drawing on qualitative secondary analysis of two cases—debates over the conservation of medieval painted churches in Cyprus and over the demolition of the governmental Y‐block in Oslo, the paper shows that heritage controversies are structured interactions among overlapping norm circles, each mobilising distinct discourses and institutional resources. The paper concludes by reflecting on how NCT can complement existing approaches in heritage studies, including Critical Discourse Analysis and people‐centred approaches and ultimately offers a framework that more effectively explains authority and power in heritage governance.