Francesco Orlandi

My research expertise and public outreach link archaeology of the contemporary past, socio-cultural anthropology, and political ecology with postcolonial and decolonial thinking to strengthen intercultural practice and interpretation of heritage rights. I conducted fieldwork in the southcentral Andes, enhancing collaborative synergies with local communities and organizations to document sites of indigenous heritage assemblage-making. As an early-career researcher in the critical heritage studies field and Honorary Fellow at the Department of Archaeology and History, University of Exeter, I have expanded research networks and collaborations across Europe and Latin America, with academic and non-academic partners, around a variety of issues related to heritage and decoloniality, ‘slow’ methodologies and interdisciplinarity, international heritage law and Indigenous peoples’ rights, resource extractivism and culture-nature conflicts. Since 2022 I have been in charge of the postgraduate course in Archaeology, Media and the Public as an adjunct professor for the master’s degree in Critical Archaeology and Heritage at the Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna. The topics explored throughout the course include global public archaeology, heritage ethics and political aesthetics, science communication and community engagement/resistance both in the physical and the digital environments. I also introduce students to current theoretical perspectives in archaeological thought (post-colonialism, science & technology studies, political ontologies), archaeological ethnography and qualitative data analysis.