About

Trinidad Rico is an Associate Professor and the Director of Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies (CHAPS) at Rutgers University. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stanford University, obtained in 2011, and has completed master's degrees in Cultural and Social Anthropology from Stanford University in 2010 and Principles of Conservation from University College London in 2004. Her academic background also includes a B.A. in Archaeology and Anthropology from the University of Cambridge in 2002. Her research explores the rise and circulation of heritage industries in post-colonial contexts, with a focus on Indonesia and Qatar. She examines the politicization of risk and vulnerability, secularism, and transparency in the making of heritage value. Her recent projects investigate the emergence of the Atomic Age in Argentina as an anti-heritage force. Rico's scholarly contributions include books, book chapters, articles, and edited volumes that address critical heritage studies, Islamic heritage preservation, and heritage narratives in various cultural contexts. She has been recognized with fellowships and awards, such as the Burkhardt Residential Fellowship from the ACLS and a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. Additionally, she serves as an Honorary Associate Professor at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, and as a consulting scholar for the Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Research topics

• History
• Archaeology
• Ancient history
• Political Science
• Sociology
• Art
• Environmental ethics
• Aesthetics
• Law
• Geography
• Philosophy

Selected publications

• The Heritage State

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2025-04-11

  book1st authorCorresponding

  The Heritage State examines the emergence and growth of a tradition of heritage and its preservation in the Arabian Peninsula following decades of the region's marginalization in global heritage debates, largely due to a Eurocentric worldview that prioritizes secular over religious ideas of heritage value and its circulation. Through an exploration of the rise of a powerful advocate for global and local heritage at the turn of the century in the State of Qatar, this book describes the possibilities for thinking about and acting on a heritage that expertly negotiates secular and religious contexts and purposes. Trinidad Rico invites a postcolonial examination of heritage traditions in the Middle East beyond the lens of iconoclasm and terrorism to shed light on and celebrate the ingenuity and hybridity involved in growing a culture of heritage. She describes how representation of agency and decision-making in the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula are still dominated by the theme of conflict and terrorism and, further, how cultural heritage debates are deeply implicated in this misrepresentation. It is critical to the future of cultural studies to demonstrate empirically, through historical records and contemporary practices, the extent to which these regions have been represented unfairly and excluded from developing more sophisticated identities and authorities in the emergence of global heritage. The Heritage State puts Qatar at the center of such a conversation, suggesting that Qatar is not a place where things happen but a place that makes things happen in the cultural sphere.

  PublisherDOI

• Modernism versus Modernization

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2025-05-15

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter examines the tensions between modernism and modernization in Qatar as it transforms urban landscapes and reconstructs heritage languages by integrating traditional Islamic aesthetics into contemporary design. It details how iconic public monuments, such as the oryx roundabout, symbolize cultural identity and provoke debates over authenticity following their removal. The chapter highlights collaborations between local and foreign architects and planners, who actively reshape Doha's fabric through projects like the National Museum and the revitalization of historical sites. It underscores the controversies inherent in redevelopment efforts, where state-led initiatives and international influences sometimes clash with popular notions of tradition and identity. Finally, the chapter demonstrates how initiatives like the Msheireb Downtown Doha project epitomize Qatar's pursuit of a cohesive, sustainable modernity that harmonizes progressive urban planning with its rich cultural heritage.

  PublisherDOI

• The Heritage State

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2025-01-01

  book1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Heritage State

  Cornell University Press eBooks · 2025-05-15

  book1st authorCorresponding

  This book examines the emergence and growth of a tradition of heritage and its preservation in the Arabian Peninsula following decades of the region's marginalization in global heritage debates, largely due to a Eurocentric worldview that prioritizes secular over religious ideas of heritage value and its circulation. Through an exploration of the rise of a powerful advocate for global and local heritage at the turn of the century in the State of Qatar, the book describes the possibilities for thinking about and acting on a heritage that expertly negotiates secular and religious contexts and purposes. The book invites a postcolonial examination of heritage traditions in the Middle East beyond the lens of iconoclasm and terrorism to shed light on and celebrate the ingenuity and hybridity involved in growing a culture of heritage. It describes how representation of agency and decision-making in the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula are still dominated by the theme of conflict and terrorism and, further, how cultural heritage debates are deeply implicated in this misrepresentation. It is critical to the future of cultural studies to demonstrate empirically, through historical records and contemporary practices, the extent to which these regions have been represented unfairly and excluded from developing more sophisticated identities and authorities in the emergence of global heritage. The book puts Qatar at the center of such a conversation, suggesting that Qatar is not a place where things happen but a place that makes things happen in the cultural sphere.

  PublisherDOI

• A critical cartography: mapping chapters, networks, and relationships through regional organization

  International Journal of Heritage Studies · 2024-04-11

  article1st authorCorresponding

  The Association for Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS) was created, in part, to address underrepresentation in the study and management of heritage. However, achieving genuinely inclusive representation within global heritage conversations remains elusive, exacerbated by entrenched power dynamics and the dominance of Western epistemologies. Here, we discuss ACHS’s efforts to foster a more democratic, inclusive discourse through its organizational structure and international collaborations. As we argue here, although significant strides towards diversifying heritage discourse are evidenced by the creation of chapters and networks aimed at amplifying underrepresented voices, challenges persist in ensuring equitable participation. We discuss the importance of strategic regionalization and language inclusivity in advancing a platform that reflects the diversity of global heritage perspectives.

  PublisherDOI

• Advancing critical heritage studies: the next 10 years

  International Journal of Heritage Studies · 2024-04-18 · 1 citations

  article

  Advancing Critical Heritage Studies: the Next 10 Years, which focuses on the growth of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS) since 2012, and the development of and challenges facing critical heritage studies in general. The special issue is a collection of short articles that, rather than present academic debates written in expected academic uses and conventions, offers a glimpse into the discussions that define the growing field of heritage studies today. Minimally referenced but rich in archival information, the contributions are records of past and present motivations, solutions, and oversights that drove the first ten years of work by different members of the ACHS Executive Committee, ACHS Chapters, and other contributors. As the issue's editors, we offer these discussions as a companion to the growth of critical heritage studies, and to encourage both support and critique for the ways in which an organization navigates the complicated landscapes of heritage expertise.

  PublisherDOI

• Counter-archives as heritage justice: photography, invisible labor and peopled ruins

  Journal of Visual Culture · 2023-04-01 · 5 citations

  articleSenior author

  This article critically engages with photographs, the institutions that archive and curate them, and the uses to which they are put in the work of heritage preservation, with particular attention paid to the ways in which these have been mobilized in Middle Eastern heritage debates. Photographs, often depicting uninhabited rather than populated heritage landscapes, in effect weaponize heritage preservation, ignoring the fact that individuals and communities have always had their own ways of preserving and engaging with the material past. The authors therefore seek to reconsider the disciplinary genealogies embedded in a photographic archive shaped by instruments of Western ideology and power – archaeological fieldwork, surveys and museum-building – to question the uncritical use of photography for the assessment of heritage significance, the construction of heritage value and management of heritage assemblages today. They argue that identifying and creating counter-archives is necessary to contribute to more inclusive narratives fostering heritage justice, including a deeper engagement with archaeology’s long-standing entanglements with exploitative labour.

  PublisherDOI

• Muslim Heritage Preservation Stewardship Under Unesco

  Change Over Time · 2022-09-01 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Muslim heritage has been an influential factor in the emergence of UNESCO's 1972 Convention, whose priorities build extensively on decades of engagement with heritage places across the Muslim world. The World Heritage List today features sites of Islamic and non-Islamic history across Muslim societies, as well as remnants of Muslim life in secular and non-Muslim contexts. However, by the time the Convention came to fruition, relationships between UNESCO and Arab States, the most cohesive group within UNESCO that represents Muslim communities, were terse on account of political developments in the region. In addition, the particular framing of religion in the world of the Convention undermined the commitment to cultural heritage ideals in the context of predominantly Muslim societies. In this article, I review these legacies and describe the specific ways in which the World Heritage List represents the people of Islam within and beyond the Middle East and North African territories. In these discussions, I assess the influence of the Committee's work in shaping ideas of local and global heritage preservation for these regions, as well as the political and ideological challenges contained in the work of the Convention.

  PublisherDOI

• In support of hybridity. A response to Stephennie Mulder, Ian Straughn and Ruth Young

  Archaeological Dialogues · 2021-12-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.

  PublisherDOI

• Heritage preservation in religious contexts. Disciplinary challenges for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region

  Archaeological Dialogues · 2021-12-01 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract This article examines the ways in which global heritage discourse has operated across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, from an ideological and historical perspective. Ideologically, I consider tensions between heritage preservation practice and religious traditions that share the same landscape or material culture. This discussion, which is relatively marginalized in the heritage literature, has an adverse effect on many attempts by heritage preservationists to mediate or resolve conflicts and contradictions surrounding this type of historic resource. Historically, I revisit the presence and inclusion of experts from the MENA region in the formative years of a global heritage ideology. In this discussion, I juxtapose the relative marginalization of the Middle East and North Africa in global heritage debates against the frequency with which sites and communities across this region are put in the spotlight of religion-driven heritage conflict. Addressing these two forms of (mis)representation, I aim to bring to the foreground the way in which heritage studies is implicated in the constructions of narratives about – not from or by – the MENA region.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Karen Exell

  University College London

  3 shared

• Hassan Asif

  University of Toronto

  2 shared

• Yujie Zhu

  Australian National University

  2 shared

• Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann

  2 shared

• Rim Lababidi

  University College London

  1 shared

• Danila Mayer

  1 shared

• Latofat Tolibjonova

  1 shared

• Ali A. Abdi

  1 shared

Education

• B.A., Archaeology and Anthropology

  University of Cambridge

  2002

• M.A., Principles of Conservation

  University College London

  2004

• M.A., Cultural and Social Anthropology

  Stanford University

  2010

• Ph.D., Anthropology

  Stanford University

  2011

Awards & honors

• International Diversity Guest Professorship, Centre for Heri…
• MillerComm Lecture, Center for Advanced Study, University of…
• Burkhardt Residential Fellowship for Recently Tenured Schola…
• Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences…
• Senior Visiting Fellowship, University College London Qatar…