Re-framing authorised heritage discourse (AHD) within a realist explanatory framework: towards a dialectical relationship between discourse and the extra-discursive

Employing a realist ontology of discourse, this theoretical paper aims to clarify some assumptions that form the theoretical backdrop of the authorised heritage discourse (AHD) that remain under-theorised, particularly its philosophical under-labouring that draws on critical realism (CR) and critical discourse analysis (CDA). The review conducted for this paper on studies utilising the concept of the AHD demonstrated that despite the efforts to examine the ‘extra-discursive’, the emphasis placed on this concept has resulted in various forms of reductionism. This uncritical use often blurs our understanding regarding the processes underlying the reception, contestation, appropriation, hybridisation and domination of the AHD in different regional settings. The paper advocates for the need to recontextualise the AHD within a dialectical-relational approach that would flesh out the agency of non-semiotic entities (e.g. actors and organisations) in conservation planning and overcome limitations that arise from nominalisation and presuppositions. Such an approach would enhance the explanatory scope of the AHD by making more robust arguments on how heritage practices are crafted, retained and contested.