Ontological politics of heritage: forms of humanity and living images in the Amazon

Amid contemporary posthumanist debates, one central target of post-anthropocentric critique is the concept of ‘Humanity’. The normative, foundationalist, modern, and Western construction of the Human is often seen as a cornerstone of the radical challenges posed by posthumanist thought, particularly in the Global North. Yet, can alternative conceptualisations of humanity remain productive and offer critical insight into the intersection of practices aimed at ‘decentering the human’ and heritage-making processes? This article proposes an expanded conception of humanity in which non-human and heritage-making practices converge. Drawing on the Yanomami understanding of culture and their notion of utupë a – a ‘visible unit of the forest’, an image-essence intertwined with soil, vegetation, and life force – it argues that a more-than-human form of humanity can be envisioned through an ontological politics of heritage. This perspectivist ontology is enacted through material and spiritual expressions involving multispecies inheritance and world-making rooted in ecological interconnectivity with the Amazon rainforest. These practices are intertwined with translation mechanisms and cosmopolitical diplomacy, offering a framework for cultivating futurity in a world increasingly shaped by socioecological damage.