This paper analyses contemporary community-led initiatives that promote the heritage of women workers in the fishing industries of France and England. It engages with the theme “Heritage connecting people” by examining how these practices function as relational forms of heritage that foster identity and belonging in coastal areas experiencing social and demographic change. Historically marginalised from the authorised, male-dominated maritime heritage discourse, women’s labour has recently been foregrounded through local sculptures, exhibitions and guided tours. These grassroots initiatives challenge established hierarchies of heritage recognition while strengthening social cohesion and territorial identity. The paper explores how such narratives provide inclusive points of identification for both long-standing residents and newcomers, and considers their role in shaping a shared sense of belonging in post-fishing communities.

This study proposes a conceptual model in which places and communication function as spatial media that weave relationships among people around heritage. Heritage is theorized as the transmission of culture and memory that is discovered, given meaning, and shared through specific places and communication practices. Building on research on community media and theories of collective memory, the model consists of three dimensions. First, agents are the actors who narrate, give meaning to, and mediate heritage. Second, places of media and communication are material and symbolic environments where encounters and exchanges of meaning occur. Third, media practices of expression refer to a range of activities through which the meanings of heritage are produced, expressed, and shared through media. When these three dimensions interact with one another, a form of spatial media is created. The model provides a theoretical framework for examining the reconfiguration of power, identity, and memory in local contexts.

This paper investigates the groundbreaking impacts of the 2020 contestations against statues of enslavers and colonialists, with a specific focus on the sheer number of removals in the United States. Concentrating on the pivotal sites of Richmond (Virginia), Portland (Oregon), and Birmingham (Alabama), it explores how these events have driven political, legal, and policy changes. By juxtaposing these American fractures with innovative and inclusive counter-monuments such as the Statue of Peace in Glendale, USA, this research proposes new models for memorial heritage. It argues that addressing the "agentic capacity" of these statues is essential for weaving ethical relationships and reconciliation into the fabric of American public spaces.