Research projects

Christian Ernsten’s research is situated at the intersection of the fields of heritage studies, urban studies and postcolonial studies. He specializes in the study of the heritage practices involved conservation and design of urban and natural landscapes, both locally and globally. Currently, he explores the interrelations between rivers’ cultural and natural heritage in the Maastricht and Cape Town regions, applying, amongst others, transdisciplinary research methodologies, such as embedded ethnographic research, walking as a form of embodied research, and photographic recordings.

He brings a humanities background into the study of landscape heritage, taking a global north/global south comparative research perspective. He studies uses of the past by applying, amongst others, experimental methodologiessuch as field walking and photographic recordings. Currently, his work is mainly focused on issues of water and heritage. He is engaged with a research project on river heritage in the Western Cape region in South Africa as well as with an Euregional project on the heritage of the Meuse.