How are biological, cultural, genetic, and linguistic diversity categorised and conserved, and what can one field learn from another?

Diversity is a term that, since its emergence, has become the currency of natural and cultural heritage protection. There is a perception of a future in crisis due to the threat of biological, cultural, linguistic and genetic homogeneity. Organisations tasked with preventing this potential crisis are charged with determining and selecting forms of diversity in order to project them into an uncertain future, and in doing so, they each create their own, distinctive futures. This theme explored ethnographically a range of domains concerned with practices of categorisation, preservation and management of different forms of diversity in comparative perspective. While the potential for innovation in knowledge transfer across some of these fields has recently been acknowledged, such thinking has not been widely pursued. We explored the range of practices undertaken across various different heritage domains which share an aim in the maintenance of ecological, cultural, linguistic and biological diversity, and the values associated with these practices. In doing so, we have aimed to articulate the potential for innovative forms of knowledge exchange and the development of shared work practices between them, as well as the ways in which their boundaries might be challenged, reconfigured or removed.