How is “wokeness” constructed in newspaper articles about British heritage institutions move to be more diverse?

Increasing use of the term “wokeness” in the UK has arisen from the Black Lives Matter movement that challenges anti-Black racism from police. BLM has led to the challenging of decision-making around how heritage is presented such as the toppling of the Colston statue. British heritage organisations have reinterpreted their role to orient towards a more inclusive representation of history and heritage in public spaces. However, the term ‘woke’ is used to critique moves to construct heritage more diversely and challenge changes by heritage organisations. A discursive psychological analysis was conducted on 100 UK newspaper articles covering the move by National Trust and English Heritage to be more diverse and where ‘wokeness’ was discussed as a controversy. We present three discourses: 1) heritage organisations being constructed as custodians, 2) heritage as a place of refuge, 3) organisations’ aim to be apolitical. These discussions of identity and physical space showcase both the notion that identities are specific to a physical space, and how this can be used to negotiate an aspect of British heritage that harmed global majority people. Our approach is interdisciplinary, combining discursive psychology and heritage/town planning to highlight the contested nature of interpreting history, public space and identity.