Animating the past, enduring the present: Labour and heritage production at Waterloo, Belgium

This article examines how heritage is produced through labour at Waterloo Battlefield, Belgium. Drawing on 5 months of ethnography as an ‘animator’, I analyse how embodied performance and emotional display rules translate props, spaces and scripts into visitor experience. Findings show that animators’ affective and physical performances are routinised as work amid seasonal, low-paid employment with limited voice in decision-making, while budget cuts shift costs onto frontline staff. Backstage work—cleaning, resetting and preparation—extends the day and remains largely invisible to visitors and management. To manage emotional dissonance, workers rely on surface acting; over time many experience fatigue, burnout and estrangement from the role. I conclude that heritage at Waterloo is manufactured through alienated emotional and bodily labour; recognising that heritage is made through labour is crucial for understanding how production and practice unfold on the ground in contemporary commodified heritage sites that prioritise visitor experience.