Cultural Identity and Heritage

Cultural heritage is not simply what survives from the past; it is actively constructed through decisions about what to preserve, commemorate, and forget, making archaeology and ethnology as much about the present as about antiquity. Researchers in this area examine how communities, states, and international bodies use material and intangible heritage to anchor collective identities, legitimize political authority, and attract tourism — often with competing or contradictory results. A central tension concerns who gets to define heritage and on whose terms, particularly where colonial histories have displaced indigenous memory practices or where nationalist projects selectively amplify certain pasts while suppressing others. Open questions include how globalization reshapes local heritage regimes, and whether increased heritage tourism preserves or gradually erodes the very cultures it claims to celebrate.

Works

151,810

Total citations

73,390

Keywords

HeritageIdentityTourismMemoryCulturePolitics