The Making of Heritage: Seduction and Disenchantment

This volume explores the process of heritage making and its relation to the production of touristic places, examining several case studies around the world. Most existing literature on heritage and tourism centres on its managerial aspects, the tourist experience or issues related to inequality and identity politics. This volume instead establishes theoretical links between analyses of heritage and the production and reproduction of places in the context of the global tourist trade. The approach adopted here explores the production of heritage as a complex process shaped by local and global discourses and representations, impacting policies and legislations that contribute to the making of heritage, and shaped by global practice-which may increasingly risk heritage being used for hegemonic ends. From these perspectives, heritage making may be incorporated into the world economy, mainly through the global tourism trade. The chapters in this book stress the need for identifying the intrinsic political implications of these processes, relocating their study in political, economic and social settings. Combined with a diversified set of theoretical approaches and research methods and guided by a common thematic rationale, The Making of Heritage is at the forefront of current debates about heritage.