ABSTRACT

The new norm appears to be the outright manufacturing of heritage coupled with the active consumption of tradition. The destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, India, by Hindu fundamentalists and the ensuing riots provide a good example of how conflict over heritage may redefine national political agendas in the global era. Concern with heritage and tradition may also be seen as a product of the unequal relationship between the Global North and the Global South. The new norm appears to be the outright manufacturing of heritage coupled with the active consumption of tradition. The practice of maintaining groups of women in traditional dress to perform traditional activities that sustain the desire of visiting tourists illustrates the conflicting sentiments and desires, and highlights this development paradox. Although tourists generally long to visit ‘authentic’ places, the authenticity they seek is primarily visual, and their encounter with ‘real’ history remains marked by distance.