ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines some of the implications of the fact that we live in an era of unprecedented concern with preserving and restoring the past. New forms of social exclusion which cite the rights of those claiming indigenous origin over those of migrants and strangers, turn citizenship into a hotly debated issue whilst at the same time justifying policies of ethnic cleansing and the destruction of cultural heritage. The destruction of cultural heritage, for example accompanying ethnic cleansing policies in Bosnia, reminds us of the passions and violence that can now surround the right to possess a culture. The cultural repertoires of heritage, constantly worked and reworked by each generation, now bypass the boundaries of state and nation and create scales of public culture and identity that are world systems of practice and belief. Heritage also implies a threat of loss and the need to preserve or conserve against an inevitable sense of deprivation.
