The Perpetual Performance and Emergence of Heritage

This chapter develops a discourse on heritage that seeks to achieve two things. First, it seeks to dislodge ‘heritage’ from the conventional concept of its being somehow pre-gured or ready-made. Second, it positions heritage beyond the visual and, whilst holding on to the visual as a component in the dynamic constitution of heritage, acknowledges it to be one among many commingling energies. These energies are discussed through a consideration of performance and performativity, the spaces of heritage, and the ows of inuence inherent in its continual making and emergence. The relationality, rather than polarity of representations and what is not representational, is examined through recent debates on performativity. Heritage is related to cultural identity, feelings of belonging and the play of memory and duration. The character and meaning of heritage may be inuenced by representations, including those that are visual; heritage is continually emergent in living.