ABSTRACT
One way to understand the term “politics” is that it is about who has the power to make decisions which affect others and who, or what, controls resources in any given situation. This way of thinking about politics usually focuses on contestation which, in turn, frequently revolves around issues of identity and a struggle over cultural values. Concepts and practices of heritage are invoked in these political power struggles to furnish explanatory narratives and evidence to claim and justify positions of relative power or disempowerment. “Heritage” – a term whose ambiguity can be used opportunistically – is extremely useful to those involved in political struggles because it can be both ordinary and extraordinary. It is commonplace, woven into the fabric of everyday life and individual experience, which gives it popular recognition, but it also simultaneously functions as the signifier of something much greater than itself, something with resonance on a grand scale.
