ABSTRACT
Participation has been one of the most repeated buzzwords across different policy sectors for the past decades. As a result, participatory approaches have been integrated rather uncritically into practically all dimensions of heritage practice, at least on the level of normative discourses. The daily experiences and concrete practices of participation paint a picture that departs these often-recited positive sentiments. This chapter is an attempt to look beyond these recited truths of heritage participation through an empirical analysis of a series of panel discussions organised as part of the Whose Heritage? seminar in Helsinki, Finland. By revealing the contrasts that manifest behind the authorised forms of heritage participation, this chapter attempts to identify avenues towards more inclusive discourses and practices of heritage participation. The analysis is structured around three themes: (1) the alternative meanings and roles that participation creates for heritage institutions, (2) the knowledge and skills that participation requires, and finally, (3) the potential that the production of more inclusive narratives and representations can have both inside museums and in the society at large.
