The political economies of heritage

![CDATA[In recent years much attention has been paid to how heritage, memory and identity are socially actualised in both material and non-material ways, for example to the relationship between heritage and capital, particularly in light of apparent processes of globalisation. Though the focus has been rather narrowly conceived and pejorative in tone, bemoaning the 'commodification' of culture and supposed loss of 'authenticity', the casual use of that term as a generic way of understanding the cultural-economic dyad masks the real complexities of this relationship. This chapter seeks to illustrate why more nuanced, multi-vector understandings are required. It will consider how heritage and memory are being produced and shaped in particular contexts through a series of political and economic processes that have now become global and will also highlight how such processes involve the privileging of certain forms of expertise and cultural knowledge.]]