Heritage as emancipation?

This article examines the concept that unifies the studies of heritage dynamics presented in this special issue: emancipation. As we stress via the question mark at the end of the title, heritage as emancipation has a Janus-faced quality. Emancipation ostensibly presents a more optimistic metaphor for conceptualising heritage processes, practices, and performances. For instance, spotlighting precolonial, indigenous, or minority heritage can serve as a reclamation process (akin to land reclamation), a counterweight to colonial or dominant group heritage claims and narratives. Yet, as we argue, emancipatory heritage processes are inseparable from broader power dynamics and inequalities, and can simultaneously encompass disenfranchisements, dissonance, suppression, and even violence towards minority groups forging their own heritage projects.