Abstract | Stuart Hall (1999) raised the important question of ‘whose heritage’ when discussing cultural tradition in Britain. He criticised the mainstream conception of culture that prioritises the preservation of a national past that is authorised as valuable and called for the construction of a multicultural identity by bringing the heritage of migrant communities from the margin to the centre of British society. Building upon Hall’s thesis, and through a case study of the Chinese New Year Celebration in London, this chapter proposes ‘glocal heritage discourses’ as a new framework to re-conceputalise heritage-making of migrants in the UK and beyond. The research shows that it is no longer adequate to examine the heritage practice of migrants within the framework of nation-states in the 21st century. Instead, diasporic heritage-making is better conceptualised as ‘double heritagisation’, a highly dynamic and complex process involving negotiation with official heritage discourse in the host and home countries simultaneously. In addition, instead of being marginalised subjects, as described in earlier literature, migrants play an agentive role in creating new cultural traditions, at the intersection of the local and global, that empower migrants and contribute to the building of a more inclusive society. |
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