The making of heritage community
Spatial construction, logic of rights, and local practices in contemporary China
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8134242 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Chengcheng Yang (0009-0002-1650-7239, University of Groningen, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-4 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-12 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asian Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1683-478X • E-ISSN: 2168-4227 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/1683478x.2026.2630605 |
| OpenAlex | W7135051285 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 7 |
This dissertation reframes “heritage community” in contemporary China by showing how it is made, rather than presumed, through institutional design, actor strategies, and spatial negotiations. Treating the term as a sensitizing concept, it foregrounds a “logic of rights” through which diverse stakeholders contest recognition, resource allocation, and cultural and developmental claims. Based on multisited ethnographic fieldwork in Hangzhou, supplemented by social media analysis, spatial mapping, and visual interpretation, the study proposes a tripartite framework, “institutional shaping–actor agency–spatial identity.” The multisited approach also allows the analysis to cut across familiar divides in the field, including the separation of tangible from intangible heritage and the tendency to treat urban and rural settings as distinct analytical worlds. It argues that a “heritage community” is a socio-spatial formation assembled through unequal participation and contested belonging under heritage-led transformation. Grounded in close ethnographic attention, the study offers an empirically informed account of heritage governance in a state-led system and speaks to wider debates on how heritage management operates in comparable institutional contexts.
China · Cultural heritage management · Making-of · Perspective (graphical · Place making · World heritage · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |