To Shape the Citizens of “That Great City, the World”

Heritage, Imperialism and Commodification: How the West Can Always Do It Best

“…Indeed, the "privileging of preservation" 44 at the expense of a dynamic relationship with identity 45 is a Western obsession 46 that has often been used to justify retaining misappropriated cultural objects and artefacts. One of the former directors of the British Museum, for example, claimed that it was in the best position to conserve the artefacts it holds and to present them as part of its "encyclopaedic collection" 47 There is a faux naivety in this idea: as if this "encyclopaedic collection" could somehow free itself of the circumstances in which it was formed, and as though all the components of the collection would be exactly the same from wherever they are viewed. Observations made by Slaughter when addressing the concept of "the centre" in the intangible cultural heritage of world literature seem apposite here:…”