Migratory Pasts and Heritage Making Presents: Theory and Practice

Abstract

This chapter makes a case for an urgent reappraisal of migrant heritage in the context of recent global ‘crises’ – refugee, financial, and environmental. We define ‘migrant heritage’ as that which is made with, by, for, or in reaction to community groups and individuals who have, or whose ancestors have, moved across borders and/or cultures. We then outline the scholarly literatures which have shaped understandings of migrant heritage, zoning in on the overlaps between memory studies, migration studies and critical heritage studies. Themes including human rights, affect and activism emerge as key vectors of the volume, which presents case studies of migrant, multicultural and diasporic heritage making across the globe.