Understanding Authorized Heritage Narratives and Counternarratives

This chapter lies the theoretical foundations for constructing a critical counternarrative of contemporary spatial practices and conservation in Myanmar. It is therefore essential for following the discussion in subsequent chapters of this book. It provides an assemblage of theoretical concerns and appropriate terminology that question conventional modes of institutionalized heritage practice and their multi-faceted political appropriation. Instead of further entrenching constructed differences between East and West in conservation as often promoted in global professional contexts, the focus of this chapter lies on the universal contested nature of heritage practice and its implications for reconciliation processes; on addressing commonalities in emerging discourses on “building practice as heritage” and understanding reconstructions as meaningful products of their time. It also draws attention to the intricate role of sacred spaces in the context of ideologized heritage-making of autocratic governments.