Building the capacity to aspire: heritagization and governmentality in Postcolonial Macau

Abstract

This paper examines the processes behind the nomination of Macau as a World Heritage City in the years immediately following the transfer of Macau’s sovereignty from Portugal to China in 1999. Rather than offering another deconstructive critique on the hegemonic discourses of UNESCO, I seek to elucidate how different constituencies -- namely, the Chinese, Macanese and Portuguese -- participated in Macau’s heritagization process and reaffirmed their own contributions to Macau’s colonial development and postcolonial transformation. By examining the varied narratives of different actors, I seek to understand the historical circumstances that formed the basis of their cultural affirmation through heritage and the concomitant aspirations for the future. I aim to show how the convergence and divergence of the discourses about heritage and histories have played an ongoing role in reshaping Macau’s governmentality and urban milieu.