Circulating heritage : mediation and recycling of the cultural heritage items, devices and values

International audienceThe papers gathered in this volume deal with the re-constructions, uses, transmissions and negotiations of “collective memories” in various identity settings. They focus on the dynamics of heritage-making, mapping the inventory of symbols and strategies retained, selected and manipulated by various actors to set compelling identities inside their mainstream society. The common argument of inter-disciplinary approaches is to provide insights into the issue of mobility, mediation, circulation and re-cycling at work in cultural heritage agencies. By suggesting to our authors to scrutinise alternative views on heritage compared to the official ones, our objective was to put different conceptions of “collective identity” in dialogue, in order to illustrate the diversity of representations about cultural heritage, from the nation-state’s endeavour to give a shared sense to “collective identity”, to the individuals’, minorities’, diasporas’ or local communities’ competing glances on heritage as a self-knowledge process granting meaning of their identity as well