Our heritage provides clues to our past and how our society has evolved. It helps us examine our history and traditions and enables us develop an awareness about ourselves. It helps us understand and explain why we are the way we are. Access to historical information that can be of significant value in the present time.

Anthropological research shows that heritage is regional, dynamic, and deeply intangible. The reason for its intangibility is that immigrant communities, could not bring all of their tangible artefacts with them. The heritages which these populations hold, however, now find expression in everyday actions and places. From the honouring of ancestors to the composition of music , a rich hybrid and culturally dynamic social world.

One of the reasons why generations of people document their history is because they want to ensure the stories told, experiences and an abundance of wisdom are accurately preserved, the knowledge of their culture is understood by future generations.

There is comprehensive information in the areas of law, psychology, economics, geography, architecture, holistic living, linguistics, sociology, medicine, religion and so much more. An historical perspective of these subjects can significantly enhance your understanding of life.

A chance to understand traditions that are specific to your ancestors, you can gain a historical perspective of your family and culture, including details about your heritage that are unique. The  information gathered will be based on environmental and genetic factors.

A  historical perspective of your heritage can serve as a guidepost and it often provides information about what you can expect in the future. This certainly does not mean that people don’t have free will. While you can make decisions to guide the outcome of your future, you cannot assume that your heritage will not play a role in what happens to you and others.

There is a connection between the past and the future. The combination of the decisions you make on a daily basis and events that have occurred in the past will have an effect on what happens in the future. To a large degree, many of the decisions that are made today are done based on knowledge of what has happened in the past. By understanding the events of the past, it can give you the backdrop that you need to better understand yourself and where you came from. People often spend their youth trying to understand who they are. Knowing about your heritage is in fact a great way to find yourself. What you learn can help you embrace positive characteristics and improve upon others.

Heritage sites serve as important spaces and places for restorative justice, healing and pride, adapted narratives, a space to add to of women’s contributions to culture and identity. Heritage has become that warm fuzzy blanket we use to nostalgically reflect on and evoke the past. We may look wistfully at statues of fallen war heroes and remember their contribution to peace, freedom and democracy, consolidating their place in history and collective memory. Heritage is also accused of inducing amnesia, encouraging a remembrance of certain things and a forgetting of others.  The restoration of heritage can offer new narratives of the nation. The stories can also offer a space for democratisation, for the inclusion of women’s contributions to culture and identity. An uncritical ‘use’ of heritage, however, can also be detrimental and encourage what some have called a ‘cultural mosaic’ view of the world, separated and marked by difference.

 

How do we decide what should be safeguarded? Can and should heritages last for all time?