Ideologies of Heritage: Language, Community, and Identity among Ethiopian Immigrants in Prince George’s County, Maryland

Abstract

While analysts and practitioners today recognize that heritage entails processes of both "preservation" and "innovation," most face challenges when it comes to finding methodologies capable of capturing these apparently contradictory and elusive attributes. The problem lies, in part, in reconciling notions of a stable, authorized past, on the one hand, and dynamic constructions of the past, on the other. Erve Chambers addresses this duality by dividing heritage into two types-one, public, and based in "authenticity," the other private and grounded in "significance" (2006:33-35). In the first usage that which is called the "past" serves as a fixed referent that may be valued for its iconic role. In the second usage, heritage is recognized as dynamic and emergent.