All heritage resources, places and spaces are associated with memory. They play a powerful role in shaping collective memories in terms of what is selected for preservation and storage. Drawing on examples from museums, galleries and heritage sites in South Africa, this chapter engages with issues relating to the processes of memory shaping and reshaping within that country. Heritage institutions are often used in the construction of identities and in nation-building exercises. The chapter finishes by considering issues relating to all the above in the controversy that arose around the exhibition ‘Miscast: Negotiating Khoisan History and Material Culture’.
