This book addresses long-held beliefs about the nature of engagement between heritage professionals and the wider public.

It was published as a special issue of the International Journal of Heritage Studies.

Emma Waterton holds an RCUK Fellowship in History and Heritage at Keele University. Her interests include unpacking the discursive constructions of 'heritage'; community involvement in the management of heritage; the divisions implied between tangible and intangible heritage; and the role played by visual media. Publications include the co-authored volume (with Laurajane Smith) Heritage, Communities and Archaeology (Duckworth 2009) and the co-edited volume (with Steve Watson) Culture, Heritage and Representations (Ashgate 2010).

Steve Watson is a Principal Lecturer at York St John University, where he teaches tourism and heritage-related subjects. His interests are in the areas of cultural and heritage tourism and the social, cultural and representational processes by which places are transformed into tourist destinations. He is also concerned with the relationships between heritage and host communities and the nature of the interface between professional practice and community involvement in the formulation and construction of heritage. He has co-edited (with Emma Waterton) Culture, Heritage and Representations (Ashgate 2010).

1. Introduction: Heritage and Community Engagement - Finding a new agenda Steve Watson and Emma Waterton 2. The recognition and misrecognition of community heritage Emma Waterton and Laurajane Smith 3. The politics of community heritage: Motivations, authority and control Elizabeth Crooke 4. Unfulfilled promises? Heritage management and community participation at some of Africa's cultural heritage sites Shadreck Chirikure, Munyaradzi Manyanga, Webber Ndoro and Gilbert Pwiti 5. Heritage and empowerment: Community-based Indigenous cultural heritage in Northern Australia Shelly Greer 6. New frameworks for community engagement in archive sector: From handing over to handing on Mary Stevens, Andrew Flinn and Elizabeth Shepherd 7. Uninherited heritage: Tradition and heritage production in Shetland, Åland and Svalbard Adam Grydehøj 8. Decentring the new protectors: Transforming Aboriginal heritage in South Australia Steve Hemming and Daryle Rigney 9. Beyond the rhetoric: Negotiating the politics and realising the potential of community-driven heritage engagement Corinne Perkin 10. Meaning-making and cultural heritage in Jordan: The local community, the contexts and the archaeological sites in Khreibt al-Suq Shatha Abu-Khafajah 11. Power relations and community involvement in landscape-based cultural heritage management practice: An Australian case study Jonathan Prangnell, Anne Ross and Brian Coghill