The Nature of Heritage: The New South Africa is unique inrevealing the conflicts inherent in preserving both natural andcultural heritage, by examining the archaeological, ethnographicand economic evidence of a nation's attempts to master its past andits future.
* Provides a classic example of how nations attempt to overcome anegative heritage through past mastering of their histories
* Evaluates the continuing dominance of nature and conservationover concerns for cultural heritage
* Employs ethnographic and archaeological methodologies to revealhow the past is processed into a new national heritage
* Identifies heritage as therapy, exemplified in the strategy forrepairing legacies of racial and ethnic difference inpost-apartheid South Africa
* Highlights the role of archaeological heritage sites, nationalparks and protected areas in economic development and socialempowerment
* Explores how nature trumps culture and the global implicationsof the new configurations of heritage