Who Decides What Is Worth Preserving? Power and Heritage in Latin America

Ruins of São Miguel das Missões - Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil. Image © wikimedia commons by Dicklyon licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.When we enter a museum, walk through a historic center, or review a country’s list of protected heritage sites, we rarely think about the process behind those choices. Who decided, on behalf of all of us, that certain objects, places, and architectures deserved to be preserved and dissemi