A Melting Pot Runneth Over? Contradictions of Heritage in Baguio City, Philippines

This paper is a preliminary examination of the contradictions of heritage as they manifest in the City of Baguio, Philippines, particularly due to the entangled discourses of national heritage and community inheritance. Drawing on Smith’s (2006) concept of the Authorized Heritage Discourse (AHD), Robertson’s (2012) idea of Heritage from Below (HFB), and Mulder’s (2022) notion of the “messy spaces in between” (258), I analyze the city’s engagement with heritage as borne out by its colonial past and multicultural present. Through a critical analysis of policy documents, legal texts, (social) media representations, and cultural mapping guidelines, processes, and outputs, I demonstrate how heritage in Baguio simultaneously functions as a site of contestation and creative tension. The discussion intends to contribute to the ongoing discourse of critical heritage in urban sites with heterogeneous populations.