Paper short abstract:

If heritage-based place making is now well documented, more attention can be paid to its links with the construction of a common good, as a set of values collectively shared. In weak areas, such a common good can be used to provide a better future, using culture for a this-worldly salvation.

Paper long abstract:

Based on the case of a rural weak area located in the French Pyrenees, this paper addresses the question of giving a sacred value to heritage in the context of a cultural "revival" especially perceptible here since the 1990s. Showcasing heritage has been a major interest for different actors, in order to regain a "pride of place" (Gerson, 2003), a feeling of continuity between generations, maintaining and/or producing a sense of belonging for local inhabitants or newcomers attracted by quality of life.

This sacralization of cultural heritage, visible through the emotions it provokes, the attitudes of respect it orders, has also been thought as a way to connect past, present and future, creating new paths for territorial development. This ambition has also been taken over by local politicians sensitive to heritage and culture, through participatory development programs. These programs gave rise to the necessity of identifying a common good: the territory, as an entity to work for beyond rivalries.

Given the age-old demographic and economic decline faced by this area, this strategy promoting cultural authenticity has been seen as a way to save this little Pyrenean "pays", regaining life against slow death, in connection with a global context where culture is an element of a "secular soteriology" (Stoczkowski, 2009).

The aim of this paper is to analyze the mechanisms of this secular sacralization of cultural value and examine the limits and processes of exclusion this cultural renewal includes (exclusion of non-participants to development programs, of categories of inhabitants downgraded by the social effects of this renewal, etc.).