Equality without redistribution

Development politics and heritage commodification in Red Location, South Africa.
Based on a review of the Red Location Museum and Cultural Precinct project in Red Location, Port Elizabeth, this paper questions the ambiguous relationship between heritage-making projects and development policies. Analysing project descriptions and presentations by its promoters, as well as the protests of Red Location inhabitants, this paper shows how this ambiguity is caused by the adoption of a neoliberal conception of development, which combines both state involvement and state retreat. As a form of state involvement, the project embodies the government commitment to constructing a post-apartheid city and a national community; as a form of state retreat, the project delegates the task of fi nding a solution to socio-economic problems to tourism and cultural/heritage activities. Ultimately, as a neoliberal tool, the project seeks to promote equality among citizens while silencing all redistribution discourses.