Myth, space, and the politics of heritage: analysing the mythology of national identity construction in a Chinese museum

Responding to calls for non-Western perspectives in critical heritage studies, this paper examines how national identity is constructed through museum discourse in China. Through a Barthesian mythological analysis of the Tianfu Art Museum (TAM), this research unpacks the semiological processes through which state-aligned ideologies become naturalized. The study identifies three interconnected operations – cultural nationalism, participatory nationalism, and curated nationalism – that respectively construct an enduring civilization, frame technological interactivity as state-enabled agency, and produce unity through strategic historical omissions and spatial regulation. Together, these nuanced spatial strategies constitute a sophisticated discursive apparatus through which TAM legitimizes state narratives by simultaneously preserving heritage, engaging visitors, and masking ideological selectivity. The analysis specifically demonstrates how these constructs are naturalized through multiple mechanisms: the privation of history, their presentation as incontestable facts, the establishment of a causal link between participatory design and political legitimacy, and their material realization through architectural elements and spatial organization. The main contribution lies in systematically elucidating the underexplored role of spatial discourse and material arrangements in ideological naturalization, thereby advancing critical heritage and nationalism studies through a nuanced, context-specific analytical framework.