Heritage as Citizenship Test

Governments and agencies are beginning to use 'heritage' rhetoric (paintings, slogans, curated national myths) as an implicit criterion for who 'counts' as a member of the political community. That rhetorical move substitutes ancestry‑and‑myth framings for civic, legal definitions of citizenship and bleeds directly into immigration, enforcement, and cultural policy. — If state actors normalize heritage‑first language, it risks shifting policy from rights‑based, procedural citizenship toward ancestry‑based belonging, with major implications for immigration, social cohesion, and administrative neutrality.