'Manxness': The Uses of Heritage on the Isle of Man

Abstract

This article examines how the Isle of Man, a self-governing crown dependency located in the center of the British Isles, uses heritage to create social stability among a diverse and rapidly changing population. The result of this process has been a powerful model of heritage branding through which all definitions of national identity must flow. After tracing the development of ‘Manx’ national identity from the Victorian era to the present, this article explores the benefits and limitations of the Isle of Man’s political uses of its history and shares insight from the practice of public history on the Isle of Man.