Politics of memories: Identity construction in museums

•Applies collective memory theory in museum and heritage tourism studies.•Analyses how museums shape discourses and legitimate national memories.•Illustrates how transnational collective memory helps construct contested national identities.•Demonstrates how postcolonial memories of Hong Kong and Macao are contrasted through museums. This paper adopts collective memory theory to reveal processes through which heritage tourism stakeholders (re)construct contested national identity. Theoretically sensitised to identity crisis, the study analyses how Hong Kong and Macao heritage managers utilise complex transnational memories to (re)construct an identity aligned with, yet distinct from, that of China. Through a critical discourse analysis of interviews and discursive exhibition and museum texts, the article reveals that museum managers formulate heritage imaginings and a sense of belonging(s) through defining the collective memory for “Self” and “Other”. The article concludes that, by collective memory-building, museum professionals make tangible statements of national identities through legitimating negotiations and resistance in heritage tourism discourse. Implications for heritage tourism studies and museum management are also discussed.