1 Cant, A. 2025. ‘Santa Cruz Mixtepec: Community Engagement and Religious Heritage in Mexico’ IN: Steven Mithen, Maria Rabbani and Mubariz Ahmed Rabbani (eds). Cultural Heritage, Community Engagement and Sustainable Tourism. Abingdon: Taylor and Francis. (ch 12) Santa Cruz Mixtepec: Community Engagement and Religious Heritage (Mexico) Alanna Cant, Department of Archaeology, University of Reading Abstract Santa Cruz Mixtepec is the locaon of a ruined 16 th century Dominican convent that was conserved and parally restored between 2015-2018. The project involved a collaboraon between federal, municipal and privately funded stakeholders, with extensive community engagement. This chapter describes the history of the convent, the role it currently plays in the Santa Cruz community and its governance, placing its restoraon in the potenally conflicng contexts of heritage tourism and Catholic pracces in Mexico. It quesons how the ‘local community’ can be adequately defined, the problemac approach to the Catholic clergy, and explores the conflicng interests of stakeholders who nevertheless collaborated in good faith and with considerable success. 12.1 Introduction This chapter discusses community engagement in heritage development at an acve religious site, Santa Cruz Mixtepec, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, placing it within the broader historical and economic contexts of heritage and tourism in the region. Santa Cruz is the site of a ruined 16th century Dominican convent (exconvento), of which the chapel is sll in use as the main church for the local Catholic parish, also called Santa Cruz Mixtepec. From 2015 to 2018, the cloister roof, walls, and secons of the refectory were conserved and parally restored by heritage professionals through a collaboraon between the municipal government of Santa Cruz Mixtepec, the Mexican federal government via the Naonal Instute of Anthropology and History (INAH), and the Alfredo Harp Helú Foundaon of