The research project investigates how Brazilian built heritage is framed by focusing on the proposals for listing that have been declined by the country's primary heritage authority, the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional, IPHAN).

In Brazilian Portuguese, the term "devalue" (desvalor) refers not only to the loss of value (desvalia); it can also signify a lack of acceptance (desestima) or protection (desamparo). Combining critical discourse analyses, case study selection, and postcolonial approaches, the project analyzes the arguments used by institutional experts to decline applications for formal listing as heritage and to refute value claims in listing processes.

In a multiethnic society such as Brazil, defining what will not be considered national heritage is as complicated as defining what will, because both are implicated in debates over cultural recognition. Despite their relevance for such debates, however, denied proposals have not yet received attention in the Brazilian context. Significantly, there was a surge in declined proposals in the 1990s, when the number of assets rejected surpassed the number of assets accepted for listing.

Starting from an understanding of the heritage discourse as a cultural process with impacts on social justice, the intention is not to discredit Brazil's selection procedure or the history of that procedure, but to contribute to a shift in awareness of its consequences both within the heritage field and beyond it.