There is a growing body of scholarship advocating for a paradigmatic shift towards democratizing heritage studies in its conceptions and praxis. This paper explores the opportunities and constraints of pluralizing whose voices assume saliency in conceiving and interpreting intangible heritage. Informed by Timothy Mitchell’s theorization of the “rule of the experts” (2002), this paper explores three intersecting power hierarchies informing some of the practices of whose voices are privileged as authoritative in the conception and transmission of intangible heritage: gerontocracy, patriarchy and elitism. The paper draws on empirical findings from an initiative undertaken with Coptic youth in urban and remote rural communities in several governorates of Upper Egypt using qualitative and quantitative methods as well as action research incorporating participatory approaches. The paper interrogates the possibilities that participatory development methods hold for enabling the kind of epistemological shifts required to engage with youth not only as transmitters but mediators of heritage. The paper traces the journey of Coptic youth as they engage in gathering, analyzing, interpreting, preserving and disseminating heritage captured through written, audio-visual and photographic means. Tensions inevitably arise between those who on the one hand, who perceive the value of young people engaging with heritage being in their role as faithful transmitters from one generation to the next, and those on the other hand, who see youth’s agency in more dynamic terms. The latter conceives of youth as mediators of not only what heritage is at risk of disappearing and is worth preserving and sharing, but also as agents of transformation, challenging heritage practices that entrench hierarchical and oppressive power relations.