HERITAGE STUDIES 1 TENTAMEN
Heritage: investigates how knowledge about the past is used in the present, it is a social construction.
No passive, objective or neutral view of the past.
Selectiveness: what things and whose heritage should be preserved is often a starting point in critical
heritage studies
SELECTIVENESS IN PRESERVING THE PAST
Selecting and 1. Develop criteria to assess assets
managing the 2. Create forms for listing assets
past 3. Identify and document assets
4. Evaluate inclusion of assets
5. Create and publicize heritage listings
Social housing in England:
- some were given social heritage status and some were demolished
- conflicts with residents wanting to preserve their housing, instead of it being
demolished
- challenges assumptions about policies governing preservation (Harrison, 2010)
Selectiveness of There is selectiveness in preservation and conservation practices, and this
preservation selectivity often means excluding certain things, sites, social groups enz.
and - established canons of cultural heritage: with accepted selection that includes
conservation some things and excludes others
NOTIONS AND FRAMEWORK OF VALUE
Intrinsic value Everything defined as heritage is possesses some kind of heritage value,
It is part of an essence
Contingent value Not objectively given, heritage value depend on context. Some seem to be
universal because they are so widely held, depends on who is looking at it
multivalent Heritage sites/things have a number of different values ascribed to them.
- different values correspond to different stakeholders or observers, which
requires pluralistic approach to value assessment
Pluralistic Understanding values for:
approach - social, historical and spatial contexts of a value
- who is defining the value, their position and relationship
Set of - Values: the aspects or qualities of worth or importance that a site, property,
Criteria/Typology: cultural entity has
framework of - Significance: the sum of the cultural and natural values of site/ property/
values to cultural entity
evaluate site. (caution with typology: if used in a normative way and as priori framework, it
prefigures too much about the values of a site)
, AUTHENTICITY
: presumes that some kind of historic value is represented by – inherent in – some truly old and thus
authentic material
The Venice Charter (1964): - addressed conservation of historic buildings
for the conservation and - stipulated that traditional settings must be kept, and no new
restoration of monuments construction, demolition or modification are allowed
and sites - regards monuments as inseparable from their history and setting
- aim of conservation: safeguard no less as works of art than
historical evidence
- aim for restoration: preserve and reveal the aesthetic and historic
value of the monument based on respect for original material and
authentic documents
Problems of authenticity -temporality and diversity of cultural practices
response: The Nara Document on Authenticity (ICOMOS, 1994)
- no judgement of authenticity within fixed criteria, all should be
judged within the cultural contexts to which they belong
CHARTERS, LISTINGS AND UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE
Development of heritage bodies and protocols
UNESCO (1946) after - aimed to promote peace and protection
WWII - culture and heritage as vehicle to achieve this aim
- at first archaeology involved, later lost relations and shifted to
safeguarding monumentality
Aswan high Dam construction 1960
- Nubian monuments campaign, part of massive development
program
- Egyptian temples were gifted to western countries in exchange
for technical assistance
- campaign illustrates UNESCO’s focus on technocracy rather
than scientific humanism
- framework first dominated by notion of historic buildings as monuments
- following WWII, official heritage listings become common
1972 World Heritage International instrument and listing for protecting and safeguarding
Convention heritage sites
1992 Amended with cultural landscapes and additional protocols
2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage:
The representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity
WORLD HERITAGE - member of countries of the WHC are state parties or signatories
- WH properties are things of outstanding universal value inscribed by
UNESCO -> criteria for selection: focus on authenticity and integrity and
regularly revisited to reflect changing concept of world heritage
- listing (tentative listing, world heritage list)
- nomination (nomination file to propose an inscription)
- evaluation by ICOMOS and IUCN
- inscription (successfully listed property)
universalism Problematic: Barely possible to define universal principle without
trivializing the cultural expressions or denying the cultural values of non-
Heritage: investigates how knowledge about the past is used in the present, it is a social construction.
No passive, objective or neutral view of the past.
Selectiveness: what things and whose heritage should be preserved is often a starting point in critical
heritage studies
SELECTIVENESS IN PRESERVING THE PAST
Selecting and 1. Develop criteria to assess assets
managing the 2. Create forms for listing assets
past 3. Identify and document assets
4. Evaluate inclusion of assets
5. Create and publicize heritage listings
Social housing in England:
- some were given social heritage status and some were demolished
- conflicts with residents wanting to preserve their housing, instead of it being
demolished
- challenges assumptions about policies governing preservation (Harrison, 2010)
Selectiveness of There is selectiveness in preservation and conservation practices, and this
preservation selectivity often means excluding certain things, sites, social groups enz.
and - established canons of cultural heritage: with accepted selection that includes
conservation some things and excludes others
NOTIONS AND FRAMEWORK OF VALUE
Intrinsic value Everything defined as heritage is possesses some kind of heritage value,
It is part of an essence
Contingent value Not objectively given, heritage value depend on context. Some seem to be
universal because they are so widely held, depends on who is looking at it
multivalent Heritage sites/things have a number of different values ascribed to them.
- different values correspond to different stakeholders or observers, which
requires pluralistic approach to value assessment
Pluralistic Understanding values for:
approach - social, historical and spatial contexts of a value
- who is defining the value, their position and relationship
Set of - Values: the aspects or qualities of worth or importance that a site, property,
Criteria/Typology: cultural entity has
framework of - Significance: the sum of the cultural and natural values of site/ property/
values to cultural entity
evaluate site. (caution with typology: if used in a normative way and as priori framework, it
prefigures too much about the values of a site)
, AUTHENTICITY
: presumes that some kind of historic value is represented by – inherent in – some truly old and thus
authentic material
The Venice Charter (1964): - addressed conservation of historic buildings
for the conservation and - stipulated that traditional settings must be kept, and no new
restoration of monuments construction, demolition or modification are allowed
and sites - regards monuments as inseparable from their history and setting
- aim of conservation: safeguard no less as works of art than
historical evidence
- aim for restoration: preserve and reveal the aesthetic and historic
value of the monument based on respect for original material and
authentic documents
Problems of authenticity -temporality and diversity of cultural practices
response: The Nara Document on Authenticity (ICOMOS, 1994)
- no judgement of authenticity within fixed criteria, all should be
judged within the cultural contexts to which they belong
CHARTERS, LISTINGS AND UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE
Development of heritage bodies and protocols
UNESCO (1946) after - aimed to promote peace and protection
WWII - culture and heritage as vehicle to achieve this aim
- at first archaeology involved, later lost relations and shifted to
safeguarding monumentality
Aswan high Dam construction 1960
- Nubian monuments campaign, part of massive development
program
- Egyptian temples were gifted to western countries in exchange
for technical assistance
- campaign illustrates UNESCO’s focus on technocracy rather
than scientific humanism
- framework first dominated by notion of historic buildings as monuments
- following WWII, official heritage listings become common
1972 World Heritage International instrument and listing for protecting and safeguarding
Convention heritage sites
1992 Amended with cultural landscapes and additional protocols
2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage:
The representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity
WORLD HERITAGE - member of countries of the WHC are state parties or signatories
- WH properties are things of outstanding universal value inscribed by
UNESCO -> criteria for selection: focus on authenticity and integrity and
regularly revisited to reflect changing concept of world heritage
- listing (tentative listing, world heritage list)
- nomination (nomination file to propose an inscription)
- evaluation by ICOMOS and IUCN
- inscription (successfully listed property)
universalism Problematic: Barely possible to define universal principle without
trivializing the cultural expressions or denying the cultural values of non-
