The Heritage Theatre is a book about cultural heritage and globalisation. Cultural heritage is the stage on which the global community, smaller communities and individuals play out their similarities and differences, their identities and singularities. Cultural heritage forms an implicit cultural code governing the relationship between parts and the whole, individuals and communities, communities and outsiders, as well as the relationship between communities and the world as a whole. Cultural heritage, by way of its producers, its products and its audience, presents an image of the world and its inner coherence. The subjects in this book range from places as distant from each other as Dar-es-Salaam, Jakarta, Amsterdam, Le Creusot, Trinidad, Brazzaville, Bremerhaven, New York and Prague, and deal with themes such as wayang, Kylie Minogue, airports and heritage, modernist architecture in Africa and the impact of DNA research on the concept of roots. The volume is based on papers presented at a conference organised by the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication of Erasmus University Rotterdam. The authors have backgrounds in cultural studies, art history, anthropology, museum studies, sociology, tourist studies and history.

Tourism today is recognized as the largest and fastest-growing industry in the world, capable of producing positive social and economic transformations especially in developing countries. Yet for UNESCO, it works in conjunction with World Heritage sites for a far more ambitious goal: to produce 'peace in the minds of men' by creating a new, global identity. Anthropologist and former tour operator Michael Di Giovine draws on ethnographic fieldwork, close policy analysis of UNESCO's major documents, and professional experiences in Southeast Asia and Europe to provide a detailed examination of UNESCO's unusual effort to harness the phenomenon of globalization and the existence of cultural diversity for the purpose of creating 'peace in the minds of men' through its World Heritage program. He convincingly argues that UNESCO's designations are not impotent political performances that lead to the commercialization of local monuments for a touristic superstructure, but instead the building blocks of a new world system, an imaginative re-ordering of the world that knows no geopolitical boundaries but exists in the individual 'minds of men.' Di Giovine terms this system the heritage-scape, a real social structure that extends unbridled across the globe, spreading its mantra of 'unity in diversity.' Written for social scientists, heritage and tourism professionals, and the educated traveler, The Heritage-scape is an insightful, detailed, and expansive look at the politics and processes, histories and structures, and rituals and symbolisms of the interrelated phenomena of tourism, historic preservation, and UNESCO's World Heritage Program in Viet Nam, Cambodia, and across the world.

Historic sites, memorials, national parks, museumsewe live in an age in which heritage is ever-present. But what does it mean to live amongst the spectral traces of the past, the heterogeneous piling up of historic materials in the present? How did heritage grow from the concern of a handful of enthusiasts and specialists in one part of the world to something which is considered to be universally cherished? And what concepts and approaches are necessary to understanding this global obsession? Over the decades, since the adoption of the World Heritage Convention, various e~crisese(tm) of definition have significantly influenced the ways in which heritage is classified, perceived and managed in contemporary global societies. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the many tangible and intangible e~thingse(tm) now defined as heritage, this book attempts simultaneously to account for this global phenomenon and the industry which has grown up around it, as well as to develop a e~toolkit of conceptse(tm) with which it might be studied. In doing so, it provides a critical account of the emergence of heritage studies as an interdisciplinary field of academic study. This is presented as part of a broader examination of the function of heritage in late modern societies, with a particular focus on the changes which have resulted from the globalisation of heritage during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Developing new theoretical approaches and innovative models for more dialogically democratic heritage decision making processes, Heritage: Critical Approaches unravels the relationship between heritage and the experience of late modernity, whilst reorienting heritage so that it might be more productively connected with other pressing social, economic, political and environmental issues of our time.

Almost fifty years have passed since the adoption of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (the UNESCO World Heritage Convention). With its 194 States Parties, it is the most widely ratified convention within the family of UNESCO treaties on the protection of cultural heritage. The success of this Convention and its almost universal acceptance by the international community of states is due to the great appeal that recognising certain properties as "world heritage" has for national governments. Since the publication of the first Commentary, new problems have arisen in the management of world heritage sites. It has become increasingly difficult to properly monitor the conservation of the ever-growing mass of sites inscribed in the World Heritage List, and to resolve disputes over the formal designation of contested world heritage properties - a problem that has led to the withdrawal of the United States and Israel from UNESCO. New frontiers are now being explored for the expansion of the world heritage idea over marine areas beyond national jurisdiction, and the monopoly of the State in the identification, delineation, and presentation of world heritage properties is being increasingly challenged in the name of indigenous peoples' rights and by local communities claiming ownership over contested cultural sites. At the same time, the regime of world heritage protection has infiltrated other areas of international law, especially international economic law, investment arbitration, and the area of international criminal law. This second edition critically examines the World Heritage Convention against this dynamic evolution of international heritage law to help academics, lawyers, diplomats, and officials interpret and apply the norms of the Convention after half a century of uninterrupted implementing practice by State Parties and Treaty Bodies.

This book provides a unique, in-depth look at three Indigenous World Heritage sites in Canada and their use for Indigenous empowerment and community development. Based on extensive ethnographic field studies and comprehensive narrative interviews, it shows how the three First Nation communities presented in the case studies enforce recognition of their collective rights to preserve their cultural heritage and assert their right to political, economic, cultural, and social self-determination. It also considers the prevailing universalistic discourses around World Heritage and the various ways in which they serve to either reinforce existing oppressive conditions regarding Indigenous communities and voices or provide opportunities to overcome them. The book will be of interest to scholars and students working on social and cultural histories, histories of colonialism, and in heritage and museum studies.

What happens when UNESCO heritage conventions are ratified by a state? How do UNESCO’s global efforts interact with preexisting local, regional and state efforts to conserve or promote culture? What new institutions emerge to address the mandate? The contributors to this volume focus on the work of translation and interpretation that ensues once heritage conventions are ratified and implemented. With seventeen case studies from Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and China, the volume provides comparative evidence for the divergent heritage regimes generated in states that differ in history and political organization. The cases illustrate how UNESCO’s aspiration to honor and celebrate cultural diversity diversifies itself. The very effort to adopt a global heritage regime forces myriad adaptations to particular state and interstate modalities of building and managing heritage.

There are twenty-four World Heritage Sites scattered across the United States.These U.S. World Heritage Sites are the most important natural and cultural areas around the world; these are the places that the United Nations, and the 167 countries it represents, have recognized as the most important contributions to the world’s heritage. World Heritage Sites are premier visitor destinations, yet most people are not familiar with the World Heritage Site designation and many of the places included on the World Heritage List. A Guide to America's World Heritage Sites: The Heritage of Humanity describes these twenty-four sites, including why they are so important, the visitor attractions they feature, and logistical advice on how to visit them.

This book presents studies on the management of the Brazilian world heritage and its international counterparts, relating its preservationist practices to the risks and alerts that run its maintenance in the face of so many challenges in the contemporary world. The book has encouraged scholars from a wide variety of disciplines to contribute their valuable knowledge to research on the management and risks of Brazil's world heritage. It is a bold initiative that brings together contemporary studies on management, alerts and risks of the Brazilian world heritage and some international examples. It stands out not only for its interdisciplinary approach, but above all for compiling a wide range of approaches that analyze various dimensions of world heritage management. Unique experience in the management of world heritage allocated to Brazilian territory, this book was written by prominent academics and heritage management professionals and includes national and international case studies. It is a comprehensive academic book in Brazilian world heritage management literature and can therefore be used as an authoritative reference source as well as a significant teaching tool.