China has been experiencing a boom in newly constructed ancient towns (NCAT). Under the influence of recent central policies, requiring heritage activation and cultural revitalisation, NCATs that ...were viewed as theme parks providing entertaining experiences have become a new type of heritage site. With a case study of Gubei Water Town, it is shown that under the name of revitalising traditional culture, 'heritage' is created following the decisions of the tourism developer based on tourist preference. We suggest that themed environments may aggravate the exclusion of local communities and reduce the possibility for bottom-up negotiations in the process of heritage interpretation. Also, the convergence of NCATs and ancient towns may speed up the decline in cultural diversity in China.
In recent years, studies on intangible cultural heritage (ICH) have substantially increased as the subject has received extensive attention from scholars. This study collected all the papers (249) on ...ICH from the Web of Science (WoS) core database. CiteSpace analysis software was used for the bibliometric analysis of all papers, and the results of the analysis of literature clustering, scientific research collaboration, co-citations, and so on were visually displayed. The results show that there is not substantial collaboration among researchers, research institutions, or countries that conduct research on ICH. The relationship between high-yield and high-citation authorship is inconsistent and weak. High-yield countries are mainly concentrated in a small group that includes China, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The research has mainly focused on heritage protection, heritage space, heritage management, heritage policy, and the internationalization of heritage. In recent years, the focus of research has been on creative heritage tourism, community participation in heritage protection and development, and the authenticity of heritage.
Digital archaeologists claim that their practices have proven to be an important tool for mediating conflict, ensuring that the digital turn in archaeology entails engaging in current political ...issues. This can be questioned by analysing a copy of the Syrian Arch of Triumph. The original was destroyed in 2015. A year later, a copy was carved out of Egyptian marble; the replica was constructed thanks to digital documentation, which allowed archaeologists to create a 3D model. The arch was placed in various Western locations; however, it never reached Syria. Hybridity, the cultural and political significance of the arch’s replica and its ‘Grand Tour’ invite us to think about different interpretive layers of this artefact of ideological discourse (ontological, epistemological, ethical). In this paper, the replica of the Syrian arch will be analysed through the frameworks of post-colonial theory and technology studies. Both perspectives provide an insight into promising advantages and alarming drawbacks of such digital practices. This paper argues that the case of a copy of the Syrian Arch of Triumph on the one hand reflects the contemporary colonial technocracy in heritage politics (an ethical dimension), and on the other demonstrates that an ideological aspect of its digital reconstruction emerges from a speculative anticipation of what might constitute the universal value of world heritage in the future (an onto-epistemological dimension).
The conflicts that abound around the world between different groups struggling to control the definition, management, and use of heritage give rise to many issues that need to be foregrounded in ...scholarly and professional debates. Focusing on UNESCO's World Heritage system, this paper asks: Why and how do nation states avoid respecting heritage rights? What can be and is being done about it? How can we move toward a more rights-based approach to heritage management? The notion that people have rights to access and enjoy their cultural heritage has emerged within the domain of cultural rights, which, in turn, is a component of human rights. Prospects for achieving global recognition of cultural heritage rights have improved recently through interrelated activities being undertaken at the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, in a Norwegian network of heritage, environmental and rights agencies, and at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. These advances relate mostly to Indigenous heritage, whereas the cultural heritage of other groups, such as women, children, and youth, or, in many parts of the world, ethnic and racial minorities that are not considered Indigenous peoples, lack comparable recognition and respect.
Once abandoned for more than three decades, vernacular settlements in Oman are now being progressively reinvested in to foster the country’s heritage tourism sector. The present research focuses on ...the emerging phenomenon of community-led initiatives for vernacular heritage rehabilitation and adaptive reuse in Oman. Through an examination of three case studies, its aim is to describe this process and its modes of action and discuss its effects on vernacular settlement transformations. A mixed research methodology was designed to include (A) analyses of relevant primary and secondary data, (B) documented onsite observations, (C) interviews with local community representatives and key players in the operations of rehabilitation, and (D) extractions and analyses of quantitative data from a hotel booking website.
The research sheds light on unsuspected interrelations within and between the projects being implemented in these settlements and their operating modes. It reveals the focal role of a local community in a kind of ‘bottom-up’ management of its built heritage, coupled with a ‘horizontal cooperation’ between the three initiatives studied in this research. Moreover, it shows that a heavily centralised and top-down policy for the field of heritage conservation and management is among the main obstacles that hinder such initiatives. Furthermore, community-led operations of vernacular heritage rehabilitation are being undertaken under insufficient regulations in terms of land use, building restoration and adaptive reuse. In this context, the paper discusses some of the serious threats and concerns faced by such initiatives and proposes actionable solutions to mitigate these hindrances.
Geographies of Australian Heritages Shaw, Brian J, Dr; Jones, Roy, Professor; Graham, Professor Brian
2007, 20171130, 2007-11-01, 2017-11-30, 20070101
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In any settler and/or postcolonial society, heritage is a complex and contested topic that involves indigenous, imperial and other migrant components. In Australia, this situation is compounded by ...the unique characteristics of the country's natural environment, the considerable diversity of its migrant intake and the demographic and technological imbalances between its indigenous and settler populations. This volume brings together internationally recognized academics and emerging scholars, whose expertise extends through the areas of tourism, planning, heritage management, environmental studies and state and local government. Through a representative set of case studies from across the country's states and capital cities, the contributors demonstrate the range and diversity of heritage issues currently confronting Australia, and consider possible ways of resolving these.
Climate change impacts on diverse cultural heritage is gaining scholarly and policy attention, yet little research has been conducted on how can diverse cultural heritage inform decisionmakers and ...policymakers in achieving climate change actions (i.e., climate change adaptation and mitigation). For this study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with Dutch cultural heritage and environmental or climate change experts (n = 52) and participant observations across the Netherlands to explore the importance of cultural heritage benefits and their relation to climate change actions. We also explored the perceptions of cultural heritage management over time, including the influence of climate policy on heritage practice in the Netherlands. Our findings show that experts perceived a multiplicity of heritage benefits as important in supporting and informing present and future climate change actions. The most salient benefits were informational benefits where diverse cultural heritage is perceived as an important source of knowledge about past societal, economic and environmental developments and changes. Further, heritage management was perceived as constantly changing over time, reflecting the transformative nature of diverse heritage types. Experts agreed that climate policy has already influenced cultural heritage practice in the Netherlands. Lastly, the interrelationships between heritage benefits and management were identified and characterised. This study informs both cultural heritage and climate change research agendas and helps leverage diverse cultural heritage into climate change adaptation and mitigation policies.
•Cultural heritage can support climate change actions in the Netherlands.•The most salient benefits are informational benefits, followed by social benefits.•Cultural heritage management has been changing and continuously evolving.•Heritage practice has changed and may further change due to climate policy.•Interrelationships between heritage benefits and management are identified.
The article discusses the challenges of preserving software as part of the Association pour un conservatoire de l’informatique et de la télématique (Aconit), a French nonprofit organisation for ...heritage computer science. One major issue is the decreasing availability of hardware and compatibility with older computer systems, which makes it difficult to maintain and preserve software for extended periods of time. Additionally, the magnetic materials that make up the storage media can degrade over time, making it impossible to retrieve the digital data they contain. With over 3,700 media potentially affected, the scale of this project is significant. Despite these challenges, preserving such software is important because it provides insight into scientific, social and human activities, and is therefore an important part of our cultural heritage. This article discusses the theoretical and practical aspects of this preservation effort, including examples and technical considerations. It also considers the broader implications of this work for the digital humanities and social sciences. Despite these challenges, preserving the software is important because it provides insight into scientific, social, and human activities, and is therefore an important part of our cultural heritage.
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