Claiming Back Their Heritage: Indigenous Empowerment and Community Development through World Heritage

Book announcement: This book explores the function and use of cultural heritage in the formation of identity and the development of agency of Indigenous Nations in North America. It explores how Indigenous people have voice and visibility in the administration and representation of World Heritage sites, how they use their heritage, and how the interests of Indigenous communities can be reconciled with the interests of a broader public. Analyzing the three case studies of Head-Smashed-In more …

Dance Practices as Research – Approaches to the Safeguarding and Transmission of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Dance

Book announcement: The purpose of the study is to formulate an argument as a basis for advancing the further justification and strengthening of (in)tangible cultural heritage of dance. The author systematically introduces the essential features of the various theoretical approaches and figures of thought relevant to dance studies and cultural studies. Furthermore, the potentials of the ‘intangible materiality’ of dance practice as a new perspective for research are pointed out, as well as the implications more …

50 Years World Heritage Convention: Shared Responsibility – Conflict & Reconciliation

Heritage creates identity and the destruction of heritage destroys identity. Therefore, individuals and societies are responsible for the sustainable safeguarding of their heritage. This is the focus of the most successful convention for the protection of our heritage, the World Heritage Convention, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022.
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A Metamodel for Heritage-based Urban Development – Enabling Sustainable Growth Through Urban Cultural Heritage

This book proposes a Metamodel for heritage-based urban development, based on urban morphology, governance theory, and the metamodeling concept of John P. Van Gigch. Building on international policies such as the 2011 Recommendation for Historic Urban Landscapes and the results of the 2016 Urban Habitat III Conference, cultural heritage is now regarded as a potential resource for sustainable urban development.
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Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development: The Valorisation of Heritage Practices

Based on Pierre Bourdieu’s ‘Theory of Practice’ this book reflects and discusses the developmental potentials of intangible cultural heritage as formulated in the 2003 Convention. The Convention interprets intangible cultural heritage as ‘driver’ and ‘enabler’ of development, implying paradigms of sustainable and human development.
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The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme: Key Aspects and Recent Developments

The volume “The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme: Key Aspects and Recent Developments” responds to the growing interest in the scientific study of the Memory of the World Programme (MoW) and its core concept of documentary heritage, which have received little attention from scholarship so far. The volume, which is the sixth publication in the Heritage Studies Series, provides a first collection of relevant ideas, reflections, theoretical and methodological considerations for the study of the MoW Programme, offering a basis for follow-up activities.
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Understanding Heritage

The publication Understanding Heritage – Perspectives in Heritage Studies is the first in a new series. This series aims at systematizing many years of disciplinarily and interdisciplinarily led discourse. Through this publication, the paradigmatic orientation of the series, Heritage Studies, constitutes a contribution for human development.