Heritage Studies Series


The Heritage Studies Series

Despite or perhaps because of the many conventions for the protection of our heritage, it has become apparent that there is an enormous diversity in how heritage is understood, with varying views on what it is, what it could be, and even what it should be. These understandings are expressed in paradigms reflecting perspectives such as the inherent cultural value of heritage or its significance in fostering sustainable human development. These diverse perceptions of heritage go hand in hand with different concepts of protection and use and the associated underlying disciplines, including their inter- and trans-disciplinary linkages. The scientific process of understanding heritage encompasses individual and institutional contributions at regional and international scales, both in theory and practice. Most publications in this field have predominantly originated from Europe and the USA, with limited representation from Africa, Asia, or Latin America. To bridge this gap, we would like to invite the world to use our Heritage Studies series as a platform to expand our knowledge on the heritage of humanity, internationally and transculturally, with the publication of their own books. More …

The rules of procedure are as follows:

  • We are a research-oriented institute and value scientific analysis. For example, case studies should always be epistemologically or methodologically grounded. Visit Research Fields.
  • We only accept complete manuscripts, either submitted by individual authors or as edited volumes.
  • All manuscripts undergo a thorough review process by the series’ Advisory Board before they are approved for publication.
  • The contractual procedure is carried out with and by the Springer Verlag.
  • We also strongly encourage authors to take the necessary steps to make their publications available in open access, as this facilitates worldwide dissemination.


Also read: Editors | Advisory Board

Handbook on Intangible Cultural Practices as Global Strategies for the Future

Handbook on Intangible Cultural Practices as Global Strategies for the Future

Posted onAuthor@IHS

Announcement (will be published in 2025): This open access handbook is the first to take stock of and to provide a comprehensive international interdisciplinary review of developments in living culture since the Convention on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage began in 2003. It is based on an expanded concept of culture, as it has been used in UNESCO since the 1980s and accepted by more than 180 countries. The convention makes clear the significant role of the Global South in raising planetary awareness of the importance of intangible cultural practices. As in the coming decades, intangible cultural heritage practices will become increasingly important for sustainable and peaceful planetary communication, the book is a significant contribution to these developments. more …

Jihon Kim, Editor - Cultural Heritage Protection in Korea – Contents of Law and Policy and their Changes in Relation to International Conventions

Cultural Heritage Protection in Korea – Contents of Law and Policy and their Changes in Relation to International Conventions

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Announcement (will be published in 2025): Based on important UNESCO Conventions, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the legal and policy framework for the protection of cultural heritage in the Republic of Korea. Korea has ratified numerous UNESCO Conventions on the protection of cultural heritage and introduced the relevant national legislation. At the same time, some of these conventions have been revised in response to national challenges.  In doing so, Korea has legally and politically ensured that the core ideas of the UNESCO Conventions are better reflected in the Korean national framework than before. This approach has served as a valuable reference for a number of other UNESCO member states to adapt conventions in their own countries. more …

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

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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 inter-views, 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. more …

Dancing Practices – Researching Practice: Access and Archival Forms to the Cultural Heritage of Dance in the Focus of the Immaterial

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

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Vicky Kämpfe ABOUT THIS BOOK: Dance Practices as Research. Approaches to the Safeguarding and Transmission of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Dance This book contributes to the growing scientific literature on ‘intangible cultural heritage’ – determined by UNESCO to be particularly worthy of safeguarding and transmission – by advancing a theoretical-analytical framework for the (in)tangible cultural heritage of dance. By exploring the potential of the ‘intangible materiality’ of dance practice the book argues that implementing more …

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

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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

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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

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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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Publication: The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme: Key Aspects and Recent Developments

The UNESCO Memory of the World Programme: Key Aspects and Recent Developments

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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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