The Possibilities and Perils of Heritage Management

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20060319
AutoresMichael F Brown (0000-0003-2327-4744), Michael Brown (0000-0003-3839-9822, autor de correspondencia)
Año2014
Páginas171-179
Fecha de publicación2014-10-13
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoCHAPTER
RevistaCultural Heritage Ethics (SOURCE_BOOK)
EditorialOpen Book Publishers (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.11647/obp.0047.11
OpenAlexW2488711707
ISBN9781783740673
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas8

Although the right of communities to practice their culture and defend it from unwanted appropriation is widely regarded as a human right, the precise means by which this right can be defended and administered remains uncertain. The very notion of ‘managing’ a society’s multiple forms of collective expression entails a degree of objectification that poses a potential threat to culture’s inherent (and necessary) fluidity. This chapter considers the challenge of finding an appropriate balance between ethical considerations and the Law of Unintended Consequences in the vexed arena of heritage protection. Using brief case studies, Brown highlights the tendency of heritage protection strategies to gravitate to top-down, ‘patrimonial’ models of control that treat culture as a commodity. The chapter concludes by making the ethical case for more informal and flexible approaches to heritage protection that forsake comprehensiveness in the interest of accommodating every culture’s need to borrow, remix, and adapt in order to remain vibrant

Anthropological Studies and Insights · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies