Understanding the Politics of Heritage

by Rodney Harrison

Written by an interdisciplinary team of scholars, this authoritative text presents an engaging narrative of the way politics features in heritage conservation and management. New international case studies illustrate how notions of identity, social class and nationhood may be woven into the provision of official heritage, and how heritage may be seen to be less about upholding truth or authenticity and more about delivering political objectives. Aimed primarily at students in heritage studies and professionals in heritage industries, this is book three of three in the Understanding Global Heritage series.

Genres: Nonfiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2009

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Reviews

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly excellent overview of the political nature of cultural heritage delineation and preservation, at all levels of management. Through a series of articles, illustrated by case studies from a wide variety of global contexts, the authors address the theme of 'authorised heritage discourse' (AHD), which is the complex of definitions and methods for preserving and displaying cultural heritage, utilized by professionals working in an official capacity, often under the aegis of government agencies. On one hand, AHDs can be used in attempts to craft unified narratives of nationhood, or express globalizing values through world heritage bodies like UNESCO. On the other hand, such univocality is often challenged across lines of locality, class, ethnicity, or geopolitical status.

While the text is highly structured, and clearly suitable as a resource for teaching heritage management issues, it avoids common textbook pitfalls such as extraneous sidebar boxes, or images not directly referenced by the text; in addition to the aforementioned merits, each chapter also includes suggestions for further reading following its list of works cited. Any professional in a field concerned with relating cultural heritage to its public will likely find this book a source of enlightened perspective.

[Abdelrhman Hussien · Rating 5 out of 5]

great words in this book to understand heritage.