Protecting contemporary cultural soundscapes as intangible cultural heritage: sounds of Istanbul

This paper aims to evaluate culture and traditions of everyday life from a sonic perspective and to suggest ways for protecting characteristic sounds and soundscapes. This multidisciplinary research, having roots in such fields as soundscape studies, intangible cultural heritage (ICH), museum studies and sensory studies, explores the larger contemporary cultural soundscape of Istanbul. This paper also draws on the project The Soundscape of Istanbul (https://soundscapeofistanbul.ku.edu.tr/), which is archiving the contemporary elements of the cultural soundscape of Istanbul that were determined by public contribution, and outlines examples from this collection. Sounds constitute an inevitable part of daily life and are therefore very important as ICH. Thus, they deserve to be protected to strengthen cultural memory. However, sonic culture is twice endangered due to the physical characteristics of sound itself and the dynamic structure of intangible culture. Therefore, urgent protection of contemporary cultural soundscapes in the context of ICH is crucial for transferring the present sonic environments to following generations in order to maintain cultural identity.     

Networked practices of intangible urban heritage: the changing public role of Dutch heritage professionals

This study examines the changing roles of heritage professionals by focusing on the participatory practices of intangible urban heritage. Developments towards democratisation in the heritage sector led to a growing expectation that heritage professionals would work with local publics. This democratisation is manifested in (1) the use of digital media for grassroots heritage practices, (2) the broader scope of what is defined as heritage, and (3) a focus on communities in UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Heritage professionals are thus challenged to develop inclusive heritage practices, particularly in cities, which are characterised by a dynamic nature and cultural diversity. In this article, I analyse how urban heritage organisations and professionals have responded to these developments. Drawing on interviews and a qualitative content analysis of these organisations’ policy documents, I examine the ways in which heritage professionals reconsider their public role through what I define as networked practices of intangible heritage. This concept captures the networked structure in which heritage professionals increasingly work, and also demonstrates how heritage is given meaning through public practices that take place in both the physical and virtual realms of contemporary cities.     

The role of heritage conservation districts in achieving community economic development goals

Most jurisdictions have some kind of measures to protect physical fabric and manage change within historic neighbourhoods. In Ontario, Canada’s largest province, these are called Heritage Conservation Districts. While much has been written about such aspects as identifying such districts, the designation process and their role in the urban landscape, less exploration has been devoted to understanding their potential role in economic development. This study examined two heritage districts in the Town of Markham, a fast-growing exurban municipality north-east of Toronto. Both of these neighbourhoods and both designated heritage areas have in place an economic development mechanism called a Business Improvement Area. The research involved interviews, household questionnaires, observation and statistical analysis. It was found that overall the data indicated that the management of the heritage resources supported and enhanced economic development. It was also found that there were considerable differences between the two areas in spite of their close proximity. The reasons for those differences are outlined.     

Transformations of cultural heritage in Melanesia: from kastam to kalsa

In this article, I look at the reverberations of the global discourse about heritage at the margins of the global system in the Pacific. To this end, I analyse the development of indigenous concepts of cultural heritage on Baluan Island, in Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. I discuss how over the past 50?years two different heritage concepts have developed on the island, which have been used to reflect upon and direct cultural and social change. Further I show how the genesis and transformation of this local discourse about heritage is driven by local concerns and politics, as well as national and international developments.     

Politics of tangibility,intangibility, and place in the making of a European cultural heritage in EU heritage policy

The EU has recently launched several initiatives that aim to foster the idea of a common European cultural heritage. The notion of a European cultural heritage in EU policy discourse is extremely abstract, referring to various ideas and values detached from physical locations or places. Nevertheless the EU initiatives put the abstract policy discourse into practice and concretize its notions about a European cultural heritage. A common strategy in this practice is ‘placing heritage’ – affixing the idea of a European cultural heritage to certain places in order to turn them into specific European heritage sites. The materialisation of a European cultural heritage and the production of physical European heritage sites are crucial elements in the policy through which the EU seeks to govern both the actors and the meanings of heritage. On the basis of a qualitative content analysis of diverse policy documents and informational and promotional material, this article presents five strategies of ‘placing heritage’ used in the EU initiatives. In addition, the article presents a theoretical model of circulation of the tangible and intangible dimensions of heritage in the EU heritage policy discourse and discusses the EU’s political intents included in the practices of ‘placing heritage’.     

区域历史文化传承与区域文化资源产业化

面对经济全球化的影响和外来文化的冲击,区域文化资源产业化不失为一种有效保护传统区域文化的明智选择。然而,我国当前区域文化资源产业化整体上还处于初级阶段。只有从思想观念、运行机制、人才培养等方面进一步加大创新力度,才能尽快实现区域文化资源优势向区域文化产业优势的转换。     

Protection of underwater cultural heritage in China: new developments

As a crucial part of the Maritime Silk Road, underwater cultural heritage plays a role in promoting development of One Belt and One Road in China due to its historical, archaeological and cultural value. The Chinese government has taken effective and reasonable measures to safeguard underwater cultural heritage, with numerous achievements. This paper addresses recent developments in the preservation of underwater cultural heritage with regard to legislation and policy.     

彩绘类文物灭菌方法的回顾与展望

彩绘类文物的灭菌防护工作是延续其艺术价值的重要方法。本文简单描述了文物相关材料、温度、湿度、大气污染物、微生物五种因素对彩绘类文物的损伤效应,重点描述了微生物消杀在彩绘类文物保存工作中的重要性。梳理了化学、物理、复合三类灭菌方法在彩绘类文物灭菌方面的应用与发展,并对各类方法的优缺点进行了汇总,其中化学法最为成熟,但绝大部分对环境影响很恶劣,物理法和复合法更符合绿色发展要求,但又受经济性、专业性以及不成熟的市场规模制约。未来,绿色、无损将成为彩绘文物灭菌的前提,复合法将成为彩绘文物灭菌未来研究的发展趋势。     

The policy of non-discrimination and the protection of minority cultural heritage in Albania

ABSTRACT

This paper looks at the effectiveness of the policy of non-discrimination towards minorities in the preservation of minority cultural heritage, constructing a case study within Albania. After defining the key terms used, this paper examines the legal framework of non-discrimination towards minorities in its historical development and looks into the state of preservation of minority cultural heritage on the ground throughout the 2010s combining extensive field-work with interviews with key representatives of ethnic minorities in Albania. The poor state of preservation of minority cultural heritage is mostly attributed to under-financing and the insufficient policy of non-discrimination. As I demonstrate, in the case of minorities with a kin-state in the region, most notably Greece, as well as the heritage claimed by neighbouring states, primarily Turkey, the policy of non-discrimination and the practice of under-financing paves the way for external involvement in the protection of cultural heritage, in pursuit of international political agendas. The paper concludes that more needs to be done for the protection of minority cultural heritage in Albania.     

A centralized decentralization: outsourcing in the Turkish cultural heritage sector

Recently Turkey has experimented with reforming its highly centralized cultural heritage sector by outsourcing commercial activities at museums and archeological sites. We examine three outsourcing contracts executed in 2009–2010 and their implications for understanding New Public Management in Turkey’s cultural sector. The initial project at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum was soon superseded by a ‘monopoly’ model that outsourced gift shop and ticket collection services at over 50 museums and sites to single companies. All three projects have significantly increased visitor numbers and revenues for the revolving fund that controls commercial operations within the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Yet unlike countries such as Italy, where outsourcing has led to decentralization, increased private sector involvement in Turkey has increased the control of the central government. This ‘centralized decentralization’ is a distinctly Turkish approach that allows for modernization without disturbing a highly centralized administrative tradition.     

The process of privatisation of cultural heritage and the arts in Italy: analysis and perspectives

During the last decade, institutional changes in the cultural heritage sector triggered some fierce debate in Europe. This paper analyses the complex process of privatising cultural heritage and the arts in Italy, showing how the relationship between this process and urban regeneration policies is tacitly legitimising it, despite the harsh controversies it previously provoked. From a perspective of ‘territorialisation’ discussed in this paper, this policy process could enhance the involvement of the private sector, bringing to light new fields of research and application in the international heritage debate.     

Endangered musical heritage as a wicked problem

The issue of the widespread decline and loss of musical heritage has recently found increasing prominence in ethnomusicological discourse, and many applied projects from grassroots to international levels strive to support genres perceived to be under threat. Much recent literature on the subject features rhetoric that draws on metaphors from ecology, including, for example, the ideas of music ‘ecosystems’, ‘endangerment’ and ‘sustainability’. Offering an alternative (though not contradictory) perspective, I here characterise the widespread loss of musical heritage as a ‘wicked problem’– one with complex interdependencies, uncertainties and conflicting stakeholder perspectives, which defies resolution more than some of the ecological metaphors arguably imply. By drawing on theoretical notions of ‘wickedness’ from social policy planning and other areas, I aim to bring interdisciplinary insights to the discussion of strategies to mitigate the global threat to music as intangible cultural heritage. Offering three ‘stories’ about the problem of music genres ‘at risk’ and critiquing each of these stories against the theory of wicked problems, I explore the implications of this conceptualisation for heritage scholars, music researchers, policy-makers and other cultural stakeholders, in terms of moving us closer to realising effective, resilient and innovative approaches to the problem at hand.     

An overview of Caribbean and Latin-American cultural heritage studies

Abstract

This review analyzes, through three recently published books that talk about cultural heritage in Latin America, how the Cultural Heritage Studies have allowed us to understand the current situation in the region characterized by the growing tendency to promote declarations of heritage as part of a plan for the use of culture as a resource for sustainable development. Likewise, those books analyze how responses from local communities are generated to hegemonic definitions of heritage, which indicates that cultural heritage in Latin America is not something given but something in constant construction and dispute.     

Legal protection of cultural heritage in China: a challenge to keep history alive

This article provides an in-depth examination of the current Chinese legal regime for cultural heritage protection from two perspectives, i.e. from that of legislation and law enforcement and highlights the deficiencies thereof. The article argues that China has to improve and reform its domestic law to rectify the blatant shortcomings of the existing statutes and to implement the international instruments that it has concluded or acceded to; Moreover, China should reform its administrative system of cultural heritage protection to overcome the obstacles to efficient law enforcement whose success, in turn, depends on the comprehensive reform promised by the Communist Party of China.     

Including people with learning difficulties in cultural and heritage sites

This paper examines the processes involved in a participatory inclusive research project in Liverpool and Merseyside, UK. The project involved 25 people with learning difficulties – the Heritage Forum – visiting 13 cultural and heritage sites on more than 50 occasions across a 15‐month period. The research provides a much needed resource at a time when there is a lack of provision for, and research into, the intellectual accessibility of cultural and heritage sites in the UK and globally. This paper details the research approach taken by the Heritage Forum, providing a flexible protocol about ways of working with groups and individuals with learning difficulties. It also reports on the Heritage Forum’s general findings about the cultural and heritage sites, providing some initial guidance about how to best include this diverse population.     

US protection of underwater cultural heritage beyond the territorial sea: problems and prospects

Current US treatment of underwater cultural heritage beyond the territorial sea is analysed in light of Law of the Sea principles and the UNESCO Draft Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.     

Conceptualising the subjective authenticity of intangible cultural heritage

Authenticity is a significant concept in the heritage field. However, the connotations of authenticity and its relevance to Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) need further consideration. This paper ascertains the function of authenticity in the heritage field and reconceptualises authenticity so as to relate it to ICH. The subjectivities of ICH practitioners, as well as their subjective perspectives and experiences are privileged in this research, in line with the general aims of Critical Heritage Studies. Drawing on the idea of ‘existential authenticity’, which was developed in tourism studies, this paper presents a concept of ‘subjective authenticity’ with which to describe the ability of ICH practitioners to convey the dynamic, subjective and developing ICH values in both intrapersonal and interpersonal embodiments. Using case studies of ICH from Lijiang, China, the idea of subjective authenticity is evidenced and illustrated. Meanwhile, the materialist or ‘objective’ authenticity that exists in the Chinese Authorised Heritage Discourse is critiqued as inappropriate. Theoretically, this paper investigates people’s subjectivities and experiences in the process of ICH value-making, as well as identity-making. The results contribute not only to the establishment of an inclusive concept of authenticity in heritage studies, but also to the theorisation of existential authenticity in tourism studies.     

Chinese popular music as a musical heritage and cultural marker of the Malaysian Chinese

Chinese popular music, inspired by pre-war Shanghai music known as ‘shidai qu’ (时代曲) (songs of the era) and evolving to include Canto pop and Taiwanese Mandarin songs, has always been popular among the Chinese in Malaysia. This music is featured on radio, television, karaoke, and performed by orchestras such as the Dama Chinese Orchestra (大马) to enthusiastic reception. The songs have a broad appeal that transcends time, generation, and place. Of significance is the observation that the music has become a cultural marker and musical heritage for Chinese in Malaysia and in the region. The paper looks at factors behind this development.     

Communism and cultural heritage: the quest for continuity

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the theoretical genealogy and main uses of heritage in actually existing communist countries. This is performed by carrying out a critical review of Èleazar Aleksandrovi? Baller’s Communism and Cultural Heritage, (1984, Progress, Moscow). The analysis of Baller’s work reveals that the logics of heritage in communist countries differed in various ways from capitalist countries, mainly because of the almost total state control over the heritage apparatus and the subordination of heritage policies to Marxist–Leninist ideology. Heritage was fundamental in dealing with the problem of change and continuity with the traditions, narratives and identities of previous society, and in the process of transforming citizens into ‘new men’ through the cultural revolution and the inculcation of ideology through museums and monuments.     

Postcolonial cultural governance: a study of heritage management in post-1997 Hong Kong

This paper seeks to unpack the politics of heritage preservation in post-1997 Hong Kong. Referring to international frameworks on heritage preservation, it seeks to position Hong Kong’s cultural resource management on par with international discourses for the advancement of heritage governance. Debates surrounding heritage are indeed a part of the wider picture of Hong Kong’s cultural and identity politics and the Hong Kong-China relationship. By examining various contested cases of heritage conservation, and by linking those debates back to the government’s responses within the context of cultural governance, we suggest that heritage management has become a hot stove for cultural politics in post-colonial Hong Kong with deep repercussions in the political, social and economic spheres. The paper examines the rising social debates concerning the removal and conservation of built heritage, and the various government attempts to address these debates. It argues that the current heritage governance mechanism has failed to meet social needs and provide an articulated heritage policy. We propose that a coherent organisational structure is required to better accommodate diverse and contradictory views and discourses surrounding heritage and cultural governance and to tackle the various cultural challenges in postcolonial Hong Kong.