Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Initiatives in Tanzania and Mozambique

The aim of this paper is provide an overview of the capacity building programmes in maritime and underwater cultural heritage (MUCH) conducted by the authors in Tanzania and Mozambique. Tanzania and Mozambique have long histories of indigenous cultures, foreign contacts and influences and African adaptations beginning in the late Greco-Roman period, when the coastal populations exploited the peoples and riches of the interior. Today the coastline contains numerous examples of indigenous tangible and intangible heritage and many sites and histories related to the Swahili culture. Some exploratory research and training has been conducted in Tanzania and Mozambique, but the implementation by local residents of their own MUCH programme is still at an early stage. Under a UNESCO agreement framework, Tanzania in particular has started to develop a MUCH programme, which can assist in highlighting their extensive histories, cultural landscapes and cultural identity.     

World Heritage listing and changes of political values: a case study in West Lake Cultural Landscape in Hongzhou,China

World Heritage themes and frameworks, as well as the criteria for assessing the ‘outstanding universal values’ (OUV) of World Heritage sites, have been extensively criticised for being Eurocentric. Asia is a region of extraordinary levels of cultural, religious and ethnic diversity, which often comes into conflict with UNESCO understandings of heritage. Due to the influence of UNESCO, and the persuasiveness of the heritage discourses it authorises, Asian nations tend to utilise assessments and management ideologies that derive from a European viewpoint. This paper explores the changes in the political role of heritage during the process of World Heritage listing of a Chinese cultural heritage site, West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou. The study is based on three and a half months of fieldwork in Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Firstly, I examine how the government officials and experts formulated the nomination dossier, and explore their purposes in seeking World Heritage listing and their understanding of heritage. In addition, tensions between governments’ understanding of the values of the site and those of UNESCO and ICOMOS will be mapped. Secondly, I examine how the Chinese government used the World Heritage ‘brand’ and policies to construct national and local narratives during and after the World Heritage listing. In this paper, I argue that both national and local governments are quite cynical about the listing process, in that they not only recognise they are playing a game, but that the game is ‘played’ under Eurocentric rules and terms. They know some Chinese values do not fit into UNESCO’s conception of ‘outstanding universal value’ (OUV), and they have ‘edited out’ those Chinese values, which could not be explained to Western experts, and utilised the discourses of international policy and expertise. Ultimately, these values and ‘rules’ frame the management of the sites to some extent, as the Chinese government must not, in order to maintain the WH listing, deviate too much from the rules of the game.     

实践困境、国际经验与新文化保守主义的行动哲学——关于乡村振兴与非物质文化遗产保护的思考

2003年《保护非物质文化遗产公约》(以下简称《公约》)的出台与推行,令非物质文化遗产及其保护工作在世界范围内获得了广泛关注。这种关注不仅表现在《公约》缔约国数量的增加与各国相关实践的深入,也展现在《公约》及其相关国际文书中所强调的多边对话、相互尊重、以社区为中心等一系列由理念构成的工作原则在各缔约国保护实践中的逐步内化。只是在内化过程中,上述国际理念与缔约国复杂的文化事实磋磨出各种"水土不服"的现象。检省这些现象所展露的困境与经验,探讨其背后的新文化保守主义的行动哲学,有助于为非物质文化遗产保护的中国模式寻求更多的可能性,让上述理念不至变为囿束,转而成为推动中国乡村振兴与非物质文化遗产可持续发展的动力。     

Ireland and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

Ratification by Ireland of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage will not be able to take place until after enactment of additional domestic legislation. The reasons for this are examined in the context of Ireland’s legal system. Since 1987 Ireland has had extensive legal protection for underwater cultural heritage, but the jurisdictional aspects of the Convention are key to understanding why additional legislation is necessary. Issues relating to salvage law are also considered. The 2001 Convention is placed in the context of development of Irish policy on underwater cultural heritage.     

The Aswan High Dam and the International Rescue Nubia Campaign

The preservation of the legacy of mankind is no less important than the construction of dams, the erection of factories and the greater prosperity of peoples (President Gamal Abdel-Nasser, cited in Säve-Söderberg 1987, 90). The Nubia Campaign mounted with the aim of salvaging the archaeological sites threatened by the construction of the Aswan High Dam (1960–1971) was the first collaborative international rescue effort involving UNESCO. One of the main outcomes of this campaign was the valorization of what came to be known as “world heritage” and the establishment of a UNESCO World Heritage Center entrusted with the mission to safeguard the cultural heritage of humankind. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Nubia Campaign and as more sites are increasingly in need of international drives to rescue them from dams and other threats, this contribution provides a critical assessment of this historical event highlighting the role of foreign scholars and institutions, governments, organizational infrastructures, sources of funding, activities undertaken, as well as the impact of the dam on Nubians. In retrospect and in light of what happened to the preservation of Egyptian and Sudanese heritage as work of the foreign missions united by a single cause came to end, and considering the ongoing projects in Egypt and the Sudan that require urgent international efforts, I canvass the shortcomings of the Nubia Campaign in order to come up with recommendations for immediate action.     

Local Resources,Global Heritage: An Introduction to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

On January 2, 2009, the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage entered into force, setting an international precedent for the protection and preservation of underwater archaeological resources and providing guidelines for site management and responsible investigation. Historically, submerged cultural resources, particularly shipwrecks, have been exploited primarily for their potential monetary value. Over the last 50 years archaeologists have challenged this perception, demonstrating the cultural and scientific value of submerged cultural resources.     

Archaeology,assistance, and aggression along the Euphrates: reflections from Raqqa

ABSTRACT

This paper traces the cultural missions and salvage archaeology programs along the Euphrates River around Raqqa from the 1950s onwards. We suggest that the varied investments from international expeditions, conservation programs, and technical assistance in Syria have an important, untold history that is relevant to recent developments and conflicts in northern Syria. We explore the intersecting practices of archaeology and assistance, illuminated by archives drawn from international agencies such as UNESCO, as well as companies, consultants, bureaucrats, and archaeologists. Our focus is upon foreign intervention around imperiled heritage, considering not only internal politics but also UNESCO’s 1960s shift from fully funded campaigns to global appeals reliant on foreign governments, corporations, and universities. The outsourcing of salvage allowed specific patrons – national and international – to privilege particular pasts; and it is these histories and legacies that further require us to reassess the place of Raqqa in the current civil war.     

Negotiation of Social Values in the World Heritage Listing Process: A Case Study on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal,China

This paper examines the World Heritage listing process for the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to understand the sociopolitical meanings of heritage in contemporary China. Over the past four decades, the efforts of the Chinese government have been clearly geared towards improving governance over heritage sites by designating them as state properties, which requires the selection and evaluation of cultural heritage sites on the specific political meaning based on historical, aesthetic, or scientific value. In the process of World Heritage listing of Chinese heritage sties, the model of ‘state properties’ had to be compatible with UNESCO’s understanding of ‘heritage’, as well as economic benefits of heritage. Drawing on the data collected from the process of World Heritage listing of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, this paper explores the integration of the social meanings of heritage into the ‘authorized’ values criteria, facilitating multiple uses of ‘heritage’ through collaboration among UNESCO, Chinese heritage officials, and local communities. It argues that practices of heritage that consider social meanings will integrate local communities’ understandings into political meanings of heritage on basis of central government’s interests. This paper shows how the social meanings of heritage create a dialectical relationship to enable a ‘living’ cultural process in the preservation of ‘state properties’. In addition, the social meanings of heritage allow all potential stakeholder groups to negotiate with the heritage bureaucracy, as well as strengthening the role of local interests in heritage policy.     

Guaranteeing the Protection of Submerged Archaeological Sites Regardless of their Location: The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001)

The UNESCO 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage represents a significant move forward in the global protection and management of underwater cultural heritage. This paper reviews the Convention’s most basic tenets, such as in situ preservation, refusing commercial recovery, encouraging the cooperation of States also beyond territorial waters, and the creation of international standards for underwater archaeology. It also discusses the Scientific and Technical Advisory Body and highlights the Convention’s current status as an important tool to preserve and protect an international maritime heritage.     

Expertise and the making of World Heritage policy

This paper contributes to two emergent areas of scholarship: first, the role of expertise within the domain of cultural heritage practice; and second, international heritage institutions and their processes of governance. It does so by exploring expertise within the context of World Heritage Committee meetings. These forums of international heritage policy formulation have undergone significant changes in recent years, with larger geopolitical forces increasingly shaping process and decisions. This paper foregrounds the idea of these annual meetings as ‘locales’ in order to explore the inflows of expertise that help constitute authoritative decision-making, how expert knowledge is crafted for and by bureaucratic structure, and how the interplay between technical knowledge and politics via an ‘aesthetics of expertise’ bears upon future directions. In offering such an analysis, the paper seeks to add nuance and conceptual depth to our understanding of international conservation policy and the regulatory, governmental practices of organisations such as UNESCO.     

“世界遗产”与“非物质文化遗产”两种遗产类型的特征研究

＂世界遗产＂（World Heritage）和＂非物质文化遗产＂（IntangibleCultural Heritage）是内涵和外延不同的两个专有名词和各有评价标准的两种遗产类型,共同点只在于,它们是由联合国教育、科学及文化组织（UNESCO）宣布、在国际层面上加以保护的文化或自然遗产。作为热门词汇,比较容易被望文生义地理解为是一种统一的世界级的遗产;所以在讨论学术问题时,宜谨慎使用＂世界遗产＂汉译词通称World Heritage和Intangible Cultural Heritage这两种遗产类型。     

21世纪前20年非物质文化遗产保护的中国理念、实践与经验

现代非物质文化遗产保护运动的兴起,是人类珍贵的文化自觉和重要的行为选择。中国21世纪前20年的非物质文化遗产保护,既秉持了《保护非物质文化遗产公约》的理念与精神,亦进行了独具特色的创造性实践,构建了文化多样、整体、科学、人本、文化再生产等理念,进行了涵盖面较广、涉及人数较多、影响意义较大、成效卓著的实践与探索,形成了系统完备、富有活力的措施体系,积累了独特、宝贵的经验,走在了世界非物质文化遗产保护的前列,并为之提供了智慧启迪。     

Reply to Comments on The Social Context of Settlement in Norway in the First Millennium AD

This article focuses on what kind of impact Western thought has on cultural heritage management on a global scale. UNESCO seems to provide and exercise a worldwide and unified definition of the character of the past and cultural heritage. Important here is the idea of sustainable development, including the perspective of cultural heritage as a non-renewable resource. Through an actor-network analysis of the UNESCO system and its relation to the assigned state parties, it is shown that the process of managing cultural heritage in itself contributes to the very definition of the past and cultural heritage. However, there are indications that outside the Western world this effect is to a large degree superficial and mainly relevant for the monuments and sites present on the World Heritage List. The suggestion is that the world cultural heritage seems to function as a varnish covering heterogeneous matter, rather than being a phenomenon encompassing a genuine global essence accepted throughout the world.     

Current status of the draft UNESCO/DAOLOS Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

Abstract

There is at present no international legal instrument of comprehensive scope and general application that adequately regulates the management of the underwater cultural heritage. That is why a Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage is being prepared jointly by UNESCO and the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DAOLOS).This note focuses on the major issues dealt with by the future. Convention and the current status of that instrument.     

Social Values and Rock Art Tourism: An Ethnographic Study of the Huashan Rock Art Area (China)

The rapid expansion of cultural tourism has led to increased numbers of visitors to rock art sites throughout the world. The rise of rock art tourism has affected not only the preservation of rock art sites, but also the social values attributed to the sites by communities in the immediate vicinity. Social values refer to the social and cultural meanings that a place of heritage holds for a particular community. This article aims to discuss the influence of tourism on the social values that uphold local communities’ emotional attachment to rock art heritage, using the Huashan rock art area in China as a case study. Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape is the first rock art heritage in China proposed to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List and officially obtained World Heritage Status in July 2016. This article argues that many of the changes generated by the endeavour towards tourism promotion by the authorities in their pursuit of World Heritage designation have contributed to the reinforcement of the social values under discussion. However, negative feelings among the communities in response to the undesired consequences of the designation campaign might have resulted in the attenuation of such values. The ultimate goal of the research is to prompt further reflection on existing rock art heritage management mechanisms both in China and worldwide.     

Conservation,community archaeology,and archaeological mediation at Songo Mnara,Tanzania

Abstract

During archaeological fieldwork at Songo Mnara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the southern Tanzanian coast, a storm caused the collapse of a graveyard’s retaining wall. The process initiated by the rebuilding of that wall serves as a case study in addressing the dialogue among researchers, community members, and national and international organizations concerning heritage. During the process of rebuilding the wall, the Village Ruins Committee was called up by the Songo Mnara villagers as a community voice to speak with external stakeholders and to access perceived opportunities to work with UNESCO for financial reward. The committee led the rescue operation at the graveyard, yet was not always recognized as part of the process of conserving the site. In describing the tensions among the hierarchy of stakeholders at Songo Mnara, we explore the benefits and contradictions of international involvement with marginalized communities who might have multiple competing interests. Our study also speaks to good archaeological practice and the ways that we must seek to do community archaeology through recognizing the efforts of local groups who need to forge their own paths to collaboration. The case of Songo Mnara is an interesting example of how international heritage agendas, local historical memory and archaeological research can intersect to strengthen community ties to, and investment in, the monuments of the past.