Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Number 2 | Page 171

marbles to be returned from Britain. Further afield in the colonies, the British
ideas of conservation removed agency from the people. Cultural artifacts
were preserved in various sites, while their designs, photographs, replicas,
and samples were taken to England: “Such photographs of ruins and remote
monuments are paradigmatic of the ‘museumizing imagination,’ a Western
development that assigned the colonized states a sense of ‘tradition,’ while
protecting their cultural heritage” (Pelizzari ����:��).
The prioritization of heritage through UNESCO’s signature World Heritage
Program remains a subjective and, usually, an expert driven process. �
Who decides what these values should be and what do they mean for the
communities who partake in these sites daily? Frequent complaints are
heard in the developing world that UNESCO heritage listing can amount
to a cleansing process that alienates the local communities from these sites.
Heritage is an evolving concept and predicated on a subjective evaluation. A
cultural property may be seen as possessing a little value when constructed
but a few generations later, it might garner immense symbolic significance.
The political economy of UNESCO’s program further circumscribes
universality. The World Heritage Convention only lists properties of
“outstanding universal value.” Getting listed then becomes a badge of honor
and prompts the international community and governments to prioritize
the site. Economists have shown that countries featuring large inventories
of heritage have a low marginal value for specific items (Benhamou ����).
Singling out a few sites for the World Heritage List may further reduce the
value of sites not listed while boosting the reputation of sites that are listed. �
Nevertheless, the UNESCO program has created a global consciousness
around the heritage of humankind and its monuments and landscapes.
While there is local alienation, there is also pride and connection with the
�
The Convention on the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, signed by
��� states by ����, came into effect in December ���� after ratification from the requisite
�� signatories at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO). The convention puts forward a framework for prioritizing, selecting, and
governing a program of heritage with universal importance. As of June ����, there were
���� World Heritage sites.
�
However, the opposite is also true. There are positive externalities from these lists. As
governments gear up their resources for heritage conservation of a few sites, they may now
have capacity to attend to other sites. Tourists coming to Edinburgh for its festivals will also
undertake other forms of cultural tourism including its UNESCO heritage sites.
�
The ���� Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage entered force
in ����. By June ����, it was signed by ���� states and lists ��� elements.
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