International Heritage: New Approaches, Old Concerns

This book celebrates decades of safeguarding cultural heritage and reckons with reconfigurations and shifts that have shaped the field and understandings of it. The author reflects on a career of safeguarding heritage, offering perspectives from the positions of consumer, researcher, educator, and communicator and at a range of scales, from local-level debates to macro-level perspectives on the role of heritage preservation in international relations. The book situates heritage preservation in the context of soft power and the international system and examines how it intersects with cultural diplomacy. These interrelationships crystalize in the illicit trafficking of cultural goods, inspiring reflections on private and common goods, interoperability, and decoloniality. Grounded in nuanced understandings of "world heritage" and "heritage of humanity", the author critically examines the foundation, trajectory, and remit of UNESCO and highlights cases of cultural and natural heritage, language, and tourism. These discussions in turn inform treatments of two timely topics: intangible heritage of and for refugees and the treatment of statues and symbols of colonizers. By integrating diverse themes that are frequently treated independently, International Heritage: New Approaches, Old Concerns is a resource for researchers and practitioners looking to understand the foundations, current debates, and imminent challenges facing communities that aim to safeguard global cultural heritage.