‘Community Voices, Curatorial Choices’: Community Consultation for the 1807 Exhibitions

This paper argues that community consultation is not always a democratic process as power often resides with museum staff members who decide which community views to accept and which to ignore. Drawing upon a series of semistructured interviews with community members, community officers, curators and other museum staff as part of the 1807 Commemorated project, I attest that consultative group members often experienced frustration, anger, and disappointment during and after the development of the 1807 exhibitions. These emotions were primarily driven by the communities’ unmet needs and expectations as well as by a clash between object-centric curatorial choices and people-oriented community voices; members of the African-Caribbean community viewed their participation in the consultation meetings both as a means of empowerment of their communities and as a gesture of acknowledgement, social justice and recognition. Thus, it is imperative that community consultation is replaced by active negotiation and engagement that is aimed at shared power and ownership

Private preservation versus public presentation: the conservation for display of in situ fragmentary archaeological remains in London and Athens

This paper looks at the display of conserved fragmentary in situ archaeological remains in London and Athens. It examines such sites, conserved both indoors and outdoors, using a value-based approach, concentrating on public use values and academic values. These values are defined and then the paper explores, using sites from London and Athens, what effect the dominance of one set of values over the other during the decision making process may have in how these sites are displayed for the public and in how these sites are being sustained

Post-War Cultural Heritage Preservation in Kosovo: Rethinking the Implementation of Ahtisaari Plan Annex V

Current works have focused on the role of urban heritage to sustainable development in postwar cities and have highlighted the significance of participatory and inclusive approaches that involve citizens and key stakeholders in the conservation and regeneration of heritage areas. However, this task is rather complex and challenging, especially in areas inhabited by multiple ethnic groups. Skills in negotiation and building trust are as important as skills in restoration and conservation of the physical fabric. However, the current literature lacks in-depth understandings of how negotiations in these contexts work and what we can learn from the past. The aim of this paper is to explore this issue by using a case study analysis, in particular, that of Kosovo. This paper looks at how the process developed during the implementation period of Annex V of the Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement (CSP) related to cultural heritage preservation. We analyze the sociocultural and political dynamics on the ground by focusing on Article 4 that deals with protective zones. With a critical examination of the approaches taken by stakeholders, including the public discourse and the example of the historic centre of Prizren, we suggest rethinking the implementation of Annex V as a sustainable option, rather than looking at other (beyond Annex V) alternatives that could potentially undermine the inter-community rebuilding efforts, and instead of creating the basis for sustainable cultural heritage preservation and reconciliation would eventually contribute to escalation and deepening of the conflict

Gender exclusion and local values versus universal cultural heritage significance: the Avaton debate on the monastic community of Mount Athos

This article explores the discrepancy between ‘universal values’ and ‘local values’ in the case of world heritage sites of sacred/religious nature. It focuses on the example of the world heritage site of Mount Athos, a self-administered peninsula in Northern Greece inhabited by an Orthodox monastic peninsula and accessible only to male visitors/pilgrims. Special emphasis will be placed on the Avaton rule (prohibition of access to women) which has constituted an issue of debate since the inclusion of Greece in the European Union and, to some extent, since the inscription of Mt Athos to the World Heritage List. The issue of Avaton generates the question: “should a religious site of local, national and international significance that excludes half of the world population be designated as a heritage place of universal value?

Urban Heritage Dynamics in ‘Heritage-Led Regeneration’: Towards a Sustainable Lifestyles Approach

This paper aims to introduce a novel approach to sustainable heritage-led urban regeneration. More specifically, the paper proposes a new heritage-led urban regeneration paradigm that has communities and sustainable lifestyles at its core. The paper concludes with this approach after analysing current paradigms of heritage-led urban regeneration through system dynamics. We have chosen to analyse though system dynamics a longitudinal study of the Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI), a heritage-led regeneration scheme funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Our system dynamic analysis unveils the absence of environmental sustainability concerns in current heritage-led regeneration examples as well as the critical role of the existence of concerted, strategic and participatory vision of a heritage-led urban regeneration programme. The critical, systemic and dynamic analysis of the THI longitudinal study provides the basis for developing a new approach towards sustainable heritage-led regeneration which has communities and sustainable lifestyles at its core. Although we acknowledge that extensive applied and theoretical research is needed to validate or enhance the proposed approach, we do cite sporadic examples that provide some first indications of the effectiveness of the approach

The Politics of Culture and the Culture of Politics: Examining the Role of Politics and Diplomacy in Cultural Property Disputes

This paper constitutes the first systematic attempt to synthesise the role of politics as an affecting dynamic during the negotiation of cultural property disputes. The paper limits its scope to disputes concerning the ownership of cultural artefacts between States and museums settled through negotiation and to the subsequent claims for the return of the contested objects. The discussion focuses on four ways in which the negotiation process is affected when States act as claimants including: the discourse and argumentation used, the available means to pressure the other party to negotiate, the possible political interventions and the international political scene and its effect on the development of the dispute. Through the examination of multiple case studies, it is argued that in such disputes, several elements related to the role of politics are at interplay affecting the evolution of the negotiation process. Finally, it is also argued that the role of politics as an affecting dynamic during the negotiation process is multidimensional, consisting of many different interrelated dynamics that can potentially alter the course of the process

Social entrepreneurship for sustainable heritage management – the case of open-air museums

PURPOSE The purpose of this paper is to identify the specific potentials of open-air museum and heritage crafts cooperation by using social entrepreneurial approaches as a sustainable growth enabler. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH The study utilised literature, reports, questionnaires, interviews and two in-depth case studies to examine the extent and success of current cooperation and the barriers to success affecting both fields on their own. Finally, the study utilised the recently developed social entrepreneurial tool the “modified Social Entrepreneurial Problem and Objective tree (mSEPOT)” in order to test the models ability to analyse a real-world case and demonstrate solutions and improvement to future cooperation in a heritage context. FINDINGS While the tool has not been validated in practice, the study offers the first conceptualization of utilising the tool arguing that innovative future approaches to sustainable heritage development are possible and that heritage managers in the mSEPOT have a tool enabling them to engage with social entrepreneurial approaches, ensuring sustainability of development projects in culture and heritage. ORIGINALITY/VALUE While the tool has not been validated in practice, the study offers the first conceptualization of utilising the tool arguing that innovative future approaches to sustainable heritage development are possible and that heritage managers in the mSEPOT have a tool enabling them to engage with social entrepreneurial approaches, ensuring sustainability of development projects in culture and heritage

Unpacking the heritage dimensions of historic urban systems: the case of Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Heritage values of inhabited historic towns are inevitably subject to constant socioeconomic, environmental and cultural changes. A set of concerns lies in a complex system of cultural, social, political, and economic issues, leading to difficulties in achieving a balance between the needs of heritage conservation and the needs of tourism development. If we consider heritage conservation as a process to influence people’s perceptions of heritage values and their willingness to maintain them, it is important to understand, for each context-specific site, what qualifies as heritage in the perception of the locals who are the ultimate heritage care-holders. Identifying what constitutes urban heritage dimensions from the locals’ point of view is critical for heritage and tourism management practice as it can determine what should be sustained and what should be changed in the integrated conservation and development efforts of a historic town. Thus, future conservation and development strategies can be informed. This article aims to develop a framework for defining the multiple, interconnected and dynamic urban heritage dimensions in a way that integrates the principle of cultural sustainability, while also acknowledges the concept of sustainable tourism development, encompassing tangible and intangible attributes as integral parts of a holistic concept of heritage values. The possibilities for using Environmental Cognition Theory to define heritage dimensions, which is fundamental for heritage management of inhabited historic towns, will be explored. The analysis draws on interviews carried out with local stakeholders at Chiang Mai, Thailand, where there are currently discussions for its nomination as a World Heritage Site. The findings show potential of using Environmental Cognition Theory to dimensionally deepen the understanding of heritage dimensions by providing an in-depth understanding of how symbolic attributes, collectively with physical attributes, play an important role in contributing to the heritage values of urban heritage elements