2019/05/30 by Lucas Lixinski · 1 citation
Business, Management and Accounting · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #International Arbitration and Investment Law #Archaeological Research and Protection
paper · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198843306.003.0002
openalex publication_date 2019/05/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract This chapter focuses on the multiple definitions of ‘heritage’ in UNESCO instruments, and particularly on their relationship to the idea of ‘property’, with respect to communities’ engagement with heritage. It examines the drafting history of the key UNESCO treaties in the area, to identify the role of communities and other stakeholders in the definitions, as well as the political compromises made. The chapter also re-examines the move from ‘cultural property’ to ‘cultural heritage’, an important part of the elevation of the field to one overseeing international public goods. The chapter argues that this shift has had unintended consequences, key among which is the exclusion of communities. The field would do well to revisit the idea of ‘property’, but, as the chapter discusses, as a specific understanding of property that goes against conventional wisdom based on property as the ultimate bastion of individual liberty.