The making and UN-making of consensus: Institutional inertia in the UNESCO World Heritage Committee

This article examines the process of text-based negotiations surrounding the documents of the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. It focuses on revisions to the Operational Guidelines of the Convention and utilizes ethnographic observation and textual examination to show how alternative, and often the most controversial, proposals are silenced through the practice of consensus. It expands anthropological perspectives on the inner workings of intergovernmental institutions and adds to the literature on heritage regimes by providing examples from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) most prestigious intergovernmental committee. Ultimately, the article enhances our understanding of the political tensions and practical limitations of policymaking within intergovernmental organizations in the United Nations, including UNESCO.

MELESTARIKAN BUDAYA DI TENGAH PANDEMI (Studi Kasus Rasulan di Gunungkidul)

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization menilai bahwa Indonesia adalah negara super power dalam hal kebudayaan. Menurut data Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan 2020, Indonesia memiliki 10.224 warisan budaya tak benda yang salah satu diantaranya adalah Rasulan. Rasulan merupakan budaya masyarakat Yogyakarta khususnya di Kabupaten Gunungkidul. Rasulan diperingati setiap tahun ketika musim panen sebagai ungkapan rasa syukur kepada Sang Pencipta. Namun di tahun ini masyarakat sedang dilanda Coronavirus Disease 2019 yang merubah berbagai tatanan kehidupan di dunia seperti kesehatan, ekonomi, dan sosial budaya. Pemerintah mengeluarkan kebijakan Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar, karantina diberbagai wilayah, dan beberapa hal lain yang membatasi pergerakan masyarakat. Pandemi ini dapat menjadi salah satu penghambat pelestarian budaya lokal seperti Rasulan. Perubahan pola hidup masyarakat akibat pandemi juga akan menimbulkan budaya baru yang cenderung akan melupakan budaya lokal. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan teknik studi pustaka dalam mengumpulkan data. Selain sebagai ungkapan rasa syukur Rasulan tahun ini dijadikan sebagai momentum masyarakat untuk berdoa bersama agar terhindar dari berbagai penyakit dan malapetaka. Strategi masyarakat untuk melestarikan budaya Rasulan di tengah pandemi dilakukan dengan prosesi yang lebih sederhana, tetap memperhatikan protokol kesehatan, dan hanya dihadiri oleh tokoh tetua masyarakat sekitar seperti kepala desa, sesepuh desa, tokoh keagamaan, dan kepala dusun. Kata Kunci: Rasulan, Pandemi, Budaya

Cultural Heritage as ‘Common Concern’: Role of International Organizations and States

This chapter explores the evolution of cultural property as the ‘common concern’ of the international community by focusing on its protection during armed conflict and belligerent occupation. By focusing on the role of international organizations over the last century, it examines the development of the rationales for this protection and related obligations concerning safeguarding and prosecution of violations. It charts the drive to realize a specialist instrument on the protection of cultural property during armed conflict and the enforcement of these obligations through the various phases of the evolving membership and priorities of the Intellectual Cooperation Organisation (ICO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It is shown that despite the changing fortunes of these specialist international culture organizations themselves, the core commitment by the international community to the articulation of the protection of cultural property during armed conflict as a common concern of humanity and the obligation to prosecute violators of these norms has strengthened over decades.

Management of the Phanom-Surin Archaeological Site in Thailand: Concept, Policies and Practices

The Phanom-Surin (PNS) archaeological site contains the remains of a sewn-plank vessel that is dated to the 9th century CE and discovered in Thailand’s mangrove swamp. As the only accessible sewn-plank vessel archaeology in the world, it provides research opportunities and potential for collaboration between heritage stakeholders. Preservation of the site within its context is crucial. Throughout this article, I will explain the importance of the PNS site management and its context based on my experience. The fuller understanding of the PNS site relies much on the information to be extracted from the materials and contexts. This article therefore encourages the preservation and management of the site within the original context. There are several relevant international guidelines for heritage and environmental management, such as the World Heritage Operational Guidelines, the Annex of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) 2001 Convention and the technical Ramsar Convention, all of which can help develop domestic framework and practices. This article aims to draw public and government attention towards the PNS site, and discusses concepts, policies and practices relating to the site.

Le Corbusier’s Urban Planning as a Cultural Legacy. An Approach to the Case of Chandigarh

The uniqueness and importance of Le Corbusier’s work were ratified by the recognition and inclusion of 17 of his projects as heritage legacy on UNESCO’s (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage List in 2016. Despite the disciplinary diversity of his entire career, it is his architectural work that enjoys the greatest levels of dissemination and recognition. Consequently, it is assumed that Le Corbusier’s architectural work is more protected than its urban plans. This article aims to advance the recognition of the latter. To this end, it proposes a cartographic and documentary review of his projects, a specialized bibliographic review, as well as a review of national and international databases on his built work. Of 88 built works, at least 51 have some kind of heritage protection. In any case, less attention is paid to the urban dimension of his work. The city of Chandigarh presents a series of particularities, apart from being the only Corbusierian city built, which could raise the need for its safeguarding and recognition as a cultural legacy. 20th-century urban planning, and Chandigarh in particular, require the application of criteria complementary to those usually applied in heritage protection in object-based approaches.

A Multi-scale Approach to Interculturalism: From Globalised Politics to Localised Policy and Practice

Interculturalism (IC) is presently discussed as a foundational basis for local public policy aimed at managing migration-related diversity within ethno-culturally plural societies, especially at the local level. Despite its increased saliency over the last decade, IC is neither theoretically new nor was it always intended for mere application in strictly city contexts of diversity. Rather, it has a global origin as a political basis for international relations and negotiations. In discussing these origins, this article has two main interrelated aims. Firstly, it provides an overview of the multi-scale approach of IC, with the purpose of disentangling analytically the different empirical bases where it can frame the diversity agenda. Secondly, it explores whether a lack of appreciation and awareness of this multi-scale orientation may affect IC’s capacity to address the challenges of diversity governance at the local level. Methodologically, the article will undertake a textual analysis of a select number of leading documents framing its practice within the broader policy literature produced by the four main institutions that have advocated the intercultural approach within a global agenda. These are the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations University, on one hand, and the European Union and the Council of Europe on the other. The main findings show us the importance of a multi-scale thinking in diversity and IC studies, to avoid contributing to greater confusion in its applications.

Comuna 13 estudio de caso: la historia relatada en las paredes como estrategia de emprendimiento social

El estudio de caso ha demostrado ser una herramienta metodológica adecuada para la investigación científica en diferentes áreas del conocimiento, dada su facilidad para obtener información desde fuentes cualitativas y cuantitativas. El artículo presenta el trabajo adelantado por los semilleros de investigación Pedagogía del Diseño, y Patrimonio Cultural, de la Facultad de Diseño de la Universidad Católica de Colombia, a lo largo de 2018, 2019 y 2020, en la ciudad de Medellín, Antioquia. La investigación dio inicio con la identificación de lo que significa para la comunidad barrial de la Comuna 13 el patrimonio cultural, material e inmaterial, a partir del análisis de eventos patrimoniales no reconocidos y su contrastación con las variables descriptivas definidas por United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (2003). En este orden de ideas, se seleccionó el Tour del Grafiti como evento patrimonial no reconocido. Su análisis parte del reconocimiento comunitario del grafiti como expresión artística y la importancia del tour como proyecto de emprendimiento social de la zona.