Seminar: Christophe SAND
29 OCTOBER 19
Speaker: Dr. Christophe SAND (Senior Archaeologist, New Caledonia Cultural Bureau)
Title: 0What is “Cultural Heritage” for Pacific Islanders? UNESCO World Heritage Site Nominations in a Local and Global Context
Date: Tuesday, October 29, 2019. 1:00 p.m.
Venue: 2F Conference room, Museum Building, NCKU, Tainan
Abstract:
Although “Cultural Heritage” is often considered as a universal concept, the overall idea of Heritage has in reality multiple interpretations depending on the cultural background considered. In the Pacific, the remoteness and geographical limitation of the Islands have since time immemorial led to a strong sense of spatial belonging, with a diverse development of cultural expressions in material culture but more vividly in oral traditions, folklore and rituals. In these contexts, it is difficult to apply to the notion of “Cultural Heritage” a simple analysis grid steaming from Western concepts. This has proven especially questionable when UNESCO started to develop at the end of the 1990s a series of projects to prepare the inclusion of sites from the Pacific region on the World Heritage list. Questions of ownership, land-rights, universal sharing, indigenous and/or non-indigenous national pride, conservation etc. have emerged as central topics in the preparation of dossiers to be submitted to UNESCO. This paper will present a number of case-studies that cross the boundaries between independent and decolonizing contexts, to show that the question of “Cultural Heritage” in the Pacific overarches local political specificities.
Organizers:
- EFEO Taipei Center
- Institute of Archaeology, NCKU
The speech will be given in english.
lecture
Title: 0What is “Cultural Heritage” for Pacific Islanders? UNESCO World Heritage Site Nominations in a Local and Global Context
Date: Tuesday, October 29, 2019. 1:00 p.m.
Venue: 2F Conference room, Museum Building, NCKU, Tainan
Abstract:
Although “Cultural Heritage” is often considered as a universal concept, the overall idea of Heritage has in reality multiple interpretations depending on the cultural background considered. In the Pacific, the remoteness and geographical limitation of the Islands have since time immemorial led to a strong sense of spatial belonging, with a diverse development of cultural expressions in material culture but more vividly in oral traditions, folklore and rituals. In these contexts, it is difficult to apply to the notion of “Cultural Heritage” a simple analysis grid steaming from Western concepts. This has proven especially questionable when UNESCO started to develop at the end of the 1990s a series of projects to prepare the inclusion of sites from the Pacific region on the World Heritage list. Questions of ownership, land-rights, universal sharing, indigenous and/or non-indigenous national pride, conservation etc. have emerged as central topics in the preparation of dossiers to be submitted to UNESCO. This paper will present a number of case-studies that cross the boundaries between independent and decolonizing contexts, to show that the question of “Cultural Heritage” in the Pacific overarches local political specificities.
Organizers:
- EFEO Taipei Center
- Institute of Archaeology, NCKU
The speech will be given in english.
lecture