Heritage and Globalization

This chapter considers the relationship between heritage and globalization and provides a critical summary of existing work within heritage studies on this theme. Rather than seeing the global spread of specific ideas about heritage and the appropriate procedures for its management simply as a consequence of the adoption of international treaties and conventions, the chapter argues that heritage in general, and ‘World Heritage’ in particular, is itself a globalizing process — a series of material and discursive interventions which actively remake the world in particular ways. Eschewing a focus on discourse alone, the chapter argues the need for a ‘material-semiotic’ approach to understand these phenomena, drawing on concepts from actor-network, assemblage and governmentality theory. Finally, it makes some concluding comments regarding future research directions which are implicit in such an approach, drawing on new ways of understanding heritage and its ‘dialogical’ or relational qualities to make more effective connections with other broad issues of contemporary concern.