Towards an Integrative Understanding of 'authenticity' of cultural heritage: An analysis of World Heritage Site designations in the Asian Context

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Issue Date
2017-04-26Author
Lawless, Julie Williams
Silva, Kapila Dharmasena
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
Rights
© 2017 Center for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University and SAGE Publications
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Show full item recordAbstract
In the World Heritage Sites (WHS) designation, it is required to define the conditions that ‘authenticate’ the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of heritage sites. Initially, the notion of authenticity had been understood as an objective and measurable attribute inherent in the material fabric of sites. This perspective overlooked the fact that authenticity of a place is culturally constructed, contextually variable, and observer dependent. In 1994, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) introduced a set of attributes that facilitate a holistic understanding of authenticity of heritage sites which considers both tangible and intangible aspects of heritage together. To find out the extent to which this holistic understanding of authenticity is currently applied in the WHS designations, we analysed nomination dossiers of 31 sites from the Asian context that were designated as World Heritage between 2005 and 2014. The findings point towards the continuing need to apply systematic, holistic and integrative perspectives of authenticity standards to heritage sites.
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Citation
Lawless, J. W. & Silva, K. D. (2017) Journal of Heritage Management, 1(2): 148-159. DOI: 10.1177/2455929616684450 ; http://hmj.sagepub.com;
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