A Future in Ruins:UNESCO,World Heritage,and the Dream of Peace:Reflection on World Heritage from the Origin,Mechanism,and Practice
In A Future in Ruins:UNESCO,World Heritage and the Dream of Peace,Lynn Meskell adopted the perspectives of archaeology and political science.With a wealth of cases,she delves into the early development,operation model,achievements and failures in practice,and complex international social environment of world heritage.Through the early history of world heritage concerning archaeology,this paper analyzes the formation and operation of the tech-nocratic mechanism of world heritage.It further discusses the crises and challenges in world heritage practices under the influence of this mechanism.Meskell's core argument in the book is that the United Nations Educational,Scientific,and Cultural Organization(UNESCO)and its World Heritage Program have struggled to realize the dream of peace from archaeological research to heritage restoration,from knowledge production to heritage management,and from the initial consensus and utopian vision to the current dysfunctional and anti-utopian reality.At last,she returns to the archaeological perspective,attempting to find a future path for world heritage.Meskell's concern in archaeology encompasses both a discipline and an implicit metaphor.That is a holistic perspective of interdisciplinary,inter-institutional,and inter-regional collaboration and a perspective on the relationship between world heritage and local communities.She suggests opening dialogues among the World Heritage Centre,consulting organizations,and state parties,and launching active and equal consultation and cooperation among states based on respect for regulations,cultural diversity,and rights.Community participation has become a focal point of world heritage over the past decade,while the development of world heritage should always integrate with vibrant and interconnected social life.Meskell vividly depicts how the utopian vision of world heritage has failed,whereby calling for us to reflect on world heritage and re-examine its initial intention and mission,thereby promoting the sustainable development of world heritage.Examining Chi-na's world heritage cause from the archaeological perspective presented in the book,we find that archaeological excavation and re-search are indispensable to the nomination and management of archaeological heritage.After receiving world heritage status,the sites carry on long-term archaeological work.Faced with the lack of archaeology and the plight of world heritage practices,we should keep exploring how to engage in cultural dialogues internationally and respond to these issues and challenges with Chinese knowledge.
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