Cultural diversity cultural heritage and human rights towards heritage management as human rights ba

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International Journal of Heritage Studies
ISSN: 1352-7258 (Print) 1470-3610 (Online) Journal homepage:
Cultural diversity, cultural heritage and human
rights: towards heritage management as human
rights-based cultural practice
William Logan
To cite this article: William Logan (2012) Cultural diversity, cultural heritage and human rights:
towards heritage management as human rights-based cultural practice, International Journal of
Heritage Studies, 18:3, 231-244, DOI: 10.1080/13527258.2011.637573
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Published online: 01 Mar 2012.
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Cultural diversity, cultural heritage and human rights: towards
heritage management as human rights-based cultural practice
William Logan*
School of History, Heritage and Society, Deakin University, 121 Burwood Highway,
Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia
( Received 23 October 2011; fi nal version received 24 October 2011 )
The present article investigates the linkages between conserving cultural
heritage, maintaining cultural diversity and enforcing human rights. While there
seems to be a growing awareness of these linkages in international heritage and
human rights circles, they remain poorly understood by many heritage practitio-
ners who see their conservation work merely as a technical matter. The article
argues that it is essential for practitioners engaged in heritage conservation
projects to understand the broader economic, political and social context of their
work. However, heritage scholars and teachers, too, need to recognise that there
can be many motives behind of fi cial heritage interventions, that such action is
sometimes taken primarily to achieve political goals, and that it can undermine
rather than strengthen community identity, cultural diversity and human rights.
Such a reorientation is an extension of the paradigm shift in which heritage is
understood as cultural practice. In this more critical heritage studies discipline
human rights are brought to the foreground as the most signi fi cant part of the
international heritage of humanity.
Keywords: cultural diversity; cultural heritage; human rights; cultural rights;
cultural practice; heritage conservation
Introduction
The present article traces the growing awareness of the fundamental linkage
between conserving cultural heritage, maintaining cultural diversity and enforcing
human rights. It argues that such awareness supports a re-conception of heritage
conservation as a form of cultural practice in which human rights-based approaches
can be well accommodated. The present article is based on my contribution to the
introductory chapter of the book Cultural Diversity, Heritage and Human Rights
(Lang fi eld et al . 2010), which I edited with Professors Michele Lang fi eld and
Máiréad Nic Craith. It is also informed by the work being done at the Of fi ce of the