National Parks & World Heritage Sites

international landscape
a valued geographic area so large that it crosses international borders
what topics does the textbook cover?
the identity, interpretation, and funding of heritage sites
what are three heritage fields?
People, nature, and landscapes
Where do tourists travel most?
Where are heritage and tourisms sites located?
in almost every country in the world
“top down”
the dominant group defines what is meant by culture, and these ideas are transmitted to other groups
What are the groups of people you need to appeal to when trying to make changes or promote to a site?
Owners, outsiders, insiders, givernments, academics, and the media
What are the fields of heritage?
nature, landscapes, monuments, sites, artifacts, activities, people
dark tourism
people who travel to sites associated with death and suffering
world’s culture homoginizing voluntarily
finding flaws in others to make yourself feel better
people who have interest in the group or activit at hand
ruling group
what kind of science is heritage?
applied science: application of scientific knowledge
anything someone wishes to conserve or collect to pass on to future generations
why is media necessary for selling heritage?
it is able to broadcast to the masses
what types of media are useful?
newspapers, social networking, television, radio, magazines, releases
where does the word heritage come from?
French meaning legacy
who are the insiders?
involved in promotion, founders, supporters of site, site workers
Why can insiders sometimes be an issue?
they work so closely with the site so you must appeal to them in order to make the changes you want to make
what are monuments?
buildings, archaeological remains, sculptures
main duty of site manager?
maintain a sense of balance
How is heritage maintined and preserved?
endowments, foundations, not-for-profit groups, govts., umbrealla organizations, volunteers
compare and contrast heritage and culture

heritage: anything someone wishes to conserve or collect for future generations







why study heritage?
teaches us about different culture of different nations and areas and peoples

“The dominant group builds universities to teach the dominant group to regard itself as such”

How does this relate to who controls heritage?

“top down” idea. ;the hegimonic group wants to remain hegimonic so they teach their ideas
state or fed. govt., taxpayers/stakeholders, private creators, controllers, those living adjacent to the land, person who takes responsibilty for the care of the site

tourists, the everyday people coming to your site


appeal to them through brochures, ads, media, incentives

governments as a group to appeal to
may own site, may want to give $, could need to turn site over at some point to ensure permanence, they can take a lot of tax burdens off
how to get govts. interested in your site
invite politicians to events, cards for occasions, follow up calls, supprts them, go to hearings, put them on mailing list
sometimes insiders, can help to interpret your site, offer you the help of their students (volunteers and interns)
examples of sites
where important events occured, battlefields, markers, not amterial evidence present
5 ways to be sustainable

1. purchasing and administration: buy only what you need and make in env. friendly

2. energy conservation: retrofit and renovate

3. transportation: car pool, bikes, walk

4. alt. fuels: electric, hyd., bio

5. new construction: don’t over build, environmentally friendly buildings, high building standards

what is sustainability?
making sure that nature is there for future generations
Where would one go to obtain an official listing of global heritage sites?
UNESCO website
what does UNESCO stand for?
United nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization
what function does the NPS serve?
preserves parks
what function does the NIAH serve?
conserves historical artifacts
what function does the national trust serve?
charity and protection

any scene with a particular characteristic

architecture, hills/mountains, scrub, areas of natural beauty (AONB), cultivated places


things that portray the culture of the era at hand

museum artifacts, ships, family albums, artwork

make site attractive, reinactments, clubs, related foods, demonstrations, anything that could possibly be authentic

anything associated with an important person

room he or she used, etc.

zoos, geology, flora and fauna, habitats, air and water
what country has the most WHS
heritage v. history
most heritage sites don’t come out of history
government v. governance
governance: to exercise control, a guide, might not be related to the law, groups might want more access to a park or site or might not like how things are run
cultural diffusion

cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society

– ex: fast food

how can sites create cultural diffusion?
appealing to the masses. ;the more people you educate with your site, the more people will be educated in general
how do we misuse the word community?
we use it too generally and too often
what is the correct definition of community?
who are marginalized peoples?
one who is relegated to the fringes and has little to no say in matters
who is the site for?

future generations, anyone interested, tourists


interpretation can affect who actually becomes interested

where does the $ come from?
endowments, foundations, not-for-profit groups, govts., umbrella orgs.
where should the site be?
original site, where the least opposition will be
product, packaging, and pricing of heritage
media v. medium

media: plural

medium: singular

Should a site be left in its natural state? Pros and cons for both sides
theory of legitimacy
people want to legitimize their past and present by controlling or protecting the heritage sites or by claiming them as their own
theory of cultural capital
non-financial,;forms of knowledge, skills, education, and advantages that a person has, which give them a higher status in society
theory of control
explains why we want to destroy or create sites, we want to control what people learn and see
why does western europe have more heritage sites? who do other countries have less?

they have more of a hegimony to take control, they know how to promote their sites, they may be more literate or wealthy


other countries may have more pressing matters to worry about

what is a reductionist and how does it relate to community?
someone who only skims the main points – not necessarily on purpose – because they might not have the knowledge to go deeper. as it relates to community, people don’t have the knowledge of what a community entails to use the word in its correct sense
what do waterton and smith say the problems with community are?
people don’t have the same idea of what a community is, communities are not behaving very comminity-like, the hegimony tries to speak for the marginalized people
when soeaking about the politics of recognition, how do we get marginalized people to get together and form heritage sites?
get their passion flowing, utilize non-profits and umbrella orgs that may take on small groups
something of national importance
stratified random sample
just that
purposful sample
asking certain groups of people (ex: only students)
snowball sample
not so random. you ask one erson who refers you to another and so on
why should heritage not be strictly interpreted academically?
not everyone is an academic – those people may feel alienated. make it informative yet appealing
what is cultural resource management?
curator-ship, maintains and upholds the integrity of the heritage
who is heritage for?
what is “fakery”?
things that look similar to the heritage (faximilies, tee pee hotels)
difference between press release and news release

press: response or reaction to a situation

news: response to a news item you wish to impart

what should releases be like?
truthful, factual, sypathetic, positive, avoid looking evasive, defer to experts, use top person for quotes
what should be included when composing a release?
what type of release is it? who is it for? release date, one pg, sources of info and news, dateline and publication date, “for more info…”, headline, stand-alone paragraphs

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