Heritage categories of UNESCO: Research and outreach

Thomas Schmitt has been conducting research on the World Heritage regime and UNESCO’s concept of intangible heritage since the 2000s, in a predominantly qualitative-ethnographic research design. He was of the first researchers to introduce systematically the concept of scale (and the Multi-level-governance approach) on the World Heritage system, which structured the outline of the monography Schmitt 2011. This work analysed the global level of the World Heritage system (chap. 5), the role of intermediating national instances (chap. 6) and – in an exemplary case study – the local setting within the World Heritage system (chap. 7). The theoretical background of the scale concept was explored in chap. 2.4.4. In chap. 9, mutual interactions between institutions and corporative bodies at different scales, and scale-related political cultures were explored. 

In Schmitt 2008, the concept of a scale hybrid social actor was introduced, referring as an ideal-typical generalisation of the fact that the internationally renowned writer Juan Goytisolo played a prominent role both at the local level (in the city of Marrakech) and at the global level (in interaction with UNESCO) for the safeguarding of Jemaa el Fna square as intangible cultural heritage. Schmitt 2017 illustrated possible relation of conflict lines and scales in the positioning of stakeholders within the World Heritage system. 

The monography Schmitt 2011 (see also Schmitt 2009, chap. 2; and Schmitt 2011a) developed further the approach of cultural governance (compared to which heritage governance is considered a special case). The study systematically asked how different approaches within regime theory of International Relations can be applied to the World Heritage system (Schmitt 2011: chap. 2.5 and 9.4.; see also Schmitt 2015). The study asked also how far neogramscian approaches in International relations are helpful in order to understand UNESCO’s role as a “soft hegemon” (cf. Schmitt 2011: chap. 2.4.3, chap. 5.1, and 9.6, and also Schmitt 2015).

– Chap. 9.2.4 reflected the role of the List of the World heritage in Danger within the World Heritage system (see also Schmitt 2009: chap. 4.6).

The analysis and interpretation of the global level of the World Heritage system was based on ethnographic research on sessions of the World Heritage Committee (in Schmitt 2011 especially the sessions in 2006 and 2007), interviews and informal talks with staff members and representatives of UNESCO, ICOMOS, IUCN and also with delegates and observers of different countries or NGOs. The linkage of the ethnographic interpretation to social and political science theories and approaches in cultural studies can be seen as one of the strengths of the publications. 

The paper Schmitt 2008 (see also Schmitt 2011, chap. 8; Schmitt 2006) reconstructed an important stage in the creation of the UNESCO Convention of 2003 for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage, namely the genesis of the Masterpieces of the oral and intangible of humanity Programme, retrospectively a pre-programme to the UNESCO Convention of 2003. As could be shown on the basis of written and oral sources, this programme (and so also the 2003 Convention) was essentially stimulated by an initiative of the Spanish writer Juan Goytisolo to protect Jemaa el Fna square in Marrakech as an “oral heritage of humanity” by UNESCO. Schmitt 2005 (see also Schmitt 2011, chap. 8.2) analysed the changes of the social and cultural practices at Jemaa el Fna square due to modernization processes, international tourism and the UNESCO proclamation and included also general remarks on the authenticity of cultural practices.

In Schmitt 2011, chap. 7 (see in French also Schmitt 2008a) the recent transformation of the World heritage cultural landscape M’zab valley in the Algerian Sahara is analysed. 

Schmitt 2022 deals with a reflection of possible effects of the commodification of (World) Heritage from an anthropological point of view. 

Schmitt 2022a (in German) reflects the concept and notion of heritage, also as a basis for the own teaching at Heidelberg University (see also Schmitt 2011: chap. 3).

 

References (publications quoted)

Schmitt, T. (2022): The Commodification of World Heritage: A Marxist Introduction. In: M.-T. Albert, R. Bernecker, C. Cave, A. Claudia Prodan and M. Ripp (eds.): 50 Years World Heritage Convention: Shared Responsibility – Conflict & Reconciliation. Cham: Springer International; pp. 377–389.

Schmitt, T. (2022a): Streitwert Kulturerbe. Aus dem Speicher- ins Funktionsgedächtnis. In: Ruperto Carola. Forschungsmagazin (19), pp. 116–125. Online:  https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/rupertocarola/article/view/24514/18402

Schmitt, T. (2011): Cultural Governance. Zur Kulturgeographie des UNESCO-Welterberegimes [engl.: Cultural Governance. Towards a Cultural geography of UNESCO’s World Heritage regime] (Series Erdkundliches Wissen vol. 149), Stuttgart: Franz-Steiner publishing (452 pages)

Schmitt, T. (2011a): Cultural Governance as a research framework (= MMG working paper series 11-02) Göttingen: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (56 pp.).

Schmitt, T. (2015): UNESCO as a Red Cross or as a notary of World Heritage? Structures, scale-related interactions and efficacy of UNESCO’s World Heritage regime (= MMG working paper series 15-05). Göttingen: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (43 pp.)

Schmitt, T. (2009): Global Cultural Governance. Decision Making About World Heritage Between Politics and Science, in: Erdkunde Jg. 63 vol. 2: 103-1.

Schmitt, T. (2008): The UNESCO Concept of Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage: Its Background and Marrakchi Roots, in: The International Journal of Heritage Studies 14 (2) 2008: 95-111.

Schmitt, T. (2008a): Protection du patrimoine culturel et transformation socioculturelle: la «vallée du M’zab ». Un site classé patrimoine mondial en Algérie, in: H. Popp (éd.): Les pays du Maghreb. Contributions de la géographie humaine allemande, Bayreuth: 38-49

Schmitt, T. (2006): Die UNESCO und der Platz Jemaa el Fna in Marrakech: Zur Genese und Regulierung eines Konzepts zum globalen Schutz immateriellen Erbes der Menschheit, in: Geographische Zeitschrift 93 (4) 2005: 237-253

Schmitt, T. (2006a): Jemaa el Fna Square in Marrakech – Changes to a Social Space and to a UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity as a Result of Global influences, in: The Arab World Geographer Vol. 8 (4) 2005: 173-195