Resumen de Reflexiones sobre el Patrimonio Inmaterial de la Humanidad.: de la Identidad sentida a la Identidad compartida…
Some Thoughts on World Immaterial Heritage From Identity which is felt, to Identity which is shared… Heritage labelling is intimately related with tourism. Public and private institutions in the tourism sector use the World Heritage label to attract the attention and award credibility and prestige to tangible and intangible assets. From the point of view of the tourism sector, labels award a certain “aura” of credibility and interest to a given site. Having a “UNESCO World Heritage” label is a requirement for a site to become a place with tourist potential. The assumption is that if UNESCO considers a given site/asset to deserve this distinction, then it actually is a site/asset of cultural interest. This is the idea conveyed by political and institutional agents that take advantage of the existence of a given World Heritage asset to draw political benefits. However, what is actually considered as heritage and what can be “heritaged”? Is the fact that a given site is considered as World Heritage enough for everyone to acknowledge it as theirs? Who determines what a “heritageable” asset is? Is a “heritageable” asset an instrument of touristic attraction, and therefore an instrument of local development? Does being listed as a UNESCO intangible asset favour increased self-esteem and an identity for its population? These are just some of the questions raised by analysing the concepts of heritage, culture, tradition, identity and the World Immaterial Heritage label.
