​This volume explores China’s cultural heritage ideology and policies from three interrelated perspectives: the State and World Heritage tourism; cultural heritage tourism at undesignated sites, and the cultural politics of museums and collections. Something of a cultural heritage designation craze is happening in China. This is new within even the last five to ten years. Officials at many levels now see heritage preservation as a means for commoditizing their regions. They are devoting new resources and attention to national and international heritage designations. Thus, addressing cultural heritage politics in a nation dedicated to designation is an important project, particularly in the context of a rapidly growing economy. This volume is also important because it addresses a very wide range of cultural heritage, providing an excellent sample of case studies: historic vernacular urban environments, ethnic tourism, scenic tourism, pilgrimage as tourism, tourism and economic development, museums, border heritage, underwater remains, and the actual governance and management of the sites. This volume is an outstanding introduction to cultural heritage issues in China while contributing to Chinese studies for those with greater knowledge of the area.

This collection of papers discuss World Trade Law and focus on the contested nature of World Heritage at sites as diverse as The Netherlands, Ellis Island (USA), post-colonial Mesoamerica, Cambodia, Fiji, Kyrgyzstan, and Vietnam. In addition, eight research notes explore heritage interpretation in the USA, Lebanon, Peru, Indonesia, Singapore, Tasmania and India.

Critical Heritage Studies is a new and fast-growing interdisciplinary field of study seeking to explore power relations involved in the production and meaning-making of cultural heritage. Politics of Scale offers a global, multi- and interdisciplinary point of view to the scaled nature of heritage, and provides a theoretical discussion on scale as a social construct and a method in Critical Heritage Studies. The international contributors provide examples and debates from a range of diverse countries, discuss how heritage and scale interact in current processes of heritage meaning-making, and explore heritage-scale relationship as a domain of politics.

This book presents a tale of heritage politics in the Malaysian historical city par excellence. Already celebrated as the first Malay sultanate and an important colonial trading port, Melaka has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2008, on the strength of its multi-ethnic and multi-religious urban fabric. Yet, contrary to the expectations of heritage experts and aficionados, the global mission of safeguarding cultural heritage has become a tumultuous issue on the ground in Melaka. World Heritage and Urban Politics in Malaysia analyses how the World Heritage 'label' is being used by different actors- such as international organizations, nation states, and society at large- to generate new economic revenues and to attract investment for large-scale real estate development projects. In doing so, it reveals the complex and often contradictory stories behind heritage designations in urban milieus.

This critical investigation highlights the politics of cultural heritage management, including authenticity and conservation, and its effects on the everyday lives of the peoples it claim to be representing through the example of Djenné in Mali.

This book shows African heritage to be a mode of political organisation - where heritage work has a uniquely wide currency.

This book explores how a site can turn into a mummification of the past, displaying long-gone splendour, or a living, breathing treasure offering dynamic cultural and educational opportunities.