From universal to local: perspectives on cultural landscape heritage in South Africa

The concept of cultural landscapes relates to the multifaceted links betweenpeople, place and identity. From a professional perspective, the conceptrefers to a category of designated conservation areas with specific bioculturalheritage values. From a local perspective, it may refer to a landscape thatis associated with the provision of a culturally-specific sense of identityand belonging. We explore these two perspectives through a comparativeanalysis of three cultural landscapes in South Africa, the ‘expert’ designatedMapungubwe Cultural Landscape and the Richtersveld Cultural andBotanical Landscape, and the local associative landscape of emaXhoseni,which is not formally recognised. We propose that a biocultural diversityperspective of heritage not only recognises the inextricable relationshipbetween nature and culture, but it also gives prominence to the beliefs,values and practices of local people, and to strengthening their agency tosafeguard their heritage in ways and forms that are relevant to them