Why World Culture Heritage? Democracy, local participation and knowledge production in the world culture nomination of Farms in Halsingland, Sweden

This paper analyzes the nomination process of the Swedish heritage site Farms and Villages in Hiilsingland (2007) for UNESCO's World Heritage List. It was anticipated that the large timbered red-painted farmhouses of Halsingland in the north of Sweden would be listed in June 2009, but ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) came to another conclusion, deferred the nomination and returned it to the Swedish authorities for improvements. The nomination process lasted for over 10 years and has been a painstaking process involving the local communities and the county administration board in the county town of Gavle. The costs were estimated to be 15 million Swedish Crowns (1.6 million EURO) which did not trickle down to the owners of the farmhouses. The local people were nonetheless thrilled because they assumed that a nomination would benefit them economically, especially if they were prepared to join the tourist circus and make their homes accessible for visitors. The extra income was badly needed since the restoration costs for these large houses in most cases can only with difficulties be carried by the individual house owner. But some were openly critical to the entire enterprise and they saw it as a status project for some politicians and a threat to the perceived harmony between the traditionally built environment and the landscape. A nomination would cause a disruption between old and new ways of living instead of continuity. In a cultural heritage nomination process a complicated interaction arises between expert knowledge and local knowledge, which generates insights that need to be formulated in the final product. Cultural sensitivity and local participation must be pillars in such a project to make it sustainable.<p>Additional information re: publisher:</p><p>International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences; Commission on Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development (IUAES)</p>Varför Världsarv