Significance and social value of Cultural Heritage: a critical approach

Comunicación presentada en el International Congress Science and Technology for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage (TechnoHeritage), celebrado en Santiago de Compostela del 2 al 5 de octubre de 2012.This presentation analyzes some of the factors that are part of heritage-making processes (or heritagization processes): on the one hand, economic factors and, on the other, those dealing with the politics of identity, belonging and exclusion. Heritage is a metacultural process in the sense that artefacts, buildings, landscapes, festivals or any other heritage element are not by themselves heritage unless there is social value attached to them. From this point of view, heritage is a peculiar type of cultural process because it implies a metacultural reflection about culture. Heritage implies ¿adding value to culture.¿ It is a value-laden concept with no neutral ground of connotation. Therefore, heritage-related projects need to incorporate critical research on the instrumentalizations of heritage policies and the conflicts that arise. In addition, scientific projects and technology for the conservation of heritage ¿the theme of this conference¿ face the challenge of how to incorporate local actors in the heritage regime to build a more democratic heritage model. The analysis presented here is based on case studies of the 7FP CRIC project (Cultural Heritage and the Reconstruction of Identities after Conflict), which focuses on the impact of the selective destruction and reconstruction of cultural heritage and on the project ¿Processes of Heritagization along the Camino de Santiago¿ (INCITE09606181PR). Both projects have been conducted at the Institute of Heritage Sciences (Incipit).Peer Reviewe