Cultural Heritage and communities: a comparative study at three World Heritage properties – the Great Barrier Reef (Australia), Ayutthaya (Thailand) and Avebury (England) (A1.3.2S)

Task leader: Ms Jane Harrington, CRC Reef and James Cook University.

Task associate: NA

This research project investigates the significant aspects of places identified by local communities, what they value about these places and what they would like to see retained for future generations. The aim is to then ask how these views conflict/conform with those of a larger set of other ‘communities of interest’ within the World Heritage context, particularly with the views of expert agencies who have the responsibility to identify, protect and manage such places.

The project undertakes a comparative study of communities associated with three World Heritage listed places: the ancient capital of Ayutthaya in Thailand, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and Stonehenge and associated monuments at Avebury in England.

The objectives of the project are:

• To gain an understanding of the varying interests and values of groups who have a relationship with a ‘heritage place’.
  
• Using anthropological approaches, to specifically investigate the values and meanings local communities associate with a heritage place.
  
• To analyse how these varying interests and values create either support or conflict between groups and how these conflicts are resolved within management regimes.
  
• To review contemporary heritage identification and assessment approaches (with emphasis on the roles of the World Heritage Committee, ICOMOS and the IUCN) and to review how such approaches are applied to places that have associations with the traditional values of non-Western cultures.
  
• To address the validity of 1) maintaining a dichotomy between ‘natural’ heritage and ‘cultural’ heritage and 2) placing an emphasis on the protection of tangible aspects of heritage (i.e. the fabric of a place) in preference to the non-tangible aspects of heritage (such as spirit, or traditional practices).
  
• To present and discuss alternative approaches to identifying community values in the context of defining ‘heritage’.

The fieldwork for the project incorporates research taking an anthropological approach at three world heritage properties. Their formal identification as places of international significance situates them in a ‘world arena’, and attracts the broadest possible range of ‘communities of interest’. All have strong local community attachments and attract international and domestic tourists. The comparison of communities and places in Australia, England and Thailand allows a review of different cultural perspectives and political contexts.