Thread by @AikeRots

The World Heritage Committee of @UNESCO has its 44th meeting, hosted by Fuzhou (PRC) but taking place mostly online. It hasn't received as much media attention as previous meetings, but those of us who study the politics of heritage-making will follow it with great interest. (1)

Interesting that the WHC has decided to inscribe Amami-Oshima, Tokunoshima, Yanbaru forest (Okinawa) and Iriomote in the Ryukyu Islands (#Japan) as Natural World Heritage. A previous application was unsuccessful; the new one more convincing, apparently.(2) english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/07/f…

I grew up in the northeast of the Netherlands. I was happy to read that the Colonies of Benevolence (Koloniën van Weldadigheid) there have just been listed as World Heritage. A little-known early 19th-century social experiment to "eliminate poverty". (3) kolonienvanweldadigheid.eu/en/colonies-in…

China, host of the meeting, has become increasingly interested in World Heritage in recent years. So it is not surprising that a Chinese site was listed: Quanzhou, "maritime emporium during the Song and Yuan periods", which includes Islamic buildings. (4) whc.unesco.org/en/list/1561/

Clearly, it is no coincidence that a site is listed that celebrates China's maritime heritage (its so-called Maritime Silk Road) while the PRC is busy constructing a new "21st-century Maritime Silk Road". Heritage-making is an inherently political act. (5) cmi.no/publications/6…

Probably the most controversial decision at this meeting so far has not been a listing, but the decision to *remove* a famous site from the WH List: the city of Liverpool. This has only happened twice before in history. Local politicians are not happy. (6) bbc.com/news/uk-englan…

Finally, a decision that will be welcomed by train lovers (myself included): the Trans-Iranian Railway has been inscribed on the World Heritage List. A dream: travelling through Iran by train.

More decisions will follow in the coming days; stay tuned! (7)
tehrantimes.com/news/463393/Tr…

More interesting additions to the World Heritage List today at #44WHC, including one in #Japan: a group of Jōmon-period prehistoric sites in Tōhoku, said to "provide insight into the hunter-gatherer society and the spiritual culture of that period." (8) mainichi.jp/english/articl…

Japan wants WH Sites in all its prefectures, representing all historical periods, so this is a relevant addition. On the politics of heritage-making in #Japan, see the book co-edited by Mark Teeuwen and me, "Sacred Heritage in Japan" @routledgebooks. (9)

https://mobile.twitter.com/AikeRots/status/1327273269813256192

These sites are said to be important not only materially but also because of their "spiritual culture". They contain "numerous monuments (e.g., stone circles, earthwork burial circles) that highlight [Jōmon-period] rituals and spiritual activities." (10) jomon-japan.jp/en/jomon-sites/

In fact, we know very little about these prehistoric rituals. But claims about Jōmon-period "nature worship" as the origin and core essence of the supposedly indigenous Japanese tradition Shinto are common in nationalist scholarship (see my 2017 book).(11) bloomsbury.com/us/shinto-natu…

Heritage is not the same as history, as scholars Laurajane Smith, Rodney Harrison, and David Lowenthal have demonstrated. Heritage-making consists of the selective use of history for present-day political, ideological, and economic purposes. These are all good examples. (12)

Several other interesting sites have been added to the WH List today, including two in #India, a Shiva temple in Telangana and a prehistoric ancient city in Gujarat. More sites are added continuously; follow @UNESCO and the hashtag #44WHC for updates. (13) en.unesco.org/news/two-new-i…