Espacio y Desarrollo (Jan 2004)
Patrimonio cultural, identidad y territorio: problemas de investigación
Abstract
The text aims at presenting main research problems related to present-day studies on cultural heritage. The author states that the wide concept of heritage according to which «it is all that the present generations want to preserve from the past, all that they consider valuable and important for the definition of their cultural identity», obliges us to analyze the processes of construction ofheritage.Two cases have been presented in order to show examples of processes of construction ofheritage, its relation to identity of the group and its territorial context. The first one is Polish Masuria -a region that has been changing its state allegiance through its history and that is inhabited by recent immigrants, that are interested in defining the region's cultural heritage as a part of the process of construction of regio nal identity. The other one is the case of Afro-Latín American communities that want to recover their heritage defined by themselves, according to their own view ofhistory. In both cases the political and ideological aspects ofheritage definition are an important part of the process of its construction.Studies on the relations between heritage, territory an local as well as regional identities, conducted in differing cultural context demonstrate diversity of situations in which operational concepts used by international institutions, governmental agen cies, local and regional agents are being applied. The definition of what belongs to heritage and of what is excluded is a complex process determined by relations between territory and identity, power structures and cultural aspirations. Humanistic geography-with its concept ofplace charged with senses, meanings and feelings- is a possibleframework for research on cultural heritage on the locallevel. The perspectives offered by political ecology and cultural studies can be helpful in enriching it.
