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Rocío Arroyo Belmonte
La acumulación de un patrimonio cultural, como una selección de bienes o manifestaciones sociales transmitida sucesivamente para generaciones futuras, se origina en los proyectos nacionalistas de los estados durante la modernidad, principalmente en un contexto europeo. Más adelante, con las funestas consecuencias de las guerras mundiales, este modelo se universaliza para tratar de conformar un patrimonio común a toda la humanidad. A partir de entonces, instituciones internacionales como la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (UNESCO) han buscado dirigir los esfuerzos hacia este fin, de manera central a través de la Convención del Patrimonio Mundial de 1972. Sin embargo, la participación en estos mecanismos está fuertemente politizada y centrada en las capacidades e intereses nacionales de los países, por lo que prevalece una supeditación a estrategias geopolíticas alrededor de la figura estatal. Siguiendo este supuesto, el presente artículo busca analizar críticamente las propiedades del patrimonio mundial enlistadas según lo marcado por la convención de 1972 en el caso particular de América Latina y el Caribe (ALyC), esto desde la perspectiva teórica de la geopolítica crítica.
El artículo se compone de dos secciones: en la primera se traza el origen histórico y estatista del patrimonio mundial, abordando los aportes de la teoría crítica del patrimonio y de la geopolítica crítica para estudiar este fenómeno; en la segunda se aborda particularmente la región de ALyC, revisando metodológicamente los procesos de inscripción, tipología, distribución y justificaciones del valor universal excepcional de las propiedades del patrimonio mundial en esta zona del planeta. Considerando que en las luchas interestatales influyen narrativas, imágenes y metáforas para imponer representaciones simbólicas dominantes del espacio, se propone que el patrimonio mundial es una metanarrativa que puede favorecer la alienación de territorios. Esto porque formas sociales de significar, usar y producir un territorio localmente son absorbidas por una memoria histórica nacional, en un primer momento, y alienadas más adelante dentro de un ideal patrimonial de apariencia universal, pero naturaleza selectiva. En esta alienación la imposición de versiones oficiales de la historia, valoraciones con categorías exógenas y alegorías son impuestas institucionalmente, lo cual puede reproducir una jerarquización espacial con centros y periferias. Se concluye que en el patrimonio mundial que se ubica en la región latinoamericana, pese a un proceso tardío de adhesión por desconfianza inicial a la convención de 1972, prevalece una subrepresentación frente a otras regiones del mundo, permean deficiencias estructurales entre países que impiden participar igualitariamente en los órganos decisorios y se presenta una forzada adopción de categorías patrimoniales que propicia una reproducción acrítica de narrativas históricas bajo cánones valorativos europeos.
El resultado final es que muchos de estos territorios sufren un proceso de alienación donde se separa en forma artificial la relación entre ser humano y naturaleza, se menosprecia a las culturas originarias y se sobrevalora el legado del pasado colonial europeo, así como del cristianismo católico, lo cual repite una tradición extractivista y periférica de la región, absorbiendo o negando otras relaciones territoriales del pasado y presente.
Cultural heritage, understood as the selection of sites or cultural manifestations transmitted for future generations, is rooted in the nationalist projects of states during European modernity. After the terrible consequences of the world wars this conservation model was universalized searching to preserve the heritage of mankind and supporting, at the same time, the construction of a liberal international order. Since then, international organizations have sought to direct efforts towards this goal. In 1972 the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage emerged as a result of discussions at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This convention was concerned about the deterioration or disappearance of cultural or natural heritage, something viewed as harmful and an impoverishment of the heritage of all the nations of the world. This is why the agreement summoned the states to participate in the protection of world heritage of outstanding universal value, by cultivating collective cooperation and assistance. A list of monuments and sites that form part of world heritage was established, in terms of aesthetic, historical, artistic or scientific criteria. However, over time, in the selection process of world heritage sites disputes and power asymmetries have arisen between countries around the control of space.This problem can be analyzed through Critical Heritage and Critical Geopolitics approaches, spanning the historical changes and current critical debates about heritage, as well as the political processes of narratives, metaphors and social image constructions around territory. We propose that nominating a territory as a world heritage site generates its alienation. That is, states absorb local territories (understood as a social construct) into dominant national narratives and images, subsequently, countries consolidate their appropriation by enlisting their nationalized territories within the meta-narrative of world heritage. In this process, countries must participate in a highly politicized and structurally unequal international negotiation that reproduces spatial hierarchies. Ultimately, these local territories and practices suffer a process of assimilation into the allegory of world heritage. With this in mind, the aim of this study is to analyze the territorial alienation of properties inscribed on the World Heritage List by Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries as a case study. This alienation occurs because, given the conditions of UNESCO, the countries of the region must adopt an artificial set of categories, typologies and narratives, absorbing or denying other territorial practices. This paper is divided in two sections. The first section gives a brief overview of world heritage origins centered on national projects within a specific European context, and explains Critical Heritage and Critical Geopolitics approaches.A discussion of the evolution of world heritage categories and symbolic aspects of power is reviewed, highlighting the imposition of historical narratives in official documents, the reproduction of aesthetic codes and the construction of imaginaries around the past of territories. The second section analyses the particular case of the World Heritage List in Latin America and the Caribbean. In order to study territorial alienations, methodologically we review countries ratifications of the 1972 convention, the total number of sites, obstacles in international negotiations, narratives, as well as historical events commemorated by the world heritage officially recognized in this part of the planet. The inscription of a site on the World Heritage List requires a nomination file. We used the UNESCO’s files to detect these historical narratives and discourses. Some conclusions are drawn, our findings would seem to show that world heritage sites in Latina America and the Caribbean are underrepresented compared to Europe and North America. In addition, these sites are geographically concentrated in South America, with the Caribbean as the least favored sub-region. At the beginning, countries were reluctant to ratify the 1972 convention due to the prevailing Cold War context, but gradually all countries in the region accepted the commitment. States like Mexico top the List of World Heritage sites, but others have no sites recognized; differences in the number of sites registered by the countries do not only stem from their geographical attributes and their historical past, but also because of the political, technical and economic potential to participate in diplomatic negotiations at UNESCO.Arguments for inscribing a site as world heritage in this region highlights the relevance of natural and exotic places. This looks like a continuity of dominant imperialist narratives during the conquest and colonization of the continent America. The separation between natural and cultural world heritage is an artificial division adopted, but contrary to some local traditions in the region. The arrival of Europeans to Latin America has been established as a time marker used for example to talk about “pre-Columbian” cultures. In any case, few sites commemorate pre-Columbian civilizations, with the exception of the Mayas and the Incas, which contrasts with the cultural diversity and traditional groups that are not part of these dominant versions of the past. It may be assumed that in historical commemorations of world heritage sites in this region, the colonial past is notoriously overvalued and magnified; that is, it is presented as a favorable stage indicating a kind of cultural sophistication for indigenous people. Amazingly, territories essential to fulfilling their goal of extracting natural resources for the European settlers are now uncritically recognized as world heritage (for example mining centers, plantations, seaports or strategic villages). Similarly, cultural sites of Roman Catholic Christianity are evoked as a favorable contribution for the historical regional memory, but denying impositions around the conflictive and complex process of evangelization; in the same way other religions and beliefs are omitted. There are many colonial sites enlisted as world heritage but very few referring to the modern history of the region, significantly reformist narratives are absent: independence movements, abolition of slavery or contemporary indigenous and black population claims are not raised.In summary, these results suggest that, from a critical perspective, the world heritage sites in Latina America and the Caribbean allow dominant relations to continue through values of European origin, selective historical narratives and illusory images as a colonized region. As long as other relevant regional historical events or social actors are ignored, the regional past and cultural heritage will be incomplete. The region reaffirms its peripheral and subordinated position in the international system through historical narratives acritically adopted. Latin American and Caribbean territories are more than exotic landscapes and places of colonial splendor for tourism. Analyzing world heritage from a critical perspective is a way to re-center the territory as a key axis in this dynamic and to recognize other memories and spatial relations.
