Archaeology, Cultural Heritage Protection and Community Engagement in South Asia

Robin Coningham, Nick Lewer, Robin Coningham, Nick Lewer

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9789811362361
• eBook ISBN: 9789811362378
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Exploring archaeology, community engagement and cultural heritage protection in South Asia, this book considers heritage management strategies through community engagement, bringing together the results of research undertaken by archaeologists, heritage practitioners and policy makers working towards the preservation and conservation of both cultural and natural heritage. The book highlights the challenges faced by communities, archaeologists and heritage managers in post-conflict and post-disaster contexts in their efforts to protect, preserve and present cultural heritage, including issues of sustainability, linkages with existing community programmes and institutions, and building administrative and social networks. The case-studies illustrate larger-scale projects to small micro-level engagement, across a range of geographical, political, social and economic contexts, providing a framework that links and synchronises programmes of archaeological activities alongside active community engagement.

The chapters 'Introduction', 'Community Engagement in the Greater Lumbini Area of Nepal: the Micro-Heritage Case-Study of Dohani' and 'Conclusion' of this book are available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

© The Author(s) 2019

Robin Coningham and Nick Lewer (eds.)Archaeology, Cultural Heritage Protection and Community Engagement in South Asiahttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6237-8_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Robin Coningham¹ and Nick Lewer²

(1)

Durham University, Durham, UK

(2)

Coral Associates Ltd, North Yorkshire, UK

Robin Coningham (Corresponding author)

Email: [email protected]

Nick Lewer

Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Coningham and Lewer chart the interest of archaeologists and heritage management specialists in engaging with communities associated with sites of historical tangible and intangible cultural importance. Drawing from archaeological, social science, development and tourism literature, international charters and codes of practice, and discussions at the AHRC-GCRF sponsored Kathmandu Conference Heritage at Risk 2017: Pathways to the Protection and Rehabilitation of Cultural Heritage in South Asia in September 2017, the chapter notes participatory methodologies used in community consultation and then provides conceptual and operational issues, questions and themes which inform the backdrop to this book. The chapter next identifies context-specific and generic challenges for community engagement which are highlighted through the case studies in the book, which is the first of its kind to focus specifically on South Asia.

Keywords

South AsiaCommunity engagementArchaeology

End Abstract

1.1 Introduction: Context

Home to one-third of the world’s human population, South Asia has a corresponding richness of cultural heritage with 44 properties inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and thousands of protected national properties. Although strikingly rich, South Asia’s cultural heritage is a non-renewable resource and there have been a series of tragic, high profile events, which have irreversibly damaged that heritage.

Less visible within media reports is the equally concerning widespread grassroots destruction of South Asia’s heritage monuments, cityscapes and landscapes caused by increasing pressure from agriculture intensification and resource extraction as well as the spread of modern urbanization, industrialization and investment in mega-infrastructure. The balance between heritage and development has been successfully reached at a number of sites but this is not always the case and there are many examples of irreversible damage. These range from the impact of the Orange Metro Line along Lahore’s Grand Trunk Road in Pakistan and aspects of the reconstruction of Kathmandu’s skyline after the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake (Coningham et al. 2018) to the recognition that over 50% of Buddhist sites in Pakistan’s Charsadda District have been damaged by illegal digging as have two thirds of Buddhist archaeological sites in Anuradhapura District in Sri Lanka (Coningham and Young 2015: 96).

Motivated by this context, over 180 experts and professionals from a wide range of disciplines, including archaeology, conservation, architecture, heritage management, development, planning and economics from across South Asia and beyond along with local stakeholders, including community members, site managers, army, police and policymakers met in Kathmandu at the Heritage at Risk 2017: Pathways to the Protection and Rehabilitation of Cultural Heritage in South Asia between 4th and 7th September 2017 to discuss contemporary issues of the protection of heritage during natural disaster and conflicts, but also accelerated development. The event was sponsored by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Global Challenges Research Fund (AHRC-GCRF-AH/P005993/1), with support from UNESCO Kathmandu, ICOMOS (Nepal) and the Department of Archaeology (Government of Nepal). Allowing interaction with, and feedback from, local stakeholders, community leaders, administrators and key disaster responders and first responders, the participants co-produced resolutions for the enhanced protection and rehabilitation of heritage following natural disasters, conflict and in the face of accelerated development in Kathmandu and the Greater Lumbini Area.

These resolutions stressed the collective agreement that community engagement should be an integral element of heritage interventions but that it should also be linked with realistic social and economic benefits to adjoining communities and to a clear strategy related to pilgrim and tourist activities. It also advocated the undertaking of regular monitoring and evaluation of protection and maintenance processes and the economic and social benefits that local residents receive from on-site activities. The delegates also recognized the need for additional targeted exchanges and training, with the adoption of training materials, to strengthen the capacity of national agencies and NGOs tasked with the protection of sites and monuments in the face of accelerated development. Finally, they recognized the urgent need for the development of a network of South Asian experts to formulate, share and implement responses to protect sites and monuments in the face of accelerated development and climate change.

In this context, community consultations offer the opportunity of exploring ways in which individuals and groups can be involved in the protection of sites of archaeological and historical importance, to discuss the future development of tourism and pilgrimage to the site that benefit the local community, and to establish mechanisms for continuing community engagement in archaeological excavations, preservation and protection. This volume of case studies from across South Asia (Fig. 1.1) represents our first collective steps towards these collective goals.

Fig. 1.1

Map showing the location of South Asian case studies

1.2 Approaches

There is a causal relationship between heritage, local people and their well-being. As a result of this bond, local communities and indigenous peoples are often committed custodians of World Heritage sites, where they play an important, and sometimes overlooked, role in the stewardship of the biocultural diversity of their environments. (Brown and Hay-Edie 2014: 5)

Community engagement in archaeological fieldwork and heritage protection has been of increasing interest to archaeologists and heritage managers. This is reflected in a literature that includes reports from conferences, a special issue of the International Journal of Heritage Studies (2010), Little and Shackel (2007), Smith and Waterton (2009), Sapu (2009), Waterton and Smith (2010), Silva and Chapagain (2013), Gould (2016, 2018), Brown and Hay-Edie (2014), Carman (2000), Moshenska and Dhanjal (2011), Perkin (2010), Schmidt (2017), Schmidt and Pikirayi (2016), Tully (2007), Watson and Waterton (2010), a number of International Charters and Codes of Practice including the World Heritage Convention (1972), the Burra Charter (1999), the ICOMOS Nara Document on Authenticity (1994) and The Valletta Principles for the Safeguarding and Management of Historic Cities, Towns and Urban Areas (2011), and publications from the Getty Conservation Institute (2009), the Global Heritage Fund (2010) and UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre (Albert et al. 2012).

Linked to this ‘archaeological’ interest is an established economic (tourism), conservation, development and social science literature containing broad-ranging debates about what the concepts of ‘community’ and ‘participation’ mean in theory and practice, including Oakley (1991), Burkey (1993), Chambers (1997) and Kothari et al. (2013) and this has been referred to by academics and practitioners in archaeology, heritage protection and tourism sectors (Winter 2009; Crooke 2010). Within this literature, it has been noted that communities are not usually homogenous or united but often characterized by tensions including issues associated with local power and business interests, group identity, access to resources, political influence, marginalization, religious differences and the impact of conflict or natural disaster. In the most positive sense, participation is envisaged as an approach that draws from, and values, local knowledge that can challenge top-down interests and development paths.

Methods used to engage communities include social surveys, opinion and perception polls, participatory and rapid rural appraisal (PRA/RRA), participatory action research (PAR) and participatory learning analysis (PAL). In these methods, researchers and practitioners from outside the communities use a facilitative, empowering and listening discursive approach that enables them to learn from an engaged community. However, critics have pointed out that in some cases participation has been manipulative and may have reinforced Western concepts and approaches to inclusion. For example, research and analysis that is designed around a short term project can be defined more by agency needs and agendas rather than those of the people and community, that local culture and social relationships are not fully understood, and that if care is not taken dysfunctional local power disparities are maintained or e...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Communities and Micro-Heritage in Bhitargarh, Bangladesh: A Case Study
• 3. Awakening Myths, Legends and Heritage
• 4. Kuragala: Religious and Ethnic Communities in a Contested Sacred Heritage Site in Sri Lanka
• 5. Community Engagement in the Greater Lumbini Area of Nepal: The Micro-Heritage Case Study of Dohani
• 6. Protecting Heritage and Strengthening Community Engagement in Nepal
• 7. Tourism and Community Engagement in World Heritage Sites, Nepal
• 8. Mapping the Intangible: ‘At Risk’ Heritage Landscapes in Northern Pakistan
• 9. Community Engagement in Natural Heritage Conservation Stewardship, Nepal
• 10. Reclaiming the Heritage of Bagan: Communities in Myanmar Learn to Raise Their Voice
• 11. Communities, Identities, Conflict and Appropriation in South Asia
• 12. Conclusion
• Back Matter