What is Heritage?
Cultural Heritage types
Heritage is the full range of our inherited
traditions, monuments, objects, and culture.
Most important, it is the range of contemporary
activities, meanings, and behaviors that we draw
from them.
Heritage includes, but is much more than
preserving, excavating, displaying, or restoring a
collection of old things. It is both tangible and
intangible, in the sense that ideas and memories-
-of songs, recipes, language, dances, and many
other elements of who we are and how we
identify ourselves--are as important as historical
buildings and archaeological sites.
What is the meaning of tangible and intangible?
Tangible assets can be touched (have a physical
substance) e.g. machines, buildings, motor
vehicles. Intangible assets cannot be touched (do
not have a physical substance) e.g. goodwill,
development expenditure.
What is Cultural Heritage
Cultural Heritage is an expression of the ways of
living developed by a community and passed on
from generation to generation, including
customs, practices, places, objects, artistic
expressions and values. Cultural Heritage is often
expressed as either Intangible or Tangible
Cultural Heritage.
Heritage Cycle
The Heritage Cycle diagram gives us an idea how
we can make the past part of our future (Simon
Thurley, 2005). In a clockwise direction the
wedges and arrows read:
By understanding (cultural heritage)
people value it
By valuing it
people want to care for it
By caring for it
it will help people enjoy it
From enjoying it
comes a thirst to understand
By understanding it………..etc
Cultural Heritage can be distinguished in:
Built Environment (Buildings, Townscapes,
Archaeological remains)
Natural Environment (Rural landscapes, Coasts
and shorelines, Agricultural heritage)
Artefacts (Books & Documents, Objects,
Pictures)
Ethnocentrism is "my culture's the best in every
way." Cultural relativism is "Every culture is
equally valid, so you have no right to impose
your culture's values on other cultures."
Conservatives lean towards ethnocentrism,
while liberals lean towards cultural relativism.
Most people dwell between these extremes.
Cultural relativism refers to not judging a culture
to our own standards of what is right or wrong,
strange or normal. Instead, we should try to
understand cultural practices of other groups in
its own cultural context. For example, instead of
thinking, “Fried crickets are disgusting!
How are cultural relativism and ethnocentrism
related?
Cultural relativism and ethnocentrism are similar
in that they are both practices that try to
understand and explain the beliefs and
behaviors of other cultures. ... Ethnocentrism on
the other hand involves the subjective analysis of
another culture based on the standards of one's
own culture.
Ethnocentric attitude is still present in many
individuals. They shouldn’t be ethnocentric
because this bars them from associating or
relating with people belonging from other more
diverse cultural roots.
1.Cultural relativism is the positive attitude or
concept while ethnocentrism is the negative
side.
2.Cultural relativism is showing a sense of
understanding for different cultures and treating
the uniqueness of these cultures with utmost
respect.
3.Ethnocentrism is the belief that your culture is
right or the best.