HERITAGE CONTESTATION AND CONTEXT OF RELIGION: POLITICAL SCENARIO FROM SOUTHERN ASIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54561/prj0201079sKeywords:
contesting heritage, heritagescape, Hindus, Muslims, intangible heritage, religious conflict, sacred place, symbolic valueAbstract
Heritage is a cultural identity to be reflected in the purview of individual, unique and multiple layers of pluralism, especially with respect to religion, at least in Oriental cultures that maintained their traditions and continuity together with examples of contestation, destruction and also sometimes harmonious co-existence. In the span of time the layering of various cultures put their marks, which in the sequence of time turn to be the issue of conflicts due to claims and controls by the different groups. As a consequence there resulted issues of representation, belongingness, control and power, dissonance and contestation. Despite all theoretic constructs and human concerns for peace and harmony the issue of dissonance dominates, especially with reference to ethnicities and religion. The religious built environments are the pitiful sufferers in such happenings of turmoil recorded every parts of the world. In South Asia the Muslim invasion in medieval period (15th to 18th centuries) had been the major force and process for destruction and superimposing Islamic structure, like in case of major sacred cities of Hindus in north India. In the areas of old culture one finds heritage scapes that are subject to ‘ill construction and jumbled space’ where ‘several sites appear incompatibly’. The confl icts between secularist democracy and democratic religiosity are the common phenomena in South Asian region. So on, conflicts between archaeological sites or monuments and lived cultural heritage. It may be accepted rationally that if the two communities, Hindus and Muslims, are ready not to heap defeat and humiliation with an aim to re-establish the history of the medieval times, the issues can be resolved amicably. This essay reviews the emerging literature dealing with the enduring role and context of religion in the issue of contesting heritage (mostly cultural). Emphasis is further laid on the contextual constructs of analysis, examples from diff erent parts of Southern Asia, and fi nally role of religion in policies, mitigation and management of contesting heritage.
References
Adams, Kathleen M. 1999. Taming traditions. Torajan ethnicity in the age of tourism; in, Forshee, J. at el. (eds.) Converging Interest. Traders, Travelers and Tourists in Southeast Asia. University of California Press, Berkeley: 249-263.
Adams, Kathleen M. 2003. The Politics of Heritage in Southeast Asia: Interplaying the Local and the Global. Indonesia and the Malay World, 31 (9): 91-107.
Adams, Kathleen M. 2004a. The Genesis of Touristic Imagery: Politics and Poetics in the Creation of a Remote Indonesian Island Destination. Tourist Studies, 4 (2): 115-135.
Adams, Kathleen M. 2004b. Commentary: Locating Global Legacies in Tana Toraja, Indonesia. Current Issues in Tourism, 7 (4 & 5): 433-435.
Adams, Kathleen M. 2005a. Public Interest Anthropology in Heritage Sites: Writing Culture and Righting Wrongs. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 11 (5): 433-439.
Adams, Kathleen M. 2005b. Art as Politics: Re-Crafting Identities, Tourism, and Power in Tana Toraja, Indonesia. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.
Adams, Kathleen M. 2005c. Generating Theory, Tourism and “World Heritage” in Indonesia: Ethical Quandaries for Practicing Anthropologists; in, Anthropological Contributions to Travel and Tourism: Linking Theory with Practice, Special issue of National Association for the Practice of
Anthropology Bulletin, 23: 45-59.
Ashworth, Gregory J. and Aa, Bart J.M. van der 2002. Bamyan: Whose Heritage Was It and What Should We Do About It?. Current Issues in Tourism, 5 (5): 447-457.
Ashworth, Gregory J. and Rudy Hartmann (eds.) 2005. Horror and Human Tragedy Revisited: The Management of Sites of Atrocities for Tourism. Cognizant, New York.
Bevan, Robert 2006. The Destruction of Memory. Architecture at War London: Reaktion Books.
Bopearachchi, Osmund 2004. Recent archaeological discoveries from Afghanistan: Destruction of cultural heritage; in, Warikoo, K. (ed.) Bamiyan: Challenge to World Heritage. Third Eye Bhavana Books & Prints, New Delhi: 40-54.
Brace, Catherine; Bailey, Adrian and Harvey, David C. 2006. Religion, place and space: a framework for investigating historical geographies of religious identities and communities. Progress in Human Geography, 30 (1): 28- 43.
Bryant, M. Darrol 2002/03. The tragedy of Bamiyan: necessity and limits of the dialogue of religions and cultures. Dialogue & Alliance, 16 (2), Fall/Winter: 51-62.
Cuno, James 2006. Beyond Bamiyan: Will the world be ready next time?; in, Hoff man, Barbara T. (ed.) Art and Cultural Heritage: Law, Policy and Practice. Cambridge University Press Cambridge: 41-46.
Duncan, James S. and Duncan, Nancy G. 2001. The authenticization of the politics of landscape preservation. Annals, Association of American Geographers, 91 (2): 387-409.
Eaton, Richard 2000. Essays on Islam and Indian History Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Elst, Koenraad 2002. Ayodhya: The Case Against the Temple. Voice of India, New Delhi.
Elst, Koenraad 2003. Ayodhya, the Finale: Science versus Secularism the Excavations Debate New Delhi: Voice of India.
Errington, Shelly 1993. Making progress on Borobudur: an old monument in new order. Visual Anthropology Review, 2: 32-59.
Feilden, Bernard M. 1993. Is conservation of cultural heritage relevant to South Asia. South Asian Studies, 9 (2): 1-10.
Fischer, Clare Benedicks 2003. Monument or Mall? Pilgrimage and tourism in Indonesia; a paper delivered in the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religions in Atlanta, November. 8pp.
Francioni, Francesco and Lenzerini, Fedirico 2006. Obligation to prevent and avoid destruction of cultural heritage: from Bamiyan to Iraq, in Hoff man, Barbara T. (ed.) Art and Cultural Heritage: Law, Policy and Practice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 28-40.
Hancock, Mary 2002. Subjects of heritage in urban southern India. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 20 (6): 693-717.
Howe, Renate and Logan, William S. 2002. Conclusion. Protecting Asia’s Urban Heritage: The Way Forward; in, Howe, Renate and Logan, William (eds.) The Disappearing Asian City - Protecting Asia’s Urban Heritage in a Globalizing World. Oxford University Press China, Hong Kong: 245-256, notes p. 279.
Knipe, David M. 1991. Hinduism. Experiments in the Sacred. Harper SanFrancisco Publs., New York.
Kong, Lily 2000. Value conflicts, identity construction and urban change; in, Bridge, G. and Watson, S. (eds.) A Companion to the City. Blackwell, Oxford: 354-65.
Kong, Lily 2001. Mapping new geographies of religion: politics and poetics in modernity. Progress in Human Geography, 25: 211–233.
Krieken-Pieters, Juliette van 2004. The Buddhas of Bamiyan and beyond: the quest for an effective protection of cultural property; in, Warikoo, K. (ed.) Bamiyan: Challenge to World Heritage. Third Eye Bhavana Books & Prints, New Delhi: 134-157.
Landzelius, M. 2003. Commemorative Dis(re)membering: erasing heritage, spatializing disinheritance. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 21: 195-221.
Lowenthal, David 1998. The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Olsen, Daniel H. and Timothy, Dallen J. 2002. Contested religious heritage: differing views of Mormon heritage. Tourism Recreation Research, 27 (2): 7-15.
Owens, Bruce M. 2002. Monumentality, Identity, and the State: Local Practice, World Heritage, and Heterotopia at Swayambhu, Nepal. Anthropological Quarterly, 75 (2): 269-316.
Panikkar, K. N. 1994. What is Communalism Today?; in, Lahiri, Pratul (ed.) Selected Writings on Communalism. People’s Publishing House, Delhi.
Philip, J. and Mercer, D. 1999. Commodifi cation of Buddhism in contemporary Burma. Annals of Tourism Research, 26 (1): 31–54.
Riley, Mark and Harvey 2005. Landscape archaeology, heritage and the community in Devon: an oral history approach. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 11 (4): 269-288.
Sekar, Radhika 1992. The Sabarimalai Pilgrimage and Ayyappan Cultus. Motilal Banarsidas Publishers, New Delhi.
Singh, Rana P.B. 1997. Sacredscape and urban heritage in India: contestation and perspective; in, Shaw, Brian and Jones, Roy (eds.) Contested Urban Heritage. Voices from the Periphery Aldershot & London, UK: Ashgate. 101-131.
Singh, Rana P.B. 2004. The Ganga Riverfront in Varanasi, a Heritage Zone in Contestation. Context: Built, Living and Natural (DRONAH, Gurgaon, HR, India), 1 (1): 25- 30.
Singh, Rana P.B. 2006. Pilgrimage in Hinduism, Historical Context and Modern Perspectives; in, Dallen J. Timothy and Daniel H. Olsen (eds.) Tourism, Religion, and Spiritual Journeys. Routledge, London & New York: 220- 236.
Singh, Rana P.B. 2008. The Contestation of Heritage: The enduring importance of Religion; in, Graham, Brian and Howard, Peter (eds.) Ashgate Research Companion to Heritage & Identity. Ashgate Pub., Aldershot Hamp. & London: 125- 141.
Sinha, Amita 2004. Champaner-Pavagarh archaeological park: a design approach. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 10 (2): 117-128.
Sinha, Amita 2005. Reconstructing the Taj Mahal heritage landscape: deconstructing the tourist gaze. Landscape Design, 5 (1): 14-20.
Sinha, Amita and Harkness, Terence 2006. Heritage, the Eye visit: the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Indian Architect & Builder, July: 95-98.
Slaiby, Barbara E., and Mitchell Nora J. 2003. A Handbook for Managers of Cultural Landscapes with Natural Resource Values. Conservation Study Institute, Woodstock, Vermont.
Taylor, Ken 2003. Cultural landscape as open air museum: Borobodur world heritage site and its Setting. Humanities Research, 10 (2): 51-62.
Timothy, Dallen J. and Conover, Paul J. 2006. Nature religion, self-spirituality and New Age tourism; in, Timothy, Dallen J. and Olsen, Daniel H. (eds.) Tourism, Religion, and Spiritual Journeys. Routledge London & New York: 139-155.
Tuan, Yi-Fu 1974. Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes and Values. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliff s NJ.
Tunbridge, J. E. and Ashworth, G. J. 1996. Dissonant Heritage. The Management of the Past as a Resource in Conflict. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK.
Waterton, E.; Smith, Laurajane and Campbell, G. 2006. The Utility of Discourse Analysis to Heritage Studies: The Burra Charter and Social Inclusion. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 12 (4): 339-355.
