Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage includes the sites, things, and practices a society regards as old, important, and worthy of conservation. It is currently the subject of increasing popular and scholarly attention worldwide, and its conceptual scope is expanding. Most social scientists emphasize its functions for supporting ethnic, national, and elite interests but others point to its creative and counterhegemonic sides. The article reviews the relation of heritage with tourism and nostalgia, dissonant/negative heritage, heritage and religion, rural and urban heritage, and heritage institutions, in particular the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and its conventions. People s personal attachments to heritage deserve further study.