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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 188 (2015) 27 – 34

Heritage as an Alternative Driver for Sustainable Development and Economic Recovery in South East Europe

Social responsible heritage management -

empowering citizens to act as heritage managers

Darko Babiüa,*
a
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - University of Zagreb, Ivana Luþiüa 3, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Heritage management, realised foremost by varied heritage interpretation(s), is foremost multidisciplinary task. Contemporary
understanding of the heritage management takes into account all relevant (i.e. site/county/country/region specific factors) be it
social or economic beside essential preservation. It tends toward ensuring tangible (and intangible, or more precise indirect)
benefits for local communities and by this toward development of the society in general. Critical heritage studies over the last
few years significantly influenced perception of heritage, thus consequently the essence of heritage management and heritage
interpretation. Stress on participative approach became crucial, where multi/poli-vocality is self-understandable. Surprisingly this
practice could be easily tracked to early 1970s and the eco-museums movement which is quite revealing experience. Paper tends
to demonstrate how practices of eco-museums could be interlinked with the very contemporary requests - needs for participative
heritage interpretation and management approaches. Finally it will point out toward social responsible heritage management
which could be recognised as sort of the request for very new heritage literacy.
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Institute of National Economy
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
from Romanian
Peer-review underAcademy.
responsibility of the Scientific Committee of Heritage Sagittarius 2014.

Keywords: heritage management, eco-museums, heritage literacy

1. Introduction

During the last decades we have witnessed the expansion of the concept of heritage (intangible foremost) and
parallel with it rise of interests for a comprehensive and multifaceted understanding of the meanings and the roles
heritage plays in our society. Yet it could be noticed that still very often a heritage is presented as a self-explanatory
category, in the sense it somehow possess intrinsic and unquestionable values while the main concerns are connected
with its use. In other words the main issue regarding heritage exists on the level of use, or more precisely quality

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +385 1 6002348; fax: +385 1 6002438.

E-mail address: dbabic@ffzg.hr

1877-0428 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of Heritage Sagittarius 2014.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.03.335
28 Darko Babić / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 188 (2015) 27 – 34

heritage management. While we could easily agree heritage management has important, in fact, a vital role our point
here tends to go deeper into construction of heritage management, to present several layers which this syntagm
includes and finally to argue for more social responsible heritage management which could empower locals/citizens
to act as a holders of heritage, and thus heritage managers. All of us working in the field of heritage always have
twofold role - we are heritage professional on the one hand and heritage consumers at the same time. This position
implies privileges but at the same time asks for responsible attitudes towards those in the name of who we at the
moment manage heritage, and who are real owners if it - people.

2. Duality of heritage

Our Eurocentric, western way of perception of the World and thus heritage too (which we impose to others) was
up to very recently focused only on materiality. It is thus hardly surprise we ended completely confused by thesis
that heritage is actually entirely intangible. While with the idea of immateriality we cope be recognizing the same in
our own cultures (language, dance, traditional skills etc.) some researchers in the field of critical heritage studies, as
for example L. Smith, further confuse us by saying that "There is, really, no such thing as heritage." (Smith 2006 :
11) as she claims in the book Uses of Heritage. P. Howard in the book Heritage: management, interpretation, identity
published in 2003 presents only seemingly contradictory stance when saying that heritage can be really anything
what we want, where the will is crucial and that "things actually inherited do not become heritage until they are
recognized as such. Identification is all." (Howard 2003 : 6). Finally in this elementary investigation of possible
challenges of conventional perceptions of heritage statements of B. Graham, G. J. Ashworth and J. E. Tunbridge
must be mentioned too. They consider that "heritage can be visualized as a duality - a resource of economic and
cultural capital" or in other words that heritage is actually "a commodity, moreover one that is simultaneously multi-
sold in many segmented markets places" (Graham , Ashworth & Tunbridge 2000 : 22). The presented statements
impose unfairly more questions than answers about definition of heritage, i.e. its construction which are, or supposed
to be, crucial prerequisite for successful heritage management.
According to contemporary ideas coming from critical heritage studies movement heritage does not actually exist
until any specific elements inherited from the past, but also those created in the present, are identified and labelled as
such according to our current preferences. B. Graham, G. J. Ashworth and J. E. Tunbridge will say that we therefore
have an access to a specific resource from which certain elements (deliberately picked) are turned into a particular
kind of product intended to meet very certain (but always contemporary) needs. Since conversion of resources into a
product intended for consumption is evident, in their opinion heritage is already at its base a form of
commodification (Graham, Ashworth & Tunbridge 2000 : 22). But even more in the case of heritage we have double
form of usage and consumption - on the one hand on cultural or socio-political level, and on the other at economic
level whereby in both cases heritage possesses certain market values (Graham, Ashworth & Tunbridge 2000 : 17-22;
Ashworth, Graham & Tunbridge 2007 : 36-45).
The most common methods of heritage exploitation as economic resources are relatively well known (cf.
Ashworth & Howard 1999; Graham, Ashworth & Tunbridge 2000; Howard 2003; Rypkema 2005; Ashworth,
Graham & Tunbridge 2007 etc.) and easily identifiable associated primarily with creation of development strategies
(i.e. regeneration and/or development plans in rural or urban areas) or for use and promotion of tourism, usually as it
the most important component. After all heritage is unquestionably the most important driver of global tourism.
Question does heritage possess intrinsic values from the economic perspective is insignificant as long as it serves
desirable purposes, while discussion in the direction of sustainability of resources (almost exclusively regarding
materiality) and about the rights of ownership (and, therefore, rights of use) are in general still inadequate although
in fact should be in focus as long as, which is practically always the case, this kind of heritage use is explained
foremost by benefiting local communities. In general there is nothing wrong with this approach and it, quite usually
(at least in Europe) indeed benefit local people in some sense. Still sincere socially responsible heritage management
must take into account another level of use of heritage, the socio-political one, which have important influence while
remaining often hidden. Why do we consider heritage and care for heritage important? Who defines it and how?
What affects and determines our position towards it? Finally, who controls it and how, on whose behalf and to what
purpose? All those questions must be posed before considering heritage management as something taken for granted.
In addition to being an economic resource that can be converted into a more or less successful commercial
 Darko Babić / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 188 (2015) 27 – 34 29

product another character of heritage is that it is very powerful cultural or socio-political resource. By deliberate use
of heritage it is possible to create and influence a whole range of important relations within a given society/ies, i.e.
establishment of power relations and dominance. This reasoning stems from the idea of representation (i.e.
attribution of what heritage is, or is not) where designated heritage is used to maintain or when necessary reconstruct
full range of socio-cultural values and meanings. More specifically the process includes use of selected elements
(where it is not so important here are they tangible or intangible, or even actual or fictional) which via a particular
interpretation are converted into heritage and thus becomes a specific medium which communicates complex levels
and characteristics of identity/ies (Graham, Ashworth & Tunbridge 2000 : 41).
The only, but extremely noteworthy problem here is the fact that those in charge of creating heritage are always a
small group of heritage professionals or more precise those on which they are dependent - a situation which L. Smith
(Smith : 2006) perfectly described as a dominance of the authorized heritage discourse. Authorized heritage
discourse means we are still living in the World where significant minority defines values and meaning for several
times greater majority be it on the World scale (Eurocentric vs. other cultures heritage approaches) or indeed within
the same (here our, Western) culture. This well established position is more and more questioned over recent years
especially within critical heritage studies. Arguing here on the same line, in direction of needed further
empowerment of citizens to act as heritage managers of its own heritage we would like to go back into the past for
some four decades and to point out at the eco-museums which could be identified as forerunners of community-
participate approach of heritage management.

3. Somehow different heritage management rooted in eco-museums

In the late 1960s and early 1970s (revolutionary 1968 certainly had influence) kind of conscious, mental turning
point in development of the relation in between man and the heritage in which it exists (i.e. that surrounds it) was
set. Taking particularly here into account museum and heritage sector critical years was 1971 when in the central
France in the area of approximately 500 square kilometres around the towns of Le Creusot and Montceau-les-Mines
the World's first eco-museum started its existence. Mentioned area has witnessed major changes after the World War
II, mostly because the Schneider family, who had owned industrial complexes the local economy depended on, were
accused of collaboration with the Nazi regime, so entire administration was moved to Paris.
A dislocated management meant lack of interest, which was followed due to changes in the economy, by a
complete neglect and deterioration of industrial plants and the loss of jobs for roughly 150,000 local people. The
answer to this unique situation in line with at that time existing French regional development policy came from
museologists Hugues de Varine, Georges Henri Riviere and Marcel Evrard who proposed The Museum of Man and
Industry, a museum with aim to start-up the local economy again, but also and perhaps much more importantly, help
the local population to rediscover meanings - their own identity and to open new development possibilities. The
Schneider family's 18th Century château was set as the centre of the Museum. Inside it an adequate presentation of
the historical development and key features of the region were presented, as well as everyday life of the local
citizens including their industrial and artistic products.
In this manner the Castle was defined as a starting point for learning about and exploration of heritage of the
entire region. In the rest of the area, a specific form of a fragmented museum was developed. Fragmented or
scattered museum means that by local people recognised valuable elements in the landscape and any tangible and/or
intangible testimonies were processed and interpreted in situ, at the site of their origin and without moving them into
the main museum building.
This enabled an important theoretical and practical breakthrough - from an exclusive focus on the museum
building and its collection towards the wholeness of the territory the museum is covering. The primary task of the
lowest possible number of hired museum/heritage experts was to launch the Museum and act as a sort of catalysts of
entire process, performing only the most demanding technical tasks (e.g. multifaceted researches, cataloguing,
organization of complex activities, representing museum's interests toward the authorities and similar). In the year
1973 when the Museum was completed it became known in the museum world foremost due to its definition of the
museum collection published in the Museum International journal (printed by the UNESCO) claiming any movable
or unmovable object within predefined community's perimeter is a hypothetical part of the Museum. It introduces an
30 Darko Babić / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 188 (2015) 27 – 34

idea of a kind of cultural ownership by local comm munity, which has nothing to do with legal ownership (Varine 1973
: 244). The Museum's audience, i.e. users, was perceived in a similar way. It was implied that the Museeum's
audience is made of the entire community - all inndividuals living in the defined area/territory where the Museum
exists were considered as its active users, as visitors and as managers at the same time. In a number of features, the
Museum of Man and Industry differed from all museums
m of that time - especially in the already mentioned ppoints
towards ideas of collections, territory and users, but
b also in the relations inside the Museum and organizatioon of
museological work. By this, taking into considerration we are talking here about the early 1970s, an extreemely
important theoretical and practical swing is reachhed - from exclusive focus on a museum conducted solely as a
strictly defined and very concrete museum buildinng towards the totality of interpretation of heritage within deefined
territory covered primary by the idea of scattered museum,
m and lead by local people.

Fig 1. The main building (Castle) of the eco-museeum Le Creusot-Montceau-les-Mines in France (Photo D. Babbiü).

Summing up all till now mentioned and anticiipating any created eco-museum does not tend to be practiically
applicable prototype which can be easily copied too other places/spots, but an ideal of thinking toward heritagge we
firmly believe an eco-museum model has capacitty to adapt or cover an idea of universal heritage, in a sennse of
desperately needed glolocalisation. Or in other words it has capacity to be sufficiently adaptable to cultural
diversities and different perceptions of values andd meanings heritage implies (within different cultures) surpaassing
not only the form of so-called traditional museum,, but also model of Eurocentric heritage management (lead bby an
authorized heritage discourse) and therefore standss as an example of a new attitudes (more participative) whicch are
trying to define the essence of human relationship toward
t heritage.
In one of the most concise and by many the most m understandable definition of the eco-museum René R Rivard
established an analogy, or more precisely distincttion, in between hitherto traditional museums which consissts of
building + collections + specialist + visitors whhile an eco-museum includes territory + heritage + memoory +
population (Rivard according to Davis 1999 : 73). In addition some other authors tried to capture essence off eco-
museum, with more or less success.
Late Canadian museologist P. Mayrand in 19885 (Mayrand 1985 : 200-201) noticed that an eco-museum m is a
 Darko Babić / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 188 (2015) 27 – 34 31

community collective workshop which runs throughout a territory which a population considered as its own.
Frenchman André Desvallees (Desvallees according to Davis 1999 : 69) in 1987 mentioned that an eco-museum
must be a museum of identity because it incorporates time, space and reflections of local community, and at the
same time a museum of the territory where the prefix eco symbolizes importance of the natural and social
environment in which an eco-museum is located.
Mark Watson in its definition presented in 1992 and published in the Encyclopedia of Industrial Archaeology
considers an eco-museum a project which allows population of an area to discern its identity through its buildings,
ecology and geology as well as documents and oral history and to make study of the same as something not only
limited to educated experts (Ecomuseum 1992 : 225).
P. Davis in his attempt to primarily fathom basic indicators of an eco-museums will conclude that "the one
characteristic that appears to be common to all ecomuseums is the pride in the place they represent ... ecomuseums
seek to capture the sense of place - and in my opinion it would appear that this is what makes them special" (Davis
1999 : 238-239). More than three decades after founding of the first eco-museum participants gathered around an
idea of forming the European network of eco-museum at the workshop entitled "Long term networking: eco-
museums and Europe" which took place in May 2004 in Trento, Italy and adopted the declaration which defines an
eco-museum as "a dynamic way in which communities preserve, interpret, and manage their heritage for sustainable
development. An ecomuseum is based on a community agreement" (Murtas & Davis 2009 : 151).
Prime value of this definition, among numerous others existing, is besides being very concise and thus relatively
easy to understand precisely in pointing out (often neglected) idea of using of heritage foremost for local
development. At this point, we cannot avoid notice similarities between the definitions of an eco-museums and some
basic ideas regarding desirable heritage management we discussed before which need to overcome the challenges of
heritage dissonance (cf. Graham, Ashworth & Tunbridge 2000).
In addition here present descriptions of an eco-museums evidently shows that users (i.e. community/population)
cannot have a passive role (cf. Smith 2006 : 34-35). An eco-museum from its begging and during entire life-span is
based on participation and active involvement of a local community and as such it is a kind of opposition to the
dominant authorized heritage discourse. Aiming at the coherent interpretation of causal relationship of a man and a
natural environment in which humans exists beyond traditional division of heritage on the cultural and the natural
spheres, the eco-museums introduced notion of conceptual sensibility toward by human organized but by nature
shaped landscapes.
Eco-museum in this sense forms truly bottom-up approach and gives a different meaning to the phrase of heritage
management. Pursuant to these, in our opinion, an eco-museum is therefore perhaps the shortest possible to define as
a dynamic heritage management which enables communities to direct their own development. Without pretending to
definitively determine here a compelling museological concept within above presented definitions we foremost want
to highlight some features of the eco-museum which anticipated (nearly forty years ago) some contemporary
thoughts by incorporating actions and awareness toward totality of the heritage and the significance of its use (in
sense of participative approach and sustainable development).
Thus eco-museums, created in France in the early seventies of the last century are special kind of materialization
of a new way of thinking about relationship between man/society and the environment in which it exists. Although
some activities carried out by an eco-museums could be identified in earlier institutional experiences (in forms of an
open-air museums or heimat museums) eco-museums possess distinctive characteristics which started the very new
heritage based participatory development process based on theoretical and practical considerations on relation
between the man and its heritage.

4. Importance of heritage interpretation

P. Mayrand, undoubtedly one of the main protagonists of the eco-museums movement, in his attempts to explain
the eco-museum phenomena used a model of 'creativity triangle' in which heritage interpretation plays a crucial role.
32 Darko Babić / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 188 (2015) 27 – 34

Fig. 2 Illustration of P. Mayrand's creativity triaangle within a 3 year cycle of development of an eco-museum
m
(accordiing to Davis 1999: 71)

According to him the triangle of creativity perfeectly illustrates a process of creation of an eco-museum. It allways
must begin with an initiative coming from a local people
p assisted only if necessary by heritage experts. Here diverse
forms of interpretive activities within defined geoggraphical area are created. The existence of (this initial) herritage
interpretation will sensitize members of the comm munity and direct their interests toward the territory in whichh they
live and accordingly rise awareness about interdeppendence (of a man and its territory) including pride of theirr own
identity. As a direct consequence community mem mbers are becoming more active and over time reconsider other
heritage actions including a request toward creationn of an eco-museum.
Finally, thanks to established feedback ensuredd by an eco-museum, the population is now able to re-inteerpret
itself and empowered to create guidelines and mannage its own development (Rivard 1985 : 202-205; Davis 1999 :
71-73; Mayrand & Mairesse 2000). D. Poulot stattes that an eco-museums significantly reshaped the social uuse of
heritage because they contributed toward developpment of a new forms of interpretations where society becomes
aware what they are thanks to constant questiooning of owning, or more precisely local community becomes
conscious who it really is (Poulot 1994 : 77).
In this sense community, people living in a parrticular territory, finally knows its construed or interpreted im mage
(foremost based on heritage) and thus could inffluence and manage development. Looking from contempoorary
perspective it means users are turned into active participants in process of determining meaning where not only
multicultural but indeed poly-vocal interpretationn of heritage (Corsane 2005 : 11), the basic prerequisitee for
responsible heritage management which empower real r owners of heritage to act as heritage managers, is presentted.

5. Critical heritage literacy

As we already explained usage of heritage is alw ways twofold. Its application as an economic resource is, geneerally
speaking, accepted and quite common today. Not surprisingly
s for majority of people, but as well significant nuumber
of heritage professionals heritage management iss foremost connected with this idea. But heritage has abiliity to
determine values and meanings through a process of o selection (of certain elements which will become heritage)) thus
a resource with very strong and important socio-ppolitical function which forms particular sort of knowledge.. The
nature of this knowledge, which constructs herittage, is always dependent on present time and relevant socio-
geographic circumstances.
Heritage as the knowledge is incomparably less discussed than heritage as an economic resource although thee first
in fact represents prerequisite for the later. A herittage is the heritage not because of its intrinsic values (since tthose
do not exists, they are associated through a process of representation) but because of manipulation, as "subjectted to
 Darko Babić / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 188 (2015) 27 – 34 33

the management and preservation/conservation process, not because it simply ‘is’" (Smith 2006 : 3). Or in other
words "what makes these things valuable and meaningful - what makes them ‘heritage’, or what makes the
collection of rocks in a field ‘Stonehenge’ - are the present-day cultural processes and activities that are undertaken
at and around them, and of which they become a part" (Smith 2006 : 3). If so, and we are convinced in it, heritage
management which will address its knowledge share is at least equality important as management of an economic
side although the first is still fully set aside in discussions, by users but even more importantly heritage
professionals.
What we argue is that the basic idea of heritage is actually a specific form of management of values and meanings
and that heritage and heritage (knowledge) management are inseparable categories. To be able to manage heritage in
this sense people, those who own heritage (no matter be it local, regional, national or international) must be aware
and understand the process of construction of heritage. Introducing literacy in this context seems extremely
important and interesting. Although a basic concept of the literacy is always dependent on existing information and
communication forms which characterize any society (thus in Western of being able to read and to write) literacy at
the same time could be understand as ability to navigate in specific social context defined by specific characteristics
of a group, i.e. local culture.
Applied on the idea of heritage it necessarily implies that heritage literacy is a form of heritage management
which is simultaneously a sort of knowledge management too. People or local communities must be able to
understand process of construction of heritage to be able to navigate within. Only after ensuring this kind of
awareness and participation in knowledge heritage management they could extends it rights of ownership over
heritage toward heritage management in economically based relations. It is evident that within this approach the idea
of interpretation becomes crucial, where necessity of introduction of the heritage literacy is the only possible way of
needed participative and comprehensive interpretation which will over further heritage management empower
people to use heritage in a way they consider as the most appropriate and the best for their own development.

6. Instead of conclusion

Here introduced idea of the heritage literacy is conceptually similar to citizenship literacy where the first could
indeed be a vital part of the second. Heritage literacy embraces an idea of systematic, global, lifelong and holistic
methods in which each individual (or a group) must have an inalienable and guaranteed right to participate, benefit
and use heritage toward self-definition, self-esteem and creation of its/their own experiences coming for endless
collective heritage of humanity. Implemented by an individuals or a collective (i.e. local communities) it represents a
commitment toward the real universal values humanity possesses and it is a basic prerequisite to ensure our overall
development in direction of common prosperity.
Empowering local people, real guardians of a heritage and enabling them in open and democratic process to
participate in a heritage management is the only way how it could be reached. This practice initially started over a
four decades ago in France with an eco-museums movement but still remains not enough widespread, thus deserves
more attention. In any other case the heritage of humanity will remains nothing more than a mirror of a moment of
existing power relations which shamelessly do not respect and do not use humans diversity so reach in its
differences, with all its beauties and endless creativeness in order to achieve the common good. To reach the last
heritage literacy as a sort of social responsible heritage management which could ensure citizens to become heritage
managers is indeed necessary.

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