Why No UNESCO Intangible Heritage Sites in the US?
The US has only about 20 UNESCO World Heritage sites and none whatever on the Intangible list. Why is this?
To begin with, it’s important to realize that these recognitions are not top down. They are not granted by a committee that says to itself “Let’s survey the globe and decide what are the most important sites or activities to safeguard?”
Instead, the nation that wants a site recognized puts together a proposal and does a fair bit of politicking. Why? Because they want the tourist dollars.
So countries like Mexico and Spain, not very poor, but heavily dependent on tourism, tend to think it is worth going through this procedure.
My suspicion is that for the United States, it’s not generally worth the hassle.
Plus, if Gloria Morales, who worked for UNESCO, is correct on the origins of the intangible program, and particularly its culinary aspects, it has two key features.
1. It was designed specifically to help the economic development of poorer countries through tourism. She made much of the fact that it was not designed to support high culture but popular culture.
The French could not get their high cuisine recognized, I suspect for this reason. After re-grouping, what they could get accepted was the French meal, perhaps because the deliberations take place in Paris.
In any case, as one of the world’s richest countries, the US is not likely to receive sympathetic attention.
2. The activities chosen are supposed to have roots deep in the past. This would also work against the US.
Thanks to David Birchman for the question.
Hello Rachel! I was looking exactly for an answer to this question and I found your text very interesting. However, I have some questions and I’d be glad if you could answer them:
Isn’t this Unesco list also supposed to help preserve these sites?
The U.S. does have sites whose importance have roots back in the past, eg indigenous culture. Several sites on the list are related to indigenous culture from other countries, so it seems the U.S. could easily file for such a recognition regarding this matter, but maybe it does not value this type of culture enough to have it internationally recognized.
These are just some thoughts I had after reading your text.
Thanks,
Gabriela
Gabriela, In the case of material culture (buildings, landscapes), yes the UNESCO designation brings with it a set of rules for preservation. These can be a mixed blessing. I lived for some years in the city of Guanajuato in central Mexico that had a UNESCO designation. It did serve to preserve the city center at the price of making it very difficult to upgrade necessary utilities like sewage and gas.
As to your second question, yes the US does have sites with roots in the past. I think the trick is in the word “easily.” The process involved is opaque and plagued with politics. The respected Economist magazine, if I recall correctly, had an article a year or so ago calling for an overhaul of the whole process and much more transparency. So my suspicion is that the US prefers to go with its own National Park system rather than getting involved in the expensive, time-consuming, and not necessarily rewarding business of dealing with the UNESCO bureaucracy. It’s not clear, for example, that the designation of the Michoacán paradigm of maize cuisine has brought international recognition or increased tourism to Mexico, while it has brought resentment from other parts of Mexico and from neighboring countries.
It’s all a very tangled set of issues.
Gabriela makes a good point. The indigenous communities in the US which would have the best claims to deep historical roots are the very communities which could use the support and publicly of such a recognition.
I live in NYC, a city that depends partly on tourism. But we are also a popular tourist destination worldwide. Indigenous communities without such recognition could become more popular destinations for those visiting us, and recognition of intangible cultural assets would work towards this end as well.
I have visited such communities around the world, from Australia to Korea to the Southwest US. It is an experience many people from all over could enjoy and we owe it to our indigenous communities to help them get this recognition.
I’m no historian, but just to give my two cents on the idea of intangible culture heritage in the US, I think the list could possibly include aspects of the American cowboy, camping culture, American born recipes, and even American individualism. I’m sure there’s more, but this is what comes to my mind.