Learning to engage with human rights in heritage

Cultural heritage should not be seen merely as a technical matter or from a narrow visitor management point of view but rather as cultural practice—a form of cultural politics dominated by ruling regimes and social groups in which decisions are made about the future of and access to scarce resources. Several scholars have sought to push this approach further by arguing that heritage studies should take on the protection of human rights as a core consideration in the processes of identifying, inscribing, conserving and interpreting cultural heritage. This paper builds on these previous works to explore what the shift to a rights-based management approach in the World Heritage system might mean for various stakeholders in the heritage protection enterprise as they learn to meet this challenge and to find ways to support people’s right to access, enjoy and maintain cultural heritage. Reaffirming the need to maintain a strong relationship between theory and praxis, the paper draws into the discussion heritage practitioners, decision makers in governments and government agencies, scholars and educators. Of these, the principal emphasis in this paper is on educators who are seen to have a fundamentally important role in developing a critical understanding of the cultural heritage concept, how heritage is created, used and misused and how conservation approaches and programs sit within the broader context of community attitudes and aspirations and governmental responsibilities. A distinction is made between teachers in universities and trainers offering short courses more focused on specific employer needs. The paper focuses on World Heritage but refers to both tangible and intangible aspects. It shows how current moves to establish a rights-based approach to the management of World Heritage sites connects with moves elsewhere in global governance, most notably in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Twitter free Iran: an evaluation of Twitter's role in public diplomacy and information operations in Iran's 2009 election crisis

Social media platforms such as Twitter pose new challenges for decision-makers in an international crisis. We examine Twitter’s role during Iran’s 2009 election crisis using a comparative analysis of Twitter investors, US State Department diplomats, citizen activists and Iranian protestors and paramilitary forces. We code for key events during the election’s aftermath from 12 June to 5 August 2009, and evaluate Twitter. Foreign policy, international political economy and historical sociology frameworks provide a deeper context of how Twitter was used by different users for defensive information operations and public diplomacy. Those who believe Twitter and other social network technologies will enable ordinary people to seize power from repressive regimes should consider the fate of Iran’s protestors, some of whom paid for their enthusiastic adoption of Twitter with their lives.

Journalists and the stirring of Australian public diplomacy: the Colombo Plan towards the 1960s

 Australia was an active member of the Colombo Plan for aid to South and Southeast Asia, beginning in 1951 as a loosely organized umbrella of multiple bilateral aid agreements between Commonwealth countries and quickly expanding in geographical reach and membership. Towards the end of the 1950s, as members of this ‘plan’ geared up for a new wave of aid projects, they also attached new importance to information activities associated with aid. In this Australian case study, journalists were thrust to the fore of story-generation relating to Australia’s involvement in the Colombo Plan. These written stories, and also still and moving images, were aimed at both domestic Australian audiences and also overseas audiences. Thus began some of the first important steps in what today is called ‘public diplomacy’, and what, at the time, was a new experiment in foreign policy and reputation-making.

Does organisational heritage matter in the development of offshore markets? the case of Australian life insurers

The globalization of financial markets over the past decade has focused the spotlight on the responsiveness of financial firms to international pressures. Insurance markets have traditionally relied on global networks not only to expand the insurers' sphere of influence but also to support domestic business. Until relatively recently, Australian insurance companies have not played a significant role in the development of international markets. However, in the last decade of the twentieth century Australian insurers ventured overseas on a scale without precedence. This article presents an historical perspective on the internationalization of the Australian life-insurance market with a view to understanding why these firms have been classified "late starters" in the internationalization stakes. In a broader capacity it provides insights into the impediments to overseas expansion and the forces encouraging or discouraging the development of cross border networks.

The importance and significance of heritage conservation of ex-tin mining landscape in Perak, the Abode of Grace

The thematic history of tin mining in Perak reveals the evolution of tin production, technology, infrastructure, transportation, social and the state economic development. The mining expansion that spread from Larut district to Kinta at the end of nineteenth century has distinctively impact on it's landscape. The surviving evidences that spread over Kinta demonstrates the importance and significance of conservation of ex-tin mining places. These surviving evidences are testimony of the past history and legacy for the present and future generations.

Conversations on belonging: women of Indian heritage speak

In this Special Section we highlight existing and emerging scholarship on Belonging in countries with white majority cultures. We argue that ‘belonging’ is a familiar and well researched concept that continues to be relevant today because it is central to the joy and vitality of life that enables us to inhabit multiple worlds. Drawing on intellectual and personal journeys in USA, Canada and Australia, the contributors of ‘Indian’ heritage raise questions that urge us to unsettle hierarchies of belonging in western societies. They build on interdisciplinary theoretical and empirical insights by thinking about the potentialities of bodies for interdependence in a place we call home.