ABSTRACT
The logic that a site of universalized value leads to a universalized sense of stewardship that transcends national interest adheres to the Convention text, in which “the States Parties to this Convention recognize that such heritage constitutes a world heritage for whose protection it is the duty of the international community as a whole to co-operate”. The development and publication of the World Heritage List and the World Heritage in Danger List are “fundamentally acts of knowledge creation and dissemination”— short-term “awareness-raising campaigns [that] will inspire international conservation and tourism efforts in the medium-term”. A place of local interest is converted into a site of “universal value” through a complex, political, and bureaucratic process that involves national and supra-national entities. The Nomination File also includes the technical and managerial aspects of the property. A property’s understood sacred nature and religious affiliation may also change over time and is often subject to political control.
