ABSTRACT
When UNESCO was created in 1945, its constitution explicitly linked heritage to peace. Since the peacebuilding potential of heritage has frequently been foregrounded by the heritage sector, while at the same time heritage is often seen as being at the core of conflict. This chapter traces how heritage's peacebuilding project has historically developed and examines how a leading heritage organisation like UNESCO has shaped this heritage-peace nexus. Against the genealogical history, this chapter asks how despite the heritage sector's claims that heritage builds peace, heritage is also frequently at the centre of conflicts and what can be done to improve this. It first explores the response to heritage recovery efforts in Timbuktu, Mali, to then look more in general at some key ‘techniques’ used by the heritage sector in the aftermath of armed conflict: reconstruction and memorialisation. The value and application of reconstruction and memorialisation are analysed in view of heritage's peacebuilding potential. It concludes that there is a need to step away from prioritising (physical) heritage values towards more inclusive, localised, processes. This includes a shift away from the technical, disciplinary, and ‘universal’ dogmas of heritage preservation towards considering peacebuilding as a social and inclusive process that fully involves the affected populations.
