On the Ambiguity of Cultural Heritage: How a Closer Look at Material Objects Undermines Heritage Politics
On the Ambiguity of Cultural Heritage: How a Closer Look at Material Objects Undermines Heritage Politics

Summary/Abstract: This paper addresses the ambiguity of cultural heritage and how the consideration of material objects requires their re-adaptation. It discusses the strategic appropriation of the past and its limits as well as the unexpected characteristics or phenomena of the material cultural heritage. The social and cultural significance of cultural heritage is examined as well as the processes of inheritance and heritagization. The paper also discusses the evaluation and subjective preference of monuments and objects, the restoration of historical buildings, and the challenges for historians and curators in explaining the meaning of objects in past and present contexts. Finally, the topics of temporality, mobility and reinterpretation as well as the controversial contextualization of objects in cultural heritage are addressed. The ambiguity of cultural heritage is a complex and multi-layered issue. It is important to critically observe the processes of meaning attribution and reinterpretation of cultural heritage and to promote increased participation of different stakeholders in order to recognize and accept the ambiguity and mutability of cultural heritage.

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