Overview

Already celebrated as a busy entrepôt and the most glorious of the Malay kingdoms of the past, Melaka has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List (together with George Town) since 2008 on the strength of its multi-ethnic and multi-religious urban fabric. Yet, contrary to the expectations of heritage experts and aficionados, the global mission of safeguarding cultural heritages has become a tumultuous issue on the ground. In World Heritage and Urban Politics in Melaka, Malaysia: A Cityscape below the Winds how the World Heritage 'label' has been, and continue to be used by different actors – such as international organizations, nation states, and society at large – to generate new economic revenues as well as to attract tourists and investments for large-scale real estate development projects is analyzed, revealing the complex and often contradictory stories behind heritage designations in urban milieus.

Full Product Details

Author:   Pierpaolo De Giosa
Publisher:   Amsterdam University Press
Imprint:   Amsterdam University Press
ISBN:  

9789463725026

ISBN 10:   9463725024
Pages:   306
Publication Date:   01 July 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Abbreviations Acknowledgements Starter: Into a World Heritage City 1 A Cityscape Below the Winds World Heritage on the Ground On Melaka Fieldwork in and Beyond Melaka Outline of the Chapters 2 The Heritage Affairs: Mouse-Deer, White Elephants, and Watchdogs Antiquities: The Beginning Museumification and Replication Projects of a Developmentalist State 'Where There is Sugar, There Are Ants!' Restructuring National Heritage Society and the Heritage Affairs A Multilayered Heritage Haze 3 UNESCO and the City Tentative Steps: World Heritage Ambitions The Hybrid State of Nomination The State Party of Inscription The Negeri of Conservation Learning in the World Heritage Arena 4 Melakan Row Houses from the Ground Up Row Houses of Old Melaka: A Background Forsaken Buildings: The Post-war Period Revaluation: From RUMAH Kedai to Rumah KEDAI Housing Heritage: Some Approaches to Conservation Façadomy of Private World Heritage Properties The Malleability of Conservation Rules What State of Conservation for the Row Houses? 5 Divide and Brand: Public Space, Politics, and Tourism 'To Visit Historic Melaka Means to Visit Malaysia' Branding Streets in the Consociational Way Jonker Street and Walk A Walk for Cari Makan 'We Don't Need a Harmony Street, We Are the City of Harmony!' A Political Tsunami in Jonker Street Politicized Heritage 6 A Melakan Ancestral Village Beyond World Heritage The Chetti Community: A Background The Properties of the Ancestors The Making of a Kampung Warisan 'We Are Sitting on a Gold Mine!' The Kampungscape and The High-rise 'See You on the Thirteenth Floor!' What World Heritage Thresholds Do 7 Epilogue of a Blessing and a Curse Ethnographies of World Heritage Cities A Transnational Mis(s-)Understanding Topographies of World Heritage Exclusions Postscript: Inheriting the Cityscape in the Age of Hope? Bibliography Index

Reviews

[...] this book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on UNESCO heritage making processes and politics, highlighting it as 'both a blessing and a curse' (p. 274). [...] the book already gives much food for thought on global heritage making in a Southeast Asian city, paving the way for others to then take up these follow-up questions. - Hamzah Muzaini, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 43, Iss. 2

[...] this book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on UNESCO heritage making processes and politics, highlighting it as 'both a blessing and a curse' (p. 274). [...] the book already gives much food for thought on global heritage making in a Southeast Asian city, paving the way for others to then take up these follow-up questions. - Hamzah Muzaini, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 43, Iss. 2 The author's approach is to explore the issues from the ground up. He has combined considerable skill at sifting and analyzing documents with a remarkable talent, and sensitivity, for locating and interviewing a diverse array of people who are impacted by or actively engaged in the events. The result is a valuable contribution to the ethnography and the continuously unfolding history of Melaka. - Jerry Dennerline, JMBRAS, Vol. 95, Pt. 2

""[...] this book is a welcome addition to the growing literature on UNESCO heritage making processes and politics, highlighting it as ‘both a blessing and a curse’ (p. 274). [...] the book already gives much food for thought on global heritage making in a Southeast Asian city, paving the way for others to then take up these follow-up questions."" - Hamzah Muzaini, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 43, Iss. 2 ""The author’s approach is to explore the issues from the ground up. He has combined considerable skill at sifting and analyzing documents with a remarkable talent, and sensitivity, for locating and interviewing a diverse array of people who are impacted by or actively engaged in the events. The result is a valuable contribution to the ethnography and the continuously unfolding history of Melaka."" - Jerry Dennerline, JMBRAS, Vol. 95, Pt. 2

Author Information

Pierpaolo De Giosa is a social anthropologist and former member of the research group ‘The Global Political Economy of Cultural Heritage’ at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. His research interests lie at the intersection of urban studies and critical heritage studies.

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