Identifying community and the role of community to heritage

Abstract

Community as the subject of heritage is a popular topic in implementing activities and research related to heritage. Who is the community? What is it role in carrying out the tasks of protecting and promoting heritage? This paper analyses some perspectives on community in the 1972 Convention on the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Cultural Heritage Law and other legislative documents. The paper also points out ambiguous and open-ended points in identifying a heritage community. From there, the paper clarifies the central role of community as well as the marginalization of community by giving examples of specific cases in Vietnam.