Cultural Heritage Timeline

Symbolic Materialism in Heritage

1960 - 1987

During this period, heritage research was characterized by interpretive approaches that foreground symbolic meaning, lived culture, and the material practices shaping heritage economies. Tourism and urban contexts emerged as central lenses, revealing how heritage is produced, marketed, and experienced within social spaces. Monumental heritage, archaeology, and material culture continued to inform governance and conservation discourse, tying identity to economic and political power.

• Tourism as a lens for culture: heritage meaning and economy emerge through travel, social spaces, and urban contexts, from aristocratic touring to urban attractions.

• Cultural Materialism: culture is studied as material practice—artifacts, monuments, and material culture shaping social change and heritage economies.

• Symbolism, myth, and culture: interpretation of heritage relies on symbols, myths, and narrative processes shaping identity and cultural change.

• Monumental heritage and archaeology: monuments, ceremonial design, and archaeology inform heritage governance and conservation discourse.

Popular Keywords

monumental heritage

cultural change

heritage conservation

heritage study

[1]

Hosts and Guests. The Anthropology of Tourism.

1978

[2]

Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage