A Study of the World Heritage Discourse in Malacca

• Main Authors: Man Jia Lim, 林曼佳
• Other Authors: 林會承
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/fwtdsg

碩士 === 國立臺北藝術大學 === 建築與文化資產研究所 === 105 === In 2008, Malaysia’s two cities, Malacca and George Town, Penang, were successfully inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List with the name of "Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca", becoming the first World Cultural Heritage Site in Malaysia. Not only does the World Heritage title raise Malacca’s international reputation, but it also boosts its modern urban development projects as well as tourism industry. However, not everyone agrees with such a development model, which in turn raises controversy and over the definition, value and meaning of World Heritage. In order to understand this phenomenon, this study explores the nature of the heritage from the perspective of the Representation theory and understands the construction of the heritage with the concept of "discourse", which further suggests that the meaning of heritage must be understood from the social context. This paper first explores the historical and cultural processes that led to the world heritage of Malacca in order to examine how the official "World Heritage" discourse was constructed and practiced. Then, the discourse will be discussed in the contemporary social context, in order to understand the contemporary significance of the heritage discourse. This paper finds that Malacca''s world heritage has an "authorized heritage discourse" that consolidates upper-class social and political elitist status and values, thereby making certain groups at the local level the object of exclusion or marginalization. To this end, some local community members began to propose a new type of value and practice that is different from the official heritage discourse. Through the construction of another kind of heritage discourse, they challenge the unfairness and authority of society. In summary, the heritage is a power tool, a political resource, more than anything it is a social action responding to the social relations. Moreover, the nature of the heritage, namely the heterogeneity, diversity and nature of change, has caused the inevitable existence of disputes around it.