Abstract
A wide range of historical examples is designed to illustrate the effects of soft power on the preservation of cultural heritage in the context of international relations, but the essential focus of this text falls on three special areas: (a) criticism of cartography represented in the list of world heritage sites and of world heritage sites linked to UNESCO; (b) the growing action around illicit trafficking and the repatriation/return of cultural goods, as well as the universe of the so-called illicit criminogenic collectables; (c) the mapping of other actors in the production, maintenance and management of heritage with the increasing presence of themes that address “Africanities”, “Asianities”, “Latinities”, and “Orientalisms” (so little explored by our researchers, given the hegemony of the Europeanist/American vision), themes resulting from the dialogue between multiple areas of knowledge and the concept of soft power. Thus, the text faces a central task to show that the connection between cultural heritage, international relations, and soft power is relevant and, therefore, seeks to document significant examples for this purpose, choosing Brazil as a comparative field with international examples. Given the importance built around this category of analysis, it seems appropriate to offer research possibilities on the functioning of soft power (concept questioning on the margins of history), thus providing a conceptual basis and rigorous methodological approaches on its aegis.
This paper is financed by National Funds through the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UIDB/04059/2020.
Cultural Heritage Professor at the graduation and post-graduation in History at Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF), Minas Gerais, Brazil. Leader of the research-group Heritage and International Relations (CNPq). Collaborator of the Transdisciplinary Research Centre “Culture, Space, and Memory” (CITCEM-FLUP). Doctorate in History, Politics, and Cultural Heritage by the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV-CPDOC). Acts on the interface between History and International Relations focusing on cultural heritage.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
This research is a corollary of the project “Heritage and International Relations”, registered with CNPq, which began in 2018 and which investigates approaches to the preservation of cultural heritage at the interface between History and International Relations.
- 2.
Throughout the twentieth century, some of the best-known examples of contemporary soft power are: the Russian ballet, the North American, and Indian film industries, French fashion, and the impact of lesser-known manifestations such as the Japanese culture of manga, anime, and games, Brazilian and Mexican telenovelas, some musical genres such as Bossa Nova and Tango and even African and Chinese arts, etc. (Christofoletti, 2017, 14).
- 3.
Some of the critics of the concept popularised by Nye are quite vehement: Niall Ferguson argues that the problem brought about by soft power is that it would be a kind of “velvet glove concealing an iron hand”. Ferguson, “Think Again: Power,” p. 21. In his turn, Kostas Ifantis, on a comparable note, argues there seems to be a tendency to call anything attractive, “soft power”. Kostas Ifantis, “Soft Power: Overcoming the Limits of a Concept,” in Routledge Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft, ed. B. J. C. McKercher (Abingdon: Routledge, 2011), p. 445. (Apud: Ohnesorge, 2020, 96).
- 4.
Together, Nye’s work on soft power serves as a parti pris and theoretical-conceptual reference for the project at hand. Although introduced into international relations discourse by Joseph Nye after the end of the Cold War, soft power picks up on an age-old tradition. The concept of soft power still raises a high degree of discussion about its supposed imprecision requiring a complete re-examination by the historiography that studies it. For further information on the subject, see Ohnesorge, 2020, 91.
- 5.
A Google search substantiates these widely shared estimates, as the term “soft power” generates 4,730,000 results with the search engine overall, 187,000 on Google Books, 149,000 on Google News, and 104,000 with Google Scholar (Su Changhe Apud Ohnesorge, 2020, 30).
- 6.
In very general terms, the concept of World Heritage or even World Cultural Heritage (the former used more often to sanction material heritage and the latter to distinguish immateriality) has gained relevance and faced clashes and debates in recent decades. For further information on the distinction refer to: Introdução. In: Christofoletti, R. and Olender, Marcos (Org.), World Heritage Patinas: action, alerts, and risks. Switzerland. Springer, 2020.
- 7.
The Italian writer Roberto Pasini (1958) proposed the term “chronotope” to represent a particular spatio-temporal context. It seems appropriate to the proposal of this project since the assimilation of the concept of soft power responds to the demands of this space/time frontier.
- 8.
Loose translation.
- 9.
- 10.
Refer to: https://brasilianismo.blogosfera.uol.com.br/uol_amp/2017/07/17/brasil-desaba-em-ranking-global-de-soft-power-e-se-torna-penultimo-colocado/. About the ranking, refer to: softpower30.com.
- 11.
Loose translation.
- 12.
Refer to: Valor Econômico, 23 June 2020.
Available at https://valor.globo.com/live/noticia/2020/06/19/pais-perdeu-completamente-seu-soft-power-diz-brasilianista-kenneth-maxwell.ghtml. (accessed June 27, 2020).
- 13.
Outstanding universal value means cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional that it transcends national borders and is of inestimable value for present and future generations. Therefore, the protection of this heritage is of utmost importance to the entire international community. Refer to: https://www.portopatrimoniomundial.com/criterios-classificacao-do-patrimonio-mundial.
- 14.
At the 44th expanded session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Fuzhou (China) (online) from 16 to 31 July 2021, the list of world heritages was expanded after a year of interruption in WHC – World Heritage Center/UNESCO meetings , due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 23rd Brazilian World Heritage Site, endorsed at this meeting, is the landscaped site of Roberto Burle Marx, in Rio de Janeiro, the first modern tropical garden to be inscribed on the World Heritage List. In terms of geographical representation, the countries with the highest number of inscriptions on the World Heritage List are: China (56), Italy (56), Spain (49), Germany (48) and France (46).Conversely, there are at least 25 Member States that do not have any inscribed Property. See: https://whc.UNESCO.org/en/list/.
- 15.
In the early years of UNESCO, elitism and patriarchy also permeated the organisation which was mostly composed of North American or European individuals and only exceptionally of female figures. Today, the body has a more gender-balanced composition, but continues to perpetuate discrepancies regarding geographical representativeness. Most of its contributors are European and, in addition, a large proportion of Member States have never had representatives on the World Heritage Committee, as participation in the annual meetings requires a financial framework that not all countries can afford (Meskell, 2018, pp.76–81; 95–102).
- 16.
Term commonly used in the legal area to encompass objects trafficked and with collectible value, obtained by illicit means.
- 17.
The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) is responsible for police cooperation in several countries; the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is responsible for guardianship and certification of world heritage; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigates and combats violations of federal crimes; the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) has the fight against illegal trafficking of cultural assets as its mission; and the World Customs Organisation (WCO) denounces illegal trade by offering support to customs administrations.
- 18.
Loaded with colonialism in the constructions of museality and musealisation, these ethnographic objects have a trajectory that needs to be studied. What for the museum is a “thing” or object, for the indigenous people is a human being, according to the visions and indigenous voices brought into the article, which reinforce a vision of spirituality.
- 19.
The transnational bodies currently active in fighting trafficking of assets (Interpol, UNESCO, FBI, ICOM, and WCO, alongside private institutions under international law) head a list of similar organisations. The Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) and Culture Trafficking, two research and outreach organisations that promote the study and investigation of crime and the protection of cultural heritage, are relevant here. All these organisations help to map out the routes and areas of activity of international gangs specialising in trafficking and, for this reason, they will be the interlocutors of this study.
- 20.
- 21.
In line with the project funded by the European Research Council: Trafficking transformations: objects as agents in transnational criminal networks coordinated by Donna Elizabeth Yates, affiliated to the Maastricht University - Netherlands. This project studies how objects influence criminal networks, with a particular focus on objects such as antiquities, fossils, and rare wildlife, with a focus on the transnational illicit trade in cultural objects.
- 22.
Currently, the official UNESCO-linked World Heritage website runs systematic fund-raising campaigns focusing on private donors, especially individuals. Something unimaginable decades ago. This change in fund-raising is probably a mechanism created by the entity to minimise the losses caused by the exit of the USA and Israel from UNESCO (as they did in 1984), which certainly impacts the funds, ideology, and geopolitics of the multilateral institution.
- 23.
Refer to: COSTA, Inês de Carvalho. O sentimento de perda. Patrimônio Mundial—casos de estudo dos principais riscos para os bens culturais. Dissertação de Mestrado. Programa de Mestrado em História de Arte, Património e Cultura Visual. Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto—FLUP—CITCEM. Orientadora: Profª Drª Maria Leonor Botelho. 2020. Dissertation assessed by me on 22 July 2020.
- 24.
Currently, I supervise 18 students (Scientific Initiation, Master’s, PhD, and Post-doctoral). The complete list of orientations is available in the curriculum lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/3101885496629084.
- 25.
The abundance of digital sources on the subject is a huge asset in times of lockdown, during which libraries and archives find their access greatly reduced. For research purposes we used several digital platforms such as: Research Gate, Academia.edu, UNESDOC, UNESCO Archives, BNF Data, Council of Europe online archives; UNESCO, ICOMOS, ICOM, ICCROM platforms, as well as other international organisations. We consider primary sources: Charters; Conventions; Declarations; Treaties; Decree-laws; Recommendations; documents nominating assets for the UNESCO Lists; reports on monitoring missions of the assets; reports on the state of conservation of cultural sites (SOC); management plans; official charts; and maps.
- 26.
Significant data released by me in books organised in 2017 and 2021: (Christofoletti, R. Patrimônio e Relações Internacionais: o Soft Power como espelho das relações internacionais. Santos, Leopoldianum, 2017, p. 23) and (Christofoletti, R. and Olender, Marcos. World heritage pátinas: actions, alerts, and risks (Springer, 2021) indicate the gap between the demand and the set of productions on the theme in Brazilian academia. Therefore, updating the mapping of this set of theses and dissertations is a central part of the in-depth appropriation of the theme.
References
Arantes AAN (2005) O patrimônio cultural e seus usos nas cidades contemporâneas. Comentário ao texto de Ulpiano Bezerra de Meneses. In: Meneses, Ulpiano Bezerra de. A cidade como bem cultural. in: IPHAN: Patrimônio atualizado em debate. São Paulo, Iphan
Babelon JP, Chastel A (1994) La notion de patrimoine. Liana Levi, Paris
Ballerini F (2017) Poder Suave. São Paulo, Summus
Bédarida F (1993) In: Institut d’histoire du temps présent. Ecrire l’histoire du temps présent: en hommage à François Bédarida. Paris: CNRS Editions
Choay F (2010) A alegoria do patrimônio. São Paulo, Estação liberdade
Christofoletti R (2017) Bens Culturais e Relações Internacionais: o patrimônio como espelho do soft power, 1st edn Leopoldianum, Santos-SP
Chuva MRR (2017) Os arquitetos da memória. Socio gênese das práticas de preservação do patrimônio cultural no Brasil (1930–1940). Rio de Janeiro: Editora UFRJ
Craig H (2012) The Rhetoric of Soft Power: Public Diplomacy in Global Contexts (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2012) p 29
Cury MX (2020) Repatriamento e remanescentes humanos - musealia, musealidade e musealização de objetos indígenas. In: Em Questão, Porto Alegre, vol. 26, p. 14–42, Edição Especial Dossiê Patrimônio e Culturas Tradicionais, 2020. https://doi.org/10.19132/1808-5245260.14-42
Darton R (2014) O grande massacre de gatos. Paz e Terra, Rio de Janeiro
do Amaral JPP (2015) Da colonialidade do patrimônio ao patrimônio decolonial. Dissertação de Mestrado Profissional. Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional
Dossiê AQ O mundo a partir da América Latina. https://revistacult.uol.com.br/home/dossie-cult-anibal-quijano. Accessed 27 Jun 2020
Ferguson N (2003) “Think Again: Power.” Foreign Policy, No. 134 (January/February 2003), pp 18–22 and 24
Ferreira MM (2000) História do tempo presente: desafios. Cultura Vozes, Petrópolis, 94(3):111–124
Ferreira MM (2018) Notas iniciais sobre a história do tempo presente e a historiografia no Brasil Revista Tempo e Argumento. Florianópolis 10(23):80–108
Harrison DLE, Huntington SP (Org.). A cultura importa: os valores
Heritage Committee (2011) UNESCO Paris. J Field Archaeol 37
Jeudy HP (2005) Espelho das cidades. Casa da Palavra, Rio de Janeiro
Lane P (2010) French scientific and cultural diplomacy. Liverpool University, Liverpool
Layne C (2010) The unbearable lightness of soft power. In: Soft Power and US Foreign Policy: theoretical, Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, Inderjeet P, Michael C (eds) (Abingdon: Routledge), p 58
Layne C, Thayer BA (2010) American empire: a debate. Routledge, New York
Logan W (2004) States governance, and the politics of culture: world heritage in Asia
Macclory J (2010) The new persuaders: an international ranking of Soft power. Institute of Government—UK, Institute for Government
Macclory J (2018) Soft Power 30. https://softpower30.com/. Accessed 12 Feb 2019
Mark S (2009) lomacy
Meneses UB (2005). A cidade como bem cultural. In: IPHAN: Patrimônio atualizado em debate. São Paulo, Iphan
Meskell L (2018) A future in ruins. UNESCO, World Heritage, and the dream of peace. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Meskell L (2018) UNESCO’s world heritage convention at 40: challenging the economic and political order of international heritage conservation. Current Anthropology
N.Y.: Public Affairs (2004) New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2015
Nye J (2004) The decline of America’s soft power: why Washington should worry, Foreign Aff 83(3):18
Nye J (2015) Think again: soft power. Foreign Policy http://foreignpolicy.com/2006/02/23/think-again-soft-power/ (accessed February 13, 2015)
Nye JS (2004) Soft power: the means to success in world politics. Public Affairs, New York, p 2004
Nye JS (2011a) Bound to lead: the changing nature of American power. New York
Nye JS (2011b) The future of power. Public Affairs, New York
Nye JS (2016) Soft power: the means to success in World politics
Nye JS (2017) Soft power: the origins and political progress of a concept. Palgrave Communications, vol 3. https://www.nature.com/articles/palcomms20178. Accessed 14 Jun 2020
Nye JS (2020) Do morals matter? presidents and foreign policy from FDR to Trump. Kindle
Ohnesorge HW (2020) Soft power. The forces of attraction in international relations. Global Power Shift. Switzerland. Springer
Park A (2012) Oxon. Routledge, New York, NY, pp 113–128
Pasini R (2012) Che Cos’è l’Arte? Verona: QuiEdit
Pollak M (1989) Memória, esquecimento e silêncio. Estudos Históricos, Rio De Janeiro 2(3):3–15
Poulot D (2009) Uma história do patrimônio no Ocidente, séculos XVIII-XXI: do monumento aos valores. São Paulo: Estação Liberdade
Rémond R (1995) L’histoire contemporain. In: Bédarida, François (Org.). L’histoire et le métier d’historien en France — 1945‐1995. Paris: Éd. de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, p. 247‐252
Revel J (1999) Jogos de escalas: a experiência da microanálise. FGV, Rio de Janeiro
Riegl A (2006) O Culto moderno dos monumentos: sua essência e sua gênese. Translation Elaine Ribeiro Peixoto e Albertina Vicentine. Goiânia: Ed. Da UGG
Rousso H (2000). L’histoire du temps présent, vingt ans après. Bulletin de l’IHTP, n. 75
Snow N (2009) Rethinking Public Diplomacy. In: Snow N, Taylor PM (eds) Routledge Handbook of Public Diplomacy. Routledge, New York, pp 3–11
Soft Power 30: softpower30.com
Solomon T (2014) The affective underpinnings of soft power. Eur J Int Rel 20(3):720–741
Trafficking Culture: https://traffickingculture.org/
Trommler F (2004) Culture as an arena of transatlantic conflict. In: The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945–1990: A Handbook, Volume II: 1968–1990, ed. Detlef Junker, associated editors Philipp Gassert, Wilfried Mausbach, and David B. Morris (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Varella FF et al (2012) Tempo presente e usos do passado. Editora Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro
Vigevani T (2006) Novos temas nas Relações Internacionais: as teorias explicativas
Voldman D (1993) La place des mots, le poids des témoins. In: Institut d’histoire du temps présent. Ecrire l’histoire du temps présent. Paris: CNRS Editions, pp 123–132
White H (1995) Meta-história: a imaginação histórica do século XIX. São Paulo: Editora da Universidade de São Paulo. www.academia.edu/2455769/AGreater_Role_for_Cultural_Diplomacy
Yates D (2016) Anonymous swiss collector. http://www.anonymousswisscollector.com/bio. Accessed 20 July 2020
Yates DE (2015) Illicit cultural property from Latin America: looting, trafficking, and sale. In: Desmarais F (ed) Countering illicit traffic in cultural goods: the global challenge of protecting the world’s heritage. ICOM, Paris, pp 33–45
Yates DE (2020) Transformações do tráfico: objetos como agentes em redes criminosas transnacionais. Project financed by European Research Council. Coordination: Donna Elizabeth Yates, Universiteit Maastricht, The Netherlands
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Christofoletti, R. (2021). Three Themes in Transition: Soft Power, Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Goods, and the Cartography of World Heritage Sites. In: Christofoletti, R., Botelho, M.L. (eds) International Relations and Heritage. The Latin American Studies Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77991-7_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77991-7_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-77990-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-77991-7
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)