Sustainable Heritage in the Marquesas Islands

Abstract

Abstract In this chapter, the authors excavate the long, sometimes troubled evolution of a UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) nomination in the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia. The challenges faced by this project over the course of almost three decades illustrate the internal dissonance of two conflicting understandings of heritage, two differing ontologies, and the complicated task of interpreting and protecting Indigenous archaeological resources. While the UNESCO WHL nomination process is deeply rooted in Western perspectives on heritage, preservation, capitalism, and the division of nature and culture, Marquesan views of the past and present draw upon a more fluid, relational understanding of exchange and a material world animated by ancestral spirits and mana that demand respect. The resulting “dissonant heritage” belies a problematic tension between the relationships and aspirations of historic resources that represent both unique value and the promise of a better, more sustainable future. In the face of these challenges, the ultimately successful Marquesas WHL nomination stands as an example of how the strict regulatory, Western structures of UNESCO’s approach to heritage can be challenged to embrace and honor more diverse and indigenous understandings of the world.

Keywords

Identifiers

DOI

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197607695.013.0072

Journal

The Oxford Handbook of Global Indigenous Archaeologies

Year

2025