Begin with Hope

Hi, I'm Hsiao-Chiang Wang, a PhD Student at the University of Glasgow and one of the RILA team members. I want to connect with people through co-creating the value of World Heritage.

Co-creating the Meanings of World Heritage Sites with Migrations:

A World View Perspective

World Heritage Sites (WHS) are defined by and contribute to people’s world views. To achieve a sustainable and peaceful future, WHS need to connect people, create an engagement zone and enable individuals to be meaning-makers. While local community involvement is widely studied, migration integration is rarely considered. Although migration groups play a critical role in cross-cultural communication and interpretation, they are repeatedly marginalised in heritage theory and practice.

My study uses Kearney’s (1984) World View theory to design a qualitative approach, collaborating with three WHS in Scotland to organise workshops and engage migration groups. After interviews with individuals with different world views, this research will yield a framework for integrating migration into the heritage sector. The findings have implications for discovering the dynamic nature and diverse values of WHS. Besides filling the gap in migration community engagement in academia, it also includes cultural actions that will pave the way for inclusive WHS and facilitate power-sharing and benefit social change, such as creating partnerships with people, collaborating with institutions, conducting workshops, and publishing a toolkit. It is hoped that these actions can embody co-creation in the WHS practice.

Note: It is ongoing research under the support of UNESCO RILA.