CULTURAL HERITAGE PRESERVATION AS A STRATEGY OF US FOREIGN RELATIONS IN THE BALKAN REGION

Roberts, Patrick (2020) CULTURAL HERITAGE PRESERVATION AS A STRATEGY OF US FOREIGN RELATIONS IN THE BALKAN REGION. FREEDOM Journal for Peacebuilding and Transcultural Communication, 1 (1-2). pp. 19-25. ISSN 2671-3411

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Abstract

This paper examines the use of cultural heritage preservation as a strategy of US foreign relations in the Balkan region, and it attempts to provide perspective on both the historical and theoretical contexts that surround the practice of developing cultural relations. Using a methodological approach grounded in critical policy analysis, this paper explores the following questions: What impact has US cultural policy had on the Balkan region? What has the strategy been for assisting with cultural heritage preservation? What assumptions ground the belief that cultural heritage preservation can lead to peace, reconciliation, and social stability? What might be the limitations of a policy based on cultural heritage preservation? How might cultural heritage preservation reinforce nationalist narratives as a legitimating source of “symbolic stability” (Labadi, 2013, p. 63)? Ultimately, the paper concludes that when exercised as a function of US foreign relations, cultural heritage preservation may legitimate and reify ethnic division. Central to this paper’s aim is an examination of the US State Department’s Ambassador Fund, which in 2012 awarded a total amount of 5.6 million dollars to 46 countries (out of a total submission of 186 nominations) for cultural heritage projects abroad. The Ambassador’s Fund is administered by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which is overseen by the State Department’s Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs: The U.S. Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP), established in FY 2001 and funded through the Diplomatic and Consular Programs appropriation, awards grants for the preservation of cultural heritage in developing countries. Projects funded through the AFCP advance U.S. foreign policy objectives and demonstrate U.S. respect for other cultures…. Funded projects include technical support for the preservation of historic buildings and sites, museum collections, and forms of traditional cultural expression.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Humanities
Depositing User:	Unnamed user with email zshi@unite.edu.mk
Date Deposited:	28 Feb 2020 15:10
Last Modified:	28 Feb 2020 15:10
URI:	http://eprints.unite.edu.mk/id/eprint/479

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