Heritage diplomacy: Entangled materialities of international relations

Abstract

The paper explores the concept of heritage diplomacy in order to critically examine the links between conservation, cultural aid and hard power, and the dance between nationalism and internationalism. Three themes-venues, cooperation, and borders-orient the discussion, opening lines of enquiry previously ignored by scholars in a variety of fields concerning the entanglements between the past and the enterprise of preserving its material culture, and our unfolding histories of globalization and international affairs.