1. World heritage as authentic fake: Paradisic Reef and Wild Tasmania.
- Author
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Pocock, Celmara, Collett, David, and Knowles, Joan
- Subjects
CULTURAL landscapes ,NUMBERS of species ,LANDSCAPES ,UTOPIAS ,CORAL reefs & islands ,CONSCIOUSNESS - Abstract
This paper explores how the imagined landscapes that act as a catalyst for World Heritage listing, are unable to be reconciled with formal heritage assessments. We explore this tension through two Australian World Heritage landscapes: the Great Barrier Reef and the Tasmanian Wilderness. The history of these listings suggests a teleological process driven by a desire to create authentic utopias. While utopias are imagined spaces, Paradise at the Reef and the Tasmanian Wilderness are realised through hyperreal landscapes (fakes). However, these wholistic landscapes dissolve into a series of inventories of species and numbers in official listing. We suggest the failure to recognise the hyperreal is a form of false consciousness that creates a tension between managing for formally recognised values and managing the unmanageable utopia, and that a broader use of cultural landscapes might be useful in addressing this divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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