Book excerpt: A Companion to Heritage Studies BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY A Companion to Heritage Studies “This Companion provides a gateway to heritage studies for students and scholars alike. Taken together, the essays testify to how exciting and dynamic this field has become.” Valdimar Tr. Hafstein, University of Iceland “Interdisciplinary and international in scope, A Companion to Heritage Studies succeeds in bringing together critical and practical, historicizing and future-oriented scholarship on what has become an all-pervasive global interest and industry, passion and resource.” Regina F. Bendix, Göttingen University, Germany “A vast and complete overview of the contemporary challenges of heritage preservation and management. This is an important book for practitioners, planners, and policy makers. The Companion fills a gap and helps address many of the uncomfortable questions heritage preservation is facing today.” Francesco Bandarin, Special Advisor to UNESCO for Heritage and Professor, University Iuav of Venice A Companion to Heritage Studies is a comprehensive, state-of-the-art survey of the interdisciplinary study of cultural heritage. Featuring a substantial framework-setting essay by the editors, and contributions from an international array of scholars, including some with extensive experience in heritage practice through UNESCO, the World Heritage Centre, ICOMOS and national heritage systems, this Companion offers a cutting-edge guide to this emergent and increasingly important field that is global in scope, cross-cultural in focus, and critical in approach. The selected essays have been innovatively organized into three sections on the expansion, use and abuse, and the recasting of heritage. The Companion covers all of the key themes in research, including old and new outlooks on cultural heritage and its management, heritage as a form of cultural politics, the emergence of critical heritage studies, the role of heritage in times of rapid change and conflict, heritage in environmental protection, the rise of intangible heritage, museums and digital heritage, World Heritage and tourism, and heritage ethics and human rights. A Companion to Heritage Studies will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of anthropology, archeology, and cultural studies, as well as anyone interested in better understanding the historical, social, and political significance of heritage.