Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Collision or Collaboration pp 171–187Cite as

Considerations on Governing Heritage as a Commons Resource

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: One World Archaeology ((WORLDARCH))

Abstract

The “commons” is gaining attention as a possible alternative model for managing tangible and intangible heritage in a manner that devolves authority and responsibility to local communities through mechanisms that are democratic and privilege local over national or global interests. This chapter reviews the literature on the commons within archaeology and heritage management, evaluates theorizing on the commons in the context of heritage, and explores, through literature review and case studies from Belize and Peru, the challenges and opportunities that arise should archaeologists and heritage managers seek to adopt the commons as a guiding principle for community projects. The chapter emphasizes that the problem of governance—the rules under which the competing interests of stakeholders in a venture manage their activities and resolve their differences—is an underappreciated but critical ingredient in the design of effective commons-like models for heritage management.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Agrawal, A. (2008). Sustainable governance of common-pool resources. In P. Bardhan & I. Ray (Eds.), The contested commons (pp. 46–65). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akerlof, G. A., & Shiller, R. J. (2009). Animal spirits: How human psychology drives the economy and why it matters for global capitalism (Kindle Edition). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Retrieved from Amazon.com.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alonso González, P. (2014). From a given to a construct. Cultural Studies, 28(3), 359–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alonso González, P. (2015). Conceptualizing cultural heritage as a common. In P. F. Biehl, D. C. Comer, C. Prescott, & H. A. Soderland (Eds.), Identity and heritage (pp. 27–35). Dordrecht: Springer International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arizpe, L. (2000). Cultural heritage and globalization. In E. Avrami, R. Mason, & M. De la Torre (Eds.), Values and heritage conservation (pp. 32–37). Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baland, J.-M., & Platteau, J.-P. (1996). Halting degradation of natural resources: Is there a role for rural communities? Oxford: U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization and Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bardhan, P., & Ray, I. (2008). The contested commons. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrère, C., Bonnard, Q., & Chossat, V. (2012). Food, gastronomy and cultural commons. In E. Bertacchini, G. Bravo, M. Marrelli, & W. Santagata (Eds.), Cultural commons: A new perspective on the production and evolution of cultures (pp. 129–150). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkes, F. (1986). Local-level management and the commons problem: A comparative study of Turkish coastal fisheries. Marine Policy, 10(3), 215–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertacchini, E., Bravo, G., Marrelli, M., & Santagata, W. (Eds.). (2012). Cultural commons. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bob, C. (2005). The marketing of rebellion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brodie, N., & Tubb, K. W. (Eds.). (2002). Illicit antiquities: The theft of culture and the extinction of archaeology. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brousseau, É., & Glachant, J.-M. (Eds.). (2008). New institutional economics: A guidebook. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burtenshaw, P., & Gould, P. G. (Eds.). (2015). Archaeology and economic development. Oxford: Maney and Oxbow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camerer, C. F., & Loewenstein, G. (2004). Behavioral economics: Past, present, future. In C. F. Camerer, G. Lowenstein, & M. Rabin (Eds.), Advances in behavioral economics (pp. 2–51). New York, Princeton: Russell Sage Foundation and Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carman, J. (2005). Against cultural property: Archaeology, heritage and ownership. London: Duckworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colloredo-Mansfeld, R., & Antrosio, J. (2009). Economic clusters or cultural commons? The limits of competition-driven development in the Ecuadorian Andes. Latin American Research Review, 44(1), 132–157. 306–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comer, D. (2012). Tourism and archaeological heritage management at Petra: Driver to development or destruction? New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Comer, D. (2014a). Archaeological world heritage as a non-renewable resource: Threats from the Laissez-Faire world of tourism. Public Archaeology, 13(1–3), 121–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Comer, D. (2014b). Archaeology as a global public good and a local identity good. In P. F. Biehl, D. Comer, C. Prescott, & H. A. Soderland (Eds.), Identity and heritage: Contemporary challenges in a globalized world (pp. 11–26). London: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, A. B. (1991, July 31). Indigenous knowledge and biodiversity: Global commons or regional heritage? Cultural Survival Quarterly, p. 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, P. (2011). Ecomuseums: A sense of place (2nd ed.). New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • DLC. (2015). Digital library of the commons. Retrieved July 5, 2015, from http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/.

  • Dowee, M. (2009). Conservaion refugees: The hundred-year conflict between global conservation and native peoples. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faulkner, N. (2009). The sedgeford crisis. Public Archaeology, 8(1), 51–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finger, J. M., & Schuler, P. (Eds.). (2004). Poor people’s knowledge: Promoting intellectual property in developing countries. (Trade and development series). Washington, DC: The World Bank and Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiorentino, P., & Friel, M. (2012). Structure and evolution of two cultural commons: Italian futurism and Milanese design. In E. Bertacchini, G. Bravo, M. Marrelli, & W. Santagata (Eds.), Cultural commons: A new perspective on the production and evolution of cultures (pp. 107–128). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frischmann, B. M., Madison, M. J., & Strandburg, K. J. (Eds.). (2014). Managing knowledge commons. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gintis, H. (2000). Beyond homo economicus: Evidence from experimental economics. Ecological Economics, 35, 311–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, P. G. (2014a). Putting the past to work: Archaeology, community and economic development. Ph.D. thesis, University College London, London (Available from UCL Discovery at http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1427269).

  • Gould, P. G. (2014b). A tale of two villages. Public Archaeology, 13(1–3), 162–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardin, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons. Science, 162(3859), 1243–1248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herrera, A. (2014). Commodifying the indigenous in the name of development: Archaeology and heritage management in the XXI century central Andes. Public Archaeology, 13(1–3), 69–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herrera Wassilowsky, A. (Ed.). (2013). Arqueología y Desarollo en América del Sur. Bogotá: Ediciones Uniandes & Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzberg, R. (2005). Commentary on Richard Wagner’s “Self-governance, polycentrism, and federalism: Recurring themes in Vincent Ostrom’s scholarly oeuvre”. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 57(2), 189–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess, C. (2006). Research on the commons, common-pool resources, and common property. Retrieved July 6, 2015, from http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/contentguidelines.

  • Hess, C. (2008). Mapping the new commons. Paper presented at the Governing Shared Resources: Connecting Local Experience to Global Challenges; 12th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, July 14–18, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, C., & Ostrom, E. (Eds.). (2011). Understanding knowledge as a commons: From theory to practice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopgood, S. (2006). Keepers of the flame: Understanding Amnesty International. London: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, C., & McEwen, C. (1987). Focusing pride in the past: Aqua Blanca, Ecuador. Museum, 39(2), 154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Labadi, S., & Long, C. (Eds.). (2010). Heritage and globalisation. (Key issues in cultural heritage). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, R. M., Espinosa, C. C., Pat, E. M., & Demetrio, P. C. (2014). Community and heritage: A community heritage project in Tihosuco, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Public Archaeology, 13(1-3), 211–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madison, M. J., Frischmann, B. M., & Strandburg, K. J. (2009–10). Constructing commons in the cultural environment. Cornell Law Review, 95(4), 657–710.

    Google Scholar 

  • McEwen, C., Silva, M.-I., & Hudson, C. (2006). Using the past to forge the future: The genesis of the community site museum at Agua Blanca, Ecuador. In H. Silverman (Ed.), Archaeological site museums in Latin America (pp. 187–216). Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meskell, L. (2012). The nature of heritage: The New South Africa. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change, and economic performance. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Olsen, M. (1965). The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E. (2005). Understanding institutional diversity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E. (2010a). Beyond markets and states: Polycentric governance of complex economic systems. The American Economic Review, 100(3), 641–672.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E. (2010b). Polycentric systems for coping with collective action and global environmental change. Global Environmental Change, 20(4), 550–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E., & Walker, J. (Eds.). (2003). Trust and reciprocity. New York: Russell Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Platteau, J.-P. (2008). Managing the commons: The role of social norms and beliefs. In P. Bardhan & I. Ray (Eds.), The contested commons (pp. 25–45). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, M. E. (1998). Clusters and the new economics of competition. Harvard Business Review, 76(6), 77–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poteete, A. R., Janssen, M. A., & Ostrom, E. (2010). Working together: Collective action, the commons and multiple methods in practice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pyburn, K. A. (2014). Preservation as ‘disaster capitalism’: The downside of site rescue and the complexity of community engagement. Public Archaeology, 13(1–3), 226–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sassen, S. (2006). Territory, authority, rights: From medieval to global assemblages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, L., & Waterton, E. (2009). Heritage, community and archaeology. London: Duckworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wade, R. (1988). Village Republics: Economic conditions for collective action in South India. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, R. E. (2005). Self-governance, polycentrism, and federalism: recurring themes in Vincent Ostrom’s scholarly oeuvre. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 57(2), 173–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O. E. (1996). The mechanisms of governance. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O. E. (1998). The institutions of governance. The American Economic Review, 88(2), 75–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Y. (2012). Heritage as cultural commons: Towards an institutional approach of self governance. In E. Bertacchini, G. Bravo, M. Marrelli, & W. Santagata (Eds.), Cultural commons (pp. 153–177). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Peter G. Gould

Authors
  1. Peter G. Gould
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter G. Gould .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Peter G. Gould

  2. Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

    K. Anne Pyburn

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Gould, P.G. (2017). Considerations on Governing Heritage as a Commons Resource. In: Gould, P., Pyburn, K. (eds) Collision or Collaboration. One World Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44515-1_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44515-1_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-44514-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-44515-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation