Destruction and reconstruction of cultural heritage as future-making

Abstract

We need to manage the tangible cultural heritage with the best outcomes for the future as possible. But how people prefer to relate and give value and meaning to the past can be highly variable and is hard to predict. Before any specific reconstructions of the Buddha statues are commissioned, we should consider several alternative futures for the past: will there be new audiences for heritage among the growing populations of Asia? Will digital and interactive ways of presentation reduce the significance of genuine artefacts? Will the preference for dark and painful heritage grow and perhaps increasingly demand stories about the Taliban rather than about Buddhism? Or will heritage tourism come to an end altogether? In deciding on the appropriate management strategy towards the destroyed Bamiyan Buddha statues, the main question should be what follows from what the assembled stakeholders want the heritage in Bamiyan to do for the benefit of specific future generations. The fact that many current stakeholders appear to be passionate about the Buddha statues means that there is a lot of momentum that will facilitate the necessary and time-consuming work required.