Concepto y gestión del patrimonio local

Abstract

Firstly, this article is a reminder of the principles of the basic mechanics of the social construction of heritage and it sets out some questions on the matter. Further on, it deals with the specificity of the social construction of local heritage. This specificity comes from the fact that the scale factor gives a constituent character to the meaning. This meaning is fed by memory, mainly inter-subjective (that means, shared), constructed, for its part, in the light of the several needs and interests of present time. Memory determines not only the relevance of referents but also the contents of discourses. Thus understood, local heritage means a threat and an opportunity. A threat because, faced to the perception of external aggressions, it tends to get shut in itself, inducing the narcotising, excluding dynamics of the community. An opportunity because, potentially it constitutes an open forum to polyhedral social reflexivity, enabling to tackle with social reproduction in a participating way.