Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Sustaining indigenous geographies through world heritage: a study of Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park

  • Special Feature: Original Article
  • Weaving Indigenous and Sustainability Sciences to Diversify Our Methods (WIS2DOM)
  • Published:
Sustainability Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this article, the author will argue that development of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa nomination dossier involved collaborations between multiple actors, involved the recognition of indigenous knowledge systems, and resulted in the co-creation of hybrid mapping representations. This empirical research examines data sources like World Heritage dossiers and state/UNESCO correspondence letters held at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre archives in Paris, France and cultural site dossiers archived at the International Council on Memorials and Sites (ICOMOS) in Charenton-le-Pont, France. Actor-network theory informs this research and will act as a heuristic tool for collection, organizing, and analyzing the archival documents. A framework called postcolonial centers of calculation will be introduced to untangle technoscientific processes associated with World Heritage nomination documents. A case study of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa nomination dossier reveals historical cycles of accumulation geographic information around Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa, a strong network of indigenous and state collaborations, and the creation of hybrid geographic representations. The discussion and conclusion section relate this research to sustainability science and indigenous geographies, and suggest future research directions.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

  • Arico S (2014) The contribution of the sciences, technology and innovation to sustainable development: the application of sustainability science from the perspective of UNESCO’s experience. Sustain Sci 9:453–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker AJ, Pickerill J (2012) Radicalizing relationships to and through shared geographies: why anarchists need to understand indigenous connections to land and place. Antipode 44:1705–1725

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartlett RA (1980) Great surveys of the American West. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman

    Google Scholar 

  • Benessia A, Funtowicz S, Bradshaw G, Ferri F, Raez-Luna Medina CP (2012) Hybridizing sutainability: towards a new praxis for the present human predicament. Sustain Sci 7(1):75–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blunt A, McEwan C (2002) Postcolonial Geographies. Continuum, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Brugnach M, Ingram H (2012) Ambiguity: the challenge of knowing and deciding together. Environ Sci Policy 15:60–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callon M (1991) Techno-economic networks and irreversibility. In: Law J (ed) A sociology of monsters: Essays on power, technology and domination. Routledge, New York, pp 132–161

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin M, Lamb Z, Threlkeld B (2005) Mapping indigenous lands. Annu Rev Anthropol 34:619–638

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark WC (2007) Sustainability science: a room of its own. Proc Natl Acad Sci 104:1737

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Coombes B, Johnson J, Howitt R (2012) Indigenous geographies II: the asipirational spaces in postcolonial politics—reconciliation, belonging and social provision. Prog Hum Geogr 37(5):691–700

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Creagh C (1991) Looking after the land at Uluru. Ecos. World Heritage Dossier 447 rev, Australie, Parc National d’Uluru-Kata Tjuta, ICOMOS Document Centre, Paris, France, vol 71, pp 6–13

  • DEST (1994a) Renomination of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park by the Government of Australia for Inscription on the World Heritage List. World Heritage Dossier 447 rev, Australie, Parc National d’Uluru-Kata Tjuta, ICOMOS Document Centre, Paris, France

  • DEST (1994b) Facsimile Transmission from the Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories World Heritage branch, sent 26 September 1994 to the Australian Embassy and World Heritage Centre in Paris, France. World Heritage Dossier 447 rev, Australie, Parc National d’Uluru-Kata Tjuta, ICOMOS Document Centre, Paris, France

  • Gombay N (2012) Placing economies: lessons from the Inuit about economics, time, and existence. J Cult Geogr 29:19–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howitt R (2010) Sustainable indigenous futures in remote Indigenous areas: relationships, processes and failed state approaches. Geojournal. doi:10.1007/s10708-010-9377-3

    Google Scholar 

  • ICOMOS (1994) WHC nomination dossier 447 Rev, Parc national d’Uluru-Kata Tjuta. International Council on Monuments and Sites, Document Centre, Charenton le Pont, France

  • International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) (2012) The indigenous world 2012. http://www.iwgia.org/publications/search-pubs?publication_id=573. Accessed Mar 2015

  • James SW (2012) Indigeneity and the intercultural city. Postcolon Stud 15:249–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson JT, Louis RP, Pramono AH (2005) Facing the future: encouraging critical cartographic literacies in indigenous communities. ACME 4(1):80–98

  • Johnstone MJ (2007) Research ethics, reconciliation, and strengthening the research relationship in Indigenous health domains: an Australian perspective. Int J Intercult Relat 31:391–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kauffman J (2014) Promoting integration and cooperation for sustainability views form the symposium held at UNESCO headquarters September 19, 2013. Sustain Sci 9:419–430

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kauffman J, Arico S (2014) New directions in sustainability science: promoting integration and cooperation. Sustain Sci 9:413–418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kitchin R, Perkins C, Dodge M (2007) Thinking about maps. In: Dodge M, Kitchin R, Perkins C (eds) Rethinking maps: new frontiers in cartographic theory. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour B (1987) Science in action: how to follow scientists and engineers through society. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour B (2005) Reassembling the social-an introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour B (2011) Drawing things together. In: Dodge Martin, Kitchin Rob, Perkins Chris (eds) The map reader: theories of mapping practice and cartographic representation. Wiley, New York, pp 65–72

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis GM (1998) Cartographic encounters: perspectives on native American mapmaking and map use. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd K, Wright S, Suchet-Pearson S et al (2012) Reframing development through collaboration: towards a relational ontology of connection in Bawaka, North East Arnhem Land. Third World Q 33:1075–1094

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martens P (2006) Sustainability: science or fiction? Sustain Sci Pract Policy 2(1):36–41

  • Martin EW (2000) Actor-networks and implementation: examples from conservation GIS in Ecuador. Int J Geogr Inf Sci 14(8):715–738. doi:10.1080/136588100750022750

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meskell L (2014) States of conservation: protection, politics, and pacting within UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee. Anthropol Q 87(1):217–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgensen SL (2011) Spaces between us: queer settler colonialism and indigenous decolonization. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura N (2012) Towards a culturally sustainable Environmental Impact Assessment: The protection of Ainu cultural heritage in the Saru River cultural impact assessment, Japan. Geographical Research. doi:10.1111/j.1745-5871.2012.00759.x

  • Palmer MH (2011) Sold! the loss of Kiowa allotments in the post-Indian reorganization era. Am Indian Cult Res J 35(3):37–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer M (2012a) Theorizing indigital geographic information networks. Cartograph Int J Geogr Inf Geovis 47(2):80–91

  • Palmer MH (2012b). Cartographic encounters at the Bureau of Indian Affairs Geographic Information System Center of Calculation. Am Indian Cult Res J 36(2):75–102. http://aisc.metapress.com/content/m41052k383378203/fulltext.pdf. Accessed March 2015

  • Palmer M, Rundstrom R (2013) GIS, internal colonialism, and the US Bureau of Indian Affairs. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 103(5):1142–1159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearce MW, Louis RP (2008) Mapping indigenous depth of place. Am Indian Cult Res J 32(3):107–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickerill J (2009) Finding common ground? Spaces of dialogue and the negotiation of Indigenous interests in environmental campaigns in Australia. Geoforum 40:66–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pieris A (2012) Occupying the centre: indigenous presence in the Australian capital city. Postcolon Stud 15:221–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radcliffe SA (2012) Development for a postneoliberal era? Sumak kawsay, living well and the limits to decolonization in Ecuador. Geoforum 43:240–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reid JR, Kerle JA, Morton SR (1993) Uluru fauna: The distribution and abundance of vertebrate fauna of Uluru National Park. Pirie Printers Sales Pty Ltd, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • Rössler M (2006) World Heritage cultural landscapes: a UNESCO flagship programme 1992–2006. Landsc Res 31(4):333–353. http://culturallandscapes.ca/blahdocs/uploads/rossler_2006_world_heritage_cultural_landscapes_unesco_3473.pdf. Accessed Mar 2015

  • Roth R (2009) The challenges of mapping complex indigenous spatiality: from abstract space to dwelling space. Cult Geogr 16(2):207–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Short JR (2011) Representing country in the creative postcolonial city. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 102:129–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sparke M (1998) A map that roared and an original atlas: Canada, cartography, and the narration of nation. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 88(3):463–495

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The Hi’iaka Working Group (2011) Indigenous knowledges driving technological innovation. Aapi nexus 9(1 & 2):241–248. http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/aascpress/nexus9_1_2_full.pdf. Accessed Apr 2015

  • Tjikatu B, Daeger A, Hookey P, Bannister K (N.D.) ‘Tjunguringula Tjukururu Mulapa Wangkanyi’ ‘Talking true and straight together’: Interpreting the cultural values of Uluru National Park. World Heritage Dossier 447 rev, Australie, Parc National d’Uluru-Kata Tjuta. ICOMOS Document Centre, Paris, France

  • Turnbull D (2000) Masons, tricksters and cartographers. Routledge, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Uluru-Kata Tjuta Board of Management and ANPWS (1991) Uluru (Ayers Rock-Mount Olga) National Park Plan of Management. World Heritage Dossier 447 rev, Australie, Parc National d’Uluru-Kata Tjuta, Appendix A, ICOMOS Document Centre, Paris, France

  • UNESCO (1987) Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage, World Heritage Committee eleventh session in Paris, France 7–11 December 1987, SC-87/conf.005/9. Retrieved from http://whc.unesco.org/archive/1987/sc-87-conf005-3e.pdf. Accessed Mar 2015

  • UNESCO (1994) Convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage, World Heritage Committee eighteenth session in Phuket, Thailand 12–17 December 1994, WHC-94/conf.003/7.rev. Retrieved from http://whc.unesco.org/archive/1994/whc-94-conf003-7reve.pdf. Accessed Mar 2015

  • UNESCO (1995) Letter sent to the Permanent Delegate, Permanent Delegation of Australia to UNESCO, Embassy of Australia, 95-02-179. World Heritage Dossier 447 rev, Australie, Parc National d’Uluru-Kata Tjuta, ICOMOS Document Centre, Paris, France

  • UNESCO (2012a) World heritage and indigenous peoples—a call to action. International expert workshop on the world heritage convention and indigenous. http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/events/documents/event-906-1.pdf. Accessed Mar 2015

  • UNESCO (2012b) Interview with Myrna Cunningham, Chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). In: World heritage review No. 62: world heritage and indigenous peoples (February 2012). UNESCO: World Heritage Centre. In International Expert Workshop on the World Heritage Convention and Indigenous. Annex 1. http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/events/documents/event-906-2.pdf. Accessed Mar 2015

  • UNSR (2012) James Anaya, report to the United Nations General Assembly, UN Doc. A/67/301 (13 August 2012). http://unsr.jamesanaya.org/docs/annual/2012-ga-annual-report-en.pdf. Accessed Mar 2015

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (award SES 1329556). I would like to thank Lucile Smirnov (Head of the Document Centre) at the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in Paris, France for her assistance. Many thanks go out to the three anonymous reviewers for their excellent comments and advice. And finally, I would like to thank Anna Feyerherm (University of Missouri) for reading an early version of this article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Missouri, 8 Stewart Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Mark Palmer

Authors
  1. Mark Palmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Palmer.

Additional information

Handled by Jay T. Johnson, The University of Kansas, USA.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Palmer, M. Sustaining indigenous geographies through world heritage: a study of Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. Sustain Sci 11, 13–24 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0307-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0307-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation