Scott, L; Fouseki, K; (2015) Our Sacred Mountains: A Case Study of Sagarmatha National Park and UNESCO's Categorization. In: Cultural Landscapes and heritage Values: Embracing Change in the Management of Place. UMass Amherst Center for Heritage & Society and Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning: Amherst, MA, USA.

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Abstract

This paper explores sacred mountains and their categorization as cultural landscapes with a focus on Sagarmatha National Park (SNP), one of the first mountain sites inscribed on the World Heritage List (WHL). Inscribed under natural heritage criteria (criterion vii), SNP is identified with superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. Given that SNP was inscribed to the WHL prior to the emergence of UNESCO’s cultural landscape category, this paper argues that the classificatory systems and categorization adopted by governments and organizations - such as UNESCO - can threaten the holistic, tangible/intangible, cultural/natural essence of sites. The paper unpacks through a combined semiotic and textual analysis of images, text, and impressions of visitors and residents, the cultural features of SNP, and advocates for its re-nomination as a cultural landscape. Re-nomination is critical due to the implications that the narrow interpretation of SNP as a natural site have for inhabitants, visitors and long-term sustainability. UNESCO’s re-nomination process and categories are questioned as an over-lap between mixed sites and cultural landscapes becomes evident. The paper ultimately ex-amines whether categorization of heritage prohibits or facilitates a sustainable feature of cultural landscapes as living sacred mountains.

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