Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
promote tourism while conserving cultural properties; and the Catholic Church, who
wants people to understand Christianity while remaining in harmony with tourism.
Culture attracts the attention of others, which brings about changes, so the problem
of being treated as a commodity can arise. When a cultural landscape such as the
Nagasaki Church Group attains the valuable designation of World Heritage Site, ever
larger waves of commodifi cation can sweep over it. In general, to commercialize
something, it needs to be exchangeable after being separated from the context of its
production. A church can be separated from the context of the life in which it is
rooted and that has maintained its vocational activities, climate, and accumulation of
history; the place itself can then be produced and consumed as information. The
philosophy behind designating World Heritage Sites may refl ect human wisdom, but
the more strongly heritage is connected to a region, the broader the infl uences will be
on the region once it is registered as a World Heritage Site.