Abstract

GARDUNO, Ana. Background for the Professionalization of Conservation in Mexico: Cultural Diplomacy and Heritage Policies. Intervención (Méx. DF) [online]. 2020, vol.11, n.21, pp.67-114.  Epub Oct 17, 2022. ISSN 2007-249X.  https://doi.org/10.30763/intervencion.224.v1n21.03.2020.

In 1966, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decreed the foundation of the Laboratorio Regional y Centro de Formación para la Conservación de los Bienes Culturales en México (English: Regional Laboratory and Training Center for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage). This decision, which ruled out the candidacy of other Latin American headquarters, was the result of a policy by the Mexican State to present itself as the “big brother of Latin America.” Thus, it set itself up as a regional leader and intermediary in the necessary negotiations that took place during the political-economic readjustments of the period immediately following World War II.

The field chosen to consolidate the public image of Mexico was culture and art. In order to strengthen the national identity inside and outside the country, a far-reaching campaign was carried out to promote the professionalization of disciplines directly related to the discovery, safeguarding, conservation, and exhibition of heritage of an identitary nature, mainly archeology, anthropology, history, and restoration. This paper addresses some of the methods instrumented in such a successful institutional practice.

Keywords : cultural diplomacy; heritage politics; Torres Bodet; Castillo Negrete; Paul Coremans.

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