National Identities, New Actors, and Management of World Heritage Sites: The Case of Ouro Preto and a Jesuit Mission of the Guaranis in Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to compare two World Heritage properties in Brazil: Ouro Preto city (1980) and Missoes Jesuitico-Guarani (1983) giving special attention to the mediation of problems related to the local populations, state interests, and management of both World Heritage Sites. During the Estado Novo dictatorship (1930–1945), both sites were elected as symbols of a particular discourse of identity that extolled European heritage and excluded or put in the background other cultural identities. However, both sites are confronted with the emergence of new demands from other groups that are not represented by original preservationist discourses. The way both sites face contemporary demands demonstrates distinct ways of managing the sites in question. In this way, this chapter compares the management of both sites, trying to understand the relationship established with these new actors and the challenges and opportunities they represent in contemporary Brazil.