Burnishing the Lustre of Prestige

Building on the conceptualisation of prestige, expertise and the expert in Chapter 4 , this chapter is the first of a trio of chapters (this chapter, Chapters 6 and 7 ) that establish the dimensions of the Faustian pact in the World Heritage regime. This chapter focuses on the evaluation and inscription of World Heritage sites. It considers the role of experts as burnishers of World Heritage prestige, demonstrating how experts retain an important but increasingly limited role in this regard. It does so in several moves. It firstly investigates the role of experts in providing the intellectual infrastructure—determination against criteria, comparative assessment and, ultimately, a global view on meeting a threshold of OUV—that supports the classification of sites and enables processes of distinction. This links strategies aimed at preserving objectivity to enabling cultural consecration. Yet placed in a historical continuum, it then also shows the degree to which the World Heritage List itself consecrates, suggesting a more limited role—and thus agency—for today’s experts.