The mists of doubt in history and geography: The Unknown Indian, the House of Human Rights of Punta Arenas and the interpretation of cultural heritage

Abstract

Cultural heritage policy is discussed here through some ideas on the relationship between heritage producers and their culture, and between heritage consumers and theirs It is necessary to differentiate between the heirs of a culture - the first inhabitants of a country - together with what heritage represents for them, and the outsiders - settlers or tourists - with respect to the same culture and heritage. Finally, a distinction is made between two types of materiality that have heritage significance: P1) those built for the purpose of creating heritage (such as statues); and P2) things built by chance (such as remains of historical buildings). These ideas are developed here by observing the interests of different groups related to the “Unknown Indian” and the House of Human Rights in Punta Arenas, where it is desirable to develop interpretations of the sites to distinguish the interests of different groups.