Beyond History: The Aesthetics of Authenticity and the Politics of Heritage in Havana, Cuba

Abstract:In this article I argue that, under the assumption of "authenticity," history raises not only ethical problems of honesty and truth but also aesthetic problems of representation and power. As such, heritage construction practices do not merely represent the past; rather, design history is itself a site for exploring architectural pasts and possible urban futures. In order to ground some broader thoughts on the aesthetics of authenticity and the politics of heritage, I analyze Havana, Cuba, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1982. Specifically, I analyze the collaborative practices of Havana's Office of the Historian of the City Of Havana (OHCH), the only autonomous, noncentralized, capitalist entity in Cuba's socialist polity with the power to regulate, design, and develop heritage sites within Havana's old core.