New Collection of Cultural Heritage Scholarship From Nafziger

March 20, 2009

James A. R. Nafziger

Professor James A.R. Nafziger co-edited a 1,100-page collection of selected research by legal scholars and practitioners from around the world in a new text for the Hague Academy of International Law. The Cultural Heritage of Mankind (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2008) is the culmination of several years of scholarship, which began during the 2005 summer programme at the Hague Academy of International Law’s Centre for Studies and Research, which Nafziger co-directed.

“Each year, summer researchers at the Centre for Studies and Research examine a different international law topic,” explained Nafziger, who was invited to supervise the research of young up-and-coming scholars throughout the summer program and during the next two years of the book’s preparation.

The Cultural Heritage of Mankind offers analysis of the rules and institutions that protect the world’s cultural heritage from such risks as armed conflicts, looting of archeological sites and illegal trafficking in stolen art. The collection puts substantial emphasis on dispute resolution. Nafziger co-edited and wrote a comprehensive introduction to the collection with Professor Tullio Scovazzi of the University of Milano-Bicocca.

“As a Hague Academy research text, the book is expected to become part of the international law canon within the specific field of cultural heritage law and more generally in the larger field of international law,” Nafziger said.

Among Nafziger’s current book projects are Cultural Heritage Issues: The Legacy of Conquest, Colonization and Commerce, which is forthcoming later this year from Brill/Nijhoff, and Cultural Law: International, Comparative and Indigenous, which is scheduled for publication by Cambridge University Press early next year.