TEHIC-Handbook_of_best_practices

2. An overview of the concept of heritage interpretation and its evolution. TEHIC Towards a European Heritage Interpretation Curriculum 10 The concept of heritage interpretation I t is not surprising that a discipline that originated more than a hundred years ago has been the focus of attention of many people who, either from a more profes - sional approach or from a didactic point of view, have tried to define it. A document compiling different definitions of heritage interpretation (Illanes, F., 2022) lists up to 41 different definitions. We will focus on just two of them, as a way of highlight - ing some aspects that are considered particularly relevant. “Effective interpretation is a creative process of strategic communication, which forges intellectual and emo- tional connexions between the resource that is being interpreted and the audience, generating their own meanings about the resource, so that people can appreciate and enjoy it.” Sam Ham & Jorge Morales 2 , 2008. From this definition it is important to point out that creativity, broadly understood, must be always present in the whole process: either in the appli- cation of the techniques, or in the participatory approach with the com - munity, or in the adaptation of the methodology to the context and in the final graphic solution, etc. It is strate - gic communication because it is intentional; we design the messages that we want to convey to visitors. We seek intellectual connections, so that people understand what we are com- municating, but also emotional connections, provoking emotions intimately linked to the meaning of heritage. And even beyond that, generating reflection and stimulating thought to get people to construct their own meanings about the legacy. It is therefore not only a conceptual orientation, but also an emotional and even spiritual one, the latter being understood in a deep sense of human enquiry. Example of an interpretive project, “ Jocs de Dames ”. This is a guided activity where the history of a part of Catalo - nia’s Pyrenees is reflected from a feminist perspective after a hard research work on the role of women in the territory. Designed by Cristina Simó, guide-interpreterat Ecomuseu del Valls d´Àneu . Picture by Isabel Fernández. 2 Ham, S., Morales, J. (2008). “¿A qué interpretación nos referimos?” (“Which interpretation do we mean?”), Bulletin of the Asociación para la Interpretación del Patrimonio, AIP (Association for Heritage Interpreta- tion, Spain) No 19. p. 7.