In 2001, the picturesque Toraja village of Ke' te' Kesu' was nominated for candidacy as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Situated in the South Sulawesi highlands in Indonesia, this hamlet is home to rice farmers, wood carvers, tourist vendors, government workers and sporadically-visiting anthropologists. Drawing on long-term anthropological field research in the village, I suggest that while world heritage sites may entail what UNESCO terms 'genius loci', they are, rarely the unchanging embodiments of tradition they are imagined to be. The paper illustrates how heritage landscapes such as Ke' te' Kesu' are, to some extent, products of local responses and and engagements with regional, national and global political, cultural and economic dynamics. Ultimately, I argue that the emergence of UNESCO world heritage sites is not a 'natural' process, but rather one borne out of complex exchanges, competitions and collaborations between local groups, as well as national and international entities.