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| Association pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine oral | |
|---|---|
| Name | Association pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine oral |
| Native name | Association pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine oral |
| Type | Non-profit organization |
| Founded | 1980s |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
| Region served | France; francophone countries; international |
| Key people | Claude Lévi-Strauss; Paul Zumthor; Marius Barbeau |
| Focus | Oral heritage; oral history; ethnography; folklore |
Association pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine oral is a French non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation, documentation, promotion, and scholarly study of oral traditions, oral history, folklore, and spoken-word heritage. Founded in the late 20th century in Paris, the Association engages with communities, archives, universities, and cultural institutions across France, francophone Africa, Quebec, the Caribbean, and other regions where oral expression plays a central cultural role. It operates at the intersection of ethnology, linguistics, musicology, history, and archival science.
The Association emerged during a period marked by heightened interest in intangible heritage following initiatives by figures such as Claude Lévi-Strauss, Paul Zumthor, and Marius Barbeau, and in dialogue with institutions like the Musée de l'Homme, Bibliothèque nationale de France, and Institut national de l'audiovisuel. Early activity intersected with projects associated with UNESCO, the Conseil de l'Europe, and the International Council on Archives, responding to policy developments influenced by the 1980s cultural debates in Paris, Brussels, and Geneva. Its founders drew on methodological precedents from Bronislaw Malinowski, Margaret Mead, and Alan Lomax, while collaborating with university departments at the Sorbonne, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Université Laval, and University of Oxford. Over subsequent decades the Association expanded its remit to include fieldwork in West Africa, the Caribbean, Quebec, and the Indian Ocean, partnering with organisations such as the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Musée du quai Branly, and the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.
The Association's core mission is to safeguard oral patrimony by documenting spoken genres, supporting community custodianship, and facilitating scholarly access. Objectives include creating durable audiovisual archives, promoting linguistic diversity in collaboration with the Institut Pasteur anthropological initiatives, providing training linked to the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers and the École du Louvre, and advocating for recognition of oral heritage in frameworks like the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. It aims to bridge practice and scholarship by liaising with organisations such as the Musée de la Musique, the Centre Georges Pompidou, and the Royal Society.
The Association organizes fieldwork programs, oral-history workshops, and digitization campaigns in partnership with the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Institut du Monde Arabe, and the British Library. Training modules for ethnomusicologists, archivists, and oral historians draw on methods from the International Oral History Association, the Société d'Ethnologie, and the American Folklore Society. Public-facing initiatives include lecture series at the Collège de France, exhibitions co-curated with the Musée du Quai Branly, and festivals coordinated with Maison des Cultures du Monde and Festival d'Avignon. The Association also runs restoration projects compatible with standards from the International Council on Monuments and Sites and collaborates with broadcasters such as Radio France and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Collections include thousands of hours of recorded interviews, epic recitations, folksongs, proverbs, and oral testimonies, preserved using archival practices similar to those at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the British Library Sound Archive, and Library and Archives Canada. Holdings cover regions tied to the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, the Musée de la Civilisation, and the Centre Culturel Français. The archives are catalogued using taxonomies influenced by the International Council on Archives, and materials are made accessible through partnerships with UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme and research platforms maintained by the École Pratique des Hautes Études and the University of Toronto Libraries.
The Association publishes monographs, edited volumes, and periodicals in collaboration with presses such as Presses Universitaires de France, Cambridge University Press, and Routledge. Research outputs address topics explored by scholars like Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and Jacques Le Goff, and engage methodologies from linguistic anthropology, ethnomusicology, and historiography. It supports peer-reviewed journals affiliated with the Société Française d'Ethnologie, the International Journal of Heritage Studies, and Ethnomusicology Forum, and sponsors conferences at institutions including the Collège de France, Sorbonne University, and the University of Oxford.
The Association maintains partnerships with UNESCO, the Musée du quai Branly, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut du Monde Arabe, Maison des Cultures du Monde, British Library, Library and Archives Canada, and the Smithsonian Institution. Collaborative projects have connected it with universities such as Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Université Laval, University of Oxford, Harvard University, and the University of Cape Town, and with cultural festivals like Festival d'Avignon and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. It engages NGOs and community organisations including Amnesty International, Red Cross cultural programs, and Fondation de France cultural initiatives.
Governance follows a board structure with advisers drawn from academe, curatorial practice, and community leadership, echoing governance models at the Musée de l'Homme and Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme. Funding sources combine public grants from the Ministère de la Culture, support from the European Commission, project funding from UNESCO, and private donations managed in ways comparable to the Getty Foundation and Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah. The Association also secures revenue via collaborative contracts with broadcasting organisations like Radio France and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and through commissioned research for academic institutions such as the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.
Category:Organizations based in Paris Category:Oral history organizations