Intangible Cultural Heritage

Intangible Cultural Heritage
Name	Intangible Cultural Heritage
Region	Worldwide
Discipline	Cultural heritage studies

Intangible Cultural Heritage Intangible Cultural Heritage encompasses living practices, expressions, knowledge, and skills transmitted within communities that embody identity and continuity. It intersects with heritage management, human rights, cultural policy, and development, engaging organizations such as UNESCO, United Nations Development Programme, International Council on Monuments and Sites, International Labour Organization and institutions including Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, Musée du quai Branly, National Endowment for the Humanities.

Definition and Scope

Scholars and institutions define the subject through documents like the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage adopted by UNESCO General Conference, national statutes such as France’s Code du patrimoine, Japan’s Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties (1950), and reports by bodies like ICOMOS and World Intellectual Property Organization. Definitions emphasize living heritage such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge about nature, and traditional craftsmanship linked to communities, practitioners, and institutions like National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico), Royal Ontario Museum, and Austrian Commission for UNESCO.

Types and Elements

Typical categories listed in international instruments include oral traditions tied to figures like Rabindranath Tagore or events such as Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago, performing arts exemplified by Kathakali, Flamenco, and Kabuki, social practices including Dia de los Muertos and Nowruz, rituals and festive events such as Semana Santa (Seville), knowledge about nature connected to the Sami people or Maori people, and traditional craftsmanship practiced by artisans recognized by institutions like Cooper Hewitt, V&A Museum, and state programs such as South Korea Cultural Heritage Administration.

Safeguarding and Transmission

Safeguarding measures involve inventories, transmission programs, apprenticeship schemes, capacity building, and community-led initiatives coordinated with entities like Ministry of Culture (France), Ministry of Culture (China), Smithsonian Folklife Festival, National Endowment for the Arts, and NGOs including International Council of Museums, Cultural Survival, and Living Heritage organizations. Strategies range from school curricula reforms influenced by UNICEF and World Bank projects to documentation projects partnering with Library of Congress, British Library, and digital platforms used by Internet Archive and Europeana.

International Frameworks and Legal Instruments

Key instruments include the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage administered by UNESCO, related instruments like the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, intellectual property treaties mediated by WIPO, and sectoral policies from World Heritage Committee and regional bodies such as European Union cultural programs, Organization of American States initiatives, and bilateral agreements between states like Japan and France on cultural exchange. Monitoring and reporting involve committees formed from state parties, specialists from ICOMOS, ICCROM, and networks like International Council on Monuments and Sites.

National and Local Implementation

States implement safeguarding through legal lists, funding mechanisms, certification schemes, and community partnerships via bodies like Korean Cultural Heritage Administration, Indian Ministry of Culture, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (Philippines), Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico, and municipal initiatives in cities such as Seoul, Paris, Istanbul, Mexico City, Lima. Local museums, cultural centers, and universities like University of Oxford, Harvard University, University of Tokyo, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México support research, while crafts cooperatives and guilds organize apprenticeships modeled on examples from Florence and Fez.

Challenges and Criticisms

Critiques address commercialization, commodification, misappropriation, and ossification raised by activists, scholars, and organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and indigenous groups such as the Kayapó people and Aboriginal Australians. Debates focus on authenticity contested in cases involving World Expo exhibitions or tourism promotion in places like Bhutan, Nepal, Marrakesh, and Venice. Intellectual property tensions involve World Intellectual Property Organization negotiations and national legal responses such as Indian Traditional Knowledge Digital Library. Power imbalances arise between state agencies, multinational corporations like Google, and community custodians represented through NGOs like Cultural Survival.

Case Studies and Examples

Notable listings and projects illustrate diversity: the inscription of Noh theatre and Gagaku music from Japan; the safeguarding of Flamenco from Spain; transmission programs for Sami yoik in Norway and Finland; restoration of craft techniques in Bhutan and Peru involving institutions like Smithsonian Institution and British Council; and community-driven revitalization of languages interlinked with practices among the Maori people in New Zealand and the Cherokee Nation in the United States. Other examples include Carnival of Binche in Belgium, Turkish shadow play Karagöz in Turkey, Mexican cuisine initiatives in Mexico City supported by National Institute of Anthropology and History (Mexico), and intangible heritage projects in Istanbul and Quebec.

Category:Cultural heritage