1
Safeguarding intangible heritage and participation
Nearly two decades have passed since the adoption of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage by UNESCO in October 2003 (2003 Convention)1. In this period intangible heritage has become a significant topic of global heritage practice, policy and academic research2. Proof of its popularity is the enthusiasm with which UNESCO Member States have nominated elements3 for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity (Representative List)4. Much in the spirit of the World Heritage List, the Representative List consists of living practices, cultural expressions and oral traditions that have been recognised as intangible heritage by governments. Over the past decade, the purpose of list-making and processes of placing elements on the UNESCO list have come under scrutiny by researchers who question the political motivations and socio-economic implications of such state-sponsored actions (Smith and Akagawa 2009, Akagawa and Smith 2018, Hafstein 2018, Coombe and Weiss 2015, Beardslee 2015, Aykan 2013, Foster and Gilman 2015, Adell et al. 2015).
Of equal ā if not more ā interest is, in my opinion, the international mobilisation around safeguarding practices, put in action by UNESCO and its associated networks following the entry into force of the Convention in 2006. Over the last decade, this has taken the shape of training and capacity-building5 on the implementation of the 2003 Convention (Jacobs 2020, Blake 2020) and the consolidation of the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices. The latter contains a list of safeguarding programmes that governments and UNESCO have singled out as reflective of the spirit of the Convention (Schreiber 2020). As Duvelle, former Director of the Intangible Heritage Sector of UNESCO, has noted, the mobilisation around safeguarding practices hints at the difficulties encountered by governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in implementing the 2003 Convention (2014). It also demonstrates an institutional commitment to the participation of ācommunities, groups and individualsā in the safeguarding of intangible heritage.
Indeed, the issue of participation of communities, groups and individuals in the safeguarding of intangible heritage could be regarded as one of the innovations of the 2003 Convention compared to the other UNESCO conventions for cultural heritage, and most notably the 1972 World Heritage Convention (Deakon and Smeets, 2013, Blake 2018a, Dāamico Soggetti 2020, Jacobs 2020). Yet, it is also a source of controversy, not only because it is measured and valued differently around the world, but also because its application on the ground raises ethical and political questions (Adell et al. 2015, Bortolotto et al. 2020, Dāamico Soggetti 2020). In article 15, the 2003 Convention states that,
within the framework of its safeguarding activities of the intangible cultural heritage, each state party shall endeavour to ensure the widest possible participation of communities, groups and, where appropriate, individuals that create, maintain and transmit such heritage, and to involve them actively in its management.
(UNESCO 2003)
Participation is at the heart of the training and capacity-building material of UNESCO, the informed consent of communities is a requirement for nominations on the UNESCO Lists and Register and the most recently updated Operational Directives (UNESCO 2018) as well as the Ethical Principles for Safeguarding Intangible Heritage (UNESCO 2015) are primarily about ensuring respect and involvement of communities, groups and individual practitioners (Stefano and Wedland 2020, Jacobs 2017b). Yet, Dāamico Soggetti makes the point that despite the inclusive and democratic connotations of article 15, the 2003 Convention is an instrument of governmental authority and control over cultural practitioners (2020). Such claims beg for the examination of participation as a philosophical, ethical and practical frame for safeguarding intangible heritage and its application on the ground of heritage and museum work.
The aim of this book, then, is to examine participation as an intellectual and operational context for safeguarding intangible heritage. In a series of heritage encounters, the book investigates safeguarding practices with a focus on participatory processes in different settings and discourses, including national institutions, regional networ...
