Abstract: The category of intangible cultural heritage was constituted through recurrent and cumulative acts of comparison referring ultimately back to the representative anecdote of oral tradition, Homeric epic. In turn, once cr…
Abstract: Reading across the six essays in this special issue on “UNESCO on the ground,” this commentary argues for an understanding of intangible heritage as a diagnosis for a cultural condition that is increasingly common in in…
Abstract: When people attribute a position or action to UNESCO, they rarely specify to which of its many parts they refer. UNESCO is a nation-state based organization located in Paris, advised by hundreds of affiliated NGOs, with…
Abstract: This essay addresses the contentious local responses to intangible cultural heritage (ICH) protection in a local context. The following ethnographic case study concerns the living tradition of worshipping the ancient sa…
Abstract: In Macedonia debates about heritage are played out along the fault lines of ethnic and religious conflict as well as a faltering economy and threats from neighbors about interpretations of history. The country’s 2002 an…
Abstract: Toshidon is a “visiting deity” (raihoshin) ritual that takes place every New Year’s Eve on a small island off the southwest coast of Japan. Performed for purposes of education, Toshidon is an event in which groups of me…
Abstract: Vimbuza, one of two Malawian dance forms inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008, is a healing ritual practiced by Tumbuka people in Malawi’s northern region. …
Abstract: This study examines a South Korean shamanic ritual to explore how UNESCO recognition complicates preexisting discourses concerning the interface of cultural and economic values in heritage making and heritage maintenanc…
Abstract: Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater of Kerala state was recognized as India’s first UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001. Looking back a decade later, how has UNESCO recognition impacted bo…
Abstract: This essay briefly introduces this special issue, outlining the context for UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and its accompanying Representative List. It explains that th…