1st Edition
The Routledge Companion to Intangible Cultural Heritage
This collection provides an in-depth and up-to-date examination of the concept of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the issues surrounding its value to society. Critically engaging with the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the book also discusses local-level conceptualizations of living cultural traditions, practices and expressions, and reflects on the efforts that seek to safeguard them. Exploring a global range of case studies, the book considers the diverse perspectives currently involved with intangible cultural heritage and presents a rich picture of the geographic, socioeconomic and political contexts impacting research in this area. With contributions from established and emerging scholars, public servants, professionals, students and community members, this volume is also deeply enhanced by an interdisciplinary approach which draws on the theories and practices of heritage and museum studies, anthropology, folklore studies, ethnomusicology, and the study of cultural policy and related law. The Routledge Companion to Intangible Cultural Heritage undoubtedly broadens the international heritage discourse and is an invaluable learning tool for instructors, students and practitioners in the field.
Introduction Michelle Stefano and Peter Davis
A Decade Later: Critical Reflections on the UNESCO-ICH Paradigm
1. Development of UNESCO’s 2003 Convention: Creating a New Heritage Protection Paradigm? Janet Blake
2. The Examination of Nomination Files under the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Rieks Smeets and Harriet Deacon
3. A Conversation with Richard Kurin
4. Placing Intangible Cultural Heritage, Owing a Tradition, Affirming Sovereignty: the Role of Spatiality in the Practice of the 2003 Convention Chiara Bortolloto
5. Is Intangible Cultural Heritage an Anthropological Topic? Towards Interdisciplinarity in France Christian Hottin and Sylvie Grenet
6. The Impact of UNESCO’s 2003 Convention on National Policy-making: Developing a New Heritage Protection Paradigm? Janet Blake
Reality Check: The Challenges Facing ICH Safeguarding
7. From the Bottom Up: the Identification and Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Guyana Aron Mazel, Gerard Corsane, Raquel Thomas and Samantha James
8. Making the Past Pay? Intangible (Cultural) Heritage in South Africa and Mauritius Rosabelle Boswell
9. A Conversation with Yelsy Hernández Zamora on Intangible Cultural Heritage in Cuba
10. The Management of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China Tracey L-D Lu
11. Ageing Musically: Tangible Sites of Intangible Cultural Heritage Bradley Hanson
12. Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Czech Republic: Between National and Local Heritage Petr Janeček
13. Damming Ava Mezin: Challenges to Safeguarding Minority Intangible Cultural Heritage in Turkey Sarah Elliott
14. Documenting and Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage: the Experience in Scotland Alison M
Biography
Michelle L. Stefano is a Folklife Specialist (Research and Programs) at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, Washington, DC. From 2011-2016, Stefano worked for Maryland Traditions, the folklife program of the state of Maryland, of which she was its Co-Director from 2015-2016. From 2012-2016, she led the partnership between Maryland Traditions and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she was Visiting Assistant Professor in American Studies. She co-edited Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (2012) with Peter Davis and Gerard Corsane.
Peter Davis is Emeritus Professor of Museology in the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies at Newcastle University, UK. He is honorary editor of Archives of Natural History, the journal of the Society for the History of Natural History, and a series editor for Heritage Matters. His research interests include the interactions between nature, culture and concepts of place and space. He has published widely on ecomuseums and intangible cultural heritage.
"It is a most welcome addition to literature, and a must-have for all who want to deepen their understanding of the scholarly research into and safeguarding practice of Intangible Cultural Heritage. (...) With the publication of this Routledge Companion, Intangible Cultural Heritage has certainly reached a new level of scholarly recognition. And that is a very good thing."
- Steven Engelsman, Director, Weltmuseum Wien, Austria
"The Routledge Companion to Intangible Cultural Heritgae provides asnapshop- or rather, a whole picture album- of the evolution of a profoundly important cultural policiy and paradigm[...] The editors have assembled here a massive and varied set of essays- 38 individual chapters written by 54 authors, including anthropologists, folklorists, legals scholars, museum professionals, ethomusicologists, and community members."
- Michael Dylan Foster, University of California, USA
