Introduction

Intangible Cultural Heritage and Archaeological Studies of Social Identity

Leonora O’BrienPrincipal Cultural Heritage Consultant AECOMleonora.obrien@aecom.com

@EAAGlasgow

Session RI16 : Reconfiguring Identities

‘The protection of intangible heritage is a long struggle’Alpha Oumar Konaré, President of Mali (1992-2002)

Ceremony for the start of the restoration of a mausoleum, Timbuktu, 2014 © UNESCO/MINUSMA/Marco Domino

Intangible Cultural Heritage ‘…a mechanism of selection and display. It is a tool for challenging attention and resources to certain cultural practices and not to others. Intangible heritage is both a dance-band and a hospital: a serious enterprise concerned with life and death of traditions and communities and a fund-raising dinner dance party with colourful costumes, glaring spotlights, and rhythmic tunes’Hafstein, V 2009 ‘Intangible Heritage as a List: from masterpiece to representation’. In L Smith & N Akagawa, Intangible Heritage. Routledge, 108

Notting Hill Carnival, 2011 © Matt Lloyd/The Times

•Provides communities with a sense of place, identity and continuity

•Recognises heritage of countries and cultures overlooked by 1972 World Heritage Convention

•Social and political consequences

•Reinforces and legitimises social and cultural values given to heritage

Salt cod stew competition, Mundaka, Biscay, Basque Country

Contemporary culture and ICH

Sámi herding camp, Finnmark, Norway

UNESCO and ICH

•UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage came into force in 2006

•List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding

•Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

•‘Living Human Treasures’ programme

Coast Salish Nation graffiti, Vancouver, Canada

Politics, power and prestige•State regulation and control

•Value asserted by placing on ‘heritage’ lists or registers• Prestige• Endorsement of consensus identities

• Cultural and identity politics

•Conservation, protection and safeguarding • Authenticity, provenance and economic protectionism

• Commodification and tourism

• Pseudo-culture and theme parks

Gastronomic meal of the French, Representative List of ICH, 2010

China Hui Culture Park , Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, opened 2005 © xinhuanet.com

Conflict and contested heritage•Dissonant heritage: What may be ‘comfortable’ and ‘worthy’ as heritage to someone will always be ‘uncomfortable’ and problematic to another

•Regulating and negotiating the meaning of the past

•Cultural and social politics of identity, belonging and exclusion

Destruction of Armenian kachkars (cross-stones), Djulfa, Azerbaijan, 1998-2006

ICH in the UK•UK has not ratified UNESCO convention•lack of understanding of the ideas and principles of ICH

•Statements from some authorities (DCMS & HE) that ICH is not relevant to the UK, and that the UK has no intangible heritage (Smith & Waterson 2012, 289-302)

•Failure to recognise legitimacy and relevance

Durham Miners’ Gala, England © Stuart Forster/Rex Features

Change ringing, Surrey, England © Parish of Walton-on-Thames

ICH in Scotland•Community-centred and inclusive approach to ICH – in terms of participation, diffusion and ethnicity

•Puts heritage in the context of a dynamic shared spatial and social identity

•Scotland is not currently afforded the opportunity for UNESCO to officially recognise examples of heritage in Scotland as ICH

•http://ichscotland.org/

Up-Helly-Aa New Year festival, Shetland © uphellyaa.org

Edinburgh and Glasgow Melas © ichscotland.org

Cloutie well, Munclochy, Black Isle, Highland © www.themodernantiquarian.com

Authenticity and changing narratives•Dynamic living cultures •The ownership, control and official versions of ICH may be contentious

•Evolving due to globalisation, cultural transformation, conflict and displacement

•Evolution is a natural process within the ICH spectrum•Natural demise of traditions•Discarding useless and meaningless practices

•Change and survival

Donald John Mackay at his loom © HTA

Waulking the tweed, Harris

Converse Chuck Taylor All Star - Harris Tweed , 2012, Japan © nicekicks.com