Between Objects and Ideas

Re-thinking the Role of Intangible Heritage
in Museums, at Monuments, in Landscapes and in Communities

26th - 28th March 2008

DOWNLOADS

1. The abstracts of the colloquium

2. The program

THE CHALLENGE

Since the adoption by UNESCO of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the public role of this major new aspect of heritage documentation, conservation, interpretation, and community involvement has been expanding, offering both challenges and opportunities to scholars and heritage professionals all over the world.

The 78 states-parties who have already ratified or accepted the Convention have initiated national inventories of Intangible Heritage, even as the precise definition, context, and administration procedures for its preservation are still being discussed. The 4th Annual Ename Colloquium seeks to enrich this ongoing international discussion by presenting innovative contributions from heritage administrators, cultural economists, archaeologists, historians, educators, and cultural policy specialists — as well as practitioners of traditional intangible heritage — under the following three programme themes.

THEMES

Theme 1. Defining the Boundary between Tangible and Intangible
Is Intangible Heritage merely a new category of heritage subjects? Or does it represent an entirely new approach that must effectively integrate curated objects, protected places, living traditions, and collective memory? Through examples and case-studies we would like to examine how we can identify the “tangible” dimensions of Intangible Heritage; the “intangible” dimensions of Material Heritage; and complexity of their interrelation. Is the concept of ICH merely one of classification, or is it perhaps of an entirely different interpretive quality?

Theme 2. The Challenge: Safeguarding or Facilitating?
The UNESCO Convention defines Intangible Cultural Heritage as being “transmitted from generation to generation” and “constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature, and their history.” In light of this dynamic definition, to what extent can we ever capture or safeguard essential expressions of ICH when they are necessarily and constantly evolving? Does this challenge require as much attention to the frameworks of public participation in heritage as to specific expressions or sites? What innovative projects or programmes have succeeded in bridging this gap?

Theme 3. Who Owns Intangible Heritage?
The traditional structures of heritage administration are often focused on a “national” level. Certainly this is true in the case of both UNESCO conventions (1972 World Heritage and 2003 ICH), where the States Parties are the critical voices. But if ICH is an expression of community identity on all levels, what of local or regional expressions of culture and identity that may actually be in conflict or tension with the State? What role do traditional rituals, art forms, and crafts play in the political, economic, social, and cultural lives of the individuals and communities that maintain them?