Paper short abstract:

The aim of this paper is to present the case study of the Zafimaniry of Madagascar, a group of swidden cultivators whose excellent skills for woodcarving and sculpting have been inscribed on the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 2008.

Paper long abstract:

The Zafimaniry are a community of swidden cultivators who live in the montane forests of central Madagascar. As a result of their emplacement in what once was dense primary forest, this group has developed excellent skills for woodcarving and sculpting, which have been inscribed on the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 2008. This declaration has drawn great attention on this small and isolated community increasing, beside other things, their touristic popularity and the demand for their crafts. However, beyond the optimism that this international recognition seemed to favour, it seems a paradox that the UNESCO inscription arrived while everywhere in Madagascar the issue of forest conservation is in the eye of the storm.

The aim of this paper, part of an ongoing research project for a doctoral thesis, is to reflect upon the reactions of Zafimaniry villagers to the UNESCO declaration: how they live it, interpret it, relate to it, accept it or resist it. The inscription of Zafimaniry woodcrafting skills on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage led to a process of formalization of their knowledge that pretend to preserve it from contaminating and disappearing. Beyond that, however, it has revealed an arena where multiple actors stake their interests, bringing to a confrontation for different conceptions of identity and culture: on one hand, culture and identity as something stable, compact and extremely vulnerable; on the other, as notions that include adaptation and change.