Paper short abstract:

In Latin American countries, food heritagization has been occuring at institutional and non-institutional levels. We will question its role in the negotiation of identities, in local development strategies and integration into the global economy.

Paper long abstract:

In different regional contexts, heritage politics are encouraging the revitalization and the promotion of particular and « traditional » food products with aims such as cultural recognition and market exploitation. Moreover, UNESCO has started acknowledging different food cultures as Intangible Cultural Heritage, thus encouraging States to identify food features likely to obtain universal recognition. As a consequence, food cultures have moved to the center of a triangulation between culture, identity and markets. In Latin America, heritagization of food cultures has been happening at both institutional and non-institutional levels, first through international, national and regional institutions and, besides, through restaurants, markets, food festivals, community encounters and rituals. Through case studies in Mexico, Peru and Brazil, we will wonder why and how food and culinary heritage has been increasingly promoted, who it favors, who and what has been excluded from these processes and for which reasons. We will also question the role of food heritagization in the negotiation of past and present identities, in the integration of social groups into the global economy and in the attribution of value to people and substances involved in this process.

Paper short abstract:

Anthropologists focus on conflicts between external national/local governments and internal local residents who take a primary role in preserving culture. This study presents a case where such polarization of interests cannot be easily identified in the process of utilizing culture as resources.

Paper long abstract:

Kyoto's prefectural government is promoting geisha quarters in Kyoto and their unique performance and custom to be registered as an Intangible Cultural Heritage, which the national government is going to endorse in the near future. In 1976, the national government designated streets lined with geisha teahouses in Gion, one of the geisha quarters, to be a "preservation district of historic buildings" under Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. Anthropologists have examined how national and local governments utilize culture as touristic resources. They focus on polarized conflicts between external national/local governments that utilize culture as resources, and internal local residents who take a primary role in preserving culture. By exploring interactions between female managers of teahouses and their customers in Gion, this study presents a case where such polarization of interests cannot be easily identified in the process of utilizing culture as resources. Female managers have played a primary role in preserving the culture of geisha quarters. In response to the external demand to change geisha teahouses into a tourists-friendly space, they are beginning to accept new customers and offer pre-packaged shows performed by geisha. This study examines how the brand value of Gion has been created since the area was designated to be a cultural property in the 1970s, and how such designation has influenced the ways in which female managers utilize the traditional culture of geisha quarters as resources. It ultimately shows how such process of utilization is embedded in their survival strategies in their daily lives.

Paper short abstract:

This paper proposes the concept of ‘oral heirlooms’: biographical narratives of a migrant South Indian community through which emerge physical objects of importance in relation to demolished matrilineal ancestral houses. This vocalisation of objects impacts how ICH is transmitted across generations.

Paper long abstract:

This paper proposes the concept of 'oral heirlooms' which I position as ancestral and biographical narratives, through which emerge visible or invisible objects of importance. The paper is essentially an enquiry into how physical objects of importance are transmitted vocally between generations. 'Oral heirlooms' here signifies an object which has resided in memory and/or in a household location with low or high visibility, and is transmitted through oral narratives which keep the object alive. To this effect, memories are mediated through the histories of houses, of objects, of individuals. I have actively 'listened' for objects originating from demolished matrilineal ancestral houses in the life stories narrated to me by members of the Thiyya community in London. Thiyyas are originally from North Kerala, India, but have settled throughout the world for various reasons. I hope to demonstrate the potential importance of orality in object analysis and the process of preserving and transmitting objects and memories in rapidly changing social landscapes. I will also touch upon a nuanced thread which connects the various issues mentioned above: understanding how potential ancestral and present-day responsibilities for descendants are created and inherited alongside 'oral heirlooms'. Taking these 'oral heirlooms' to be mediators of the past could help us get closer to an understanding of the processes and effects of contemporary migration and issues of modernity on the intangible cultural heritage of the Thiyya community, and the experiences of an evolving collective cultural memory in relation to demolished ancestral houses.

Paper short abstract:

This study focuses on the masks made for tourist show called barong dance. I explore how the masks made for tourist show interact with people and become involved in local village life. I try to show a non-anthropocentric analysis on cultural tourism in Bali.

Paper long abstract:

Barong dance is typically performed for tourists. This study focuses on masks used in barong dance for tourist. Many Balinese villages own barong and rangda masks as objects of worship. However, in most of the cases, those used for tourists shows are not these sacred masks but replicas or similar ones.

At first glance, Balinese people seem skillful in differentiate "secular tourist performance" from their ritual or religious realm by using non-sacral masks. However, the actual situation is not so simple. For example, some of the masks made for tourist show gradually gain supernatural power and eventually become objects of worship. In other cases, people ask their sacral barong to give spiritual help and protection to their none-sacred masks. People make, use, and control the masks. However, at the same time, they can be in awe of, enchanted by, and even scared of those masks. By exploring how the masks made for tourism interact with people and become involved in local village life, I would like to rethink the anthropological discussion on Balinese cultural tourism. Previous studies often celebrate Balinese people's capacity for "inventing tradition". Rather than following such anthropocentric viewpoint, I would like to analyze the development of cultural tourism, especially in the field of performing arts, as a process of mutual interaction between people and masks.

Paper short abstract:

The mask is the integral component of many cultures and each civilization. From time immemorial masks are related to the primordial thought process of innumerable cultures.

Paper long abstract:

Mask is a form of art and it has a thought provoking history of evolution. These have been designed in innumerable varieties from a good number of materials available in the environment. Mask makers have shown great resourcefulness in selecting and combining the available materials in their surroundings. Superstition and belief about mask abound in different communities. The mask also holds deep significance in the socio cultural study of a community, which has a custom of mask making. In Assam (India) there is a rich heritage of mask. It is an integral object of the satra, i.e., the Vaishnavite monastery of Assam. Majuli is a river island situated in the upper reaches of the mighty river Brahmaputra in Jorhat District of Assam. In Majuli at present there are 22 satras, among which only four have praiseworthy tradition of mask making. In the satras, the masks are made from the splited bamboo woven structure covered with a mixture of clay and cowdung. That is why these masks are very light in comparison to their structures. The mask of the satras can easily spellbound the spectators with their craftsmanship and splendour. Some of the masks are worn over or infront of the face; sometimes, however, a mask covers the whole body of the wearer. In this paper a modest attempt has been made to examine the thought provoking mask making tradition of the Chamaguri Satra of Majuli, Assam(India).