Paper short abstract:

Through the analysis of two cases of patrimonial activation of the "Andalusian patios", we want to show how the new heritage typologies, as intangible heritage, are particularly suited to illustrate the fractures and contradictions related to heritagization.

Paper long abstract:

It is known that heritagisation processes illustrate a political arena. The attributed meanings provide legitimacy of use to one or the other collectives, in this sense, we can asset that heritage is an area of conflict and negotiation. We are going to analyze two ethnographic cases of "neighbours houses", better known as "Andalusian patios". These collective housing are organized around the courtyard and were designed for the working classes dwellings. "The Fiesta of the Patios in Cordova" (recently includes in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity) and "Seville Patios", both of them are processes characterized by the prominence of a group of citizens in the claim and defense of these heritages. From our point of view, the new heritage typologies, as intangible heritage, are particularly suited to illustrate the fractures and contradictions related to heritagization. We can examine fractures associated with disputes between experts, or the difficulties to manage social participation, also those gaps related to interactions between expert discourses and the narratives of different social actors. Linked to these conflicts we will try to advance in the following aspects: a) the intangible dimension and the protocols of the institutions of the heritage and the unchanging concept of conservation/safeguarding; b) the sacredness and transcendence associated with heritage and how constructivist expert discourse interact with social actors narratives; c) how heritage institutions normally consider citizen as an homogeneus whole (and sometimes reducing them to a "community").