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- Convenor:
-
Alessandro Testa
(Charles University)
- Stream:
- Heritage
- Location:
- A101
Short Abstract:
This panel intends to gather and discuss contributions, both theoretically and ethnographically informed, about the epistemological and methodological shifts characterizing the related notions of "folklore" and "intangible heritage" in the fields of Anthropology, Ethnology, and Cultural History.
Long Abstract:
In the last few decades some major theoretical and methodological shifts have characterized the interconnected disciplines of Anthropology, Folkloristics, Ethnology of Europe, and Cultural History. Many categories and notions long used (and sporadically abused) have been thoroughly problematized, at times profoundly questioned, and even abandoned.
The purpose of this panel is to discuss how these shifts have affected both the common and the academic usages of two of these notions: those of "Folklore" and "Intangible heritage".
"Folklore" is a term doubtless characterized by apparently separated but actually interwoven etic and emic connotations. Indeed it often shows a certain degree of semantic entanglement (or tension) between the two, and a capacity for circulating in interstitial terminological grounds and non-hegemonic discourses.
Conversely, at first "intangible heritage" could be thought of as a technical category only. However, recent ethnographic evidence demonstrates that, in its simpler version - "heritage" without an adjective, still used to refer also to real intangible heritages - it is actually present also in non-professional and non-academic fields, being discussed and negotiated, for a rather diverse set of aims, in many social arenas, and in Europe as well as elsewhere.
This panel intends to address these issues newly and foster further theorization about them. This will be done by gathering contributions that will try to merge ethnographic and/or historical data, theoretical insights, and methodological applications, yet without neglecting the conclusions drawn in the already abundant literature that so far has dealt with similar topics.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Alessandro Testa (Charles University)
Paper short abstract:
In this contribution I will present some reflections about the emic and etic usages of the categories of "folklore" and (intangible) "cultural heritage" in the contexts in which I have done ethnographic research during the last few years: Molise in Italy and Bohemia in the Czech Republic.
Paper long abstract:
In this contribution I will present some reflections about the emic and etic usages of the categories of "folklore" and (intangible) "cultural heritage" in the contexts in which I have done ethnographic research during the last few years: Molise in Italy and Bohemia in the Czech Republic.
I will propose a few theoretical considerations based on my ethnographic data, but I will also bring up other European cases consistent with my own. In fact, as noted in the panel abstract, the discussion about the connections - and the social as well as theoretical dimensions of these connections - between those two notions, albeit not new to students of European ethnology and anthropology, has never been the explicit or principal subject of any publication or conference panel prior to now (at least to my knowledge).
This paper will therefore and moreover have the purpose of fostering this discussion by means of open questions to my audience. I will address my colleagues and ask them to contribute during the talk to present their own cases in order for us to try to discern, on a European level, common patterns (as well as differential patterns) in the conceptualizations and usages of said categories.
Mats Nilsson (University of Gothenburg)
Paper short abstract:
In the recent past, the concept of “tradition” has been challenged especially by the emerging notion of “intangible cultural heritage”. Drawing on the case of different forms of dance in Sweden, I will problematize this shift in concepts and explore the historical and ideological contexts in which these occurred.
Paper long abstract:
“Tradition” is a concept that has been foundational for the field of folklore studies. In the recent past, the concept has been challenged by various emerging notions, most prominently that of “intangible cultural heritage”. Drawing on the case of different forms of dance in Sweden, and here specifically gender attributions, I will problematize this shift in concepts and explore the historical and ideological contexts in which these occurred. Through the confrontation of categories such as “folk dance”, “popular dance”, “vernacular dance” and “old time dance”, I will investigate how such categories are invented and institutionalised, and which criteria and forms of presentational or participatory thinking they are based upon. Key questions explore how and when “traditional dances” become heritage, or conversely are no longer considered “traditional”.
Oksana Mykytenko (Institute for Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology)
Paper short abstract:
In case of the death of an unwed person, in some Slavic countries there are folk practices which set forth formal and symbolic similarities between wedding and burial rites. In case of an "untimely" death, this condition is ritually codified through the dressing of the the body as if for a wedding.
Paper long abstract:
In case of the death of an unwed person, in some Slavic countries there are folk beliefs and practices which set forth formal and symbolic similarities between wedding and burial rituals. In case of an "untimely" death, this condition is ritually and symbolically codified through the dressing of the the body as if for a wedding (wedding dress, wreath, head scarf, wedding attributes, etc.).Therefore, in the context of a "sad wedding" (Ukranian: sumne vesilia; Russian: oonilaya svadebka), the semantic function of the attire gains a specific importance.
The representation - and the social treatment - of the actual death through a ritualistic one is a common tendency of burial rites, and in fact the practice of dressing the dead as for a wedding code during the burial complex acquires ritualistic and even magical aspects. Represented in objects, acts and speech, this symbolic treatment marks the whole connotational field of the burial rite, thus becoming a culturally meaningful and respresentative element of folk beliefs and practices.
Marta Kucza
Paper short abstract:
This paper discusses the influence of the project-management scheme and the policies of safeguarding as "a force for sustainable development" (UNESCO) on the practices that are being represented as "intangible heritage".
Paper long abstract:
This paper addresses the paradoxes of policies and schemes of safeguarding intangible heritage as a « force for sustainable development », as formulated by UNESCO. Orality, one of the strongests features of artistic practice in the Republic of Congo, a critical agency conveying representations of the past and shaping relationships between various actors, materializes itself as « intangible heritage » as soon as it gets implicated in the network of policy, management and control.
The core of Espace Tiné's enterprise was to create a place for artistic residences, where a video archive of oral performances might be a source of inspiration for other performative art works. Its approach was influenced by the liberty of transforming existing practices, as well as the dialogic character of artistic expression. What shape did these oral practices take in writing when they became « intangible heritage », entangled in the project-management matrix ?
With this paper I will provide an ethnography of conceiving, writing and reformulating complex proposals for funding, namely for the EU-ACP Support Programme to ACP Cultural Industries and UNESCO, with Espace Tiné, an association from Brazzaville working in the field of collecting and transforming oral performances in Congo. Drawing from semiotic analysis and actor-network theory (Latour 2005), I will investigate the tensions between the policies defining intangible heritage as a force for sustainable development, the project-management methodology required by the donor agencies, and the « intangibility » of the practices in question.
Mustafa Coskun (University of Tübingen)
Paper short abstract:
This paper, based on recent ethnographic and archival research on Kyrgyz oral poetry performances, aims to complicate the notion of heritage and processes of heritagization by engaging with the concept of improvisation and improvised poetry as intangible cultural heritage.
Paper long abstract:
Historical development of Kyrgyz oral poetry performances suggests that they do not correspond to classical categories of folk art, songs or tales since improvisation is not an exception, but the rule. Poets do not have a set repertoire or canonized text for their performances. Yet, they make constant reference to historical events, traditional norms and values when singing on a contemporary topic; they blend their performances with proverbs, sayings, aphorisms that are well-established in the collective memory of the Kyrgyz. Thus, the poet "subordinates his own voice to the age-old cultural truths" which ensures favorable reception from the audience. Improvisational character of these traditional performances opens up a discursive field where the past and present meet and inform each other. Thus, these performances turn into a unique folk art that is traditional in form, modern in content.
Regardless of its historical development, these performances are promoted as "spiritual heritage" and "spiritual wealth" in postsocialist Kyrgyzstan both by the state and regional elites, even more so after their inscription into the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list. This paper, based on recent ethnographic and archival research on Kyrgyz oral poetry performances, aims to complicate the notion of heritage and processes of heritagization by engaging with the concept of improvisation and improvised poetry. While the "form" of these performances are traditional and have had a long history among the Kyrgyz, the "content" has been spontaneously composed and its message has never been independent of the social and political circumstances.
Yue Qiu (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
Paper short abstract:
This paper discusses how people reconfigure cultural heritage into different forms and localize them as a new folklore while competing for the ownership of cultural heritage in the post-disaster recovery context.
Paper long abstract:
This paper intends to discuss the difference between “folklore” and “intangible cultural heritage” through the process of the production of locality of Beichuan, a small town of West China, destroyed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The once shared folklores now have clear attribution under the ICH project, and the economic benefit in post-disaster recovery has enhanced the competition of the ownership.
Through an ethnographic research on two groups that practice folk songs and dances in New Beichuan, this paper will explore their attitudes towards the cultural authenticity by analyzing the ways they perform and present the Qiang identity. Members of the first group are dancers from mountainous villages who believe they have the authenticity of the tradition; the second group learns songs and dances from videos and tries to reconfigure the folk dances.
The local knowledge of Qiang have been de-territorialized by labor migration and electronic media, and then re-integrated in New Beichuan through the efforts done by the two groups. This process helps Beichuan people to imagine themselves as Qiang. By learning songs and dances from the two groups, people in the new town have gradually created a local cultural and collective identity.