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.