Paper short abstract:

The paper asks to what extent the discourse of social correctness, currently symptomatic of liberal society, conflicts with the concept of the protection of ICH, which in many countries, including the Czech Republic, has grown up in close connection with the safeguarding of folk tradition.

Paper long abstract:

In the 1990s, when it became apparent that the interconnectedness of the world, with the help of modern technology, was leading to the growth of global culture, but also to the strengthening of local cultural expressions, the platform of intangible cultural heritage entered the wider international consciousness. It has been developing at UNESCO with varying degrees of intensity since the 1960s and has gained a firm institutional basis, especially with the adoption of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003). The interpretation of the concept of intangible cultural heritage has not been entirely uniform from the outset due to the different socio-cultural developments in different countries. In the end, this has tended to support the idea of preserving the diversity of the world's cultures and their equal status. However, the emphasis on human rights, ethics and human freedom, which is strongly asserted in liberal societies, is beginning to affect with (varying) intensity the concept of intangible cultural heritage, which in many countries, including the Czech Republic, has grown in close connection with the idea of preserving elements of folk tradition. This raises the topical question of how to deal with cultural goods that may appear problematic due to the discourse of social correctness. Is there a line that cannot be crossed with regard to the preservation of cultural heritage as an ancestral legacy? And who is actually the arbiter of controversial moments related to changing social moods and determining new interpretations of the past?