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Paper short abstract:

Bećarac is inscribed in UNESCO in 2011. It is a popular genre in eastern Croatia, but it came to the general public's attention following two scandals. Both of them called in question the justification of the enrollment of bećarac in UNESCO. Local communities felt big insecurity and asked: what now?

Paper long abstract:

Local communities of rural eastern Croatia are very proud of bećarac as ICH of humanity. It is a living heritage, but the inscription raised awareness of the value of this heritage in local communities. Bećarac came in to focus of the general public in Croatia following two affairs related to bećarac. First happened in 2017 when a bećarac singer was led to court for insulting a female police officer by singing bećarac to her. Public discussion was vigorous, but everything went as it came. Second scandal happened in 2022 when bećarac was used as an inspiration for an artistic performance by which the artist called into question the justification of the enrollment of bećarac in UNESCO. In both cases, local community strongly defended bećarac as their own identity. By my own involvement in the local culture of bećarac, I asked myself: What are we doing for/with bećarac all these years since UNESCO's recognition? Who should do something about it? In what ways can we engage our heritage in modern transformation of rural Croatia? How come that the general public does not understand (the culture of) bećarac? We are strongly defending bećarac when it is attacked, but we are taking it for granted when no one is judging it. In this paper I will try to offer a fresh perspective on this important issues giving examples of new approaches that are connecting our heritage and contemporary rural eastern Croatia, engaging ethnologists as the main mediators in these processes.