Contribution short abstract:

Based on my work as a heritage consultant and researcher, this presentation reflects on the network which constitutes heritage, the balancing of commitments and translations as cultural broker, and the rewriting of heritage texts to enable an informed heritage discourse.

Contribution long abstract:

Many individuals and institutions are involved in the implementation process of the ICH Convention, from heritage communities to researchers, politicians or media. In this complex network of actors, objects, spaces, translations, knowledge practices, evaluations, etc., ‘living heritage’ is constructed, negotiated and passed on. This means that there is no heritage or community that exist in themself while being researched or evaluated from the outside. Rather, knowledge, skills and practices are also part of recirculations of academic knowledge, political or media formations. The proposed presentation suggests analysing the dynamics of this network, particularly the role of academics, NGO members or consultants as cultural brokers.

The presentation is based on my work as a heritage consultant and researcher, in which I support heritage communities in the application process on the one hand, and conduct research on cultural expressions, communities, cultural policy and the implementation process, on the other. As a cultural broker, I have to balance at least four commitments to the heritage communities, politics, the scientific community and the media/public, which requires translations between these groups with different texts, languages and representations. It also requires a critical reflection on the self-representation of the cultural heritage communities, the academic texts, the political texts of UNESCO and the Focal Points, etc. From this point of view, there is no fixed “text” on living heritage, but a continuous writing and rewriting. The multiple roles and viewpoints of cultural brokerage thus enable an “informed heritage discourse”, helping to establish heritage as a field of discourse.