Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 3-17-2021 9:00 AM Endangered Species of the Physical Cultural Landscape: Globalization, Nationalism, and Safeguarding Traditional Folk Games Thomas Fabian, The University of Western Ontario Supervisor: Barney, Robert K., The University of Western Ontario A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Kinesiology © Thomas Fabian 2021 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, and the Sports Studies Commons Recommended Citation Fabian, Thomas, "Endangered Species of the Physical Cultural Landscape: Globalization, Nationalism, and Safeguarding Traditional Folk Games" (2021). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 7701. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/7701 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Abstract Folk sports are the countertype of modern sports: invented traditions, bolstered by tangible ritual and intangible myth, played by the common folk in order to express a romantic ethnic identity. Like other cultural forms, traditional sports and games around the world are becoming marginalized in the face of modernization and globalization. In 2003, UNESCO ratified the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in an attempt to counter such trends of cultural homogenization. As elements of intangible cultural heritage, folk sports now fall under the auspices of UNESCO safeguarding policies.