Intangible Cultural Heritage Domains

Intangible Cultural Heritage Domains Intangible Cultural Heritage 172 Intangible cultural dinand de Jong r UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible e o © F hot Cultural Heritage proposes five broad ‘domains’ in which intangible P cultural heritage is manifested: I Oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage; tsev I Performing arts; o © A.Bur hot P LL The Kankurang, I Social practices, rituals and festive events; Manding Initiatory Rite, Senegal and Gambia I Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; L The Olonkho, Yakut Heroic Epos, Russian Federation I Traditional craftsmanship. J The Carnival of Binche, Belgium heritage domains Instances of intangible cultural heritage are not might make minute distinctions between , limited to a single manifestation and many variations of expression while another group itage include elements from multiple domains. Take, considers them all diverse parts of a single form. ultural Her for example, a shamanistic rite. This might adagascar e of M tment of C involve traditional music and dance, prayers and While the Convention sets out a framework for ultur epar songs, clothing and sacred items as well as ritual identifying forms of intangible cultural heritage, y of C o © D inistr hot P and ceremonial practices and an acute the list of domains it provides is intended to be M awareness and knowledge of the natural world. inclusive rather than exclusive; it is not Similarly, festivals are complex expressions of necessarily meant to be ‘complete’. States may aiapi intangible cultural heritage that include singing, use a different system of domains. There is W dancing, theatre, feasting, oral tradition and already a wide degree of variation, with some storytelling, displays of craftsmanship, sports and countries dividing up the manifestations of other entertainments. The boundaries between intangible cultural heritage differently, while onselho Das Aldeias domains are extremely fluid and often vary from others use broadly similar domains to those of o © C hot community to community. It is difficult, if not the Convention with alternative names. They P impossible, to impose rigid categories externally. may add further domains or new sub-categories LL The Woodcrafting Knowledge of the While one community might view their chanted to existing domains. This may involve Zafimaniry, Madagascar verse as a form of ritual, another would interpret incorporating ‘sub-domains’ already in use in L Oral and Graphic d it as song. Similarly, what one community defines countries where intangible cultural heritage is elar Expressions of the Wajapi, as ‘theatre’ might be interpreted as ‘dance’ in a recognized, including ‘traditional play and Brazil different cultural context. There are also games’, ‘culinary traditions’, ‘animal husbandry’, o © M. Rev hot P differences in scale and scope: one community ‘pilgrimage’ or ‘places of memory’. 4 . INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE O Oral traditions and expressions Because they are passed on by word of mouth, The oral traditions and expressions domain oral traditions and expressions often vary encompasses an enormous variety of spoken significantly in their telling. Stories are a CA – ICH / UNESC forms including proverbs, riddles, tales, nursery combination – differing from genre to genre, ollo / NC rhymes, legends, myths, epic songs and poems, from context to context and from performer to astr o S. R charms, prayers, chants, songs, dramatic performer – of reproduction, improvisation and performances and more. Oral traditions and creation. This combination makes them a vibrant o © Renat expressions are used to pass on knowledge, and colourful form of expression, but also fragile, hot P cultural and social values and collective memory. as their viability depends on an uninterrupted L The Hudhud Chants of the Ifugao, Philippines They play a crucial part in keeping cultures alive. chain passing traditions from one generation of performers to the next. Some types of oral expression are common and can be used by entire communities while others Although language underpins the intangible are limited to particular social groups, only men heritage of many communities, the protection and or women, perhaps, or only the elderly. In many preservation of individual languages is beyond the societies, performing oral traditions is a highly scope of the 2003 Convention, though they are specialized occupation and the community included in Article 2 as a means of transmitting holds professional performers in the highest intangible cultural heritage. Different languages regard as guardians of collective memory. Such shape how stories, poems and songs are told, as performers can be found in communities all well as affecting their content. The death of a over the world. While poets and storytellers in language inevitably leads to the permanent loss of non-Western societies such as the griots and oral traditions and expressions. However, it is these dyelli from Africa are well known, there is also a oral expressions themselves and their performance rich oral tradition in Europe and North America. in public that best help to safeguard a language In Germany and the USA, for example, there are rather than dictionaries, grammars and databases. K The Palestinian Hikaye hundreds of professional storytellers. Languages live in songs and stories, riddles and DOMAINS . 5 rhymes and so the protection of languages and the The Olonkho, the Heroic Epos of the Yakut people trans mission of oral traditions and expressions are of the Russian Federation, reflects Yakut beliefs very closely linked. and customs, shamanistic practices, oral history and values. The ‘Olonkhosut’ or narrator must Like other forms of intangible cultural heritage, oral excel in acting, singing, eloquence and poetic traditions are threatened by rapid urban isation, improvisation. Like most oral traditions, there are O large-scale migration, industrialisation and multiple versions of Olonkho, the longest of which environmental change. Books, newspapers and totals over 15,000 lines of verse. o © UNESC hot P magazines, radio, television and the Internet can have an especially damaging effect on oral The Palestinian Hikaye is told by women to other traditions and expressions. Modern mass media women and children, and offers an often critical may significantly alter or over replace traditional view of society from women’s perspectives. Almost forms of oral expression. Epic poems that once took every Palestinian woman over the age of 70 is a several days to recite in full may be reduced to just Hikaye teller, and the tradition is mainly carried on a few hours and traditional courtship songs that by elder women. However, it is not unusual for girls were sung before marriage may be replaced by and young boys to tell tales to one another for afi Safieh o © R CDs or digital music files. practice or pleasure. hot P The most important part of safeguarding oral The Hudhud Chants of the Ifugao in the O traditions and expressions is maintaining their every Philippines are performed during the sowing day role in society. It is also essential that season, rice harvest and funeral wakes. A complete CA -ICH / UNESC opportunities for knowledge to be passed from telling, which lasts for several days, is often ollo / NC person-to-person survive; chances for elders to conducted by an elderly woman, who acts as the astr interact with young people and pass on stories in community’s historian and preacher. o S. R homes and schools, for example. Oral tradition o © Renat hot often forms an important part of festive and cultural To safeguard the Art of Akyns, six studios have P celebrations and these events may need to be been established in different regions of promoted and new contexts, such as storytelling Kyrgyzstan where recognized epic-tellers, the O festivals, encouraged to allow traditional creativity Akyns, pass on their knowledge and skills to groups or UNESC to find new means of expression. In the spirit of the of young apprentices preparing themselves to 2003 Convention, safeguarding measures should become modern Akyns in a few years. The teachers ommission f focus on oral traditions and expressions as may use audio-visual equipment, recordings and processes, where communities are free to explore texts, but the person-to-person form of learning gyz National C their cultural heritage, rather than as products. remains intact. o © Kyr hot P Communities, researchers and institutions may also use information technology to help safeguard the full range and richness of oral traditions, including textual variations and different styles of performance. Unique expressive features, such as intonation and a much larger number of varying styles, can now be recorded as audio or video, as can interactions between performers and audiences and non-verbal story elements including gestures and mimicry. Mass media and communi - undenbat cation technologies can be used to preserve and Y I Urtiin Duu even strengthen oral traditions and expressions by Traditional Folk Long broadcasting recorded performances both to their o © Sonom-Ish o © MOC Song, Mongolia and hot hot P communities of origin and to a wider audience. China P 6 . INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE DOMAINS L The Mask Dance of the Performing arts Dance, though very complex, may be described Drums from Drametse, The performing arts range from vocal and simply as ordered bodily movements, usually Bhutan instrumental music, dance

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