Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urban Contexts
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Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urban Contexts The presentations of the ICH-NGO Forum meeting in Bogota 8 December 2019 Edited by Albert van der Zeijden, Yeo Kirk Siang and Gerald Wee Arnhem/Singapore 2020 Contents 1 Introduction 5 1. ICH in Urban Contexts Program in Colombia: Living Culture, Identity and Collective Knowledge for the Transformation of Colombian Cities “While intangible cultural heritage is often 11 presented as a mainspring for cultural diversity, 2. Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urban Context: Experiences From Singapore what about intangible cultural heritage in an urban context? What is intangible cultural 19 3. Traditional Practices, ancient settlements and the Urbanization: heritage in an urban context and how is it The case of Kathmandu Valley transmitted and safeguarded? 25 4. Intangible Cultural Heritage, Urban Space and Social Cohesion: The Case of Dhaka City in Bangladesh 35 5. Reimagining ICH in Kolkata 41 6. Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urban Contexts: The Case of The Bamako and its Backdrop Country Side 51 7. The intangible cultural heritage of migrants: The work of Île du Monde association in Paris 57 8. Safeguarding travelling intangible cultural heritage: The case of Hindustani ICH in a super-diverse city Introduction Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urban Contexts is a publication’, a pdf easily accessible to everyone, are also visible in Africa, where a major challenge timely topic. Over half of the population of the world including those who could not be present at the Themes discussed is that ICH is often identified with the traditional is now living in urban areas – cities with millions of forum. We decided to keep the original flavor of rural way of life opposite to the more western Four themes keep recurring in this publication: inhabitants and diverse communities. Cities such the presentations as much as possible and do ‘modernized’ way of life in the cities that is often • ICH-Urban policies: two articles refer as Bangkok, Singapore, Bogota and Rotterdam only a minimum editing of the texts. It was left to interpreted as a threat to the old rural traditions. In directly to the actions undertaken by the are facing multiple social and cultural challenges, the authors how they would like to present their European cities, but also in a city such as Singapore, State to safeguard ICH in urban contexts: not the least, due to processes of migration, the arguments. Some articles are academic, others are processes of migration have completely altered Colombia and Singapore. challenge of superdiversity and social cohesion. more descriptive, some of them mixing academics the ethnic composition of the cities’ populations. • ICH-Urban realities: two articles describe While intangible cultural heritage is often presented with an informal language. Two articles were added: Conurbations such as Paris, London and Rotterdam the situation of ICH in two specific urban as a mainspring for cultural diversity, what about one from Asia: Saifur Rashid on Dhaka, the capital now harbor more than 160 ethnicities. Talking about contexts: Kathmandu and Dhaka. intangible cultural heritage in an urban context? of Bangladesh, and one from Africa, from Sekou Paris, Frida Calderón introduced the concept of • ICH-Urban experiences: The articles about What is intangible cultural heritage in an urban Berte. The two of them had submitted interesting diasporic communities that experience their ICH in Kolkata and Bamako describe many context and how is it transmitted and safeguarded? abstracts for the symposium, but were not able a trans local, global context. Sharing the experience experiences to safeguard ICH in these How can it contribute to social cohesion and to attend the symposium in Bogota. We are very from the Netherlands, Mark Schep has studied the two cities. It’s not about state policies but renewed dialogue among communities? Is there happy to include their presentations in this booklet, ‘Surinam-Hindustani’ community living in Arnhem. about community initiatives. a role for city governments in adopting certain because it enriches the scope of this publication He noticed the lack of interest of a more westernized • ICH-Urban migrants: two articles are about cultural policies? with more perspectives from different continents. new generation, but also explored possible the situations of migrants in cities and how We followed the same structure as of the symposium. safeguarding strategies involving youngsters. they managed to safeguard their ICH: Paris These were the leading questions of the The book opens with the contribution of Juliana Urban areas across the world contain many and Arnhem. Minisymposium ICH in Urban Contexts, organized Forero and Andres Forero from host Colombia. This different ethnicities living in close proximity. This alongside UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee is followed by the contribution of Yeo Kirk Siang, creates possibilities for a renewed dialogue among The different presentations during the symposium Meeting by the ICH-NGO Forum in close cooperation the co-initiator of the Symposium from the National communities and was shown in the example of highlighted that processes of urbanization, with the National Heritage Board of Singapore, on Heritage Board of Singapore. After that there are Singapore. Yeo Kirk Siang introduced Hawker alongside processes of migration present huge Sunday, 8 December 2019, in Bogota, Colombia. three presentations from Asia, followed by one from Culture as an integral part of everyday life in challenges for the safeguarding of intangible Albert van der Zeijden (Kenniscentrum Immaterieel Africa. The book concludes with two presentations Singapore, involving hawkers who prepare hawker cultural heritage in all continents. In the Erfgoed Nederland / Dutch Centre for Intangible from Europe. food and people who dine and mingle at hawker presentation about the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, Cultural Heritage, on behalf of the ICH-NGO Forum) centres as community dining rooms, which have Monalisa Maharjan showed the enormous changes and Gerald Wee (on behalf of the National Heritage come to fulfil a very important function in multiracial during the last century. Whereas in the 1920s the Board of Singapore) moderated the session. Singapore where people from diverse age groups, Kathmandu Valley was primarily rural in character, Right after the symposium, it was decided that the genders, ethnicities and religions can gather it is now transformed into a city of almost one presentations should be converted into a ‘softcopy and interact over food, thereby promoting social million inhabitants. Rapid processes of urbanization cohesion within Singapore. 1 Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urban Contexts 2 “Urban areas across the world contain many different ethnicities living in close proximity.” Challenges of urbanization create the need for The book opens with the presentation of Juliana ‘reimagining ICH’, not just in Kolkata, the topic of Forero and Andres Forero, who presented the first the presentation by Ananya Bhattacharya. Ananya programme on ICH in urban context and how it was talked about possible change in lifestyles and created. They showcased the ‘ICH in urban context possible loss of traditions because of urbanization program of Colombia’ as an example of innovation processes. But she also showed the opportunities in ICH safeguarding public policy on how to best talking about the Chitpur Craft Collective as a face the challenges of urban life, dynamics and community of crafts people, artists, designers and crisis. They showed how safeguarding ICH in urban entrepreneurs who are collectively building a new contexts could become part of public policies and imagination of its historic locality. programs. Lavage de la Madeleine, Paris. On behalf of the ICH-NGO Forum, Photo: Pepe Pastor, Île du Monde Albert van der Zeijden (Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage), Yeo Kirk Siang and Gerald Wee (National Heritage Board – Singapore) 3 Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urban Contexts 4 Urban ICH in Bogota Photo: PCIurbano.com 1. ICH in Urban Since 2017, the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) Group of the Heritage Division of the Ministry of Culture of Colombia has been implementing the ICH in Urban Contexts Program, which aims to understand Contexts Program in and foster activities that link the safeguarding of ICH and its contribution towards sustainable development. The program was brought about by the need to reflect Colombia: and to act on the many challenges that communities face in the safeguarding of their ICH in the different urban scenarios of Colombia, each with their own complexities and dynamics, while also highlighting how ICH constitutes a form of collective knowledge that can be enhanced to improve the quality of life in Colombian cities. Our main question was: how to Living Culture, integrate ICH within the development and urban planning, in order to safeguard and enhance ICH for Identity and Collective better quality of life in the cities? social contexts. Therefore, the ICH in Urban Contexts Heritage Dynamics in the program was launched with an explorative goal Knowledge for the within a framework of accelerated urbanization and the vertiginous cultural changes that are reflected City in new forms of social organization, cohabitation, multiplication of identity expressions, definition of Instruments such as the Convention for the Transformation of territorial comprehension and economic and political Safeguarding of the Intangible