Research Handbook On Contemporary Intangible Cultural Heritage

Bringing together key insights from expert legal and heritage academics and practitioners, this book explores the existence and safeguarding of contemporary forms of intangible cultural heritage (ICH). Providing a detailed analysis of the international legal frameworks relevant to ICH, the contributing authors then go on to challenge the pervasive view that heritage is about ‘old’ tangible objects by highlighting the existence, role and importance of contemporary forms of ICH to modern society.

This collection provides an in-depth and up-to-date examination of the concept of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the issues surrounding its value to society. Critically engaging with the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the book also discusses local-level conceptualizations of living cultural traditions, practices and expressions, and reflects on the efforts that seek to safeguard them. Exploring a global range of case studies, the book considers the diverse perspectives currently involved with intangible cultural heritage and presents a rich picture of the geographic, socioeconomic and political contexts impacting research in this area. With contributions from established and emerging scholars, public servants, professionals, students and community members, this volume is also deeply enhanced by an interdisciplinary approach which draws on the theories and practices of heritage and museum studies, anthropology, folklore studies, ethnomusicology, and the study of cultural policy and related law. The Routledge Companion to Intangible Cultural Heritage undoubtedly broadens the international heritage discourse and is an invaluable learning tool for instructors, students and practitioners in the field.

This edited book examines the significance of intangible cultural heritage to local communities and the state in Hong Kong and China. Through ethnographic studies, the various chapters in this edited book argue for the role of the local community in the creation and conservation of the intangible cultural heritage and traditions. Irrespective of whether they are selected and listed as regional, national or UNESO intangible cultural heritage, they are part of the living traditions unique to that particular local community. This edited book argues that there are threefold significance of intangible cultural heritage to the local community and the state. First, intangible cultural heritage is seen as a social prestige. Second, it acts as socio-cultural and economic capital for members of the community to tap into to ensure socio-cultural and economic sustainability of the community. Finally, the intangible cultural heritage serves as a depository of the collective memories of the community, linking the past to the present and the future.

This book explores heritage from a wide range of perspectives and disciplines and in doing so provides a distinctive and deeply relevant survey of the field as it is currently researched, understood and practiced around the world.

This edited book examines the significance of intangible cultural heritage to local communities and the state in Hong Kong and China. Through ethnographic studies, the various chapters in this edited book argue for the role of the local community in the creation and conservation of the intangible cultural heritage and traditions. Irrespective of whether they are selected and listed as regional, national or UNESO intangible cultural heritage, they are part of the living traditions unique to that particular local community. This edited book argues that there are threefold significance of intangible cultural heritage to the local community and the state. First, intangible cultural heritage is seen as a social prestige. Second, it acts as socio-cultural and economic capital for members of the community to tap into to ensure socio-cultural and economic sustainability of the community. Finally, the intangible cultural heritage serves as a depository of the collective memories of the community, linking the past to the present and the future.

Intangible Heritage fills a significant gap in the heritage literature available and represents a significant cross section of ideas and practices associated with intangible cultural heritage. The authors brought together for this volume represent some of the key academics and practitioners working in the area, and discuss research and practices from a range of countries.

This important Research Handbook offers a comprehensive analysis of the intersections between intellectual property (IP) and cultural heritage law. It explores and compares how both have evolved and sometimes converged over time, how they increased tremendously in significance, as well as in economic value, despite the fact that the former mainly pertains to the private sphere, whilst the latter is considered a ‘common good’.

This Handbook is the first major volume to examine the conservation of Asia’s culture and nature in relation to the wider social, political and economic forces shaping the region today. Throughout Asia rapid economic and social change means the region’s heritage is at once under threat and undergoing a revival as never before. As societies look forward, competing forces ensure they re-visit the past and the inherited, with the conservation of nature and culture now driven by the broader agendas of identity politics, tradition, revival, rapid development, environmentalism and sustainability. In response to these new and important trends, the twenty three accessible chapters here go beyond sector specific analyses to examine heritage in inter-disciplinary and critically engaged terms, encompassing the natural and the cultural, the tangible and intangible. Emerging environmentalisms, urban planning, identity politics, conflict memorialization, tourism and biodiversity are among the topics covered here. This path-breaking volume will be of particular interest to students and scholars working in the fields of heritage, tourism, archaeology, Asian studies, geography, anthropology, development, sociology, and cultural and postcolonial studies.