What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?
Any discussion of culture or cultural products immediately raises questions about what one means by “culture.” The term culture can mean many different things to different people. Because these questions often involve crossing international lines, taking an international perspective is useful. A good starting point is the work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).[1] UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity explains culture as “the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs.”[2]
This definition of culture includes things such as artwork, but also food, clothing, and other fashion items. So, with this brief explanation of culture, which can be very broad, what is intangible cultural heritage? Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is intergenerational. That means that it is shared from one generation to the next.[3] This would include traditions, songs and various other cultural items that have been passed down within a particular society or cultural group. The Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage defines ICH to include “the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills—as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith—that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.”[4] This definition of ICH is flexible enough to encompass various aspects of one’s cultural heritage.
[1] See UNESCO in brief – Mission and Mandate, UNESCO, https://en.unesco.org/about-us/introducing-unesco (last visited Nov. 15, 2020).
[2] UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, UNESCO (Nov. 2, 2001), http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13179&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html.
[3] Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Oct. 17, 2003, 2368 U.N.T.S. 42671 [hereinafter ICH Convention].
[4] Id. at art. 2.
