Intangible Heritage : A challenge to the authorised heritage discourse

Abstract

The Unesco Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage has significantly raised international and community awareness of the legitimacy of the concept of intangible heritage. Although, in raising this awareness, the Convention has not yet provided a framework that privileges the community / sub-national orientation of intangible heritage. This paper argues that definitions and ideas of heritage developed by national and international agencies such as UNESCO and ICOMOS need challenging and reconsidering. The dichotomy between tangible and intangible heritage needs re-thinking, and indeed, I posit all heritage is intangible.