The French “takes” of intangible cultural heritage : tracking the actualizations of a complex and ambiguous political device

2022

Intangible cultural heritage (hereafter ICH), introduced by UNESCO with the 2003 convention, is a complex and ambiguous entity that takes different forms depending on whether it is in the hands of state heritage institutions, territorial communities, associations, militant movements or researchers in the humanities and social sciences. It can be considered as a means of affirming a “national community” in the name of a “cultural exception”, as an instrument of governmentality, as a resource and a decisive lever for territorial development, as a means of recognition, as a critical weapon or as a space for questioning the sharing of knowledge and expertise.This research aims to explore these …