S1117 Is cultural sustainability an attainable goal?
Objectives
This course explores the concept, possibilities, and limits of so-called ‘cultural sustainability’, sometimes defined as “change occurring in a way that respects cultural values”. After the course students should have a profound insight in the threats (real or assumed) to the national and regional production of food and culture as caused by globalization as well as in the ways scholars, governmental institutions and NGOs, and the commercial sector respond to this challenge by developing approaches and practices leading to cultural sustainability. The main disciplines dealt with in this course are ethnology and cultural history (including anthropology and sociology).
Content
Globalization is thought to threaten the cultural identity of those communities affected by the impact of economic, political, and cultural globalization. The national and regional production of food and culture may waste away as a result of the (legal) demands and economic pressure of the international market. The EU is regulating the production of thousands of ‘traditional’ regional products, causing them to change beyond recognition. The influx of cheaper goods from all across the globe replaces local production. Mass tourism leads to the inescapable change and sometimes the disappearance of regional customs and intangible heritage. It may even threaten the material heritage (monuments, landscape, archaeology). In response, international, national, and regional initiatives are taken to ‘protect’ national, regional, and local customs, traditions, and products. To mention three such initiatives:
(1) UNESCO has adopted a convention (Paris 2003)# to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, which is defined as “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. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.”#
(2) The Council of Europe in 2005 adopted The European Convention of Faro: Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society.# Cultural heritage is here defined as “a group of resources inherited from the past which people identify, independently of ownership, as a reflection and expression of their constantly evolving values, beliefs, knowledge and traditions. It includes all aspects of the environment resulting from the interaction between people and places through time.” The ratifying countries acknowledge “to promote an understanding of the common heritage of Europe, which consists of (a) all forms of cultural heritage in Europe which together constitute a shared source of remembrance, understanding, identity, cohesion and creativity, and (b) the ideals, principles and values, derived from the experience gained through progress and past conflicts, which foster the development of a peaceful and stable society, founded on respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.” In the Preamble, the Convention emphasizes “the value and potential of cultural heritage wisely used as a resource for sustainable development [italics mine – AJB] and quality of life in a constantly evolving society”.
(3) Volunteer organizations as well as (commercial) producers have joined in movements to defend and expand the sustainable production (and consumption) of regional products, such as the Slow Food Movement, as founded in 1989.# Other examples might be mentioned, such as the ongoing international debates on the necessity of sustainable tourism, ‘committed to making a low impact on the environment and local culture’.
Sustainability is the key word here. The ideal to reach a balance between ‘People, Planet, and Profit’ has been adopted by many governmental and non-governmental organizations and institutions. The central issue here is the question whether such a thing as cultural sustainability can be achieved.# This concept is – for instance – defined as follows: “cultural sustainability means change occurs in a way that respects cultural values”.#
This course will explore and analyse the following topics
1. The ethnological view of intangible heritage: the development from Volkskunde to Folklore Studies and European ethnology. We will trace the scientific discussion on intangible heritage and the implementation of the UNESCO and Council of Europe conventions.
2. The recent developments in Public Folklore and Public History, that is the brokering of culture and history in order to reach a broader public and to have the audience engage in and actually appropriate the practices of folklore and historical memory.#
3. The discussion on the pros and cons of conservation of aspects of essentially dynamic human culture, which only exists as performance or in another intangible form. How to avoid the pitfalls of ‘folklorization’#, ‘musealization’#, and ‘invention of tradition’?
4. The role played by material cultural heritage (monuments, landscape, museums, artefacts, archives, photos, and films) in the process of attaining cultural sustainability. As UNESCO underlines, “the denotation of the term ICH (= intangible cultural heritage – AJB) is that it must include many aspects of tangible material culture, ranging from, for example, antique woven textiles that preserve aesthetic vocabularies and narrative storylines to handwritten scripts for publicly performed, community-based dramas.”
5. The economic and commercial aspects of cultural sustainability. How to match the demand of economic developments and commercial gain with the interests of cultural sustainability? What checks and balances are necessary?
6. By means of several case-studies the students will explore concrete cases in which governmental institutions and NGOs as well as the commercial sector have aimed at attaining cultural sustainability, for example in fostering the production and consumption of regional products, in developing campaigns of making tourism more sustainable, et cetera. Of course, Venice itself might be an interesting case in point.
Organization and work forms
This course will consist of 24 meetings in 12 weeks: first 6 lectures of 1h 30, then 10 meetings combining a lecture (45 minutes) and a seminar (45 minutes), ending with 8 seminars (two hours). For each class, students have to read some literature and, if appropriate, a small selection of primary sources in advance, which will be used and analysed during class. For every lecture students have to make an assignment using the assigned literature: they have to read the literature in advance and prepare at least two questions asking informative and/or critical questions concerning these texts. They also have to provide tentative answers.
In the seminars, students have to present the results of their case studies and to write an essay or paper dealing with one particular case. The discussion of the case studies should provide an analytical framework for cross-national comparison.
Assessment
Students will be asked to prepare a presentation and write a paper, both of which will be graded.
This course explores the concept, possibilities, and limits of so-called ‘cultural sustainability’, sometimes defined as “change occurring in a way that respects cultural values”. After the course students should have a profound insight in the threats (real or assumed) to the national and regional production of food and culture as caused by globalization as well as in the ways scholars, governmental institutions and NGOs, and the commercial sector respond to this challenge by developing approaches and practices leading to cultural sustainability. The main disciplines dealt with in this course are ethnology and cultural history (including anthropology and sociology).
Content
Globalization is thought to threaten the cultural identity of those communities affected by the impact of economic, political, and cultural globalization. The national and regional production of food and culture may waste away as a result of the (legal) demands and economic pressure of the international market. The EU is regulating the production of thousands of ‘traditional’ regional products, causing them to change beyond recognition. The influx of cheaper goods from all across the globe replaces local production. Mass tourism leads to the inescapable change and sometimes the disappearance of regional customs and intangible heritage. It may even threaten the material heritage (monuments, landscape, archaeology). In response, international, national, and regional initiatives are taken to ‘protect’ national, regional, and local customs, traditions, and products. To mention three such initiatives:
(1) UNESCO has adopted a convention (Paris 2003)# to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, which is defined as “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. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.”#
(2) The Council of Europe in 2005 adopted The European Convention of Faro: Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society.# Cultural heritage is here defined as “a group of resources inherited from the past which people identify, independently of ownership, as a reflection and expression of their constantly evolving values, beliefs, knowledge and traditions. It includes all aspects of the environment resulting from the interaction between people and places through time.” The ratifying countries acknowledge “to promote an understanding of the common heritage of Europe, which consists of (a) all forms of cultural heritage in Europe which together constitute a shared source of remembrance, understanding, identity, cohesion and creativity, and (b) the ideals, principles and values, derived from the experience gained through progress and past conflicts, which foster the development of a peaceful and stable society, founded on respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.” In the Preamble, the Convention emphasizes “the value and potential of cultural heritage wisely used as a resource for sustainable development [italics mine – AJB] and quality of life in a constantly evolving society”.
(3) Volunteer organizations as well as (commercial) producers have joined in movements to defend and expand the sustainable production (and consumption) of regional products, such as the Slow Food Movement, as founded in 1989.# Other examples might be mentioned, such as the ongoing international debates on the necessity of sustainable tourism, ‘committed to making a low impact on the environment and local culture’.
Sustainability is the key word here. The ideal to reach a balance between ‘People, Planet, and Profit’ has been adopted by many governmental and non-governmental organizations and institutions. The central issue here is the question whether such a thing as cultural sustainability can be achieved.# This concept is – for instance – defined as follows: “cultural sustainability means change occurs in a way that respects cultural values”.#
This course will explore and analyse the following topics
1. The ethnological view of intangible heritage: the development from Volkskunde to Folklore Studies and European ethnology. We will trace the scientific discussion on intangible heritage and the implementation of the UNESCO and Council of Europe conventions.
2. The recent developments in Public Folklore and Public History, that is the brokering of culture and history in order to reach a broader public and to have the audience engage in and actually appropriate the practices of folklore and historical memory.#
3. The discussion on the pros and cons of conservation of aspects of essentially dynamic human culture, which only exists as performance or in another intangible form. How to avoid the pitfalls of ‘folklorization’#, ‘musealization’#, and ‘invention of tradition’?
4. The role played by material cultural heritage (monuments, landscape, museums, artefacts, archives, photos, and films) in the process of attaining cultural sustainability. As UNESCO underlines, “the denotation of the term ICH (= intangible cultural heritage – AJB) is that it must include many aspects of tangible material culture, ranging from, for example, antique woven textiles that preserve aesthetic vocabularies and narrative storylines to handwritten scripts for publicly performed, community-based dramas.”
5. The economic and commercial aspects of cultural sustainability. How to match the demand of economic developments and commercial gain with the interests of cultural sustainability? What checks and balances are necessary?
6. By means of several case-studies the students will explore concrete cases in which governmental institutions and NGOs as well as the commercial sector have aimed at attaining cultural sustainability, for example in fostering the production and consumption of regional products, in developing campaigns of making tourism more sustainable, et cetera. Of course, Venice itself might be an interesting case in point.
Organization and work forms
This course will consist of 24 meetings in 12 weeks: first 6 lectures of 1h 30, then 10 meetings combining a lecture (45 minutes) and a seminar (45 minutes), ending with 8 seminars (two hours). For each class, students have to read some literature and, if appropriate, a small selection of primary sources in advance, which will be used and analysed during class. For every lecture students have to make an assignment using the assigned literature: they have to read the literature in advance and prepare at least two questions asking informative and/or critical questions concerning these texts. They also have to provide tentative answers.
In the seminars, students have to present the results of their case studies and to write an essay or paper dealing with one particular case. The discussion of the case studies should provide an analytical framework for cross-national comparison.
Assessment
Students will be asked to prepare a presentation and write a paper, both of which will be graded.
Syllabus
Readings
Readings