Negotiating intangibles: the power, place, and prestige of NGOs in heritage governance

In recent years, there has been increased scholarly attention devoted to the politics behind decision-making processes in multilateral organisations like the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). For heritage studies, this trend has been particularly important,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of heritage studies : IJHS 2020-08, Vol.26 (8), p.719-736
Main Author: Escallón, Maria Fernanda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conventions
Cultural heritage
expertise
Intangible cultural heritage
non-governmental organisations
Power
prestige
UNESCO
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Summary:In recent years, there has been increased scholarly attention devoted to the politics behind decision-making processes in multilateral organisations like the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). For heritage studies, this trend has been particularly important, as it has expanded interest in the networks of power created by UNESCO conventions and their often-unpredictable global impacts. In this article, I examine the role of NGO representatives as governing bodies of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in order to show how, despite their limited power, these delegates are increasing the relevance of the ICH Convention albeit in paradoxical ways. While fighting to secure their own position within the 2003 Convention, NGOs are entrenching an exclusionary canon of heritage expertise and reinstating the significance of geo-political borders between the Global North and South. I highlight how these new configurations of power based on private know-how end up restructuring the arena of political debate, steering the conversation away from local communities' cultural rights and their effective control over the resources needed for those rights to be exercised.
ISSN:1352-7258
1470-3610
DOI:10.1080/13527258.2019.1693416