Inhabiting a language: linguistic interactions as a living repository for intangible cultural heritage
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2017
TITLE AUTHOR(S): O.Bialostocka
KEYWORDS: HERITAGE RESOURCES, LANGUAGES, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT: African Institute of South Africa (AISA)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 9822
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/10985
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/10985
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) recognises as living heritage cultural expressions and practices that provide for the continuity, dynamism and meaning of the social life of individuals and communities. The organisation emphasises the need to document and safeguard intangible cultural heritage (ICH) as a source of people's identity, which gives them a feeling of belonging and represents cultural capital. One of the forms of safeguarding ICH endorsed by UNESCO is the creation of national inventories to catalogue the heritage and make it accessible to the public. However, inventorying living heritage runs a risk of essentialising culture and fixing cultural practices in time. And while it is only natural that the forms of cultural expressions may change with time, the meaning of those practices should be protected, for in it lies the cultural value of heritage. This theoretical paper looks at language as a vehicle of culture that gives meaning to people's experiences, while remaining a tool that adapts its form to changing environments. Therefore, language can be considered a repository and an organic inventory system for the living heritage, as the latter is primarily contained in the linguistic interactions of the people who produce it. Accordingly, the paper advocates for a greater protection and promotion of vernacular languages by assisting communities in developing them and sustaining their local cultural practices.-
Related Research Outputs:
- South Africa's living heritage in the context of sustainable development
- Historical precinct research: conducted for ward 20 and the Mangaung Municipality
- Poverty eradication and sustainable development
- Local government, local governance and sustainable development: getting the parameters right
- Information: the foundation of sustainable development
- Food security and sustainable development in southern Africa
- Educational research in the African development context: rediscovery, reconstruction and prospects
- The subtle power of intangible heritage: legal and financial instruments for safeguarding intangible heritage
- The consolidation of democracy in South Africa
- Education, culture and African renaissance
- On global security: a suggested interpretation for Southern Africa
- Curriculum responsiveness in FET colleges
- Globalisation, identity and national policy in South Africa
- Protecting our cultural capital: a research plan for the heritage sector
- Acknowledging the subtle strength of intangible heritage
- Poverty-eradication and sustainable development
- Attempts to achieve development in education through partnerships: interrogating notions and methods of building local capacity from the inside
- Interrogating a researcher's "insider-ness" in developing sustainable education
- Acknowledging the subtle strength of intangible heritage
- Globalization, sustainable development and governance in Africa