Intangible Cultural Heritage Of South India

We can hear Urumula Naganna’s drum roll during the rendition of the Sri Akammagaru Kaviya. An oral tradition which is as old as the hills is captured in the book Gods, Heroes and their Storytellers. Do you know the story of how the Madiga community came to inherit the right to skin cattle carcass and produce leather articles? How are contemporary Folk Oral Literatures connected to the Ramayana and the Mahabharata? There are many such stories and tradition bearers who doggedly go on in spite of the onslaught of the digital media. The author here has tried his best in keeping these traditions alive by not only telling the stories but also by living with the story tellers themselves. The rich details give us a window to a world which is not only very far away for our everyday mundane existence but also makes us retrospect on what we are missing out. Each of the tradition bearers are different and so are their stories and the region to which they belong. These are not merely stories but a way of life for these oral narrators who are fast disappearing in today’s consumerist landscape. The need of the hour is to keep alive these traditions and the tradition bearers.

Practical Considerations for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage examines theoretical issues relating to intangible cultural heritage policy and practice, whilst also proposing practical ways to facilitate the safeguarding of such heritage. Providing guidelines for best practice that take into account the constraints of the UNESCO-ICH paradigm, Stefano examines the principles and practices of two alternative and largely non-UNESCO frameworks for sustaining living cultural traditions: the philosophy of ecomuseology, and the discipline of public folklore in the context of the U.S. Arguing that they offer more collaborative, equitable, and effective ways forward for safeguarding ICH, Stefano demonstrates how they can address the limitations of the UNESCO-ICH paradigm. Importantly, the book offers a personal perspective, grounded in the author’s public sector work, which allows the ICH discourse to move beyond critical analysis and explore realistic, alternative ways in which ICH can be collaboratively and equitably safeguarded. Practical Considerations for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage proposes guidelines for professionals, researchers, and communities that foster safeguarding approaches that are as unique and nuanced as ICH expressions themselves. The interdisciplinary nature of the book will ensure that it is useful to those interested in community-led ICH safeguarding, as well as the impacts of UNESCO’s 2003 Convention, in diverse geographic, political, economic, and sociocultural contexts.

For nearly 70 years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has played a crucial role in developing policies and recommendations for dealing with intangible cultural heritage. What has been the effect of such sweeping global policies on those actually affected by them? How connected is UNESCO with what is happening every day, on the ground, in local communities? Drawing upon six communities ranging across three continents—from India, South Korea, Malawi, Japan, Macedonia and China—and focusing on festival, ritual, and dance, this volume illuminates the complexities and challenges faced by those who find themselves drawn, in different ways, into UNESCO's orbit. Some struggle to incorporate UNESCO recognition into their own local understanding of tradition; others cope with the fallout of a failed intangible cultural heritage nomination. By exploring locally, by looking outward from the inside, the essays show how a normative policy such as UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage policy can take on specific associations and inflections. A number of the key questions and themes emerge across the case studies and three accompanying commentaries: issues of terminology; power struggles between local, national and international stakeholders; the value of international recognition; and what forces shape selection processes. With examples from around the world, and a balance of local experiences with broader perspectives, this volume provides a unique comparative approach to timely questions of tradition and change in a rapidly globalizing world.

This volume cross-examines the stability of heritage as a concept. It interrogates the past which materialises through multi-layered narratives on monuments and other objects that sustain cultural diversity. It seeks to understand how interpretations of “monuments” as “texts” are affected at the local level of experience, even as institutions such as UNESCO work to globalise and fix constructs of stable and universal heritage. Shifting away from a largely Eurocentric concept associated with architecture and monumental archaeology, this book reassesses how local and regional heritage needs to be balanced with the global and transnational. It argues that material objects and monuments are not static embodiments of culture but are, rather, a medium through which identity, power and society are produced and reproduced. This is especially relevant in South and Southeast Asian contexts, where debates over heritage often have local, regional and national political implications and consequences. Reevaluating how traditional valuation of monuments and cultural landscapes could help aid sustainability and long-term preservation of the heritage, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of South and Southeast Asian history, heritage studies, archaeology, cultural studies, tourism studies and political history as well.

The book represents the culmination of a hugely successful heritage preservation project initiated by the Government of India’s Department of Science and Technology. It presents extensive research on the digital preservation of the history, mythology, art, architecture and culture of the world heritage site Hampi in Karnataka, the seat of the Vijayanagara dynasty in medieval India. Further, the book introduces readers to a range of techniques developed by Indian technical research groups for digitally preserving both the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the region. These techniques are sufficiently generic to be applied in heritage preservation efforts for other historical sites around the world as well. Technological advances have made it possible to not only create digital archives of these heritage artifacts, but to also share these resources for people to view, explore, experience, and analyze. This book showcases how cutting-edge technology can be combined with cultural and historical research to digitize and preserve heritage. It is the consolidation of work conducted under the Indian Digital Heritage project, a unique initiative of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. The project involved collaboration between researchers in the areas of Technology, Computer Science, Architecture and the Humanities for the digital documentation and interpretation of India’s tangible and intangible heritage. It highlights the art, architecture, and cultural legacy of the world heritage site of Hampi in Karnataka, the medieval capital of the 14th-16th century Vijayanagara dynasty. The contributors to this book are scientists and technology experts from prominent academic institutes in India such as the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology), NIIT, and NID (National Institute of Design) working in collaboration with some of India’s top architects, art historians, anthropologists, heritage groups and multi-disciplinary cultural institutions such as the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS). Their papers will introduce readers to cutting-edge technologies from research areas such as computer vision, 3D modeling and artificial intelligence as they are employed to preserve art and culture in the digital domain. The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 details efforts and techniques for modeling and representing the tangible heritage of Hampi, such as the reconstruction of damaged structures, realistic walk-throughs, and haptic rendering. Part 2 includes chapters detailing the analysis and digital restoration of artifacts such as mural paintings, inscriptions and sculptures, as well as mobile-based visual search for artifacts. Part 3 includes chapters on conjectural re-constructions of the architectural life, social life and traditions of Hampi. Lastly, Part 4 addresses the knowledge-based archiving and exploration of cultural heritage.

Archaeological research has long focused on studying tangible artifacts to build a picture of the cultures it examines. Equally important to understanding a culture, however, are the intangible elements that become part of its heritage. In 2003, UNESCO adopted a convention specifically to protect intangible heritage, including the following: oral traditions and expressions, including language; performing arts (such as traditional music, dance, and theater); social practices, rituals, and festive events; knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; and traditional craftsmanship. Since this convention was adopted, scholars and preservationists have struggled with how to best approach intangible heritage. This volume specifically focuses on embodied intangible heritage, or the human body as a vehicle for memory, movement, and sound. The contributors to this work examine ritual and artistic movement, theater, music, oral literature, as well as the role of the internet in cultural transmission. Globalization and particularly the internet, has a complex effect on the transmission of intangible heritage: while music, dance, and other expressions are now shared easily, the performances often lack context and may be shared with a group that does not fully understand what they are seeing or hearing. This volume draws on case studies from around the world to examine the problems and possibilities of implementing the new UNESCO convention. The findings in this volume will be vital to both professionals and academics in anthropology, archaeology, history, museum studies, architecture, and anyone else who deals with issues of cultural heritage and preservation.