Protecting the weak? Tracing UNESCO’s influence on Intangible Cultural Heritage regimes in Japan and China

When East Meets West: International Change and Its Effects on Domestic Cultural Institutions

“…Moreover, contrary to the usual institutional arrangement, the project was led not by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, but by the Ministry of Agriculture with only limited input from the Agency (MAFF ). The inscription of “Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese,” on the UNESCO ICH List in 2013 attracted far larger media and public attention than previous inscriptions (Maags and Trifu ). While even today culinary items are not recognized as ICP at the national level, several Japanese local governments have decided to seize the opportunity to select traditional food and cuisine in their own subnational lists (Asahi Shinbun ).…”

“…Hitherto, most scholarly literature has concentrated on the concept of ICH itself and its domestic adoption (see e.g., Bortolotto ; Kirschenblatt‐Gimblett ; Schmitt ), the domestic creation of ICH lists and programs on various governmental levels (see e.g., Ballacchino ; Graezer Bideau ; Hottin and Grenet ), as well as its impact on or involvement of local stakeholders (see e.g., Lixinski ; Munjeri ; Urbinati ). While a bulk of these studies has thus focused on the politics behind domestic implementation of the ICH Convention, particularly on the underlying processes of top‐down policy implementation and bottom‐up responses (Eggert and Peselmann , 141; Maags ; Maags and Trifu ), studies have not analyzed how the ICH Convention has transformed domestic cultural governance systems. While there are a few exceptions (see e.g., da Silva ; Wang ), most studies on ICH have focused on analyzing individual countries.…”

Knowledge of the Historical and Contemporary Status of Dong Ethnic Group's "Da Ge" Folk Music in Liuzhou, China

“…Dong "Da Ge" folk music is performed widely today, with each village boasting various choirs divided by age and sometimes gender. In addition to disseminating their lifestyle and wisdom, it remains a crucial symbol of Dong ethnic identity and cultural heritage (Xie, 2008;Hwang, 2008;Lau, 2013;Goh & Wu, 2017;Maags & Trifu, 2018;Ding, 2019;Guo, 2019;Han, 2021).…”