Key Concepts of Museology - ICOM

3. For some years the notion of heritage,
essentially defi ned on the basis
of a western concept of transmission,
has felt the impact of the globalisation
of ideas, such as the relatively recent
concept of intangible heritage. This
concept, of Asian origin (in particular
from Japan and Korea) is founded
on the idea that transmission, to be
effective, must essentially be done by
human carriers, from whence evolved
the idea of living human treasures:
“Living human treasure refers
to a person who excels above others
in performing music, dance, games,
plays and rituals which are of outstanding
artistic and historical value
in their respective countries as envisaged
in the Recommendation on the
Safeguarding of Traditional Cultures
and Folklore” (UNESCO, 1993).
This principle was accepted internationally
and endorsed in the 2003
Convention for the Safeguarding of
the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
“The intangible cultural heritage
means 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 pro-
moting respect for cultural diversity
and human creativity. For the purposes
of this Convention, consideration
will be given solely to such intangible
cultural heritage as is compatible
with existing international human
rights instruments, as well as with
the requirements of mutual respect
among communities, groups and
individuals, and of sustainable development.”
(UNESCO, 2003).
4. Heritage covers a fi eld that has
become increasingly complex, and in
the past few years the uncertainties
of its transmission have led to more
focused thinking on the mechanisms
of building and extending heritage:
what exactly is the process of heritage
building? Much contemporary
research analyses the institution of
heritage building beyond the empirical
approach, seeing it as the result of
strategies and interventions focused
on marking and signals (framing).
Thus the idea of heritage building is
necessary to understand the position
in society that heritage represents,
rather as others speak of the idea of
“artifi cation” (Shapiro, 2004) with
regard to works of art. “Heritage is a
cultural process or performance that
is concerned with the types of production
and the negotiation of cultural
identity, individual and collective
memory, and social and cultural
values” (Smith, 2007). If we accept
that heritage is the result of the founding
of a certain number of values,
this implies that these values are the
basis of heritage. These values should
be examined, but also – sometimes –
contested.
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