Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage

Introduction

Speculation of the characteristics of intangibility, it cannot be placed in equal alignment with the aspect of heritage. This is due to the visual perception of the cultural heritage sites. Touching these sites removes the prefix “in” from the tangibility. Delving deep into the aspects, the sense of touch can be considered as a valuation towards the efforts put in by the craftsmen for creating such masterpieces (Alivizatou 2016). The documentation of the information on the sites of cultural heritage is one of the other means adopted for nullifying the intangibility regarding the public utilization. This report attempts to highlight the documentation of the traditional knowledge into practices, along with the safety and security issues.

Every country is known for its cultural heritage, symbols, customs and traditions. These symbols make the citizen proud of their national assets. These symbols help in attracting large number of tourists from the world (Severo and Venturini 2016).

Australia possesses an enriched cultural heritage in the form of indigenous tribal groups, lands, natural parks, languages, music, tools and technology, art, tourism and the list goes on. Preservation of these forms is of utmost importance in terms of maintaining the culturalism. For this preservation, UNESCO has played an important part. As a matter of specification, in 2003, convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage was created for protecting the sanctity of these assets (Blake 2014). The major forms of preservation proposed by the omission were effective utilization of these sites for representing and expressing the feelings of the public for the enhancement of their preconceived skills, knowledge and expertise.  

Functionalities of Convention for Safeguarding the Intangible Heritage

Since its inauguration in 2003, the omission has consistently displayed an active role in preserving the cultural diversity of the world. The parameter of education in the name of UNESCO relates with the act of enhancing the knowledge of the natives regarding their national assets (Blake 2014). Herein, lays the significance of meetings and conferences about preserving the cultural heritage. The net result of these meetings and conferences are the mimes, music conferences, live shows of dance, and art exhibitions among others. Through these shows, the legacy is passed on to the future generations, which leads to the preservation of the culturalism. Placement of the news of performing arts on the archives contradicts their intangibility, however, the warnings not to touch the artifacts in the museums aligns with the essence of intangibility (Stanley 2014.). 

Recording the facts based on the observations and experiences of the speaker is one of the other functionalities of the commission. This information basically includes the historical facts, which helps the archaeologists to interpret new facts. Documentation of the traditional knowledge into the travel guides, school and college textbooks and museums are the typical examples in this direction. These aspects bear similarity with the study of oral history (Kapchan 2014).

Apart from the Convention for Safeguarding the Intangible Heritage, International Council for Monuments and Sites is one of the names, which comes in terms of the preservation of the cultural heritage sites. The public is invited to join the personnel in their attempt to preserve the culturalism of the heritage sites. The open invitation for the young professionals possesses flexibility to enhance preconceived skills, expertise and knowledge.  Organizing meetings and conferences with the people makes the personnel aware of the public approaches towards the preservation methods adopted by them (Kirshenblatt 2016).

Functionalities of the International council of Monuments and Sites

The first meeting of the commission resulted in the development of a intangible cultural heritage toolkit for guiding the team members in terms of execution of the activities. The main attraction of the toolkit was the case studies, which assisted the team members in the preparation of the practice notes. Along with this, the assistance from the Burra Charter, helped the personnel of International council for Monuments and Sites to develop authentic standards and codes of the rules and regulations (Pozzi et al. 2014). Adherence and compliance to these regulations enables the personnel to preserve the traditionalism of the cultural heritage sites, symbols and icons.

Following an integrated structure outshines the aspect of partnership working for the commission. The contents of the toolkit ranges from definitions to the case study references for the creation of practice notes, which is verified with the standards of the Burra charter. The equal division of the tasks among the team members is an example in this direction. For the preparation of the practice notes, the team members are provided with the opportunity to make use of the archives (Blake 2014).

In order to judge the authenticity of the case studies, the place, landmarks for recognition; change management; relevance with the Burra charter article; key points and additional information needs to be considered. Moreover, the author’s name is important as it adds to the author’s capability in terms of making effective utilization of the archival information (Blake 2014)

The act of preserving the traditionalism of the sites with cultural heritage adds value to the roles and responsibilities of the archaeologists. This preservation is simultaneously the preservation of the national pride. Many initiatives have been taken by the Australian government to bring innovation in the sites with cultural heritage. However, the motive to keep the traditionalism intact has enabled the personnel to encounter a high graph of tourists (Roberts 2014).

Selling handicrafts made out of shell in the premises of the Botany Bay possesses two connotations. On one hand it is the commercialization of the heritage site, which expands the business of the Australian artisans. On the other hand, it reflects the transmission of the heritage to the common people, which adds to the fame and glory of the site. Keeping the design of the shell same, reflects the attempt towards maintaining and preserving the traditionalism of the place (Stefano, Davis and Corsane 2014).

Collection of rock art from Jinmium and different experiments on these arts is also an indication of the attempts undertaken to preserve the traditional conventions followed by the artisans for studying the engravings on the rock. Selling these rock arts in the Australian market at heap rates is also one of the means adopted by the personnel for passing on the legacy to the future generations for the preservations of these symbols of cultural heritage (Davis and Stefano 2016).

Collection of the flake stone tools from Mungo Lake and conducting experiments have enabled the archaeologists to make effective and judicious utilization of the tools. Preserving these tools in the museums indicates its maintenance. The warnings regarding touching of these artifacts by the common people is also one of the means for its preservation. Along with this, putting the information about these tool in a piece of paper along with the tool enhances the knowledge of the people (Hazan and Katz 2017). This serves double purpose of preserving the artifacts as well as inculcating the values of preserving the traditionalism among the public domain.

Teaching paintings of the ancient Australian civilization to the students is also an effective methods for preserving the intangibility of the cultural heritage. Placement of these paintings in the museums contradicts the inner essence of the aspect of intangibility. Using these symbols for commercial purposes nullifies the preservation motive (Kapchan 2014). In the rat race for attaining top most position in the market, the artifacts traders have forgotten that they are interplaying with the culturalism, traditionalism and heritage of the Australian threshold.

How are systems of traditional knowledge being incorporated into heritage concepts and practices?

The traditional knowledge has been used by the Indigenous people of various lands so that they could understand their own culture and positively reflecting their behaviors (McManis 2012). It has helped them to adjust them to their own ecosystems. Very recently, the experts like the academics, archaeologists, scientists and practitioners in the concerned fields have found out the relevance of knowledge in the field of ecosystem, environment and maintaining a balance between people.

Another important aspect of this is the values and ethics that are associated with the cultural practices of the Indigenous groups. Ethics for some people can differ from each other and it can result in difference of opinions between people (Barnhardt 2014). Traditional knowledge has a very large importance in the making and shaping of the environmental contexts. The present in-built environmental factors are not the only factors that can be held responsible for the environmental effects on the lives of the Indigenous people. There are many factors that can help shaping the environment. Climatic factors and the available local materials are also responsible for this (Viles and Cutler 2012). The various landforms of different places work as deciding factors for building up man made buildings and heritage sites like monuments and other things.

It is very evident and clear that the Indigenous people of different cultures are very much serious about their cultures and the aspect of protecting their lands. They consider their ancestral land to be holy and sacred. The sacred lands that they refer to are not only confined within the biodiversity elements like ponds, mountains, soil, water bodies and forests, this can also refer to the man made buildings like the monuments, temples, mosques, shrines and churches. These sacred buildings and monuments reveal their cultural values, their beliefs and their lifestyles. The tradition of the people in the past has influenced them to build the heritage sites like the monuments in different sites (Chan, Satterfield and Goldstein 2012). They wanted to sustain their cultural landscape by enforcing different social mechanisms. The Indigenous groups have always wanted to show respect to their cultures and ancestors. These people never hesitated to build these buildings that would help them to preserve the ideologies of their ancestors. They have believed in and kept faith in their gods. So they built those buildings to respect them and pray to them when they fell in distressed situations.

How are these forms of knowledge documented and safeguarded within the local and global institutions and systems?

All the local and global institutions, in the recent years, have understood the importance of safeguarding or protecting the traditional knowledge elements. The importance of this traditional knowledge is immense. The reason behind this is the Indigenous people who belong to different cultures, have preserved their heritage buildings and other elements so that their identities can live on through those things. Heritage is a representation of the past so everyone is curious about knowing their past (De Groot 2016). It may be a nice one, or may be a bitter one. Every human being or every culture, even every nation has their past that helps to keep their social identity alive.

Tradition and culture are very closely linked with each other. The impact of one thing is immense on the other. It is very important to preserve the intellectual property or the traditional heritage. It is a part of the history and therefore, can enhance our knowledge from every angle. There is no need to destroy it or ignore it because it has great importance in exploring the history of a bygone era.  The responsibility of preserving of these things heritage sites, associated with the traditional knowledge, rests on the local governments and the global institutions, museums and other authorities like UNESCO (Meskell 2012). These authorities can collect the important things from different places and assess their values by different historians like the historians, archaeologists and others. They refer that these things can be preserved in the museums like the lost drafts or manuscripts written by great people or the heritage houses of the great people can be declared as the heritage sites so that those houses cannot be occupied by unwanted people (Newby 2013).

The local governments can protect these sites by enforcing laws that will impose fines or imprisonment on the people who will try to harm these sites (Lixinski 2013). They can also keep guard over the areas so that it can be protected from any outside harms. Traditional heritage also includes music, dance and other artistic forms. Traditional knowledge helps human beings to keep track with their past because keeping updated is as much important as knowing about the past. The heritage elements must be restored by the local and global government authorities and it can be presented to us in many new ways. This would help people to tell their fiture generations about what has gone by in the yesteryears.

These issues are very important for understanding of the past of lives. A person who does not know of the past, is not aware of where he has come from and what possessions does he have. He may belong to a superior class but he does not recognize it. There are many factors that are hindering the implementation of this practice. In many cases, the people are reluctant to know about their own history. The traditional knowledge about their culture is not so much. They do not even want to know about it so the historians and the experts are no more interested in discovering them (Murzyn-Kupisz and Dzia?ek 2013)

Another factor that is important for the proper implementation of this is the government policies are not good enough to support the ideas. Government has to play a huge role in implementing this. They have to assess the situations and try to make the children know about their past through providing small chapters on them in their text books (Owens 2013). They can also make postcards that will help people to know about their past. They are not doing any of these works properly so naturally the outcome is on the negative side. They should have to be more positive in implementing these things into practice or else these heritage buildings cannot be protected because they are old and they will succumb to the natural disasters very soon. The roots of traditional knowledge have to be kept alive also or else human beings will lose a big part that could explain their reason for existence. These are the things that are arising in the practice of traditional knowledge and heritage. However, it is important to save the traditional heritage that explains a country or a region’s historical documents in the larger context.

Conclusion

This report emerges successful in providing an insight into the heritage of a nation. Herein, lays the contradiction with the limitation of Australia. As a matter of specification, the report peeks into the functionalities of the ommissionaries, which plays an important role in preserving the cultural diversity of the places of attraction. Speculation of the technological advancement reflects its impact on the political, social and education sectors. Along with this, the the=hnologial advancement has helped the personnel to overcome the challenges, which posed as an obstacle in their functionality to preserve the culturalism and traditionalism of the Australia  heritage. Citing examples from the sites of tourist attraction adds reliability and authenticity to the highlighted fats.

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