The life of the Bauls of Bangladesh revolves around body-centric ascetic practice termed sadhana. Bauls believe in the co-existence of every element of the endless Brahmanda, meaning universe in the human body. Thus, they make caring for the body their highest priority over anything else. They have created extensive verse about body-centric sadhana codes that they transmit through song. The verses or songs include descriptions of control over the consumption of daily necessaries, mainly food. And, they believe in the doctrine মানুষ যা খায়, সে তাই (a human is what he or she consumes). They also judge food as medicine, as the need to live a hale and hearty.

Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS) was founded in 1989 to foster the empowerment of rural women of Kutch area in Gujarat. In 1993, KMVS organized women from different villages of Kutch to enhance their literacy level. Soorvani is an informal organization of 500 musicians representing 40 different musical forms. The goal of Soorvani is to improve the status and standard of Kutchi folk musicians. Its objectives are to preserve, sustain, revive, energize, and promote Kutch’s folk music traditions. Priti Soni, the contact person for Soorvani, wonderfully described the mission “Sachavu, Jharavu, Beg Vantu Karu” which means “preserve, protect, and promote”.

The Kazakh oral tradition is closely associated with the culture and lifestyle of nomadic civilisation. One of the main branches of the Great Silk Road is known to have led across Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The instrumental and oral traditions of numerous nomadic and settled nations were developing along the Great Silk Road in close interethnic contacts. In particular, many scientists and researchers note that different cultures and ethnic groups have common variations of tamboura-like instruments with silk strings and dulcimer-like instruments and traditional guttural singing.

Arts-ED is a Malaysian non-profit organization operating out of George Town, Penang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It aims to provide innovative community-based arts and culture education in both rural and urban communities. With programs focusing on the arts, culture, and heritage, Arts-ED uses creative educational approaches that encourage learning around real issues.

Efforts for the sustainable development of human cultures, which is defined by UNESCO as its most important goal, have already affected our lives in many ways. Among others, the inheritance and development of ICH are considered unique to humanity and the quintessence of human life. Education plays a vital role in the process of cultural inheritance and development. In particular, the experiences and education we receive during elementary school as young members of a future generation have a critical and meaningful influence on our lives. The significance of ICH education for the sustainable development of humanity is evidently underlined in UNESCO’s 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and its Operational Directives.

The Masion des Cultures du Monde (World Cultures Institute) The Maison des Cultures du Monde (“World Cultures Institute”), has been founded in 1982 in Paris by Chérif Khaznadar and Françoise Gründ with the support of the French ministry of Culture. Its goals, the promotion and the enhancement of world performing arts - as witnesses of human inventiveness, \n\n- as landmarks of a historical continuity - as factors of cultural diversity \n- as sources of inspiration and creative renewal. Its method: the on-stage presentation of musical, dramatic, choreographic and ritual expressions from all over the world and mostly unknown to the French public. Since the creation of the United Nations, a new vision emerged that international solidarity should be based on the knowledge of other cultures and on a “dialogue of cultures”. In France several initiatives were conducted such as : - the Theatre of Nations with the support of UNESCO\n- foreign cultural seasons such as the Year of India, the Year of China, the Year of Korea, the Year of Vietnam etc. \n- a Traditional Arts Festival which promoted world traditional arts in a spirit of open-mindedness, awareness raising, aesthetic pleasure and cultural enrichment.

The epic Manas occupies a central place in the spiritual culture of the Kyrgyz people as a consolidating factor of the ethnos and basis for self-identity. The significance of the epic in the treasury of human heritage was recognised by the world community in 1995. The resolution ‘On celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Kyrgyz National Epos Manas was adopted at the 49th session of the UN General Assembly carried out by UNESCO and UNDP. The 1000th anniversary of the epic ‘Manas’ was celebrated on the international level with the participation of more than 60 countries. A number of exhibitions, festivals, and conferences dedicated to the epic ‘Manas’ were held in Turkey, China, USA, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and other countries. The inclusion of Manas on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013 was the next important step in the recognition of the Epos as World Heritage.

At this school, Ms Khankeo Syauksone and her colleague, two young mathematics teachers have devised new activities to help their students to learn. Since they began using culture as a tool for learning, the teachers have noted that students have become more confident in mathematics. Furthermore, they are more willing to help each other inside and outside the classroom, and they can see how mathematics is applied in everyday life.

Laos is aware that culture is the foundation for a nation’s survival. At the same time, culture is considered a driving force and end target for social development. A Lao proverb says, ‘culture proves nationality, and behavior proves social standing (of someone), so to lose culture means to lose the nation (population)’. Based on this consciousness and belief, the Lao government generally considers cultural affairs as the basis for formulating policies and strategies to preserve, promote, and develop national culture. A recent and noticeable achievement by the Ministry of Information and Culture can be seen in the organization’s growing success in promoting and expanding ‘the cultural family model’ and ‘the cultural village model’ within communities nationwide.

One category of Korean royal court is jeongjae, which is performed at banquets. Etymologically, jeongjae is derived from two words, jeong meaning ‘to offer to a superior’ and jae meaning ‘talent in the arts’. Thus, jeongjae means to offer one’s talent in the arts to a superior, through music, song, and dance.

"This paper considers some of the challenges around inventory making for intangible cultural heritage from a European perspective. It will outline the work that is currently being undertaken in Scotland to develop an online inventory using a wiki-based approach. Scotland as a devolved nation within the UK has its own cultural policies that embrace the concept of intangible cultural heritage (ICH); however, at a UK level, there appears to be resistance to the ratification of the 2003 UNESCO Convention on ICH. Scotland has taken an inclusive and participatory approach to the creation of an inventory that reflects the broad and open definition of ICH that has been adopted. This approach has brought some challenges as we begin to operationalize the identification and future safeguarding of ICH in Scotland. In managing the process, we are beginning to encounter some ethical questions. The digital inventory format of the wiki promotes grassroots community ownership, which means that data is user generated. Our challenges are around how this data should be moderated whilst adhering to the principles of a community approach, but also ensuring that we do not actively promote ICH that contravenes the basic human rights that the Convention is designed to uphold."

Vernacular martial arts (VMA) occupy a special niche within the diverse phenomena classified as martial arts. Cross-culturally, “Martial arts can be defined as systematic bodies of knowledge, belief, and practice that are associated with methods of attack and defense against … adversaries” (Green and Svinth, 2010, p. 331). On close examination, we learn that the behaviors we attempt to gather under this umbrella term are quite diverse, ranging from life-and-death struggles through rule-governed sporting contests to expressive forms, from globalized combat sports to localized martial culture. The systems that fall on the latter end of this spectrum I have applied the VMA label to, and among the various martial expressions these are the ones that most clearly qualify as intangible cultural heritage (ICH). The following distinctions are useful for the current discussion.