“ICH and Gender” introduces the mutual relationship between gender norms and ICH and emphasizes that understanding the intimacy between ICH and gender is important for effective ICH safeguarding and gender equality.

“ICH and Gender” introduces the mutual relationship between gender norms and ICH and emphasizes that understanding the intimacy between ICH and gender is important for effective ICH safeguarding and gender equality.

Co-orgarnized by ICHCAP and Hue Monuments Conservation Centre (HMCC), this year’s Asia-Pacific ICH NGO Conference was held in Hue, Vietnam under the theme of ICH NGOs towards Sustainable Development of Communities.

The Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts is a Philippine non-profit, non-governmental orga-nization based in Quezon City, National Capital Region, Luzon and in Agusan del Sur, Caraga Region, Northeastern Mindanao. Established in 1994, the Tao Foundation is led by an all-fe-male Board composed of Filipino scholars, artists, and Indigenous community leaders engaged in cultural regeneration initiatives in response to the five centuries of colonial and neocolonial histories and the need to help build strong cultural communities. The Tao Foundation’s mission is to (1) facilitate the exchange, transmission, and development of Philippine ICH/TCH; and to (2) contribute to the empowerment of culture bearers or those who possess ancestral practical and theoretical knowledges that have endured and transformed to remain relevant through colonial and neocolonial histories as a result of day-to-day and more large-scale acts of resistance.

Community participation in identifying, inventorying, managing and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a central tenet of the Convention (e.g. see Article 11(b) and Article 15). States can involve communities in various activities under the Convention (this is discussed further in Participant’s text 7.4 below). However, the Convention and the ODs do not give precise indications about how to identify the relevant communities, groups and individuals. Nor do the Convention and the ODs give much guidance about how to involve them in actions concerning their ICH. This gives considerable leeway to States Parties to respond to their specific situations. It is, for example, equally possible to start by identifying specific ICH elements and then work with the people who practise and transmit them (who would be defined as part of ‘the community concerned’); or by first identifying communities and then, together with them, identifying their ICH.

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.

Central Asia is a region that has served as the centre of social and economic, in particular cultural interrelations of East and West. The nations of this region have a rich cultural heritage and ancient traditions like any nation in the world. The nations of Central Asia - Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan – make up a unified cultural space, defined by great grassland steppes and famous mountains, nomadic culture and common history, relics and traditions. Throughout this region we find petroglyphs, keregsur, steles, ruins and other monuments attesting to the mingling of peoples in the Central Asian steppe since prehistory. The territory of our own nation, Mongolia, has indeed been the centre several nomadic empires at various stages in history, established by different peoples of Central Asia sharing a similar cultural origin – Hunnu, Khitan, Turks, Uighurs, Kyrgyz and Mongols.

Learning oral epic traditions means learning people’s lifestyle, traditions, customs and history, their present and future, their way of thinking and their spirit. Specifically, it means understanding the originality of a nation, its qualities, wishes, way of living and outlook or, in other words, learning the oral traditions of a nation means to study the nation itself. The process of modernising our present morals depends on how we have studied literary heritage, including the originality and degree of mythology in oral epic traditions. For this, initially we need to learn, investigate and research ancient mythological imaginations of our people and their oral narrative traditions, which are the base for art and literature. Oral epic works present the literary history of any nation.

The presence of goddesses has been a consistent feature within Korean polytheistic shamanism and traditional popular religions. These goddesses are often associated with nature or aspects of family and life. Samsin is a grandmother goddess who gives life to babies. Known as Samsin Halmeoni (Samsin grandmother), she protects the mother and newborn during the birthing process and while growing up. Youngdeung Halmeoni (Youngdeung grandmother), the goddess of wind, is a capricious goddess who reflects the stereotypical character of a mother-in-law who torments her daughter-in-law. As Korea became a male-dominant society, Sanshin (mountain god) was modified to become a male god, although Sanshin was originally a female goddess.

The artistic world of traditional culture of Central Asian peoples is determined by contents that lie in certain historical periods and, at the same time, remain outside history. Contemporary science allows us to study the originality of the art of people in Central Asia, which is important for an objective reconstruction of the general picture of the art’s evolution. Historical and social changes cannot be studied without a clear understanding of cultural integrity and the perception of the artistic laws of culture and its context in this or that socio-historical period.

The Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts is a Philippine non-profit, non-governmental orga- nization based in Quezon City, National Capital Region, Luzon and in Agusan del Sur, Caraga Region, Northeastern Mindanao. Established in 1994, the Tao Foundation is led by an all-fe- male Board composed of Filipino scholars, artists, and Indigenous community leaders engaged in cultural regeneration initiatives in response to the five centuries of colonial and neocolonial histories and the need to help build strong cultural communities.

“ICH and Gender” introduces the mutual relationship between gender norms and ICH and emphasizes that understanding the intimacy between ICH and gender is important for effective ICH safeguarding and gender equality.