boar
ICH Exhibition 21
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NEWS
People on Vanuatu’s Malekula Island Speak More than 30 Indigenous Languages. Here’s Why We Must Record Them
: Indigenous languages preserve ways in which people engage with their environment. CCBY Royce Dodd, Author provided
Malekula, the second-largest island in the Vanuatu archipelago, has a linguistic connection to Aotearoa. All of its many languages are distantly related to te reo Māori, and the island is the site of a long-term project to document them.
Vanuatu has been described as the world’s “densest linguistic landscape,” with as many as 145 languages spoken by a population of fewer than 300,000 people.
Malekula itself is home to about 25,000 people, who among them speak more than thirty indigenous languages. Some are spoken by just a few hundred people.
Indigenous languages around the world are declining at a rapid rate, dying out with the demise of their last speakers. The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues estimates one indigenous language dies every two weeks. As each language disappears, its unique cultural expression and world views are lost as well. Our project in Malekula hopes to counter this trend.
Malekula Languages
The work in Malekula began in the 1990s when the late Terry Crowley hosted a Neve’ei-speaking university student from a small village. The encounter inspired his interest in the island’s many Indigenous languages.
The Malekula project works with communities to facilitate literacy initiatives, often in the form of unpublished children’s books and thematic dictionaries. The research highlights the value of Indigenous languages as an expression of local cultural identity. The Malekula project is a response to the urgent need to record the island’s indigenous languages in the face of significant changes to almost every aspect of traditional life. These changes have brought indigenous languages into contact and competition with colonial English and French and the home-grown Bislama, a dialect of Melanesian pidgin. From education to religion, administration, and domestic life, Bislama is now often the language of choice.
Why is that a problem? The value of indigenous languages lies in the fact that they articulate the way in which people have engaged with and understood their natural environment.
Malekula has a 3,000-year history of human settlement. Each language spoken on the island encodes unique ways in which its speakers have sustained life. Indigenous languages preserve ways in which people engage with their environment.
Another fundamental aspect of indigenous languages is their direct link to cultural identity. In a place where distinctive local identities are the norm, the increasing use of Bislama reduces the linguistic diversity that has been sustained for millennia.
In recent times, the way of life for the people of Malekula has shifted from intensely local communities to broader formal education. Imported religions have similarly influenced local belief systems.
The same centralized governance that facilitates infrastructure development and access to medical care also affects the autonomy of small communities to govern their affairs, including the languages in which children are taught.
Traditionally, linguistic field research has produced valuable research for a highly specialist linguistic audience. Most scholars had no expectation of returning their research to the community of speakers. We initially followed this tradition in writing about the Neverver language of Malekula but grew increasingly dissatisfied with the expectations of the discipline. Looking to modern decolonizing research methodologies and ethical guidelines in Aotearoa, we developed the “first audience principle.” This means indigenous language communities should be the first to hear about any field research findings.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and travel bans brought linguistic fieldwork to an abrupt halt. During this unwelcome hiatus from fieldwork with Malekula communities, it has been tempting to focus on more technical analysis for our fellow academics. But our obligation to communities remains, and we are developing new ways of working with our archived field data in preparation for the time when we can return to Malekula.
This article is based on the free flow of information, the creative commons from https://theconversation.com For the original source with additional links, please visit https://theconversation.com/people-on-vanuatus-malekula-island-speak-more-than-30-indigenous-languages-heres-why-we-must-record-them
03/12/2021
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NEWS
Tales of Heritage and Well-being. The Digital Appointment at the University of Catania from 11 to 13 February 2021
CHAIN Logo
The first meeting organized by the newborn CHAIN—Cultural Heritage Interdisciplinary Academic Network, founded by professors and PhD students in Sciences of Cultural Heritage and Production at the University of Catania, will consist of three days of meetings and debates, in Italian and English, entirely online.
Culture and COVID-19: changes and impacts on human relations and socio-cultural mechanisms in times of Pandemic.
The conference is free of charge. To participate in the conference sessions, simply register on the website: https://www.chain-conference.com
CATANIA, 31 JANUARY 2021. During the three days of the Well-Being and Cultural Heritage conference, more than fifty scholars, professors, experts and practitioners from all over the world (Austria, China, Germany, Greece, Italy, United Kingdom, Russia, Spain and the United States) will animate an interdisciplinary dialogue to reflect on traditions, places and communities; to narrate the role and identity of tangible and intangible heritage in the digital age; to highlight the performative value of cultural institutions (e.g. archives, libraries, archaeological sites, etc.) and the expressive and cathartic power of arts and culture; to recognize, value and manage the different impacts (social, health, economic, etc.) of the cultural sector and its management systems for achieving conscious, inclusive and sustainable development goals (SDGs 2030).
The macro-themes of the conference (Memory, Perception and Research-Actions) will be introduced by: Christian Greco, director of the Egyptian Museum in Turin, with a focus on memory and material culture (11 February); historian and media theorist Peppino Ortoleva who will speak on the individual, environmental and media appropriation of cultural heritage (12 February); and Pier Luigi Sacco, professor of cultural economics at IULM University, who will contribute to reflect on the foundations of culture as a sociobiological element of welfare (13 February).
The conference theme has been picked out months before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has allowed a rediscovery and affirmation of heritage and culture as virtuous and fundamental elements for maintaining strong human relations in times of social distancing. Evidence shows, for example, that cultural participation has contributed to the psychological well-being of communities, reducing isolation.
The CHAIN network—supported by a board of professors Maria Rosa De Luca, Pietro Militello, Anna Mignosa, Stefania Rimini and Romilda Rizzo—envisages the exchange of ideas and projects between universities, research centers, businesses, associations, bodies and professionals in the cultural sector. Meetings, conferences and workshops will be organized over the next few years. “We are currently working on the final preparations for the first ambitious step of this project,” have declared the young members of the CHAIN Team—Thea Messina, Stefano Russo, Giuseppe Sanfratello and Giovanna Santaera—“and we hope that the growing collaboration and involvement of operators and experts from all over the world will give continuity over time to the initiative, which, like heritage, inherits perspectives from the past and assigns us the task to work on the heritage to be passed on to the future generations.”
Additional information is available at https://www.chain-conference.com/
03/12/2021
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NEWS
2021 International CI Contest for UNESCO WHIPIC
poster image © WHIPIC
International CI Contest for UNESCO WHIPIC
The WHIPIC, International Centre for the Interpretation and Presentation of World Heritage Sites under the auspices of UNESCO, is set to establish its official incorporation at the end of 2021. Therefore the preparatory office for the WHIPIC holds the international CI contest to celebrate and promote the establishment.
As a Category 2 Centre (C2 Centre) under the auspices of UNESCO in the field of interpretation and presentation of World Heritage, we would like to raise international awareness and interest through the development of a unique, symbolic CI. We look forward to your interest and participation.
– Eligibility: The contest is open to anybody regardless of age, sex and nationality.
– Major schedule
○ Notice: 26 February through 24 March 2021
○ Submission: 25 March trough 01 April 2021 at 18:00 KST
○ Examination: 02 through 14 April 2021
○ Announcement of the final winners: 15 April 2021 at 18:00 KST
– Documents to be submitted and description
○ Contest application form (Attachment 1)
○ Pledge (Attachment 1)
○ Work file
① Centre logo: (1) symbol mark, (2) word mark, (3) Combination
(symbol + word marks)
② Examples of CI use: At least 2 examples including a letter, business card, signboard, and souvenir
– How to apply: via email (whipic@unesco-whipic.org)
– Prizes
○ A winner will be given about $4,450 (5,000,000 KRW)
○ 2 participants of Prize for Excellence will be given about $445 (500,000 KRW)
For more information and application form, https://bit.ly/2P6bKnO
Facebook Page
03/12/2021
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EVENTS
Inviting New Partner Organizations for ichLinks
ICHCAP invites the new partner organizations for the ichLinks, an Integrated ICH Information-Sharing Platform in the Asia-Pacific Region (www.ichlinks.com).
The partner organizations are key actors who collect and share the ICH information in their respective countries and utilize the shared information to enhance the visibility of ICH and cultural diversity.
Last year, ICHACP designated five partner organizations in Malaysia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. The selected partner organizations shared their ICH data through the ichLinks, and ICHCAP supported them to build their own ICH database as well as to develop digital content.
This year, ICHCAP will designate the 2nd group of partner organizations. The selected organizations are supposed to share their ICH information and may get the financial and/or technical support upon their requests.
Those who wish to be the ichLinks’ partner organization, please send us your application (attachment 3) with the recommendation letter from the related government authorities by 15 June 2021. Among the applied partner organizations, those who need financial and/or technical support, please send us your project proposal (attachment 5) by the same date as above.
For any inquiries on the project, please contact the ichLinks secretariat at ichlinks.secretariat@gmail.com.
04/09/2021
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EVENTS
2021 ichLinks Open Archive Contest
ICHCAP is planning to hold ichLinks Open archive contest from October 25 to November 25.
ichLinks Open archive aims to be performed as a channel for discovering and sharing the ICH stories around our daily lives.
Safeguarding ICH needs our interest and attention rather than special people or devices.
Through diverse viewpoints from the public, ichLinks Open Archive would like to meet various ICH stories with various aspects and the value of cultural diversity.
ICHCAP will select a total of 51 winners and give them prizes. The awards to be offered in each category are; First Prize for 1 person, The second Prize (10 people), The third Prize (40 people).
The contest is open for everyone. Applicants can join the ichLinks platform through SNS and register their submissions.
ICHCAP expects that the contest will help raise public awareness of ICH in their daily lives, which leading ICH safeguarding.
10/24/2021
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NEWS
ichLinks Platform Server Down Notice
The ichLinks platform is planning to implement server down for a new change.
The platform will not be used smoothly during the announced time.
[ Down time 1 ] 2022. 12. 13. Tuesday / 09:00~18:00(8 hour) UTC+9
[ Down time 2 ] 2022. 12. 16. Friday / 18:00~23:59(6 hour) UTC+9
12/07/2022
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NEWS
New and Forthcoming Cultures and Traditions in eHRAF World Cultures & Archaeology (2020-2021)
Relational database table © Shutterstock/Yurich
A popular annual request from our members is for information about how we are growing our culture collections in our eHRAF databases. Below is a brief summary of what cultures and traditions we have added or updated in the past year, followed by a preview of what we will be working on analyzing throughout 2021 to include in eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology.
Please note that the collections added to World Cultures are part of the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS), which was created by George Peter Murdock and Douglas R. White in 1969. The SCCS consists of 186 anthropologically described societies chosen by the sample’s creators to be representative of the world’s cultures. The sample tried to minimize cultural relatedness, so only one society was chosen from a given culture area. Each society is pinpointed in time and space. Researchers coding variables for this sample are expected to adhere to the specified time and place focus. With these additions, eHRAF World Cultures currently has about 97% of the SCCS societies in the database. We are planning to add the remaining SCCS societies to eHRAF World Cultures soon.
Source: https://hraf.yale.edu/new-and-forthcoming-cultures-and-traditions-in-ehraf-world-cultures-archaeology-2020-2021/?fbclid=IwAR0NEzUGXcEyyDpmBJOZP8p1gq6IwSkwgf56gbTmhqwoJHfgoZM6IAKjTGY
03/12/2021
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Polima Universal Values of the Buton Community
Dr. H. AS. Tamrin MH, Mayor of Baubau City, SE Sulawesi, Indonesia © Gaura Mancacaritadipura
POLIMA (or PO-5 = 5 PO) is an expression containing five universal values: 1) PO-maamaasiaka, 2) PO-piapiara, 3) PO-maemaeaka, 4) PO-angkaangkataka, and 5) PO-bincibinciki kuli. These values or principles fall within the ICH domain of customs and traditions. The philosophical basis in found in the SARAPAANGUNA (Laws of the Buton Sultanate)
These are messages from the Founding Fathers of the Buton community as guidance in social life interaction They are given to create a peaceful, stable, and conducive atmosphere among the people. It is in such a way that government, development, and social life may go on smoothly in a way that is more effective and successful.
Dr. H. AS. Tamrin MH, Mayor of Baubau City, SE Sulawesi, Indonesia © Gaura Mancacaritadipura
The understanding of these five values may be elaborated as follows:
PO-maamaasiaka (root word maasi, meaning affection or love): understanding mutual love and affection,
PO-piapiara (root word piara, meaning to maintain): understanding mutual maintaining, mutual protection, and mutual nursing.
PO-maemaeaka (root word: maea, meaning shame): understanding mutual feelings of shame. The meaning is that if we do something scandalous or improper, we will surely feel ashamed. In our hearts we must be conscious, and feelings must be cultivated so that it is not just ourselves alone who feel shame, but also our parents, our family, our ethnic community, and the school or university where we studied—all will feel contamination and shame for the improper act that we have done. Therefore, we should not dare commit scandalous or shameful acts in any form.
PO-angka-angkataka (the root word is angka, meaning to lift): understanding to mutually lift up, mutual appreciation, and mutual respect. The day to day implementation of this principle is in the form of politeness, good character in the form of speech, behavior and action that are the measure of a person’s personality.
PO-binci-binciki kuli (the root word is binci meaning to pinch, and kuli meaning skin.) Thus binciki kuli means to pinch the skin) This is a figurative expression for an action that causes pain. We certainly don’t like to be pinched. So, therefore, we should not pinch other. Whatever action that causes pain to others and that we don’t like, we should not do to others. If we don’t like being the object of a hoax, we should not pull a hoax on others. If we don’t like to be the object of false accusations, then we should not target false accusations towards others. If we don’t like being cheated, we should not cheat others. In short, actions that we do not like when done to us, we should not do to others. Everything should be evaluated honestly in our deepest heart.
The word “PO” is a prefix meaning “mutual”, or “a reciprocal action”. This implies the principles of equality, equanimity, honesty, and mutual justice.
The relevance of the application of POLIMO principles is quite broad, for example upliftment of peoples’ mentality, and it has been elaborated in a book POLIMA Gema Pancasila dari Baubau (Polima, the Echo of Pancasila from Baubau), now in its second edition.
03/12/2021
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EVENTS
International Symposium on Tugging Rituals and Games to Be Held from 9 to 10 April in Dangjin and Online
2021 Tugging Rituals and Games Poster Image © ICHCAP
The 2021 International Symposium on Tugging Rituals and Games for Its Sustainability, “Living with ICH: Tugging Rituals and Games” will be held for two days from 9 to 10 April with on/offline hybrid format.
In last year, celebrating 5th anniversary of its inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the UNESCO, diverse events had been planned. Though, because of the global pandemic, all were postponed and only December event was held via online.
Therefore, the expectation of this symposium is pretty high, particularly among four countries where done multi-nomination. This symposium aims to understand better the value of the element and its sustainability in present. Notably, the 2003 Convention acknowledges ICH’s re-creativity, as a mainspring of cultural diversity, by communities and groups. The emphasis of the event lies here. It is crucial to share each country’s activities and build a network for vitalizing their ICH safeguarding activities for the sustainable development of humanity.
Not only experts’ multi-angle analysis, two in-depth discussion sessions are prepared. In accordance with Gijisi Juldarigi Festival, the rituals with commentary will be live streamed via ICHCAP YouTube channel on 8 April, too. You can find more information from here.
04/05/2021
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NEWS
The 1st ichLinks Executive Committee Meeting
The 1st ichLinks Executive Committee Meeting was held on June 29, 2021, online. Representatives of the current partner organizations from five countries (Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam) and future partners from four countries (Bhutan, Cambodia, Fiji, and Singapore) were present.
During this 1st meeting, the Committee discussed draft Project Guidelines and the Operational Rules of ichLinks Executive Committee, elected the first Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson, and shared the progress reports on the status of the first ichLinks supported projects of Mongolia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam. The Committee also discussed the provisional agenda for the 2nd Committee meeting as well as the working-level meeting.
Mr. Rustam Muzafarov (Deputy Chairman, National Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Kazakhstan) and Mr. Bui Hoai Son (Director, Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies) were elected as the first Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson respectively. Their term of office is one year, which is until June 28, 2022.
ICHCAP will additionally collect opinions from partner organizations on the Project Guidelines and Operational Rules of the Executive Committee and will discuss them at the 2nd Committee meeting at the end of this year. In addition, by holding a working-level meeting in August, ICHCAP plans to conduct technical training and provide manuals to partner organizations so they can directly upload their ICH data to the ichLinks platform.
The current ICH data of partner organizations uploaded to date can be found in the archives of the ichLinks.
06/30/2021
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ICHCAP and BIPA Signed MoU for the Development of Digital Cultural Heritage Content of ASEAN
On 19 April, International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (hereinafter referred to as “ICHCAP”) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency (hereinafter referred to as “BIPA”) to cooperate in digital cultural heritage content sector by linking up the ‘ichLinks’ with ‘ASEAN·ROK ICT Convergence Village’ project.
The ‘ASEAN·ROK ICT Convergence Village’ was established in 2020, which is a joint operation of the BIPA and the city of Busan, as a follow-up action to the 2019 Korea-ASEAN Commemorative Summit in Busan. It aims to expand exchanges and cooperation in creating 5G immersive content and encourage mutual growth in the field of digital content between the Republic of Korea and ASEAN. Supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT and National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), the ‘ASEAN·ROK ICT Convergence Village’ has been working on ▲ supporting extended reality (XR) companies in ASEAN and Korea ▲ providing marketing support services for businesses specializing in digital content ▲ providing testbeds and infrastructure for creating 5G-based XR content ▲ operating the XR Academy, etc.
ICHCAP and BIPA decided to cooperate for ▲ operating a cooperative project in the field of digital cultural heritage content in the Asia-Pacific region ▲ sharing organizational networks ▲ co-hosting an XR content workshop ▲ supporting Korean ICT companies to launch into the Asia-Pacific region, etc.
With this chance, it is expected that the intersectoral synergy in the field of digital content based on each organization’s expertise will be expanded.
04/20/2022
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NEWS
Festival for Building Resilience
Shola craft at Surul © Banglanatak dot com
This year, 2021, is the Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development. banglanatak dot com, headquartered in Kolkata and specializing in culture and development, was supported by the British Council to hold the Ripples Festival—Reveling in the Rarh (https://ripplesfestival.com/) between 15 and 17 January 2021. The Ripples Festival promoted an interesting model of integrating heritage and place-making and develop responsible tourism where the local communities are positively impacted. Santiniketan at Bolpur, embodying the first Asian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s vision of universalism and heritage sensitive development, is a popular tourist destination. The Ripples Festival created opportunities for people to interact directly with the folk artists and craftspersons living in the villages in and around Bolpur. It offered a rich experience of art, craft, beautiful landscape of river and red soil, along with exchanges of perspectives and ideas for building a resilient and creative future. Baul songs are inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Heritage of Humanity. They propound the philosophy of searching within and universal brotherhood to attain the divine. In the festival, the Bauls of Bolpur, Ilambazar and Joydev Kenduli, performed and shared their philosophy. Women held workshops and exhibitions on making Kantha embroidery—a quilting tradition of recycling old clothes and beatifying embroidery with simple run stitches. Craftspersons who make intricate crafts from the spongy white stem of the Shola plant held workshops. A theater festival, Tribute to Shakespeare, explored telling the timeless stories using traditional folk drama forms.
Raibenshe performance in About Caliban © Banglanatak dot com
The festival also reached out to art lovers through online components. The rural artists enjoyed their first opportunity of sharing their art form and village on a global platform. Videos and live interactions provided a unique experience to people connecting online. The webinars were held on the themes of Heritage and Festivals, Heritage and Creative Economy, and Heritage Resilience. The speakers were from India and the UK with extensive experience in theater, music, craft, and art as well as multicultural collaboration and exchange. They included Simon Broughton, Chief Editor of the prestigious Songlines magazine; designer, Amber Khokar; artist-entrepreneur, Ali Pretty; Dr. Joseph Lo with extensive experience in the world of craft; theater exponent, Parnab Mukherjee; founder of Tapantar, Kallol Bhattacharya, along with Dr. Debanjan Chakrabati and Jonathan Kennedy from the British Council. The webinars have helped in creating global awareness on the art forms and gathering international perspectives on key needs for building resilient creative economy. Different speakers stressed the need to look at festivals and heritage as integral components to fostering inclusive and sustainable development. The festival highlighted the importance of cultural collaboration and exchange for rejuvenating art forms and creating new markets and audiences. It empowered rural artists with new digital skills and highlighted technology’s power in bringing the world closer with online participants.
Ripples Festival video: https://youtu.be/CGdfuuAgYNI
03/12/2021
