Abstract
Reflecting upon Harrison’s critical approach to heritage, (2013) in
this paper I take the ritual and performances of Tanadui in Taketomi
as the example to conduct a primary research on the anthropology of
heritage. I firstly review the notion of heritage and its
correspondent development with the expansion of Western modernity and
the global system, to reveal how heritage has been defined, debated,
legitimized and institutionalized provided with the politics of
cultural identity internationally and domestically. I later review
Japanese regulations of Cultural Asset to discuss how, by adopting
paradigm of knowledge such as the Japanese folklore study, the nation
has developed, refined and revised the system as an inscription of,
and reaction to, modernization. The discussion is then followed by
the example of my long-term ethnographic study of ritual and
performances in Taketomi, to illustrate how regional cultural
practices interact with the global discourse and national state craft
centering on Intangible Cultural Heritage, while express themselves
with unique cultural philosophy about the past. At the end, I suggest
that the transformation of the premise and core value of Intangible
Cultural Heritage, as shown in the difference between the 1972 and
2003 Conventions, prove that the community, which is the ideal
maintainers of Cultural Heritage, must negotiate and even transform
the concepts and discourse, to sustain a more autonomous space for
interpretation and creation, while ensure the recognition of
uniqueness of its own culture.
this paper I take the ritual and performances of Tanadui in Taketomi
as the example to conduct a primary research on the anthropology of
heritage. I firstly review the notion of heritage and its
correspondent development with the expansion of Western modernity and
the global system, to reveal how heritage has been defined, debated,
legitimized and institutionalized provided with the politics of
cultural identity internationally and domestically. I later review
Japanese regulations of Cultural Asset to discuss how, by adopting
paradigm of knowledge such as the Japanese folklore study, the nation
has developed, refined and revised the system as an inscription of,
and reaction to, modernization. The discussion is then followed by
the example of my long-term ethnographic study of ritual and
performances in Taketomi, to illustrate how regional cultural
practices interact with the global discourse and national state craft
centering on Intangible Cultural Heritage, while express themselves
with unique cultural philosophy about the past. At the end, I suggest
that the transformation of the premise and core value of Intangible
Cultural Heritage, as shown in the difference between the 1972 and
2003 Conventions, prove that the community, which is the ideal
maintainers of Cultural Heritage, must negotiate and even transform
the concepts and discourse, to sustain a more autonomous space for
interpretation and creation, while ensure the recognition of
uniqueness of its own culture.
| Translated title of the contribution | Folklore, Performing Arts and Cultural Heritage: Contemporary Ritual Practices of Taketomi Island in Okinawa |
|---|---|
| Original language | Chinese |
| Article number | 201 |
| Pages (from-to) | 25-63 |
| Number of pages | 29 |
| Journal | 民俗曲藝 (Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore) |
| Volume | 201 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Sept 2018 |
Keywords
- intangible cultural heritage (ICH), Okinawa, Taketomi, Tanadui, ritual performance
