10/22/2014. Abstract. Oscar Salemink Professor in the Anthropology of Asia University of Copenhagen

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1 Navn oplægsholder Navn KUenhed Searching for cultural substance: Cultural heritage as validation of the nation Or: as redemption of the nation? Or:.as hijacking of and by the state? Or: The post-socialist heritagization of Vietnam Oscar Salemink Professor in the Anthropology of Asia University of Copenhagen Dias 1, Abstract Since the 1972 World Heritage Convention and the 2003 Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention, ever more objects and practices that historically have been associated with particular, localized communities, have been labeled heritage. In this paper I will argue that cultural commons are increasingly being enclosed, appropriated and commoditized through the worldwide process of heritagization of culture, both material and intangible, by focusing on the last 20 years of heritage making in Vietnam. By focusing on heritagization as a form of enclosure of intellectual commons and hence state appropriation of the public domain, with reference to the trenchant critique of James Boyle of the proliferation of intellectual property rights as a second enclosure movement, I will show how the heritagization of culture redefines the relations between communities, market, state (as brokered by scientific and cultural experts). Both at World Heritage, Intangible Cultural Heritage and state levels, heritagization celebrates the local, the unique, the specific, the authentic, but paradoxically as an integral part of the national domain, by bringing in the global which according to UNESCO is a major threat to cultural diversity. In a further paradox, more globalization is called forth in order to combat some of the negative effects of globalization, and local communities are subjected to its outside interventions by state, market, and outside experts. In the process, local communities are (figuratively) disenfranchised or literally dispossessed of their common cultural assets. Dias 2 1

2 Heritage as public rhetoric, The label of heritage today is a feelgood term (just like identity, human rights, millennium development goals, etc.) Heritage / patrimoine associated with UNESCO validation Since 1972 World Heritage Convention and 2003 Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention But it has older roots: Dias 3 Modern interest in heritage in Britain Celebration of mythical (medieval, pre-roman, nonmodern) past in Romantic period Renaissance celebration of classic Rome and Greece, Heritage as property It denotes inheritance (patrimoine, arv, Erbe, di sản) That is: the intergenerational transfer of assets within a family or kin group It refers to objects and/or assets that can be claimed, owned and used as property But what is transferred is always selective (And it is usually gendered: example of patri-moine) Dias 4 2

3 Heritage as culture, Cultural heritage is not the property of a family or kin group (even though is may be inherited or owned by a family, like a castle) The predicate cultural shifts the subject of heritage from a family to larger (territorial) unit: Locality Region Nation In other words: the inheritance may be private but the heritage is public Dias 5, Heritage effects # 1 But what are the effects of (policy & market) practices with reference to the feelgood concept of heritage? The label of heritage certifies certain cultural sites, objects and practices as authentic, unique and valuable Preferably bearing the UNESCO stamp, heritage is a certification label The heritage label functions as a brand in the world s largest economic sector the international tourist market Dias 6 3

4 , Heritage effects # 2 But what are the effects of labeling something as heritage? And who experiences these effects? The castle owner or inhabitant may see her uses of the site as constrained if it limits what she can do to/with the place, which is partly public and hence not-quite-private The castle owner or inhabitant may see her uses of the site as enhanced if it enables her to capitalize on her private property (inheritance) as public heritage Dias 7, Conceptual blur Feelgood concepts are seldom good social science concepts because they stand in the way of critical analysis For that reason I distinguish cultural heritage as a currently narrow, political concept from cultural legacy which also denotes a temporal, intergenerational transfer but which has a much broader meaning less politicized and for a wider constituency (but legacy has its own problems: it is an injunction to act) Dias 8 4

5 My early interest in heritage Byt billede: Ny slide og klik ikon, indsæt billede My doctoral research took place in tribal area of Vietnam which became early site for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage work (1994) This made me a cultural expert, and I edited UNESCO s first publication on ICH (2001) (but not without personal misgivings) Dias 9 Maps Byt billede: Ny slide og klik ikon, indsæt billede In the 1990s and 2000s many Highlanders converted to evangelical Christianity This was regarded in highly politicized terms in Vietnam and beyond Dias 10 5

6 , This made me follow my research subjects to the theme of religious change, the politics of religion, and the relation between the secular and the religious I am seeking to complete that line of work with a monograph on religious change in contemorary Vietnam and the publication of the Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia Dias 11, Colonial scholarship on Indochinese history and culture École française d Extrême-Orient (EFEO) Dominated by archaeology and philology Focus on complex of Angkor in Cambodia ( How could those effete and effeminate Khmer produce such monumental architecture in past? ) Lesser focus on Chăm towers and sculpture in Vietnam Little interest in Lao and Việt material culture with exception of ancient Đông Sơn civilization because seen as derivative of Siam and China Ethnographic interest in ethnic minorities, largely for religious, military and administrative reasons Dias 12 6

7 , Postcolonial, postsocialist Vietnam Initial drive towards enforced modernity Predicated on destruction of the past Tradition, religion, local identities discarded as backward, superstitious, wasteful With economic reforms Vietnam s Communist Party lost its socialist modernity and needed new sources of political legitimization which it found in an embrace of its past as the source of its identity and as its legacy for the future In this context, the label of heritage became crucial Dias 13 World heritage sites, Natural Hạ Long Bay (1994) Phong Nha Kẻ Bàng cave complex(2003) Tràng An karst landscape (2014) Cultural Complex of Huế monuments (1993) Mỹ Sơn (Chăm) sanctuary (1999) Hội An ancient town (1999) Imperial citadel of Thăng Long Hanoi (2010) Citadel of the Hồ Dynasty (2011) Tràng An landscape complex (2014) Dias 14 7

8 Intangible cultural heritage in Vietnam, 1. Space of gong culture (2008) 2. Nhã nhạc Huế court music (2008) 3. Ca trù singing (2009) 4. Quan họ Bắc Ninh folk songs (2009) 5. Gióng festival of Phf Đông and Sóc temples (2010) 6. Xoan singing of Phú Thọ province (2011) 7. Worship of Hùng kings in Phú Thọ (2012) 8. Đơn ca tài tử music in southern Vietnam (2014) Dias 15, Heritage politics in Vietnam Since 1993 move to create and recognize heritage in Vietnam Part of international competition about heritage prestige (Vietnam has been very successful in UNESCO arena over past two decades) But also part of domestic politics of promoting cultural pride and cohesion in nation after the demise of the political project of socialism Thus seeking to create legitimacy for communist regime enacting neoliberal policies Dias 16 8

9 , Heritage politics in the Highlands In 2001 and 2004 political troubles in Central Highlands over land, religion, and autonomy Regime response was harshly repressive, especially with regards to the foreign religion Simultaneous cultural response to extol the culture that Highlanders abandoned as heritage Epics program gong culture recognized as ICH This pointed to deep politicization of cultural heritage Dias 17, UNESCO report about ICH in Vietnam Report titled Bảo tồn và phát huy di sản văn hoá trong quá trình hiện đại hoá [Preserving and promoting cultural heritage during the modernization process] Field research done by excellent VN team, I was advisor Some findings: Emphasis on aesthetic and performative aspects Outsider valuation Cultural standardization Decontextalization and recontextualization Instrumentalization of cultural community About heritagization: di sản hóa [heritagization] may lead to the erosion of the rights (to manage, organize, create, derive benefit) of the cultural community with regards to their heritage (p. 13) Dias 18 9

10 , Exploring the concept of heritagization Hewison (1987): heritagization of space Walsh (1992) : distinguishes between spatial, temporal, representational and constituency dimensions Lowenthal (1996): Heritage as claim to represent the past for presentist purposes in competitive manner Smith (2006): Authorized heritage discourse Bendix (2009): intangible cultural heritage results in the heritagization of cultural life Creation of heritage where it was lacking Validation by outside cultural experts Management by State agencies Valorization by (tourism) entrepreneurs 5/30/2014 Dias 19 Example:Lễ hội đền Hùng Hùng temple festival From local festival 10

11 To national day... Political leaders assuming position of ritual leaders at Hùng festival taking the place of villagers Creating historical genealogy with times of Đông Sơn drums, ± BC 11

12 Gong music, minorities, and Đông Sơn dance at Hùng temple festival, Appropriation of heritage Heritage as property, but whose property? Heritagization assumes, implies and enhances commoditization This slide depicts official celebration of UNESCO recognition of gong music as intangible cultural heritage But it has nothing to do with the modest ritual music played in Highlander communities who are instrumentalized dispossessed in the process or made to perform for tourists. 5/30/2014 Dias 24 12

13 What is heritage now, was often religion, Example of spirit mediumship in Vietnam Is it religion? Is it heritage? The same practice, but. very different perception. different disciplinary knowledge and different state policies predicated on modern distinction 5/30/2014 Dias 25 between religious and secular, AAA letter to John Kerry August 6, 2014 The Honorable John F. Kerry U.S. Secretary of State Dear Mr. Secretary: We write on behalf of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and its Cultural Heritage Task Force to bring to your attention the systematic destruction of cultural heritage sites in Mosul, Iraq by militants associated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) movement. Over the past several months, more than a dozen mosques, shrines, tombs, and statues have been completely obliterated sites like the tomb of the prophet Jonah, and statues of Abu Tammam, a famous Arab poet, and Mullah Othman, a beloved 19th-century musician and poet. We ask that you allocate resources to prevent further damage to these witnesses to global cultural history. AAA offers our services to assist in preserving the fragile heritage these sites represent by drawing attention to and explaining the significance of these sites, assembling inventories of the properties at risk, and organizing public discussion of their importance. [ ] Sincerely, Monica Heller, President American Anthropological Association Dias 26 13

14 , James Boyle and the Second Enclosure Movement From enclosure of common land in 18 th Century Britain to enclosure of the intellectual commons through intellectual property rights (predicated on the notion that an idea can be property) to my suggestion that the label of heritage encloses the cultural commons (predicated on the appropriation and commoditization of culture) and necessarily results in cultural dispossession of marginal groups (UNESCO s culture bearers ) for the benefit of others 5/30/2014 Dias 27, Conclusions Heritagization involves de- and re-contextualization of sites, objects, knowledge and practices Heritagization often constitutes a transfer of values and ownership from marginal groups to elites and therefore constitutes a form of enclosure and dispossession Appropriation of heritage is appropriation of the economic value of the heritage as commodity in the (international) tourist market Politically, appropriation of heritage is simultaneously selective appropriation of the past and hence the future in narrative terms... by elite that captured the state and claims to speak for the nation 5/30/2014 Dias 28 14

15 Provocative statements, 1. The referent objects of what is now called heritage are or were oftentimes religious and ritual in nature think of temples, churches, religious art, rituals that become intangible cultural heritage. 2. The categorization as either religion or heritage implies a principally hence theoretically different approach by the state, which is supposed to keep its hands off religion (principle of non-intervention) but is expected to protect, preserve, manage and valorize heritage (principled intervention). Dias 29 Provocative statements, 3. Heritagization involves a form of enclosure (fencing off) of the object, site or cultural practice that is called heritage, turning it into a site of outside intervention by the state and cultural experts. 4. Heritagization facilitates appropriation and dispossession of sites, objects and practices that are labelled heritage. 5. Heritagization oftentimes disenfranchises and dispossesses the communities that were responsible for or live close to the heritage UNESCO s so-called culture bearers. Dias 30 15

16 Film excerpts (if time allows), 1. The Space of Gong Culture (UNESCO) 2. Ca trù singing (UNESCO) 3. Worship of Hùng Kings in Phú Thọ (UNESCO) 4. Love man Love woman (Nguyễn Trịnh Thi, 2007) 5. Dancing in the park (Redbridge 2010) 6. Hanoi public market (Redbridge 2012) Dias 31 16