1. Introduction to intangible cultural heritage (ICH)
The Hilali Toolkit
Introducing to Intangible Cultural Heritage by Dr Danilo Giglitto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

2. What is cultural heritage?
Etymology
Old French: “(h)eritage” (13th century)
Cultural elements
Roots, identity, and sense of place and belonging (1960s)
Mode of cultural production
People connector
Rise of awareness and worries (A lot!)
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

3. DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto
"Stonehenge Closeup" by Daveahern~commonswiki is released into the public domain (  
"All Gizah Pyramids-2" by Ricardo Liberato is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic licence (
"Colosseum in Rome-April copie 2B" by Diliff is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic licence (
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

4. Why is it so important?
Modern trends (globalisation, individualisation) cause unrootdness
Profit
It helps the national identity building process
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

5. Institutionalisation of CH
Proliferation of public/private bodies
UNESCO (1946)
From 20 state members (1946) to 195 (nowadays)
Grew in size and function:
From intellectual cooperation to worldwide peace, security and education.
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

6. Example of collaboration and preamble of codification
The Aswan Dam case
"BarragemAssuão" by NASA is released into the public domain (
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

7. DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto
"Valle dei Templi 3214" by Markos90 is licensed under the CC BY 2.0 licence (
"EtnaAvió" by Josep Renalias is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic licence (
Codification of CH
Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972)
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

8. What about inclusiveness?
Most of Asian and African countries’ heritage didn’t really fit into the Convention criteria.
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

9. What about inclusiveness?
For decades, heritage was associated with the concept of public goods.
Heritage was, therefore, a physical thing or place, and this conception slowed down the recognition that heritage could be intangible, too.
This delayed recognition reflected an Occidental praxis.
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

10. Immaterial (and neglected) aspects of CH
“Increasing frustrations were directed to the World Heritage Committee by countries from the southern hemisphere who protested that the World Heritage List hardly reflected a geographical balance as its selection criteria were not necessarily suitable for the cultural features of southern countries [whose] rich cultures [...] are expressed more in their living forms than in their monuments and sites”.
“The overwhelming over-representation on the List of cultural properties in Europe and those concerning Christianity and certain historical periods, all presented as the great “monument of” the history of “classical” art. The almost complete absence of the heritage of living cultures, especially the so-called “traditional” ones. Africa, with less than a five per cent share of the properties listed, appeared as the top priority for the future.”
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

11. Inherent contradiction
Ise Grand Temple (Naiku and Geku), Japan is fully reconstructed every 20 years for over 1000 years to transmit the knowledge about the rebuild process.
“Where” is the heritage in this case?
"IseShrine" by Fg2 is released into the public domain (
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

12. A new Convention!
Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage (2003):
the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

13. Examples of ICH Opera dei Pupi and the Neapolitan way of making pizza
"Alcamo-Pupi-bjs " by Bjs is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic licence (
"La vera pizza Napolitana ( )" by Leandro Neumann Ciuffo is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic licence. (
Examples of ICH
Opera dei Pupi and the Neapolitan way of making pizza
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

14. Intangible cultural heritage
It’s fluid (and sometimes inconsistent).
With communities, form a self- perpetuating cycle.
Can be contested!
Community is key.
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

15. Tangible vs intangible
Value is not intrinsic, but externally attributed.
What a weird
rock?
"Colosseum in Rome-April copie 2B" by Diliff is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic licence (
Knows nothing about
Gladiators were cool, and so are Romans!
Knows something about
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto

16. Thank you!
21 November 2018
DISCOVER - Dr Danilo Giglitto