📘 Required resources before you begin
To proceed with this module:
- 📖 Read Chapter 10 of Handbook on Intangible Heritage
- 🗂️ Review the case studies developed for Chapter 10 from the Manual
ℹ️ These materials provide the foundations you’ll need to get the most out of this module.
Introduction
Ethics is inseparable from Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Every living tradition is rooted in communities, shaped by their identity, dignity, and voice. When we speak about safeguarding ICH, we are not only preserving practices—we are protecting people’s rights, participation, and cultural agency. Without ethical principles, safeguarding risks becoming an exercise in control or exploitation rather than a pathway to cultural continuity.
Approaches
- Ethics and Culture (Ethos)
- The term ethos captures the moral foundations of culture. Ethics ensures that traditions are not reduced to commodities, but respected as part of a community’s identity and dignity.
- UNESCO Ethical Principles
- Participation: communities must be active agents, not passive subjects.
- Respect for identity and diversity: all traditions deserve recognition on their own terms.
- Non-exploitation: cultural expressions cannot be used in ways that harm, distort, or marginalize the communities that created them.
- ICH as Dynamic (Not “Frozen”)
- Traditions are living, adaptive, and evolving. Attempting to “freeze” them risks fossilization and loss of vitality.
- Safeguarding means supporting continuity and creativity, not locking culture into a fixed past.
- Shared Vocabulary
- FPIC (Free, Prior, and Informed Consent): communities must authorize use after fully understanding implications.
- Equity: fair treatment in recognition and benefit-sharing.
- Sovereignty: communities retain authority over their heritage and knowledge.
Key Questions
- Why is ethics fundamental to ICH safeguarding (beyond legal compliance)?
- What makes ICH “living,” and what are the risks of fossilization?
- Which UNESCO/WIPO principles matter most for your community’s case—and why?
- How do identity and recognition shape legitimate stakeholder claims?
Case Explorations
Case 1: Fado – Ethical Angles
- How dignity, recognition, and community voice are visible in Fado practice and venues.
- Where tensions arise between performance for tourism and authenticity for the community.
Case 2: Ceramics and Embroider
- These crafts illustrate how ICH evolves rather than freezes.
- Island-specific palettes, materials, and motifs show identity and dignity at work.
- Ethical principles (participation, diversity, non-exploitation) reveal tensions, especially with industrial copies or global commercialization.
In-Class Activities (15–20 min)
- Fado Case Study – Ethics Evidence Sprint
- Extract 6 ethical “anchors” from Fado/ICH materials (identity, participation, diversity, non-exploitation, agency, vitality).
- Attach one source of evidence for each.
- Ceramics & Embroidery – Ethical Anchors Wall
- Identify 6 ethical anchors (e.g., intergenerational transmission, island identity, women’s work, authenticity vs industrial copies).
- Pin one evidence line from the text or case study per anchor.
Digital Activity (15–25 min)
Glossary & Principles Wall (via LMS/Padlet):
- Define key terms: FPIC, custodianship, data sovereignty.
- Add UNESCO/WIPO references.
- Post short entries for faience, bordado a matiz, straw embroidery, and custodianship, with one piece of evidence each from case studies.
Reflection Questions
- How can communities ensure that their dignity and identity are preserved in global promotion of ICH?
- How do ethical principles strengthen—not limit—the safeguarding of ICH?
- In your opinion, which is the greater risk: fossilization of traditions or exploitation through commercialization? Why?
- What responsibilities do outside stakeholders (tourists, researchers, policymakers) have when engaging with community heritage?