Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Policy Tale of Two Nations

Abstract

ABSTRACT The United Kingdom (UK) has not adopted the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage (the 2003 Convention). It has been argued that this is because the UK government does not fully comprehend intangible cultural heritage (ICH). However, this article suggests that the UK government does in fact understand ICH, and that several historic and current UK laws and policies protect aspects of ICH. The article re-examines ICH, and reveals that ICH includes two key elements: the discernment of heritage and the embodiment of heritage. The discernment of heritage refers to how cultures identify which spaces, objects and artefacts are the correct and meaningful referent for the expression of ICH. The embodiment of heritage refers to activities which express ICH. Understanding ICH in this way clarifies that heritage-related laws in the UK have been focussed on protecting the discernment of heritage, and not on protecting specific embodiments of heritage. The divergence of heritage-related laws and policies between England and Wales since Devolution is then examined, revealing a relationship between nationalism and the embodiment of heritage. It is argued that the UK government’s understanding of this relationship better explains the UK’s hesitation in adopting the 2003 Convention than poor comprehension.