A vernacular way of "safeguarding" intangible heritage

The fall and rise of rituals in Gouliang Miao village

Bibliographic Data

ID5700633
AuthorsYu Hua (0000-0001-6471-5353, Institute of Linguistics, corresponding author), Hua Yu (0000-0002-0231-2978)
Year2015
Volume21
Issue10
Pages1016-1035
Publication date2015-11-26
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Heritage Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1352-7258 • E-ISSN: 1470-3610
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13527258.2015.1048813
OpenAlexW1887492388
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited30

This paper documents a vernacular method of interpreting and safeguarding intangible heritage in an ethnic Miao village in China. Tracing the conflicting discourses of ritual in different stages of the past and the present, it shows how ritual practices were transformed by imperial Qing officials in the mid-nineteenth century, demonised and denounced as feudal superstition during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), exploited as cultural resources for ethnic tourism since the early twentieth century and involved in the evaluation system of intangible cultural heritage in the twenty-first century. Based on ethnographic materials collected in 2008 and 2009, this paper argues that it is the inherited vernacular narratives and ritual performances that are negotiating with the state's constant effort of shaping the ritual through various discourses, constructing the meaning of inheritance and safeguarding the intangible heritage within the community

Archaeology · Art · Cultural heritage · Cultural heritage management · Ethnic group · Ethnology · Feudalism · Intangible cultural heritage · Literature · Political science · Politics · Safeguarding · Sociology · Superstition · Vernacular · Vernacular architecture · Anthropology · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Cultural Identity and Heritage · History · Law · Religious Tourism and Spaces

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