Abstracts
Abstract
The intention of the author of this article is to worry away at the limits of the concept of intangible culture. In pursuing this line of critique, he wonders how an international organization such as UNESCO, which is not only composed of nation-states but depends on their cooperation to get its work done, can address the status of cultural practices that are central to national self-recognition but that these nation-states do not want to admit to each other. These are the practices that he associates with the concept of “cultural intimacy” – the “dirty laundry” that every nation-state confronts, denies, and yet, for the most part, guiltily enjoys. The space of cultural intimacy includes all those aspects of cultural and social life that are locally recognized but externally suppressed. In virtually every country, there are deeply embedded and widely popular practices that do not seem to conform to a largely Western-inspired and globally dominant canon of respectability. These practices arguably represent the most intractable challenge to formal, state-led representations of culture.
Résumé
L’auteur de cet article s’efforce d’outrepasser les limites du concept de patrimoine immatériel et, dans la foulée de cette orientation critique, il se demande comment un organisme international tel que l’UNESCO, qui non seulement se compose d’États nations mais dépend de leur coopération pour réaliser ses objectifs, peut aborder le statut de pratiques culturelles qui sont essentielles à la reconnaissance de soi de ces États nations mais que ces derniers se refusent à admettre devant les autres. Ce sont les pratiques que nous associons au concept « d’intimité culturelle » – le « linge sale » auquel tous les États nations sont confrontés, qu’ils refusent d’admettre mais qui représente pourtant, pour la plupart, un délice coupable. L’espace de l’intimité culturelle comprend tous ces aspects de la vie culturelle et sociale que l’on reconnaît au niveau local, mais que l’on réprime à l’extérieur. Dans quasiment tous les pays, il existe des pratiques populaires profondément inscrites et largement partagées qui ne paraissent pas se conformer aux canons de respectabilité d’inspiration largement occidentale qui prédominent dans le monde. On peut affirmer que ces pratiques constituent, pour les représentations étatiques et formelles de la culture, le problème le plus insoluble.
Appendices
Appendices
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