Project: Re-voicing cultural landscapes: narratives, perspectives, and performances of marginalised intangible cultural heritage

Acronym	RCL : ICH (Reference Number: 355.20.149)
Duration	01/06/2021 - 31/05/2023
Project Topic	Europe’s national origins are often described as culturally homogenous. Yet over 200 national minorities are recognised by the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, and 640 European languages are thought by UNESCO to be critically endangered. Clearly the picture is more complicated than meets the eye. Intangible cultural heritage (‘ICH’) is a key facet of nations' cultural landscapes, through which minority cultures express their distinct identities. In this complex cultural context, societal forces and demographic change are at play over time; the discreteness of minority-majority is giving way to more fluid identities for individuals and communities. Yet majority narratives are still powerful in creating imaginative geographies of minority cultures – through literature, television, tourist destination-marketing – often constructed by an external gaze. This dominance can mean minority culture is less visible, fragmented, less resilient, and so marginalised. Using desk and archival research, primary data, and creative practice-based research - compared across minority cultures in the UK (Cornwall), Netherlands (Fryslân), Latvia and Estonia (Livonian) - we aim to better understand the interplay between majority and minority narratives, perspectives, and performances of ICH, to make marginalised cultural landscapes more visible and resilient, and produce impactful insights to inform local communities to (inter)national policy-makers. We address particularly Topic 1: ‘How can different groups provide different perceptions of and perspectives on heritage? How can we attune heritage to these different perceptions and perspectives?’; and Topic 2, considering links between heritage and identity across individuals, societies, and geographical levels. Our research seeks new knowledge about the socio-spatial geographies of existing heritage challenges. We intend that stakeholders use insights to change policies or practices to make marginalised ICH more visible and resilient. Longer-term, we hope to impact the visibility and resilience of minority cultures by re-voicing marginalised ICH.
Network	JPI Cultural Heritage
Call	Cultural Heritage, Identities & Perspectives: Responding to Changing Societies

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Falmouth University	Coordinator	United Kingdom
2	University of Latvia	Partner	Latvia
3	University of Groningen	Partner	Netherlands
4	University of Tartu	Partner	Estonia