Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Policy Tale of Two Nations

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Intangible heritage
• setting
• nationalism
• heritage laws
• heritage policy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Laurajane Smith and Emma Waterton, “’The Envy of the World?’ Intangible Heritage in England,” in Intangible Heritage, ed. Laurajane Smith and Natsuko Akagawa (London: Routledge, 2009), 299.

2. Frank Hassard, “Intangible Heritage in the United Kingdom the Dark Side of Enlightenment?,” in Intangible Heritage, ed. Laurajane Smith and Natsuko Akagawa (Routledge, 2009), 285.

3. Law Wales, “’Executive’ Devolution (1998–2007) Law Wales,” law.gov.wales (Welsh Government, June 18, 2021), https://law.gov.wales/constitution-and-government/constitution-and-devolution/executive-devolution-1998–2007.

4. UNESCO, “Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage” (2003), https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention.

5. UNESCO, “Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage”.

6. Rodney Harrison and Deborah Rose, “Chapter 7 Intangible Heritage,” in Understanding the Politics of Heritage (Manchester, Manchester Univ. Press In Assoc. With The Open Univ, 2010), 261.

7. Smith and Waterton, “‘The Envy of the World?”, 291–292. See also Laurajane Smith, Uses of Heritage (London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, 2006), 3, 54–56.

8. Luíseach Nic Eoin and Rachel King, “How to Develop Intangible Heritage: The Case of Metolong Dam, Lesotho,” World Archaeology 45, no. 4 (August 13, 2013): 653–69, https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2013.823885.

9. Ahmed Skounti, “The Authentic Illusion Humanity’s Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Moroccan Experience,” in Intangible Heritage, ed. Laurajane Smith and Natsuko Akagawa (Routledge, 2009), 77.

10. Skounti, “The Authentic Illusion Humanity’s Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Moroccan Experience,” 87.

11. See Harrison and Rose, “Chapter 7 Intangible Heritage,” 260–262, for description of effect of loss of a tree has on Aboriginal experience of meaning.

12. John Delafons, Politics and Preservation, 1st ed. (London: E & FN SPON, 1997), 37.

13. United Kingdom, “Housing, Town Planning, &C. Act 1919,” 1(3) § (1919).

14. Delafons, Politics and Preservation, 37–38.

15. Delafons, Politics and Preservation, 82–86.

16. United Kingdom, “Civic Amenities Act 1967,” 1(5) § (1967).

17. United Kingdom, “Town and Country Planning Act 1971,” 277(5) § (1971); United Kingdom, “Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990,” 72(1) § (1990).

18. Delafons, Politics and Preservation, 100–105.

19. Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, West Malling Conservation Area: Conservation Area Appraisal (Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council 2002), 13.

20. United Kingdom, “Town and Country Planning Act 1971,” 55(3) § (1971) as amended by the 1980 Local Government, Planning and Land Act.

21. United Kingdom, “Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990,” 66(1) § (1990).

22. The only parliamentary discussions found in relation to the bill prior to enactment took place in the House of Lords in 1980, on the 5^th of August, and the 7^th, 9^th, 14^th, and 30^th of October, and the term was not recorded in any of these debates; UK Parliament, ‘Hansard,’ Parliament.uk, 2019, https://hansard.parliament.uk/, volumes 412, 413 and 414.

23. Department of the Environment, “Circular 8/87: Historic Buildings and Conservations Areas – Policy and Procedures,” March 25, 1987, 7.

24. Department of the Environment, “Planning Policy Guidance: Planning and the Historic Environment,” 1994; and Department for Communities and Local Government, “Planning Policy Guidance 16: Archaeology and Planning,” November 1990.

25. Simon Collcutt, “The Setting of Cultural Heritage Features,” Journal of Planning & Environmental Law, June 1999, 498–513.

26. Paul Drury and Anne Mcpherson, Conservation Principles: Policies and Guidance for the Sustainable Management of the Historic Environment (London: English Heritage, 2008), 72.

27. Department for Communities and Local Government, “Planning Policy Statement 5: Planning for the Historic Environment,” 2010, 34; English Heritage, Seeing the History in the View (London: English Heritage 2011), 29; and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, “National Planning Policy Framework,” July 20, 2021, 71.

28. Historic England, “LYVEDEN NEW BIELD, Aldwincle 1,371,907 | Historic England,” historicengland.org.uk, accessed May 31, 2023, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1371907.

29. See paragraphs 35–45 in Barnwell Manor v East Northamptonshire 2014 EWCA Civ 137 (Court of Appeal 2014).

30. Delafons, Politics and Preservation, 105.

31. Harrison and Rose, “Chapter 7 Intangible Heritage,” 260–262.

32. Smith and Waterton, “‘The Envy of the World?”, 291–292.

33. United Kingdom, “Government of Wales Act 2006” (2006), see also Paul Belford, “Politics and Heritage: Developments in Historic Environment Policy and Practice in Wales,” The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice 9, no. 2 (March 28, 2018): 105.

34. Cadw, Conservation Principles for the Sustainable Management of the Historic Environment in Wales (Cardiff: Welsh Assembly Government, 2011), 10.

35. Drury and Mcpherson, Conservation Principles, 21.

36. Smith, Uses of Heritage, 3, 54–56.

37. Cadw, Conservation Principles, 38.

38. Cadw, Setting of Historic Assets in Wales (Parc Nantgarw: Welsh Government, 2017), 2.

39. National Assembly for Wales, “Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2016” (2016).

40. Belford, “Politics and Heritage: Developments in Historic Environment Policy and Practice in Wales,” The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice 9, no. 2 (March 28, 2018): 112.

41. Cadw, Historic Environment Records in Wales: Compilation and Use (Cardiff, Wales: Welsh Government, 2017), 18.

42. BBC News, “Historical Place Names Bill Is Rejected by AMs,” B.B.C. News, March 15, 2017, sec. Wales politics; Rhys Jones, “Welsh Place Names Are Being Erased – and so Are the Stories They Tell,” The Conversation, February 2, 2023.

43. See for example James Tozer, “English Place Names Could Be BANNED in Wales,” Mail Online, April 21, 2023.

44. Bahar Aykan, “‘Patenting’Karagöz: UNESCO, Nationalism and Multinational Intangible Heritage,” International Journal of Heritage Studies 21, no. 10 (May 15, 2015): 949–61;

45. UK Parliament, “Hansard: 25 Jun 2009 : Column 1042,” publications.parliament.uk/(UK Parliament, 2009), https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090625/debtext/90625-0019.htm.

46. Smith, Uses of Heritage; and Rodney Harrison, Understanding the Politics of Heritage (Manchester: Manchester University Press in association with the Open University, 2010).

47. Bahar Aykan, “The Politics of Intangible Heritage and Food Fights in Western Asia,” International Journal of Heritage Studies 22, no. 10 (August 25, 2016): 801.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William Bedford

Will Bedford is an archaeology and heritage consultant with more than 20 years of professional experience, and has worked across the UK for a wide range of development sectors. Will has particular expertise in obtaining scheduled monument consents, setting issues and related case law. He is also an experienced expert witness at planning appeal hearings and local plan hearings. He is currently enrolled in a Professional Doctorate programme in heritage studies at the University of Wales Trinity St David, and is exploring the relationship between professional practice and academic thought.