Assessment of 12 years (2011–2023) implementation of the 2003 UNESCO convention on safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in Tanzania

Abstract

This article examines the safeguarding and implementation of the ICH convention using a case study approach in the United Republic of Tanzania context. The study investigated safeguarding measures employed after independence in 1961 and since 2011 when the country became a signatory to UNESCO (2003) convention. The study revealed that the country has still not achieved much in terms of identifying and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH). The country has neither developed a national inventory nor inscribed any element on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. This situation is due to the failure to understand the philosophical background of the ICH Convention. The negative beliefs of some people that many cultural elements such as rituals and witchcraft are outdated or evil has influenced challenges in safeguarding ICH in Tanzania. Furthermore, fear of bringing identity problems and tribalism issues while there is a feeling that Tanzanians are unified by the Kiswahili language which leads to Swahili culture has also brought negative perspectives towards safeguarding and implementing ICH in the country. Finally, this paper contributes to the discourse on the best practices in safeguarding and implementing ICH.

Keywords:

• safeguarding
• culture
• intangible cultural Heritage
• convention
• UNESCO

1. Introduction

In October 2011, the United Republic of Tanzania became a signatory to the UNESCO (2003) Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). Before the decision to ratify the convention, the consultative process was undertaken whereby the key stakeholders were consulted and provided their opinions, feelings and views regarding the convention before ratification. It also involved some workshops on implementing the 2003 Convention, which brought together Cultural expertise from Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar trained by UNESCO. It should be well known that, even before the ratification of the 2003 ICH Convention, the communities in Tanzania have been practising all forms of ICH, including rituals, customs, oral traditions and festivals before the colonial occupation (Mulokozi, 2005). For example, the Swahili communities have been practising ritual and spiritual activities in baobab trees and limestone cave areas along the Swahili coast of Tanzania dating back to early centuries, with the evidence coming from Kuumbi Cave in Zanzibar, Bagamoyo and Kunduchi (Chami & Chami, 2020, Chami, 2021; Ichumbaki, 2015; Sarathi, 2015). Now more than a decade since ratification, Tanzania has not achieved or benefited much in identifying and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH), including nomination into a representative or urgent safeguarding list recognised by UNESCO.

According to UNESCO 2003 convention article 2 (1) defines intangible cultural heritage as the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills including the instruments, objects artefacts and cultural spaces associated with them that communities, groups and individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage (UNESCO, 2003). The history of the development of cultural policy in Tanzania can go back to independence in 1961, when there was no defined cultural policy. Tanzania’s cultural undertakings were mainly based on speeches and statements made by the first President Julius Nyerere on culture from his 1962 presidential inaugural speech. From 1962 to 1966, there was a lack of a clearly defined cultural policy that attributed to the general lack of direction for the nation as a whole. The lack of direction was characteristic of economic, political and other policies although it was more pronounced in culture. In 1967, the country adopted Ujamaa to provide a specified theoretical direction for economic development. However, it did not provide direction for cultural development (Mlama, 1985). In this regard, it took 30 years until August 1997 when the country inaugurated its cultural policy (sera ya utamaduni). On 18th October 2011 , the country decided to ratify UNESCO (2003) Convention. The motivation behind signing the convention was to support the Cultural policy of 1997 and strengthen institutional and legal frameworks to promote and safeguard its cultural elements such as the Swahili language.

Therefore, in this article, we investigate the twelve years of implementation of the ICH Convention in Tanzania, intending to provide a critical analysis and evaluation of the implementation of the Convention in Tanzania. Many studies in Tanzania and Zanzibar Island have concentrated more on the management and conservation of tangible cultural heritage for tourism satisfaction and sustainable development (Chami & Kaminyoge, 2019; Chami & Lyaya, 2015; Ichumbaki, 2016; Juma et al., 2005; Lwoga, 2017) and for archaeological excavations (Peter, 2013). The emphasis has, unfortunately, affected how ICH in Tanzania is safeguarded by government bodies and local communities, which focus on tourism development and has created challenges and problems in terms of safeguarding ICH in the country. This has led to the disappearance of some practices among the communities in Tanzania. In piecing together this problem, several questions remained unanswered. For instance, what safeguarding ICH measures did the country use after attaining her independence from 1961 to 2010? What measures did the country use to safeguard ICH since became a signatory to UNESCO (2003) convention in 2011? What are the challenges facing the country in the implementation of the convention? What are the perspectives of stakeholders towards safeguarding ICH in the country? By focusing on the Tanzanian case, this paper addresses the stated knowledge gaps to propose best practices in the implementation of ICH in Tanzania.

In this regard, we argue that ICH practices should be recognised and incorporated in the management plans of all heritage sites with social and cultural values to the community to be safeguarded and documented for future generations And for those ICH practised in areas where no heritage Sites are found, local or regional plans have to be developed and feed in a national plan or framework for safeguarding and implementing the 2003 ICH convention, which will be the direction tool to help the cultural officers in their daily activities in their duty station. It is suggested that if these action plans from the developed model or policy are not followed appropriately, there is a big chance for the plan to be implemented poorly (May, 2013). In the discussion section, we assess and evaluate ups and downs in the implementation of the convention in the country from 2011 to 2023. In the end, we propose measures that could help to ensure best practices in the implementation of the ICH convention in the country.

Finally, the results presented here have been drawn from various interviews and focus group discussions with local communities and Cultural officers between November 2015–December 2022 in Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland. Personal observations of ICH activities in Zanzibar and Tanzania mainland were also examined. Previous research work and reports on ICH in the country are also assessed and included in this article. We have conducted workshops and meetings with the cultural officers in the past 7 years. The first author, Maximilian Chami (MC), has also frequently visited the sites where ICH is practised for research activities in the past 5 years. During all these visits, we interacted with the local communities and cultural officers and experienced significant challenges in implementing the convention in the country and safeguarding the practices.

2. Previous studies in safeguarding and implementation of the 2003 ICH convention

Since the adoption of this convention in 2003 and entered into force in 2006 across the globe, there have been up and down in terms of safeguarding ICH and implementation of this convention. In the implementation context of the ICH Convention, Doorsselaere (2021) argued that, although some governments developed open learning programmes for safeguarding ICH, the 2003 Convention permeated into the countries’ policy processes and hence did not serve as a reference framework for safeguarding ICH in many countries. This argument can be supported by Munyima (2014), who revealed that the Zambian cultural policy provides a general framework of cultural development to achieve sustainable human development but not adequately addressed issues of Safeguarding Intangible cultural heritage in the country. Meanwhile, in Canada, the implementation of the convention has been under the supervision of the government. Also, it involves legal Intellectual property rights (Scovazzi & Westra, 2017). In Indonesia, the people help protect the ICH by reporting all the violations found under the regulation in the 2003 Convention (Dahayu & Lutfi, 2021). This has been somehow different to other countries such as China where the Chinese government developed a national ICH law in 2011. China’s legal framework to safeguard ICH has been impressive when compared to most other countries, but still hampered by significant challenges that are inherent in its state-centric nature (Xu et al., 2022).

Furthermore, the experience of implementing UNESCO’s ICH convention over the past years on whether it has transformed peoples understanding of intangible cultural heritage and its safeguarding has been challenged. For example, Blake (2014) questioned whether the convention has resulted in the development of new national policy strategies in terms of promoting the function of ICH in society, planning and how effectively Parties have managed to engage communities, groups, and individuals in the activities mentioned above (Blake, 2018).In the meantime, the successful partaking of local communities, expertise, and research institutions in the implementation of the convention has been theorised by Blake (2019). Blake (2019) argued that their involvement is still underdeveloped and not wholly satisfactory hence a model for proper participation should be developed. This has been different in the USA, whereby Slattery (2006) evaluated how the ICH Convention’s likelihood of success in preserving such heritage in the United States. He concluded that the convention, due to its broad-based, multi-faceted approach, has the best possible chance at protecting intangible cultural heritage within the United States. The Chinese government took advantage of the convention and the state started to practice different initiatives to safeguard religion-related ICH after ratifying the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding ICH in 2004. Since then, China’s central government has established a nationwide framework to recognise representative ICH items, including religion-related ones (Xu & Tao, 2022).

From another perspective, in many countries, it has been observed that Government institutions lack the financial and human resources to implement the convention successfully. This challenge has been accelerated by a lack of clear understanding of the logical, rational and conceptual background of the convention both at the government and community levels (Ortiz & Madariaga, 2021). This is especially evident when it comes to preparing a national inventory and implementing safeguarding measures, cooperation with other State Parties, preparation of nomination files (both national and multi-national), and community consultation and participation in all of these areas (Duville, 2014). Away from this, many ICH elements are yet to be uncovered and documented systematically. Digitalisation problems, the commodification of ICH, tourism activities and other contemporary issues sum up the challenges facing the ICH at the moment (Eichler, 2019, 2020). Other scholars have contextualised the role of CH practices in many countries and claimed that ICH should be appreciated and supported because they express shared values, binding people together and promoting a sense of identity and continuity among them (Njobvu et al., n.d.). From an African perspective, different scholars have shown how these ICH elements have been part and parcel of African communities for centuries. The local communities have used different safeguarding measures to maintain them though nowadays are being neglected or entirely omitted, especially in many World Heritage Sites (Mbiti, 1975; Zulu & Koudakossi, 2022).

Therefore following up on these some of the previous studies, we deem it necessary to assess and evaluate the safeguarding and implementation of the ICH Convention using a case study approach of Tanzanian context and experience. In this article, we feel that Tanzania has not achieved much in identifying and safeguarding its intangible cultural heritage (ICH) since becoming a signatory to the ICH Convention in 2011. Through critical analysis, we aim to contribute to the discourse and challenge the current problems many countries, including Tanzania, face in implementing the ICH convention. Thus, we ask why the country failed to develop a national inventory of ICH. Why did Tanzania ignore some of the cultural elements from safeguarding since independence? Why did Tanzania fail to register its cultural elements in the representative or urgent list for safeguarding? What are the safeguarding measures employed by the state since independence? And how can the state change policies toward best practices in safeguarding and implementing ICH Convention? Therefore, the current study enriches the ICH discourse by shedding light on different perspectives and beliefs that contribute to challenges in safeguarding and implementing the convention in the World.

3. Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Tanzania 1961–2010

After attaining independence from the British in 1961, the developing country Tanganyika (now Tanzania) started putting different measures to protect its culture. By independence, colonialism had primarily succeeded in introducing some aspects of Western intangible elements into Tanzanian culture. The results of this brought some fears that the traditional cultural heritage of the people was in danger of disappearance, including songs, dance and, more than significantly, the national language Kiswahili. However, at this point, the government rejected some of the suggested cultural aspects and considered them evil or outdated. These included magic, witchcraft, some traditional religion, ntemiship and many others (Mulokozi, 2005). During the discussion with the cultural officers in a meeting, one cultural officer revealed that;

The government rejected these aspects at that time as they were believed could bring social and political instability in the country. These unwanted aspects could threaten the peace and unity of our country if they were to be accepted. They would split or divide the country and bring a sense of tribalism which is not needed or promoted until today.

This reply suggests that if Intangible Cultural Heritage is not analysed correctly, to some extent, it might bring political or social instability. As these cultural aspects considered threats to the country’s unity and stability were controlled, more efforts were directed at establishing an institutional and legal framework for managing and safeguarding Intangible cultural heritage. Institutions such as the National Council of Kiswahili (BAKITA) and Tanzania Arts Council (BASATA) were established in 1967 and 1984, respectively. BAKITA aims to manage and coordinate the development and use of Kiswahili in Tanzania. At the same time, BASATA’s is mission to promote and increase the development of the production of different works of art. Apart from establishing the directorate of tradition and customs, the Ministry of Culture fully supported these two institutions, responsible for safeguarding all the Intangible cultural heritage elements.

The country witnessed the establishment of a second museum known as the Village Museum in 1967 (Figure 1) after the first one was constructed by the British Colonialists in 1940. The Village Museum was responsible for acquiring, researching and preserving the indigenous culture and architecture of Tanzania ethnic groups. This Museum represents Tanzanian rural life as it could have appeared until very recently. Furthermore, during the discussion with the cultural officers, one of them suggested that;

Figure 1. Traditional Houses at the Village Museum in Dar es Salaam (Source by Authors).

Until today, the Village Museum plays a big part in safeguarding the country’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. Those traditional houses such as Msongo and Tembe show and preserve the skills, knowledge and practices of constructing those kinds of houses for the present generation. Furthermore, some works of art inside this house, like beads, pottery and other things, show the importance of traditional craft techniques that excited me for a long time.

Since its establishment, this response suggests that Village Museum has contributed a lot in safeguarding the domains of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Schools, Universities, Churches and Mosques also played an essential role in safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in the country, where issues of manners, behaviours, attitudes and patriotism were encouraged. Kiswahili language was mainly promoted in these areas, and many important books were translated into Kiswahili. In August 1997, a Cultural policy, known as Sera ya Utamaduni in Swahili, was inaugurated in Dodoma to promote a Tanzanian culture. The policy emphasised safeguarding intangible cultural heritage elements, including Arts, crafts and language, promoting community participation and practising their culture. After the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage adopted by the UNESCO General Conference on 17 October 2003, different stakeholders in the culture sector in Tanzania saw a need and importance to become a signatory to the convention. As an effort to equip experts on how to safeguard the ICH, UNESCO has organised four (4) national workshops. The first workshop was in July 2011 where exposure to the Convention and steps towards documentation were discussed, the second workshop was on December 2012 where apart from theoretical approaches, participants who are cultural experts were taken to a nearby village and taught how it can be well documented and issues to be observed, the third workshop was conducted in 2016 and lastly was in November 2022. All these were geared towards equipping responsible experts on how to safeguard the ICH. UNESCO too involves Tanzania in regional and international meetings being a member state to the convention. In this regard, all these forums focus not only on inventory-making and other safeguarding activities, sharing information and experiences but also on challenges and how to overcome them.

4. Stakeholders’ perspectives and challenges in safeguarding of ICH in Tanzania 2011 to present

Since becoming a signatory to this convention 12 years ago, the country has not done much to implement this convention. Many of the activities conducted were mainly concentrated on capacitating the Cultural officers to get more knowledge and skills on how to implement the convention and safeguard the intangible elements found in the country. For example, in December 2012, UNESCO Office in Dar es Salaam jointly with the Ministry of Information, Youth, Culture and Sports organised a nomination workshop in Bagamoyo. Twenty-five participants were trained to identify intangible elements and develop a sample file for nomination, including the strategy for community participation and a safeguarding plan for the identified element. However, since then yet the country to prepare any nomination dossier for its elements. During the discussion with the cultural officers in a yearly meeting, some of them suggested said that;

Some cultural officers or experts who participated in this workshop in 2012 have been reallocated or transferred to the other working station while some retired. This has led to the lack of succession plan, especially for young people who came later in this culture sector.

This response from the cultural officers implies that it will be complicated and challenging for the current culture officers to prepare a nomination dossier and submit it to UNESCO for consideration in the Representative or Urgent safeguarding list as they lack the knowledge and skills. The second workshop was conducted 4 years after the first one again, and UNESCO in November 2016 facilitated this one in Dar es Salaam. The workshop trained staff members of the Ministry of Culture, both Mainland and Zanzibar, on the implementation of the convention and preparation of inventorying of intangible elements as a safeguarding measure. The second workshop bore fruit as the cultural officers from Zanzibar could identify, document and develop their inventory of intangible elements found on the Islands after acquiring the skills and knowledge from the workshop. For example, during the Cultural officers meeting that was held at the UNESCO National Commission office in Dar es Salaam on 8 December 2020, one cultural officer from Zanzibar said;

The second workshop had a positive result, especially for us cultural officers from Zanzibar. We were able to organise ourselves well, and when we returned home, we started identifying and documenting five (5) cultural elements in collaboration with the local communities and prepared our national inventory which we have also published a book on.

This response implies that the second workshop perhaps was more practical as the participants spent more than 7 days compared to the first workshop, where only 2 days were used for training in basic concepts of the convention, international assistance which can be requested, synergies between the Convention on Safeguarding of the ICH with other Culture Conventions and an intergovernmental committee of the convention. Some intangible cultural elements on the national inventory list in Zanzibar are the weaving skills of the Kojani community, the Kumbaya Spiritual Dance of the Kisiwapanza Community and the Pungwa dance of the Bumbwini community (Figure 2). It was also revealed during the preparation of the National Inventory in Zanzibar that all the ethical issues were considered to avoid problematic issues relating to disrespect, exploitation or misrepresentations arising from their work.

Figure 2. (a) Young men initiated in Pungwa dance; (b) Women participate in weaving practice; (c) Performance of Kumbaya spiritual dance (Picture by Shamoun Ally).

It was further revealed that the criteria used for the inclusion of these elements in the inventory were based on those in danger of disappearance. This situation is mainly due to a lack of public awareness, the declining number of performers and the evident submissive tendency among the younger generation to foreign cultural influences. Currently, these Intangible Cultural Heritage still exist among the communities and they are locally practised by men, women and the youth. However, the speed and spirit of practising this Intangible Cultural Heritage have declined. It is suggested that a lack of awareness among youths on the importance and significance of these traditions to the community and the country brought some challenges in practising ICH. Safeguarding these elements is essential for viability, survival and continuity hence raising awareness to the public on the importance of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the country is very significant.

Local communities practising different intangible cultural heritage practices were also consulted to get their perspectives and opinions regarding safeguarding the ICH in their communities. Even though many of them knew much about the 2003 ICH Convention, they still could highlight some of the measures or means used to safeguard the cultural elements in their communities. For example, in one of the research conducted in Amboni Caves, Tanga Region, in September 2018, local communities revealed that they have traditional practices, taboos and customary laws for safeguarding their ritual (spiritual) activities and cultural space for practising their activities. This approach has been the same in places such as Kuumbi Cave in the Southern part of Zanzibar (Chami et al., 2021a).

The local communities further revealed problems and challenges in conducting their intangible cultural heritage element in their respective spaces. In both Sacred Limestone caves of Amboni and Kuumbi, the local communities suggested that unplanned tourism, research, and ritual equipment disappeared from the caves and other educational activities within their sacred space have brought a lot of complications in practising their ritual activities as some of the rituals need privacy and generally humbly practised. Many of these named activities above have not been able to respect the ethics and the rules while visiting these sacred sites. One community member, in discussion with great sorrow, said:

These tourists disturb us a lot when they come here. Sometimes, they make some noises and take photos of us when we are praying, even without asking for permission from us. It is harrowing. I don’t know if they can go to the Mosque and start taking a photo of the people there and make noise.

While to many people it is presumed that there could be respect for other people’s culture and practices, in many areas where tourists visit and as it is evidenced in the cultural sites which happen to receive tourists, this is not the case. Some tourists lack knowledge of the diversity of cultures. The respondent’s sentiment as quoted above implies that the interference or lack of space for local communities to practice their cultural activities would lead to the disappearance of the culture of the people as it has been part and parcel of their lives. In reality, these responses from the site managers suggest that the challenges facing the local communities in practising their rituals, perhaps are due to the lack of a proper plan that allows the communities to practice their culture. However, it was further revealed that the country is reviewing the update of Cultural Policies of 1997 of Tanzania mainland and 2005 of Zanzibar to promote the function of the intangible cultural heritage in society and integrate the safeguarding of such heritage into planning programmes. The customary practices, including traditional laws and guidelines, are still observed and respected by the people and all the others who need to access information regarding the practices that adhere to them.

In addition, specific institutions have trained individuals or people in safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in Tanzania since 2011. These include Dhow Countries Music Academy in Zanzibar (DCMA), Bagamoyo College of Arts and Culture (TaSuBa) and the Department of Creative Arts UDSM, whereby music and performing arts are taught. Furthermore, other individuals are being trained at the University level. Different programmes, such as Cultural Heritage Management, are being taught to the students covering a wide range of heritage studies, including safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage. These universities prepare the students who will come to work at the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism with their related institutions. Some of these universities are Dar es Salaam (Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies) and Dodoma (Department of History).

Finally, we examined the challenges facing the country in safeguarding and implementing the Convention since 2011. The most common of the identified challenges include, a lack of legal frameworks for protecting and safeguarding culture. At the moment, the country is using the Cultural Policy of 1997 which is not a legal document but rather a guideline. Furthermore, poor human capacity to implement the Convention at various levels and overlapping mandates of different structures or organisations dealing with ICH has been another challenge facing the country. For example, there is a department at the Ministry level which deals with tradition and customs but there are also institutions within the Ministry vested with responsibilities to promote culture. Thus, scenario has sometimes caused overlapping and problems to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the convention in the country. Other challenges include limited funding allocated for implementation of the convention and lack of understanding of the convention and appreciation of ICH among the communities. Absence of national ICH Committee, national inventory for ICH. Combining all these challenges has resulted in the poor implementation of the convention in the last decade hence the failure of the country to inscribe any elements safeguarding measures for all lists i.e. Representative List, UrgentSafeguarding List and the List of Master Pieces.

5. Role of UNESCO national Commission and perspectives of researchers towards safeguarding and implementation of ICH convention in Tanzania

UNESCO is the only UN Agency with a global network of national cooperating bodies known as National Commissions for UNESCO set up by their respective governments under Article VII of the UNESCO Constitution (UNESCO, 2021). The government established the UNESCO National Commission of the United Republic of Tanzania in March 1962 to provide a link between UNESCO and the government institutions and departments working in all the competence areas of UNESCO, that is, Education, Science, Culture, Communication and Communication and Information. During the discussion with the National Commission Officer, he revealed that their office is cooperating with ministries of culture, both Mainland and Zanzibar and their institutions concerned with the safeguarding and conserving of Intangible Cultural Heritage in the country. He also suggested that the National Commission office encourages the participation of governmental and non-governmental institutions and various individuals in formulating different intangible cultural heritage programmes to promote the Tanzanian culture. Finally, he revealed that the National Commission disseminates culture and heritage information (convention) on the objectives, programme and activities of UNESCO while also participating in the country’s planning, safeguarding and implementation of cultural heritage activities. These replies imply that the National Commission has played its role in ensuring all the stakeholders are aware of the UNESCO culture programmes in the country.

The ICH is one of the fields that has not been researched much compared to tangible cultural heritage in Tanzania. This is because of limited awareness among the people on the importance of ICH can effectively contribute to sustainable development. Some researchers, such as Bigambo (2020), investigated the safeguarding practices for ICH in Tanzania. He revealed different challenges that affect the safeguarding efforts of ICH at both local and national levels in Tanzania. Also, to implement an effective safeguarding practice of ICH in Tanzania, Bigambo (2020)argue that there is a need to integrate the safeguarding practices at the national and local levels. While also ensuring the active involvement of the community in the safeguarding process (Bigambo, 2021).

Meanwhile, Bwasiri (2011) argued that the challenge facing the management of intangible heritage in Tanzania is based on a legal and institutional framework. After 5 years, Bwasiri (2016) again documented the social practices (Figure 3) in Kondoa World Heritage sites in Dodoma. He urged that for centuries local communities in the Kondoa area have lived together and shared various rituals such as initiation, ceremonies and rainmaking (See also Bwasiri, 2008, 2014). There was a suggestion that perhaps some of these shared rituals were connected to the production of traditional white paintings in the Kondoa area.

Figure 3. Traditional ritual practices in Kondoa Rock Art site, UNESCO World Heritage site (source Bwasiri, 2014).

In the Southern part of Tanzania, Mapunda (2015) analysed the vitality of the intangible cultural heritage of the Ngoni ethnolinguistic group. The study mainly focused on how intergeneration transfer of values such as language use, knowledge of stories, taboos, dances, sayings, and rituals among the youth is indicative. He revealed that some aspects of the intangible cultural heritage have been more affected than others, which may suggest their eventual disappearance. He argued that documenting such traditional values seems important and necessary before they finally perish. In Zanzibar Island, Chami and Chami (2020) investigated intangible cultural heritage. They found out that many of the local communities on the Island have been practising social ceremonies, rituals and spiritual activities in Limestone cave areas since the early centuries. This has been the same in Mafia Island, where the abundance of cultural materials at Ukunju Cave suggests the long history of human occupation or use of the cave. It has been suggested that the cave was used for activities such as worship and other social practices rather than actual settlement. Shikoni et al. (2019) argued that foreign traders, especially those from the Roman world, could have also used the case for the same purpose as they, and Persians and Indians, are known to have worshipped the god Mithras in caves.

Meanwhile, Ichumbaki (2015) suggested that local communities in Bagamoyo and Kunduchi have been practising social practices such as rituals and other aspects in ruins and baobab trees. Other researchers, such as Cooper et al. (2021), documented a piece of knowledge of traditional craftsmanship of the local communities in Bagamoyo and Zanzibar regarding wooden watercraft, while Chami et al. (2021b) argued that tourism and archaeological research in limestone cave areas have interfered with the communities’ social practices. Many other important intangible cultural aspects of the country such as Mwaka kogwa and traditional bullfighting (Figure 4) in Unguja and Pemba Islands are not researched and documented. There is a significant threat to the disappearance of these many aspects if the initiatives to safeguard these aspects are not developed as soon as possible.

Figure 4. Traditional bullfighting and Mwaka kogwa celebration in Pemba and Unguja Islands (source: Poussnik, 2008).

6. Discussion: Theory to practice

The 2003 ICH convention presents concepts, ideas or models to the countries which are signatories to this convention, including Tanzania, on safeguarding their cultural elements. Observations, however, have shown that the Convention for Safeguarding the ICH has mismatched with the country’s policies and sometimes ideologies, which discouraged some traditional practices which were perceived as unacceptable. While the Convention embraces diversity and inclusivity of various traditional practices from any Member State to the Convention, countries’ policies and ideologies discourage those elements which they find to be unacceptable, this has effects on safeguarding and/or management of ICH. This has been the same for many of the Southern African countries such as Zambia which needed to control this problem by balancing or harmonising their political or country’s ideologies, policies, and laws (Munyima, 2014). This can be done by training their cultural officers in the field of culture to be able to understand and implement the particular convention concept and ideas in the country (Keitumetse, 2016). It should be well known that Tanzania has more than 120 ethnic groups with a vibrant and wider range of cultural elements. Perhaps, the challenge in safeguarding and implementing ICH in the country has been due to political reasons. Since independence, some cultural aspects such as indigenous language and ntemiship were rejected and considered threats to the unity, peace and security of the country hence Kiswahili was promoted (Mulokozi, 2005). In addition to this, we can also argue that there is limited fund allocated for the implementation and safeguarding of ICH in the country. We can further argue that these perspectives possibly have led to the country not inscribing its ICH on the UNESCO Representative or Urgent List of Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage since its ratification of the convention in 2011.

Based on the findings, it can be revealed that there is a lack of understanding of synergies among cultural conventions and this is brought about by little exposure cultural officers may have to looking at things from wider perspective on their areas of jurisdiction when it comes to tangible and intangible heritage. A site under nomination through a UNESCO 1972 World Heritage Convention cannot limit cultural practices attached to it and its documentation under the UNESCO (2003) Convention. This is because the ICH values are attached to the attributes of the site where the cultural practices are done. This suggests that communities practising ICH are right holders or are part of the right holders to the attributes safeguarded under UNESCO 1972 Convention. For example, in Tanzania, Kondoa World Heritage Site is in the UNESCO list since 2006, but the local communities have been practising different social and cultural practices for centuries (Bwasiri, 2008, 2014; Zulu & Koudakossi, 2022). These sometimes have brought challenges in terms of safeguarding these practices between the site manager of the site and the cultural officers. In this regard, we would argue that once a site has been identified for nomination, all the stakeholders, including cultural officers and the local communities, should at the same time be engaged in the process of listing intangible heritage aspects alongside the tangible aspects to reflect people’s culture and their interactions with the landscapes (Duville, 2014). The exact epistemological and practical implementation should be used in the documentation and development of the national inventory of ICH, whereby the local communities should be consulted while considering all the ethical issues. The lack of a national inventory for ICH has accelerated problems in implementing ICH conventions in the country (Eichler, 2019).

As the country thinks about reviewing and updating the Cultural Policies of 1997 of Tanzania mainland and 2005 of Zanzibar, we can argue that the new updated policy or law should provide a proper framework for cultural development focusing on mainstreaming ICH to achieve sustainable human development. Furthermore, the legal frameworks should adequately be addressed issues of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in the country and harmonise it with the ICH Convention (Blake, 2018). For example, after China joined the UNESCO ICH Convention in 2004 has established a multilayered legislative framework for safeguarding ICH. This approach helped them to embrace a production-based ICH-safeguarding paradigm, and it is implementing several practice-oriented policy initiatives becoming one of the best countries in safeguarding and implementing the ICH convention (Xu et al., 2022). The theoretical and epistemological background of the existence of the ICH convention should be well understood between the government practitioners and the cultural officers. This should also include understanding different theoretical concepts, ideas and plans, such as ICH operational directives and turning them into practical implementation. This argument is supported by the implementation theory, which suggests that a policy or action plan, if poorly understood and followed, will lead to poor operation and implementation hence a lack of clear output (Corchón, 2009; May, 2013). Also, the focus on the national level in the framework of safeguarding intangible heritage should lie in education curricula for young people, mainly at the Universities level, especially for those who study Cultural Heritage Management. Therefore, some of these young people employed as cultural officers should understand ICH concepts, including documentation of these elements at their respective offices.

Different researchers in Tanzania have identified and suggested the need to document and safeguard these traditional cultural elements, but many are in danger of disappearing or changing (Mapunda, 2015). The situation has been mainly due to the commodification of culture and interference of social practices such as rituals and ceremonies by recent tourism and research activities (Chami et al., 2021b). From an African perspective, ICH is part and parcel of local communities life. Usually, it creates fixed and meaningful transformations in the local communities’ life cycle (birth, puberty, marriages, and death) and ecological and temporal cycles such as planting, harvest and seasonal changes (Mbiti, 1975). For example, ritual and traditional ceremonies are one of five Intangible Cultural Heritage domains and must be safeguarded from any destruction or interference for future generations. It only can be done by giving space and a friendly environment to the local communities to practise their traditional beliefs and culture away from contemporary interference. Perhaps, it should be solved by developing a proper framework or safeguarding measures towards these cultural practices. UNESCO National Commission in Tanzania has played a significant role in ensuring the cultural officers get training and awareness on implementing the ICH convention in Tanzania. However, this training perhaps has been too theoretical than practical hence poor implementation and safeguarding of ICH in the country. It is sufficient to say that challenges facing the safeguarding and implementation of the 2003 ICH Convention in Tanzania are based on the failure to understand the philosophical and theoretical background towards the Convention.

7. Way forward: Practical implementation

During our fieldwork along the Swahili coast of Tanzania, we witnessed various cultural aspects among the local communities. This has also been supported by the cultural officers’ and local communities’ opinions and perspectives during the interviews and yearly meetings at the Office of UNESCO National Commission in Dar es Salaam. From this study, it is clear that the implementation and safeguarding of ICH in Tanzania are not satisfactory way as still facing many challenges in implementing the ICH Convention. The researchers also in Tanzania have feelings and opinions that the ICH is in danger of disappearing if measures and initiatives are not put in place as soon as possible. Therefore, this article proposed some epistemological and practical implementations that will help to ensure best practices in safeguarding and implementing the ICH Convention in the country. Firstly, The existing cultural policies of 1997 and 2005 are outdated and do not sufficiently address issues safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is a matter of concern that the domestication of the Convention at various levels including at the policies level is vital. As a guideline document which addresses how the sector is managed, domestication of the Convention in the national policies will automatically trigger the implementation of the same at various levels. A review process of cultural policies and legislation in both Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar should consider harmonised with the 2003 ICH Convention taking the example of South Africa.

Secondly, establish a national inventory of ICH. The country’s priority in protecting and safeguarding ICH should be through documenting, recording, and developing measures or techniques for managing the ICH and establishing National Inventory. In this process, there is an opportunity to learn from the countries like China which developed its national inventory of all ICH elements (Xu et al., 2022). The institution responsible for culture should invite research institutes and scholars to provide expert opinions on safeguarding ICH and encourage individuals, enterprises, and social organisations to invest in ICH undertakings. The institution responsible for culture should also conduct research and collect information which will help the country to develop the first inventory of ICH resources.

Thirdly, establish a National Committee for ICH through the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sports and UNESCO National Commission of the United Republic of Tanzania. The National Committee will have work to advise on legal and institutional framework relating to Intangible Cultural Heritage and must provide for safeguard measures following the UNESCO (2003) Convention. The committee will also advise on fundraising issues such as the need for ICH funds, national inventory, capacity building and raising awareness on the convention’s implementation. Lastly, the committee will monitor and supervise the implementation of the UNESCO (2003) Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage prepare reports on the status of the implementation of the UNESCO (2003) Convention and provide guidance on best practices and make recommendations to the government on the measures for the safeguarding of ICH.

8. Concluding remarks

The current study contributes to the debate of safeguarding and implementation of UNESCO (2003) convention based on our assessment and evaluation using a case study from United Republic of Tanzania. The current study extends ICH literature by providing evidence that beliefs, tribalism issues, security and unity could also contribute to the negative safeguarding and implementation of the UNESCO (2003) ICH convention. In this context, the ICH convention should be received and approached carefully in some of the countries as it might bring a sense of tribalism and identity as one ethnic group element will be seen favoured over the other. Further to this, the ministry responsible for culture would need to continuously invest in public education from the old to the young on their cultural heritage as a key to a hasten the safeguarding and implementation of the ICH convention in Tanzania.

The country could learn and follow a footstep of our neighbours such as Comoros who have created a National Committee of ICH that supervise and ensure proper implementation of the convention in their country (Ibrahim, 2019). Furthermore, it is necessary to establish a legal framework for safeguarding ICH that supports the Cultural policy of 1997. The country could also take an experience and lesson from China which put in place a national ICH legislation framework in 2011 when the National People’s Congress adopted the Intangible Cultural Heritage Law of the People’s Republic of China (Xu et al., 2022). In this process, the local communities must be engaged and considered apriority at all times with their opinions and perspectives taken into consideration. As the country has more than 120 ethnic groups, its ICH has the potential to contribute to sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction if utilised well. Therefore, the local communities must effectively engage in safeguarding of ICH and provide them with an additional incentive to continue safeguarding such elements.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to thank the UNESCO National Commission of the United Republic of Tanzania for financial support in implementing and monitoring ICH development and activities in the country.

Notes on contributors

Maximilian Felix Chami

Maximilian Felix Chami is a PhD graduate (2019) in Heritage Studies from the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg (BTU) in Germany. He is a former Research Fellow at the University of Göttingen in Germany. He once worked as a Senior Researcher at the National Museum of Tanzania (March 2021-December 2022) and Culture and World Heritage Officer at the UNESCO National Commission of the United Republic of Tanzania (November 2015-February 2021). Currently, he is a Lecturer of Heritage Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania under the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies. His research interests are in Cultural Heritage, Tourism, Museums, Cultural property, Colonial history and Public Archaeology.

Erick James Kajiru

Erick J. Kajiru has been a Principal Culture and World Heritage Officer at the UNESCO National Commission of the United Republic of Tanzania since 2006. He holds MA in Development Studies and a BA in education, where he majored in History and Linguistics from the University of Dar es Salaam, respectively. As a head of the Culture and World Heritage Sector at the institution, he coordinates the implementation and monitoring of the UNESCO Culture Conventions, namely, UNESCO 1954 Convention, UNESCO 1954 Convention, UNESCO 1970 Convention, UNESCO 1972 Convention, UNESCO 2003 and Convention UNESCO 2005 Convention, all of which have been ratified by the United Republic of Tanzania. He is among five government representatives for the UNESCO Executive Board from 2021 to 2025.