‘Nommer / normer: approches pluridisciplinaires du patrimoine culturel immatériel’
International conference of the second phase of the “Osmose” research project
Paris, France, National Institute of Art History and National Institute of Heritage
(Institut national d’histoire de l’art – Institut national du patrimoine, INHA-INP)

November 25 to 26, 2021

Association of Critical Heritage Studies 5th Biennial Conference, ACHS 2020: Futures
Virtual international conference

August 26 to 30, 2020

The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage has radically changed the meaning and the protection of cultural heritage in international law and in numerous national laws. This discussion panel will offer a critical approach to the various legal issues that are part of the present and future safeguarding processes of intangible cultural heritage. It will do so based on the results of an international study conducted on twenty-four states parties and two states non-parties to the Convention, encompassing different regions of the world with their own legal traditions (common law, Romano-Germanic law and other legal systems). 

This panel will question how different domestic laws and legal processes tackle (1) issues relating to the scope of the intangible cultural heritage and (2) challenging concepts, such as community, safeguarding and the principle of participation. Furthermore, this research revealed the diversity of legal mechanisms and their levels of normativity (labels, inventories etc.), as well as friction points and interactions between different fields of law (e.g. intellectual property law, environmental law and human rights law). Finally, in a general context of fundamentalization of rights, this research demonstrates that new claims appear in the field of cultural heritage law and are challenged before the courts. The discussion panel is sponsored by the International Society for Research on Art.  and Cultural Heritage Law.

Monograph of international research project ‘Osmose’ results in English

Edward Elgar Publishing

August, 2020

‘Qualifications et disqualifications du patrimoine culturel immatériel : les lieux de décisions 2020–2021’

Project is supported by the French-Latvian bilateral research partnership programme “Osmose” for 2020–2021, and the contract on funding researchers’ mobility has been signed by the Latvian Academy of Culture and the State Education Development Agency, Republic of Latvia.

Partners – Latvian Academy of Culture and the Institute of Political Social Sciences (fr. Institut des sciences sociales du politique, ISP), Paris, France

February, 2020

As part of the series Oxford Commentaries on International Cultural Heritage Law a collective monograph “The 2003 UNESCO Intangible Heritage Convention: A Commentary” (https://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law/9780198824787.001.0001/law-9780198824787) has been edited by legal scholars Janet Blake and Lucas Lixinski. Authors from various countries and regions of the world have contributed, including the Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy and Law Anita Vaivade who has written a commentary on the Article 13 ‘Other Measures for Safeguarding’ concerning policy-making and legislation at the national level.

Article 13. Other Measures for Safeguarding. Developing Intangible Cultural Heritage Policies and Legislation at the National Level. In: Blake, Janet and Lucas Lixinski (Eds). The 2003 UNESCO Intangible Heritage Convention: A Commentary. Oxford University Press, 2020. Pp. 200–217.

Publication is available also at the National Library of Latvia.

Publisher: Oxford University Press

January, 2020

Heading the Latvian delegation

Including participation at the ICH NGO Forum Symposium (http://www.ichngoforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Programme-Bogota-final-en_14COM.pdf) and at the meeting of UNESCO Chairs in the field of intangible cultural heritage.

Bogotá, Colombia December 8 to 14, 2019

Session’s working documents – https://ich.unesco.org/en/14com

Latvian team of researchers is represented by Līga Ābele, Irina Oļevska and Anita Vaivade.

Milan, Italy, Università degli Studi di Milano

December 5 to 6, 2019

(Dénouer la langue du droit pour préserver les langues autochtones)

Conference organised in relation to the International Year of Indigenous Languages and in cooperation with the UNESCO Chair at the Latvian Academy of Culture. The programme of the conference included inter alia a presentation “Articulation between the concepts of “indigenous peoples” and “indigenous languages” in law: example of the Liv language in Latvia” (fr. “L’articulation en droit entre les concepts de « peuples autochtones » et de « langues autochtones » : l’exemple de la langue live en Lettonie”).

Paris, France, Médiathèque Françoise-Sagan

November 28, 2019

Programme of the conference – https://dpc.hypotheses.org/3101

Workshop organized by the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF) with participation of its Board members and representatives from the Working Group “Cultural Heritage and Property” for discussing the activities of SIEF as international non-governmental organisation accredited to the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Marseille, France, Mucem museum

November 4, 2019

Participation at the conference, including at the panel discussion “Safeguarding Practices and the Involvement of Communities”.

Espoo, Finland, Hanaholmen

October 31 – November 2, 2019

Programme of the conference – https://www.hanaholmen.fi/en/event/living-heritage-in-the-nordic-countries/

Video recording of the panel discussion – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ5ONQCNDVU&t=584s

(Suitu kultūrtelpas UNESCO 10. gadadienas svinības)

Participation at the celebration and leading a discussion of Suiti community members and partners on the perspectives for the safeguarding of the Suiti cultural space. Alsunga, Alsunga Community House

October 4, 2019

The Living Heritage Entity of the UNESCO Secretariat organized the workshop in close collaboration with the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe (Venice) and the Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe (Sofia), which was hosting the training. The workshop focused on the theme of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and sustainable development with reference to the dedicated chapter of the Operational Directives on this topic and in light of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

October 1–3, 2019

Description of the seminar – https://ich.unesco.org/en/events/intangible-cultural-heritage-and-sustainable-development-training-for-facilitators-from-europe-00793

(Les biens culturels: patrimoine culturel immatériel et propriété) Presentation on the linkages between the legal concepts of “intangible cultural heritage” and “property” given at the international conference in legal sciences “Property in the 21st century: is the ancestral model still adapted to the great challenges of our environment?” (La propriété au 21ème siècle : un modèle ancestral toujours adapté aux grands enjeux de notre environnement ?).

Bordeaux, France, University of Bordeaux

September 26, 2019

Programme of the conference – https://univ-droit.fr/actualites-de-la-recherche/manifestations/32665-la-propriete-au-21eme-siecle

The Progress Report on the UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy and Law regarding its first two years of activities (2017-2019) drafted and submitted to the Section of Higher Education of the UNESCO Secretariat in Paris, France.

Report submitted on

July 4, 2019

Guest lecture “Legal Encounters on Intangible Cultural Heritage” given at the Kick-off of the UNESCO Chair on Applied Studies of Intangible Cultural Heritage, established at the University of Tartu.

Tartu, Estonia, University of Tartu, Institute of Cultural Research

May 2, 2019

Programme of the event – https://www.flku.ut.ee/en/news/guest-lectures-exploring-local-character-stories-and-legal-encounters-intangible-cultural

Panel discussion organized in cooperation with Kristin Kuutma (University of Tartu) in order to discuss the possible engagement of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (Société Internationale d'Ethnologie et de Folklore, SIEF) within the work of UNESCO on the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage. Panel presenters – Robert Baron (Goucher College), Valdimar Tr. Hafstein (University of Iceland), Fabio Mugnaini (Università di Siena), and discussant – Sophie Elpers (Meertens Institute, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences). Panel organized at the occasion of the 14th Congress of SIEF “Track Changes: Reflecting on a Transforming World”.

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

April 15, 2019

Description and speakers of the panel – nomadit.co.uk/sief/sief2019/conferencesuite.php/panels/7149

Research visit and lecture by Anatole Danto

Latvian Academy of Culture, with a scholarship provided by the Government of Latvia, welcomed Anatole Danto, doctoral student at the University of Rennes, affiliated to the French National Centre for Scientific Research (fr. Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS), for a month-long research visit and a visiting lecture on the theme “In between nature and culture, ethnography of local and traditional ecological knowledge among European coastal communities”. The research visit was part of his doctoral studies on cultural heritage governance issues, in particular concerning the communities related to fishing, and within the context of broader political, socioeconomic and environmental changes within the North-West Europe.

Riga, Latvian Academy of Culture

April 9, 2019

Description of the visiting lecture – https://lka.edu.lv/lv/aktuali/pasakumi/anatola-danto-priekslasijums-seminaru-cikla-jauno-akademiku-otrdienas/

(fr. Une approche interdisciplinaire du patrimoine culturel immatériel)

In collaboration with Marie Cornu, lead researcher at the Institute for Social Sciences of Politics (fr. Institut des Sciences sociales du Politique, ISP, Paris, France), a presentation on the results of the research project “Osmose” was given at the international scientific conference “Interdisciplinary approach to intangible cultural heritage”.

In addition to the conference, a working meeting of the International Society for Research on Art and Cultural Heritage Law took place, and the Latvian team of researchers was represented therein by Līga Ābele and Anita Vaivade.

Munich, Germany, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Institut für Kunstgeschichte; Museum Fünf Kontinente

March 5–8, 2019

Description and programme of the conference – https://sirdpa.hypotheses.org/243

Concluding conference of the ‘Osmose’ research project

Paris, France, Paris Institute for Advanced Study (Institut d’études avancées de Paris)

February 14, 2019

Description and programme of the conference – https://dpc.hypotheses.org/2981

Guest professor Kristin Kuutma (Tartu University / Estonian National Commission for UNESCO) in Riga

Riga, Latvian Academy of Culture,

Latvian National Centre for Culture

May 7–8, 2018

The programme of the visit includes a discussion devoted to the Estonian national inventory of intangible cultural heritage and a seminar for graduate students in museum and cultural heritage studies on the issues of topicality for their preparation of master and doctoral thesis. The visit is based on the initiative of the UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy and Law at the Latvian Academy of Culture and is organized in the framework of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

Professor Kristin Kuutma is the Chair of the Board of Estonian National Commission for UNESCO, she has been involved in the establishment of Estonian national inventory of intangible cultural heritage, has been representing Estonia at the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (2006–2010) and as individually invited expert has participated in UNESCO organized expert meetings on intangible cultural heritage. The research interests of prof. Kristin Kuutma include the safeguarding of cultural traditions in Seto community in Estonia and the impact of UNESCO nomination on the safeguarding of community’s heritage.

International academic cooperation seminar

Brussels, Belgium, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

March 26 and 27, 2018

Seminar of UNESCO Chairs in the field of intangible cultural heritage was organized by Prof. Marc Jacob, in order to discuss the present activities, research projects, prospects of cooperation and creation of the respective UNESCO Chair network. Three UNESCO Chairs were represented at the seminar – UNESCO Chair on critical heritage studies and safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage (established in 2014 at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium); UNESCO Chair on intangible heritage and traditional know-how: linking heritage (established in 2013 at the University of Évora, Portugal) and UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy and Law (established in 2017 at the Latvian Academy of Culture). Helena Drobna represented the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section of the UNESCO Secretariat and Milee Choi represented the International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO, ICHCAP.

At the beginning of the visit, Anita Vaivade presented the implementation of the research project ‘Osmose’ (https://dpc.hypotheses.org/le-projet-osmose), as well as different approahces in Europe for developing legislation in the field of intangible cultural heritage. The presentation was followed by a discussion with heritage professionals, administrators, representatives of non-governmental organisations, post-doctoral researchers and doctoral students. The presentation was part of the activities of the European Year of Cultural Heritage calendar.

UNESCO capacity-building workshop

Dnipro, Ukraine

February 5 to 9, 2018

Workshop was carried out within the framework of the UNESCO Global capacity-building strategy for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage (https://ich.unesco.org/en/capacity-building). It was organised by the UNESCO Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in South-Eastern Europe (http://www.unesco-centerbg.org/), which is located in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the workshop was facilitated by Saša Srećković (Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade, Serbia) and Anita Vaivade (Latvian Academy of Culture). It was the first such capacity-building workshop in Ukraine, and it brought together more than twenty participants – heritage community members and representatives of Ukrainian governmental and municipal institutions and non-governmental organizations.

International academic cooperation seminar

The preparation of the Periodic Report in cooperation with the Suiti community, state and municipal institutions and non-governmental organizations. The Report is submitted to UNESCO by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia.

​Periodic report (612.7 KB)

Participation at the Latvian Delegation

Session’s working documents – https://ich.unesco.org/en/12com

Guest lecture ‘‘Other Measures for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage” and workshop on the Research of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Ethnology and Folklore Studies

​Abstract of the Guest Lecture (22.4 KB)

Annual Guest lecture on UNESCO activities Master’s study course on Cultural Policies

Guest lectures and presentation of the ‘Osmosis’ research project on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Comparative Law

In the context of the global capacity-building programme for the effective implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003), the aim of this training is to expand the regional branch of the programme’s facilitators’ network and to strengthen its delivery capacity to respond to the capacity-building needs in European and, in particular, South-Eastern European countries. In particular, the workshop will: analyse the lessons learned to date from implementing UNESCO’s global capacity-building programme in Europe; strengthen participants’ knowledge and competencies required to be a facilitator in the network; provide hands-on experience using the UNESCO capacity-building curriculum, including the recently developed materials on elaborating safeguarding plans.

International Research Seminar of Comparative Law

Salacgrīva, North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve

Rīga, Latvian Academy of Culture

September 7 - 8, 2017

This seminar aims at discussing the legal aspects of various interactions between safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and environmental protection including management of natural resources. In the seminar closer look will be taken at regulations within environmental law that are highly relevant to the safeguarding of ICH, even if they do not make an explicit reference to this legal concept. The discussion is intended to foster both comparative and interdisciplinary views, bringing together legal scholars and ethnologists from different countries as well as representatives of communities. This will allow presenting a variety of lessons learned through case studies, theoretical and historical analyses tackling interactions between the national and the regional levels.

Programme of the seminar – dpc.hypotheses.org/category/the-osmose-program-english-version

Working language of the seminar – English.

Registration for the seminar – https://ej.uz/Osmose_Riga_2017.

The Annual Conference on the International Council on Archives; The Section of University and Research Institution Archives (ICA/SUV)

Key-note lecture “Inventorying the Intangible: International Context for Archival Practice”

Programme of the conference – http://icasuv-2017-conference.mozello.lv/

Cēsis, Cēsis History and Art Museum

August 17, 2017

The aim of this seminar is to evaluate the impact of cultural heritage festivals on the local and regional development and to indicate what are the various international and national instruments of cultural policy that foster such impact. Within the discussion concrete examples of such festivals will be presented as well. Policy makers working at local, regional and national level, representatives of cultural organizations, as well as all others interested are invited to participate.

Programme of the seminar (in Latvian) (793.5 KB)

Working language of the seminar – Latvian.

Registration of participation – https://goo.gl/forms/sC9MFPlXcFuooMGi1. 

Sharing Heritage – Citizens Participating in Decision Making

Forum of the European Heritage Congress 2017

International Scholarly Conference

Presentation “Participation Rights in Latvian Intangible Cultural Heritage Law”

Turku, Finland, University of Turku

May 13, 2017

Programme of the forum – https://www.europanostra.fi/en/forum-program-european-heritage-congress-13-may-2017-turku

Presentation of the monograph “Intangible Cultural Heritage in International and Latvian Law”

Latvian Book Fair 2017

Rīga, February 25, 2017

Pictures of the presentation – https://lulfmi.lv/Pasakums-8-gramatas-FOTO.

International Research Seminar

Presentation “Intangible Cultural Heritage Law / Latvia”

Paris, France, Branly Museum

December 16, 2016

Programme of the seminar – https://dpc.hypotheses.org/1331.

Audio recording of the seminar (in French) – https://dpc.hypotheses.org/1477.

Participation at the Latvian delegation

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Conference Centre

November 28 – December 2, 2016

Session’s working documents – https://ich.unesco.org/en/11com.

Lectures Program by Dr. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett

Rīga, Latvian Academy of Culture,

Žanis Lipke Memorial

November 4–8, 2016

Guest lectures took place during the first visit of Dr. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett in Riga. Lectures were devoted to the issues connecting museums and ICH, as well as to exhibition space and experience of establishing the POLIN Museum.

Programme of the guest lectures (795.4 KB)

Annual Guest lecture on UNESCO activities Master’s study course on Cultural Policies

International seminar

Presentation “Legislation on Intangible Cultural Heritage: Patterning Community Rights in Latvia”

Tallinn, Estonia, Folk Culture Centre

October 20, 2016

Videos of presentations and discussion – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MhAwtnMNNE.

2018

International expert meeting

Beijing, China, September 7–9, 2016

Meeting’s working documents – https://ich.unesco.org/en/events/expert-meeting-on-developing-an-overall-results-framework-for-the-2003-convention-00581

Even before the establishment of the UNESCO Chair, Latvian Academy of Culture organized events in connection to ICH policy and law issues, which accordingly introduced the present work of the Chair.

International Research Seminar

Rīga, Latvian Academy of Culture

June 29, 2015

The seminar reflected on the legal aspects of safeguarding of the ICH, emphasizing two aspects in particular: firstly, it is attention to the development of national legal systems, be it amendments to existing legal texts, adopted novel laws or deliberate abstention from any legislation at all; and, secondly, the establishment, interpretation, and application of subjective rights for the safeguarding of ICH, as well as definition of the holders of such rights. The international research seminar was organized within the framework of the ‘Osmose’ research project with the objective to develop a methodology for comparing national experiences – approaches and strategies – to establish and develop national, intra-nationally regional and local legal instruments for the safeguarding of the ICH.

Videos of presentations (in French) – dpc.hypotheses.org/1581.