SAFEGUARDING INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

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Nigel Kelly
5 years ago
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1 Tehran ICH Centre s 3 rd International Expert Meeting on Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage of West and Central Asia SAFEGUARDING INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY Towards Concrete Proposals on Harnessing Cultural Heritage for Environmental Sustainability Introduction A Category 2 Centre under the auspices of UNESCO, active in the field of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Regional Research Centre for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage in West and Central Asia, also known with the shorter name Tehran ICH Centre, is interested, among its other undertakings, in promoting the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage over the West and Central Asian Region. In short, the region is highly diversified, rich in ICH properties, and in need of expert ideas regarding safeguarding strategies, especially as regards the shared ICH elements located across it. In view of the aforementioned facts, Tehran ICH Centre has included on its Action Plan for 2016 an International Expert Meeting on Safeguarding West and Central Asian Intangible Cultural Heritage. Themed Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage for Environmental Sustainability, the meeting has been planned to enjoy the participation of a group of internationally known female and male specialists for article presentations and round-table discussions. The meeting, as well as its side-events, will be open for observation by interested audience among governmental organizations, NGO s, experts, and individual bearers and practitioners, as its target group. The UNESCO Chair at Shahid Beheshti University is actively involved in conducting pure and applied research in the fields of human rights, peace, democracy, philosophy and religion, and bioethics. It also provides education and training in citizenship and human rights, taking into account Iranian religious and national culture. Since 2001, in cooperation with the Faculty of Law, the Chair has provided a Master s Degree of Human Rights Law, providing students and staff with research-based and practical human rights experience. Other

2 scientific activities of the Chair include holding international conferences and summer schools and national-level conferences, seminars and workshops, providing information on human rights-related topics and approaches to applying these in Iran and elsewhere. To this end, the Chair cooperates actively with governmental and non-governmental centres and with international organizations, in particular UNESCO. The topic of this International Expert Meeting falls directly within the research agenda of the Chair in the areas of cultural rights, cultural diversity and the right to a healthy and sustainable environment. Interested parties are invited to review the following as the specifications of the mentioned event: Themes: -Theoretical and methodological issues -Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage for environmental sustainability -Shared experiences Organizers: - Tehran ICH Centre - Shahid Beheshti University - UNESCO Chair for Human Rights, Peace and Democracy (Shahid Beheshti University, Iran) - Target Group: ICH related parties in West and Central Asia (governmental organizations, academic staff and students, experts, non-governmental organizations, and others) - Location: Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran (Islamic Republic of) - Dates: April Language: English (with Persian interpretation)

3 - Participation: a) Presentations of scientific articles in person and or by Skype b) Round table/panel discussions/ Questions and Answers - Output: - Publication of articles presented - Publication of the Final Report - Recommendation containing concrete proposals on Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage for environmental sustainability Size of event: Expert meeting participated by maximally 20 female and male specialists, and attended by interested audience; Side event: -Cultural performance -Video and Photo exhibition Framework: Global Capacity-building Strategy Duration: 2 days Objectives: a) Raise awareness among the scientific, governmental, non-governmental and other communities in the western and central Asian region of the issues relating to the safeguarding of ICH for a more sustainable environment. b) Share experiences and identify (i) best practices and (ii) common intangible heritage/traditional practices and knowledge relating to the natural environment of the region.

4 Expected results: 1. Publication of the Proceedings of the conference. 2. Providing the basis for the future development of a database of Western and Central Asian intangible heritage/traditional practices and knowledge relating to the natural environment. 3. Increased networking and communication on the regional level concerning safeguarding of intangible heritage/traditional practices and knowledge relating to the natural environment and the impacts of safeguarding. 4. Identifying a shared regional/sub-regional ICH related to the natural environment with the potential for the future development of a multinational nomination to the Representative List or Urgent Safeguarding List of the 2003 Convention for Safeguarding ICH. Themes for articles to address. The role of ICH (traditional cultural practices, innovations, know-how and knowledge) in ensuring sustainable stewardship of the natural environment. The importance of the natural environment and its resources for the practice/enactment of ICH elements. Potential conflicts between the practice/enactment of ICH elements and environmental protection (e.g. the use of animals or their derivatives). Philosophical/religious approaches towards the question. The related rights of indigenous, tribal and local communities. Case studies examining, inter alia, (a) ICH elements relating to the natural environment, (b) positive and negative experiences of safeguarding (c) different forms of community participation in safeguarding, (d) local community involvement in environmental management through their ICH and (e) the impacts (negative or positive) of (i) safeguarding activities and (ii) environmental protection actions on the cultural communities and their ICH Requirements: Those interested are invited to take account of the following as requirements for their participation:

5 1) Announcement in writing of their interest in taking part as a keynote speaker, an expert in the round-table discussions, or an author of an article for publication, 2) Sending an abstract of their articles in no more than 500 words, with at least 5 Key Terms, no later than January 10th, 2017, 3) Sending the publication-ready full text of their articles no later than March 30th, 2017, 4) Taking special care to prepare the abstracts and the articles in a standard academic format, as described in the style sheet provided, so that they could be readily utilized for publication as a collection of articles, 5) Regarding the nature of the theme of the Expert Meeting, supplementation of the articles and presentations with illustrations, and photos is recommended, 6) Regarding the fact that each speaker will be given a maximum of 30 minutes for their presentation (preferably 20 minutes for presentation and 5-10 minutes for Q&A), they are requested to arrange for the time limit with an adequately timed lecture, Publication of Conference Proceedings Tehran ICH Centre and Shahid Beheshti University will jointly publish a collection of articles gathered for the Expert Meeting in September 2017, both in printed and digital formats. Contact information: The interested sides are invited to consult the Conference Secretariat of the Tehran ICH Centre for any further information, through the following means: Website: 3rdexpertmeeting@tichct.ir Tel: Fax:

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