Proceedings of the International Researchers Forum: Perspectives of Research for Intangible Cultural Heritage towards a Sustainable SocietyISBN : 978-4-9909775-1-1

Proceedings ofInternational Researchers Forum:
Perspectives of Research for
Intangible Cultural Heritage towards
a Sustainable Society

17-18 December 2019
Tokyo Japan

Organised byInternational Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI),
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage
Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan
Co-organised by
Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties,
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage

IRCI

Proceedings ofInternational Researchers Forum:
Perspectives of Research for
Intangible Cultural Heritage towards
a Sustainable Society

17-18 December 2019
Tokyo Japan

Organised byInternational Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI),
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage
Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan
Co-organised by
Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties,
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage

Published byInternational Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI),
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage
2 cho, Mozusekiun-cho, Sakai-ku, Sakai City, Osaka 590-0802, Japan
Tel: +81 – 72 – 275 – 8050
Email: irci@nich.go.jp
Website: https://www.irci.jp© International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI)
Published on 10 March 2020

Preface
The International Researchers Forum: Perspectives of Research for Intangible Cultural
Heritage towards a Sustainable Society was organised by the International ResearchCentre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI) in cooperation
with the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan and the Tokyo National Research Institutefor Cultural Properties on 17–18 December 2019. The IRCI and Tokyo National ResearchInstitute for Cultural Properties are two of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage,an umbrella institution comprising seven institutes with the mission of conserving andusing cultural heritage properties.
IRCI was established in 2011 as a Category 2 Centre under the auspices of UNESCO
to promote the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)and its uses in Asia-Pacific region. One of IRCI’s main tasks is to instigate and coordinate
research into practices and methodologies for safeguarding ICH while cooperating with
universities, research institution, community representatives and other governmental andnon-governmental organisations in the region.
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 indicate
potential roles of culture for achieving the goals, particularly Goal 4 regarding quality
education and Goal 11 regarding sustainable cities and communities. This Forum aimed
to explore the future orientation of research on ICH safeguarding through discussions
about the ICH role in sustainable development. Nineteen researchers, academics andexperts were invited to speak. These participants were from UNESCO and eight countries:
China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines and the UnitedStates. Their presentations were drawn from their case studies, and they actively
discussed the issues with the other participants. I am sincerely grateful to all theparticipants for their efforts to successfully realize the Forum.
The Forum opened with an invited keynote speech by Mr Kenji Yoshida, DirectorGeneral of National Museum of Ethnology in Japan, titled “Intangible Cultural Heritageand Local Communities”. It was followed by discussions organised into four sessions:“Community Development: ICH and Regional Development”, “Community
Development: Environment and ICH”, “Discussions from Education Perspectives”, and“Wrap-up Discussion”. The contents of the presentations and discussions at the sessions
are presented in this volume. I believe that the discussions demonstrated four types of ties
that characterise ICH: intergenerational ties, ties among humankind, ties between thenatural environment and human communities and ties between communities. The
Executive Summary reported below describes the discussions that occurred during theForum.
I am sincerely grateful to Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Heritages for
its cooperation and to the Agency for Cultural Affairs for its financial support through theInternational Collaboration Project for the Safeguarding of Cultural Properties. In
addition, I express my appreciation to the members of the public who attended the Forumii

for their deep interest in the discussions and their thoughtful questions and comments. I
hope the academics’ and experts’ collaborative efforts at the Forum, which are available
online at the IRCI’s website (https://www.irci.jp/) to disseminate the Forum’s activities,
will further increase interest in safeguarding ICH.
March 2020
Wataru Iwamoto
Director-General
International Research Centre for
Intangible Cultural Heritage in
the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI)ii ii

Table of Contents
Preface ························································································
Table of Contents ············································································
Executive Summary ·········································································

i
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v

Keynote Speech
Intangible Cultural Heritage and Local Communities: A Perspective on Museums················································································ Kenji Yoshida

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ArticlesSession 1: Community Development-ICH and Regional Development
Safeguarding Endangered Language as a Component of Community
Development: A Case of Hudhud Chants········································· Lourdes Z. Hinampas, Jeslie O. del Ayre
Casting Ethnicity into Material: Cultural Identity and Tourism
Consumption of “Zangyin (Tibetan Silver)” in Southwest China····················································································Li Fei
Expanding the Groundwork for Research in the Revitalization andSustainability of Micronesian Seafaring······································································· Vicente M. Diaz
Tourism, Regional Development and Conservation of Heritage in Asia········································································· Akiko Tashiro
The Museums as New Industry and Utilizing Intangible Cultural Properties······································································Hideki Yoshihara
ArticlesSession 2: Community Development-Environment and ICH
Urban Continuity: Retaining Identity and Resilience of the Historic City ofKathmandu·············································································· Kai Weise
The System of Lapat, an Indigenous Resources Management System ofSome Communities in Abra, Philippines··································································· Norma A. Respicio
Astamatrika in Newar Settlements, Kathmandu Valley·········································································· Tomoko Mori

iiiiii

13

21

37
49
57

75

85
89

Articles
Session 3 : Discussions from Education Perspective
Ako- Negotiating the Intersection Between SDG 4.7 and Intangible Cultural
Heritage··············································· Sandra L. Morrison, Timote Vaioleti
Education on Disaster Risk Reduction for Heritage Cultural Landscape(SAUJANA)··································································Laretna T. Adishakti
Intangible Cultural Heritage Within the Mathematics Teaching Methods
Course for Pre-service Teachers: Awareness and Appreciation of Precolonization Knowledge and Wisdom·····························Munirah Ghazali,Vassilis Makrakis, Muzirah Musa
Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage and Promoting Sustainable
Development Through Education····································································· Duong Bich Hanh
Experience and Knowledge Gained as a Trainee in the Successor Training
Programme········································································ Takanori Nakai

101

109

125

133

145

The Traditional Knowledge Based ESD in a Bioregion········································································ Reita Furusawa 151
Wrap-up Discussion

163

Annexes
Welcome Remarks and Opening Remarks
Welcome Remarks·········································································Takamasa Saito
Opening Remarks········································································Wataru Iwamoto
Opening Remarks······································································ Duong Bich Hanh
Forum Documents
Forum Schedule········································································
List of Forum Participants ····························································
Profiles of Forum Participants ·······················································
Forum General Information ··························································
Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 11··········································

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171
173
175
179
181
183
191
193

Executive Summary
Opening Session
The opening session began with welcome remarks by Mr Takamasa Saito, Director
General of the Tokyo National Institute for Cultural Properties (hereafter “Tobunken”),
on behalf of the host institution. He was followed by Mr Wataru Iwamoto on behalf of
IRCI and by Ms Duong Bich Hanh, Programme Specialist for Culture at the UNESCO
Bangkok Office. Then, the invited keynote speaker, Professor Dr Kenji Yoshida,
Director-General of National Museum of Ethnology in Japan, delivered the keynote
speech titled “Intangible Cultural Heritage and Local Communities”.
Welcome Remarks by Mr Takamasa Saito
Mr Saito conveyed the message that transmission of ICH is important to future
generations. Based on the idea that ICH closely relates to individuals’ and communities’
lives, he explained that ICH is necessary for culture to prosper and to achieve societal
affluence. He proposed that we should acknowledge the need to ensure that ICH issafeguarded to secure sustainable societies. He expressed his expectation that theparticipants at the Forum would exchange ideas about ways that ICH might best
contribute to achieving the United Nations’ SDGs and his hope that they would broadly
distribute the results.
Opening Remarks by Mr Wataru Iwamoto on behalf of IRCIMr Iwamoto of the IRCI briefly described the background of the Forum. First, heintroduced the concept of “sustainable development” as defined in 1987 by the World
Commission on Environment and Development. The contributions of culture tosustainable development have gradually been recognised, as was evidenced by theConvention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage adopted by the
UNESCO General Conference in 2003 (hereafter “the 2003 Convention”), which
considered the importance of ICH to guarantee sustainable development, and is clearly
indicated in the SDGs that explicitly refer to culture and its role for achieving Goals 4
and 11. He asked the participants to use the Forum for discussions about investigating
latent research topics on the contributions of ICH to sustainable societies and that develop
new perspectives for research about safeguarding ICH.
Opening Remarks by Ms Duong Bich Hanh, Programme Specialist for Culture,
UNESCO Bangkok Office
Ms Duong of UNESCO Bangkok Office centred her message on the idea that research
about ICH has a valuable role in its safeguarding. Under the 2003 convention, thisresearch was identified as key to ensuring the viability of living heritage. She highlighted
the significance of the merging of researchers focused on tangible and intangible heritage
present at this Forum because of the increasing connectedness of tangible and intangible
heritage and the recently recognised need to holistically understand cultural heritage. Shevv

mentioned that the contributions of ICH to sustainable development are further elaborated
in UNESCO’s Operational Directives of the 2003 Convention.
Keynote Speech
Mr Yoshida, Director-General of the National Museum of Ethnology, delivered his
keynote speech “Intangible Cultural Heritage and Local Communities”. He pointed outthat it is impossible to divide the concept of “cultural heritage” into mutually exclusive
categories of “tangible” and “intangible” because human inventions always involve bothaspects. This relates to current critical reflections on the museum role, namely, thatmuseums have been primarily viewed as facilities that collect and preserve tangible
properties. That role limits museums’ activities. However, museums should also serve asplaces for the inheritance of skills and knowledge and as instruments for the creation of
new cultures. He pointed out that a recent surge in building museums and theestablishment of new festivals by ethnic groups who are meant to hand over their own
culture to the next generation. To explore new roles for museums, he regards museum as“forum” to bring diverse people together in an effort to raise awareness for the culturaltransmission. He concluded by stating that the ultimate key to ICH transmission is to
involve local schools and children that lead the next generation.
Session 1: Community Development-ICH and Regional Development
Five case studies on the following topics were presented from the perspective of ICH andregional development.
1.
2.
3.

Regional development through stimulation of traditional industry
Regional development and ICH safeguarding through sustainable tourism
Regional development through revitalization of traditional culture“Safeguarding Endangered Language as a Component of Community
Development: A Case of Hudhud Chants”
Ms Hinampas presented the case of safeguarding Hudhud chants through the Schools of
Living Tradition (SLT), a programme started in 1995 in communities and elementary
schools in collaboration with relevant agencies.
“Casting Ethnicity into Material: Cultural Identity and Tourism Consumption of“Zangyin (Tibetan Silver)” in Southwest China”
Ms Li discussed concerns about the vague standardisations used to label “Zangyin”, a
popular product of Tibetan silver in the tourism industry.

vivi

“Sustaining Seafaring and Island Research at a Time of Rising Seas, Sinking
Islands, and Settler Colonial Knowledge Production” 1
Mr Diaz reported on an investigation of traditional seafaring culture, its remarkablesurvival and efforts to revitalize it in the Pacific Islands.
“Tourism, Regional Development and Conservation of Heritage in Asia”
Ms Tashiro was the fourth presenter, and she discussed her case study of Padang
regarding recovery from the 2009 Sumatran earthquake disaster in relation to tourism,
regional development and heritage management.
“The Museums as New Industry and Utilizing Intangible Cultural Properties”
Mr Yoshihara works on projects related to protection and promotion of Ainu culture in
Hokkaido, and he introduced cases important to discussions of ICH and regional
development issues.
Session 2: Community Development-Environment and ICH
Three case studies on the following topics were presented in the second session.
1.
2.

ICH for disaster risk management
ICH and community environment“Urban Continuity: Retaining Identity and Resilience of the Historic City ofKathmandu”
Mr Weise examined the physical development of Kathmandu’s historic city in the context
of ICH, covering beliefs, skills, knowledge and the indigenous community system ofguthis for performing cultural activities. In addition, he assessed the relevance oftraditional systems to post-disaster activities, particularly the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake
recovery, and as a way to ensure the city’s resilience or sustainability.
“The System of Lapat, an Indigenous Resources Management System of Some
Communities in Abra, Philippines”
Ms Respicio introduced the lapat, an indigenous system for managing the physical terrain
and natural resources that are the foundations of communities’ economies in the Provinceof Abra, Cordillera Region.
“Astamatrika in Newar Settlements, Kathmandu Valley”
The final presentation of the session was given by Ms Mori, who considered the waysthat people have adopted aspects of the natural environment and natural resources to

1(IRCI notes): The title was of the presented paper at the Forum, and the title of the
finalised manuscript in this publication is slightly changed by the author.
viiviienhance their livelihoods, such as the guthis in Kathmandu and the lapat in the Cordillera,
as well as indigenous devices that foster social fabric.
Session 3: Discussions from Education Perspective
The six cases presented in this session were by researchers and experts on education.
They presented their studies from the perspective of education and ICH with reference
to the themes and topics presented in Sessions 1 and 2.
“Ako - A Traditional Polynesia Concept at the Intersection Between SDG 4.7 andIntangible Cultural Heritage” 2
Ms Morrison presented the case of ako, the Māori and Polynesian concept of teaching
and learning, for intergenerational transmission of knowledge and practices as theintersection where SDG 4 meets ICH and education with reference to pūrākau, thenavigation tale of an ancient Polynesian ocean explorer.
“Education on Disaster Risk Reduction for Heritage Cultural Landscape (Saujana)”
Ms Adishakti discussed the ways that disasters might be opportunities for community
development and focused on cultural landscape heritage (saujana) in Indonesia.
“Intangible Cultural Heritage Within the Mathematics Teaching Methods Course
for Pre-service Teachers: Awareness and Appreciation of Pre-colonization
Knowledge and Wisdom”
Ms Ghazali talked about incorporating ethno-mathematics into teaching methods courses
to allow students as well as teachers to relate mathematics to rich cultural traditions andprovide them with deep and conceptually significant understandings of mathematics.
“Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage and Promoting Sustainable
Development Through Education”
Ms Duong shared an overview of an international framework of the 2030 Sustainable
Development Agenda highlighting ways to integrate ICH with Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD). She elaborated ways that ICH might contribute to and have a rolein sustainable development.
“Lessons and Experiences Gained as a Trainee in the Fostering Transmitters of
Ainu Culture Project”
Mr Nakai shared his experiences as a trainee and transmitter of Ainu culture in relation
to the session’s presentations.

2(IRCI notes): The title was of the presented paper at the Forum, and the title of the
finalised manuscript in this publication is slightly changed by the author.

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“The Traditional Knowledge Based ESD in a Bioregion”
Mr Furusawa discussed the role of ICH for promoting traditional knowledge in ESD and
the SDGs by applying the concept of “bioregion”, which embraces the biological andcultural diversity of the Ise-Mikawa Bay Watershed region.
Wrap-up Discussion
On the second day of the Forum, a wrap-up discussion was held to reflect on the previous
day’s discussions. Chaired by Ms Duong Bich Hanh of UNESCO Bangkok Office, it firstinvited Mr Kikuchi of Tobunken to facilitate and comment. He discussed the importanceof a holistic approach to tangible and intangible cultural assets. Second, she invited Mr
Ishimura to report on Sessions 1 and 2 and Mr Iwamoto to report on Session 3. Third, Mr
Sato of Tokyo City University was invited to provide feedback as a commentator. He
explained the role of ICH as a bridge linking economy, society and environment, whichfurther connects ICH, ESD and the SDGs. Last, Ms Duong highlighted the seven main
points of the wrap-up discussion.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Ways to Ensure ICH Continuity
ICH’s Role in Education
Holistic Approach to Understanding ICH
Traditional/Indigenous Knowledge
ICH as a Way to Obtain Mutual Understanding
ICH as a Tool to Restore the Balance of the Universe
Ways That ICH Research Might Help Shape Policy

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Keynote Speech

Keynote Speech
Intangible Cultural Heritage and Local Communities:
A Perspective on Museums
Kenji Yoshida
National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Introduction―Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritages
In the 32nd session of the UNESCO General Conference in fall 2003, the Convention for
the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted, and it was decided thatthe list in the Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of
Humanity, announced prior to it, be incorporated into the Convention as theRepresentative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Japan took the
initiative to prepare the Convention, and today, 16 years after its adoption, it has been
ratified by 178 countries. Meanwhile, the inscription of tangible cultural heritage on theWorld Heritage List has received attention year after year.
There is no doubt that the adoption of the World Heritage Convention (official name“Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage”) in
the UNESCO General Conference in 1972 is what originally triggered the rise inawareness of cultural heritage on a global scale. There seems to be no question about thespirit and intent to protect the structures, remains, and natural landscapes across the globe,
which have been transmitted from generation to generation, as the heritage shared by all
human beings, for the sake of the generations to come, and to foster respect and reverence
toward other cultures as well as one’s own culture. However, it is simultaneously truethat this is an authoritarian system that regards the linear conception of time, accepted inmodern western countries, as absolute and introduces a hierarchy amongst the culturaland natural heritages found all over the world. As of July 2019, there are a total of 1,121
World Heritage Sites across 167 countries and regions (869 cultural, 213 natural, and 39
mixed heritages). As pointed out since the establishment of the system, there is a regional
gap in the number of inscribed heritage sites. Although attempts have been made to
introduce a global strategy, as far as cultural heritage goes, cultural heritage sites inwestern European countries account for approximately half of all inscribed cultural
heritage sites as of today (463 out of 869). Since I have been working in Africa, I will cite
examples from there. In Africa, as little as 122 sites (87 if you only consider sub-SaharanAfrica, without taking into account Arabic countries in North Africa) have been inscribed
as Heritage Sites—of these, 80 (50 for sub-Saharan) are cultural, 35 (31) natural, and 7(6) mixed heritages. In view of the overall ratio of cultural heritage sites in all World
Heritage Sites (869 out of 1,121), there is clearly a bias with respect to the designatedsites in Africa. The figure seems to indicate as if Africa is just a kingdom of Wildlife.
Needless to say, there are many indigenous cultural heritages in Africa.
The fact that Ise Jingū Shrine, which was considered for inscription in the World
Heritage List from Japan at an early period, was not inscribed in the end eloquently tells
us the nature of the institution called “World Heritage”. As you may know, shrinebuildings at Ise Jingū Shrine are rebuilt every 20 years on the occasion of Shikinen Sengū.
This ritual is said to have been held repeatedly for 1,300 years, with several cancellations

1

during the span, and the buildings themselves are always 20 years old or younger.
According to the linear conception of time presupposed by World Heritage Sites, shrinebuildings at Ise Jingū Shrine are new and lack the “authenticity” and “legitimacy” ofheritage. However, building techniques, procedures, and the custom itself that have beentransmitted for 1,200 years over generations are nothing but cultural “heritage”. It is truethat the custom itself is not tangible heritage, but it is worthy of being called “intangible
heritage”.
In light of this, the adoption of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage takes on epochal significance in that it expanded the awareness of theimportance of intangible cultural heritage in addition to tangible heritage. Furthermore, it
deserves full marks as having the potential to rectify the north-south gap with respect toeligibility for the World Heritage List.
It should, however, be noted that according to this Convention, “intangible cultural
heritage” denotes “the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills—as wellas the instruments, objects, artefacts, and cultural spaces associated therewith - that
communities, groups, and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural
heritage”. More specifically, it includes “oral traditions and expressions, including
language as a vehicle of intangible cultural heritage, performing arts, social practices,
rituals and festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe,
and traditional craftsmanship”. Thus defined, “intangible cultural heritage” can be said torepresent a collection of embodied knowledge and customs. It assists groups orindividuals in forming their own identity by incessantly renewing and rebuilding itself. It
persists beyond generations by constantly transforming itself and never losing steam.
Such “heritage” is inadequate as an object of “protection” or “preservation” in the firstplace, and I believe it does not have an attribute that is capable of selecting “masterpieces”
or “representatives” rather than other “heritages”. I used to be a member of the task force
launched by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japanfor the adoption of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage. What I was strongly opposed to at that time was the incorporation of the
Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity (so called
the Proclamation of Masterpieces) into the Convention as the Representative List of theIntangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (a Representative List). Unfortunately, myresistance turned out to be futile. However, if the Convention has any significance at all,it would be, I believe, to promote recognition of the importance of what it recognizes as“heritage” and to be used as something that “ensures” the dynamism of human heritage,
rather than “preserves” it without change.
Importance of Intangible Cultural Heritage Seen in Activities of Gloria Webster
Human inventions naturally and always involve the tangible aspect (things in themselves)and intangible aspect (techniques, knowledge, and recipe for creating them). Thus, wemust admit that it is, in principle, impossible to divide them into tangibles and intangibles.
What often comes to mind, whenever I think about the relationship between tangible
and intangible heritages, is a series of activities undertaken by Gloria Webster, who took
on a leadership role in the indigenous movement on the north-western coast of North
America. Ms Webster was born in the Kwakwaka’wakw community in Alert Bay, which
is located along the north-western coast of British Columbia, Canada. She is known for2

successfully retrieving cultural properties related to potlatch that were confiscated by the
Canadian government from her father, Dan Cranmer.
In 1921, Cranmer hosted a potlatch, which was said to be the largest in history at thattime. As many of you know, a potlatch is a ritual held to celebrate major events insomeone’s life, such as childbirth, marriages, funerals, or appointment as chief, throughdance performances. During the potlatch, the host family discloses their properties andgives a large number of gifts to their guests. The Canadian government at that time wastrying to crack down on potlatches, calling it a “barbarian” custom meant only to squander
wealth. Dan Cranmer was arrested, convicted, and forced to choose between
imprisonment and surrendering all properties used in the ritual to the government. Torn,he ultimately chose the latter. Thus, precious cultural properties of Kwakwaka’wakw,
including masks, sculptures, and blankets, fell into the hands of the government. It is said
that Mr Cranmer judged at the time that his culture could be secured even if possessions
were surrendered as long as they retained the knowledge and skills to create them. He
was right—people in Alert Bay later developed masks and wove blankets all bythemselves and revived the ritual. Meanwhile, the masks and sculptures confiscated by
the government were stored in the National Museum of Man in Ottawa (now The
Canadian Museum of History) and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.
Being Cranmer’s daughter with experience of working at University of British
Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology, Gloria Webster returned to her hometown in 1975
and became deeply involved in a campaign to repatriate the confiscated cultural properties.
In 1990, she finally succeeded and established the U’mista Cultural Centre as a facility
for storing those properties. This Centre is currently run by locals. It not only serves as
an institution for the exhibition of their tangible properties but also as a local “culture
centre” through the practice of handing down intangible properties in a language
education programme or culture education programme.
Gloria Webster told me that it is unrealistic to repatriate all cultural properties ofindigenous people that belong to large-scale museums, and there is no need to do so.
Rather, she positively evaluated the role of these museums, which, by keeping andexhibiting their collection, enable more people to witness indigenous cultures, increasing
opportunities for meaningful joint
activity between the museums andindigenous people. She made it clearthat she repatriated cultural propertiesof the potlatch not for using them, but
for establishing the illegality of thefederal government; she, in fact, said
that repatriated masks and sculptures
were no longer in a usable condition.
However, because people used
traditional techniques to create newmasks and sculptures, the potlatch in Figure 1. U'mista Cultural Centre, Alert Bay,
CanadaAlert Bay has achieved a complete
revival today.
This episode indicates that, for a culture to be inherited while preserving its creativity,
tangible objects themselves, as well as intangible properties such as knowledge andtechniques associated with these objects, are essential, and this is true of museums too.

3

Museums and art galleries have hitherto been viewed primarily as facilities that collectand preserve tangible heritage of the past. From this standpoint, their role seems
extremely limited. However, museums and art galleries do not serve merely as storage
for tangible cultural heritage; they also serve as places for inheriting intangible knowledge,
techniques and memory, and as instruments through which new cultures can be created
and inherited.
In fact, our Museum, the National Museum of Ethnology carries out an annual
programme in which we welcome around five Ainu craft creators—Ainu people areindigenous people in Japans—as visiting researchers for a couple of weeks, and ask themto freely study and investigate materials stored in the Museum as well as carry out anactual production activity. Some people publish a book based on their research, whileothers reproduce the heritage that their ancestors have created and inherit excellent
techniques. The Ainu people believe in the kamuy, a spiritual being behind the universe,
including animals, plants, houses, and artefacts. Thus, once a year, the Museum holds the
kamuy-nomi, a ritual offering prayers to the kamuy for the safe storage and succession of
objects in the Museum during the period of the creators stay. This year, in 2019, it washeld on November 28. In the ritual, artefacts and tools normally stored in the storage ofour museum are actually used. Whenever I participate in this ceremony, I am remindedthat I am witnessing the moment at which the collections and the Museum are imbued
with life. These activities are precisely those that breathe life into the Museum. In otherwords, these are activities that take advantage of the Museum not merely as a repositoryof past heritage but as an apparatus for people today to come together and inherit
intangible knowledge and techniques, hand them down to the next generation, and create
a future.
Creation of Festivals at the Local or Ethnic Level and the Competition forMuseum Construction
As seen in this example of the Ainu people, recent years have seen a surge in theconstruction of museums and the creation of new festivals, i.e. the development ofintangible cultural heritage, amongst ethnic groups worldwide who are meant to handover their own culture to the next generation and present it.
I will again cite an example fromAfrica that I have been deeply engaged
in. The figure 2 is the royal palace of the
Bamun kingdom located in uplands areaof Cameroon. It was designed and built
about 100 years ago by King Njoya,
who came to power at the end of 19th
century. In recent years, part of thepalace has been refurbished as the royalpalace museum and is open to the
public. The first floor is still used as the
Figure 2. Bamun Royal Palace4place for the king to see people, while thesecond and third floors house the museum,
which works as a living museum whereartefacts on display are brought out andactually used for each ceremony, and then put
back. Likewise, to display artefacts that had
been stored in the ancestral shrine, theadjacent Bafut kingdom has converted themain building of the palace, built by Germans
during the colonial period, into a museum andopened it for the public.
Figure 3. Nchwala Ceremony, Ngoni
In Zambia in southern Africa, major ethnic
People, Zambia
groups vied with one another to develop a new
festival of their own under the slogan “Let’sStart a New Tradition” in the 1980s.
Originally, there were hardly any festivals led
by ethnic groups in Zambia, barring the Royal
Barge Procession Festival of the Lodzi
kingdom in the country’s Western Province.
The king of Lodzi has two royal palaces, oneon the bank of the Zambezi River and theother on the river island. According to thevariation in water levels in the Zambezi Riverbetween the rainy and dry seasons, the king
Figure 4. Kulamba Ceremony, Chewa
along with his servants annually moves
people, Zambia
between the palaces by loading the royalassets onto big boats. This is a very large-scaleand relatively old festival. To compete with it,
the ethnic group called Ngoni in the Eastern
Province revived a festival called Nchwala(Figure 3), celebrating the first fruits of theyear, in 1980. The ensuing years have seen arise in the number of festivals, including one
called Kulamba (Figure 4) [harvest festival]
started in 1984 by the ethnic group Chewa andanother called Twimba (Figure 5) [raincalling festival] started in 1988 by the group
Figure 5. Twimba Ceremony, Nsenga
Nsenga. I attended the first Kulamba andpeople, Zambia
witnessed the creation of a novel festival inwhich each local chief presented to the king amasquerade dance, which originally took place during a funeral, and a women’s dance,
which was originally a rite of passage into adulthood for women, under the slogan “Let’s
start our tradition”. At that time, while talking to the villagers, I joked that if ananthropologist came to see it in 50 years, he/she would think this festival is a traditional
one. Today, Kulamba is called the Chewa traditional ceremony and is an annual event
held on the last weekend of August. In contrast, Twimba is a completely new festival thatthe king of the day himself established, collecting songs and traditions about rainmaking

5

from the elderly people and drawing up the programme of the festival from scratch. Whatinterests me is that these new festivals differentiate themselves from others, by the timeof the year they are held in and the implications they have—Ngoni’s Nchwala is a ritualfor celebrating the first fruits of the year, so it takes place during the rainy season;
Chewa’s Kulamba is a harvest festival, so it takes place at the beginning of the dry season;and Nsenga’s Twimba is a rain-calling festival, so it takes place at the end of the dry
season. This difference in time stems from the fact that otherwise the festival would not
get a lot of TV coverage and villagers would not be able to request the pleasure of thepresident and relevant minister’s company, thus missing the opportunity to makeimportant requests. Although the government has not directly granted subsidies, it
supports these movements by ensuring that the minister attends the festival and byproviding transportation for mutual visits between neighbouring kings and chiefs. As aresult, of the 73 recognized ethnic groups in Zambia, almost all have a unique festival
today.
This trend of festival creation slowed down in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, ethnic
groups began to compete with each other in building museums meant to exhibit theircultural properties. Since a festival is a transient event, a movement arose to permanently
exhibit their heritage used in their festivals in a place nearby. The first one built was the
Choma Museum, dedicated to preserving the Tongan culture of the Southern Province,
followed by the Nayuma Museum, which the Lodzi, who carry out the Royal Barge
Procession Festival, established next to the palace on the riverbank. The third was theMotomoto Museum, which stores materials related to the Bemba of the Northern Province,
originally collected by a Catholic priest named Jean Jacques Corbeil. This museum
became a national museum in 1974. Currently, however, it is strengthening its function
as a community museum for Bemba people. Besides these, new museums are being
established one after another in many parts of the nation. Among them is the Nsingo
Community Museum, which was built by Ngoni people who, as we have seen, revived
the Nchwala festival. It was built by converting the hall they had purchased from the local
authority. After 10 years of work, it was opened in March of 2018.
The same trend can be seen amongst the Chewa. The gule wamkulu dance performedby the Nyau, a masquerade society observed within the Chewa society—of which I am amember—was along with the Makishi, a masked dance performed along with thecircumcision ritual inherited by the Luvale in Zambia, and the Japanese Kabuki inscribedin the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity(UNESCO Representative List for short) in 2005. This led the Chewa and Luvale to put
in motion a plan to build a museum on their festival site, and the blueprints have alreadybeen developed. Twenty years ago, when I started the investigation, the masquerade
dance tradition of the Chewa group was largely unknown outside Zambia, so my heart is
too full for words. What concerns me is that the Chewa and Luvale are rather exceptionalas they are the only societies with a masquerade tradition in Zambia. What impact does
the fact that only masked dances in these societies were inscribed in the UNESCO
Intangible Cultural Heritage List have on dances in other ethnic groups in the future? I
am currently watching with considerable uneasiness where the UNESCO Representative
List—an authoritarian system that introduces a hierarchy between cultures—will lead to.
Be that as it may, institutions such as the World Heritage List and Representative List, in
this way, stimulate the competition for museum construction amongst ethnic groups in6

Zambia. If this situation persists, all ethnic groups will have their own museum within
five to six years from now.
The important point is that audiences assumed by ethnicity-based museums are local
residents rather than tourists, and the museums aim to nurture pride in the ethnic culturesof these residents and promote their succession. That said, for the majority of residents aswell as parties who are trying to implement the museum construction plan, this instrument,
the so-called museum, is far from familiar. How can museums take root in communities?
Having felt that this was a major challenge, in August of 2019, I held a workshop for
Ngoni villagers who had been involved in the opening of the Nsingo Community Museumin 2018.
The Nsingo Community Museum was established with guidance from the National
Museum curators. None of the villagers had seen a museum before. Amongst the villagers
who participated in the workshop, the words of two elderly men particularly impressed
me—in response to my question as to why they thought they would join the museum
development, one said, “If I die, all the knowledge and skills that I have will die with me.
If I bring in tools here and have the museum staff document how to manufacture and use
them, the knowledge and techniques will survive to reach future generations. Therefore,
I brought my tools here and had them document my testimony on cards”; and in response
to my question on whether there was any hesitation in bringing and displaying the tools
he has always used in the museum, the other answered, “My tools remain mine even if
they are brought to the museum”. I was moved by the fact that the villagers understood
the role and potential of the museum deeply and more accurately. It was a valuable
opportunity for me to understand the potential of the museum rooted in the community.
Ethnicity-based Museums and its Networking
The development of a museum by each ethnic group is, in principle, a welcome movementin that it serves as a device for each group to manage and represent its own culture. It isonly when people take pride in themselves and their culture that they are able to overcome,by their own will, the various challenges they face. Therefore, I believe that such a
movement must be supported. However, it can have an adverse effect if the ethnic pridethus built leads to the formation of an exclusionary and narrow-minded ethnic identity. It
is, therefore, necessary to keep open activities for the world at large and secure a path that
may lead to the formation of a broader and more inclusive identity. The National
Museums Board located in Zambia’s capital Lusaka supports the growing movement toconstruct a museum in different parts of the country; it has started a campaign to build a
network between ethnicity-based museums and a group of national museums. In view ofthese considerations, I personally support these movements by adding various projects
carried out by the National Museum of Ethnology to the network.
In concrete terms, the National Museum of Ethnology annually invites 10 curators—
one each from 10 countries—and provides a training programme entitled ‘Museums andCommunity Development’, entrusted by the JICA (Japan International Cooperation
Agency). This year marks its 26th edition, and we have accepted a total of 269 trainees
from 61 countries and regions. From Zambia, 18 trainees have completed the programme,
including this year’s. In Zambia, curators who completed the training in Japan havebecome instructors themselves and held a workshop for museology almost every year fordomestic curators who cannot come to Japan. In these workshops, they invite curatorsfrom national and prospective community-based museums to share skills and experience7

as well as databases, and are in the process of building a system that can share domestic
festival information in Zambia, as well as information on collected materials in Zambia
and in museums of neighbouring countries. These efforts can be interpreted as efforts torecognize one’s own culture and the expansion of common cultures that transcend ethnic
and national borders, and to form a broader and more inclusive identity. The role ofmuseums as instruments for constructing a new culture that is rooted in a community or
ethnic group while based on a more inclusive conception of identity will become evenbigger in the future.
The history of public museums began with the establishment of the British Museumin 1753 (opened in 1759). Today, 260 years later, I believe we are at the first major turning
point in the history of museums, as seen from future generations. The traditional
unidirectional relationship the museum bears with its collection’s source communities,
that is, the museums collect, study, and exhibit items under the authority of sciences, nolonger holds. This is because there is a call for bidirectional and multidirectional joint
activities to be implemented between the museum and its users as well as people insocieties whose assets have been collected and displayed in the museum.
I have introduced this role of museums using the phrase “museum as a forum”, which
was first used by art historian Duncan Cameron along with another phrase, “museum asa temple”, in an attempt to classify the role of museums and art galleries in 1972
(Cameron 1972). “Museum as a temple” denotes a shrine-like site people visit to worship
reputed treasures, while “museum as a forum” denotes a site where people encounter
unknowns and from which a debate begins. Mr Cameron also describes the temple as a
product and forum as a process.
Most of these instruments, the so-called museums, were established during the colonial
period and are authoritarian in nature as they store the cultural heritage of others, an
undeniable characteristic of being a child of colonialism. Meanwhile, as seen previously,
the number of this instrument is rapidly increasing today on a global scale. In view of its
proliferation all over the world, we must find a way to use it in a different and morepositive manner. What curators are doing in many parts of the world now is precisely
that—an attempt to explore “new usages of the museum”. The idea of “museum as aforum” or as a site of succession for intangible cultural heritage is nothing but one suchapproach. The idea is to use museums not merely as a repository of past items or an
instrument of one-sided representations but also as an instrument that brings diverse
people with different interests together, encourages their mutual interactions, and helps
to raise their awareness so that they creatively promote their traditional culture anddevelop a new culture or society. It is safe to say that, today, museums are experiencing
great stirrings of a move in this direction.
Of course, I think that not all of you here today are curators. However, in present
circumstances, where there is a growing recognition of the value of intangible andtangible cultural heritages as the core for forming the cultural identity in a community,
collaboration and joint creation with each community is absolutely necessary if you areto participate in the preservation, promotion, and utilization of the intangible cultural
heritage, including the utilization of the local museum.
Succession of Memory
That said, honestly speaking, I myself feel that there are limitations to this role ofmuseums. This may sound odd, but I was in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, on the day of the8

2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. I had stayed in Miyako the day before, and theearthquake hit the next morning when I had left the city and arrived in Kuji town. I thenmoved to Morioka, the seat of the prefectural capital, and took shelter in a hotel lobby forthree days. What I mean to say is that the earthquake was not someone else’s problem.
After the tragedy, I set up a reconstruction assistance committee for large-scale disasterin the National Museum of Ethnology, and by sharing roles with my colleagues, I was
engaged in activities of securing damaged tangible folk materials, assisting in thereconstruction of the intangible cultural heritage, i.e. local performing arts, particularly interms of securing performance places for them and ensuring the succession of the memoryof the experience of this disaster. All these activities continue even today.
I heard some people say that performing arts should be left out of consideration after
the earthquake, when many people were victimized. In fact, however, festivals andperforming arts were actively conducted for commemoration in the affected areas for ayear after the disaster, more so than usual. They were meant partly to repose the deadsouls, but I often heard voices saying that without a festival, there would be noopportunity for scattered villagers to come together in affected areas. The figure 6 shows
the Toramai dance (tiger dance) during
the Summer Port Festival in Kamaishi,
held on 17 July 2011, four months after
the earthquake. On a stage with a bannerreading “The reconstruction of Kamaishi
begins from here!!”, toramai, a practicethat has been handed down in this region,
was performed. On the background, you
see piles of debris, and in this debris,
Toramai was performed powerfully. It
Figure 6. Toramai Dance (Kamaishi)
was a moment that made me realize thecritical significance, the importance of the intangible cultural heritage handed down by
their ancestors for the persistence of the community and survival of humanity.
Since then, I have been thinking about what the instrument called museum, to which I
belong, i.e. the instrument for culture succession, can do in the circumstances after anunprecedented earthquake and tsunami disaster. I believe that it is a mission of ourgeneration that lived through this earthquake to convey the experience and memory of it.
As I visited areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami, I realized that “the shrine
remained unaffected”, although settlements were severely damaged by the waves, with
ample examples of it in many coastal areas, from Aomori to Iwate, Miyagi, andFukushima. These shrines served as landmarks for evacuation during tsunamis, andduring this particular tsunami, they did play the role of an evacuation centre.
What first caught my attention on my trip to Tōhoku was Tsukiyomi Shrine andItsukushima Shrine—two merged shrines—in Ryoishi, next to Kamaishi City in Iwate
Prefecture. In the flatlands below these shrines, everything was washed away with only
debris left. In the place above the flatlands where the two shrines merged, the tsunami
had hit just below the worship hall, sparing it from damage.
It seemed to me that the location of the shrines had taken into account the experienceof past tsunamis. This led me to create a database for stone monuments, temples, andshrines in which the memory of tsunamis was inscribed. This database factors in the roleof the museum as a forum and is designed for locals to save information on familiar

9shrines and monuments as well as experiences of tsunamis, so that these can be handed
down to future generations. The database now covers not only the Tōhoku region but theentire area from Hokkaido to Ishigaki Island, Okinawa Prefecture. Workshops have been
held in various places, and locals have participated in the development of a database as amemory repository.
The database runs the risk of becoming outdated and getting ignored when there is atechnological innovation—this is a project that was based on the idea that the databasecan be inherited as long as there is National Museum of Ethnology and the Museum takes
care of it. However, as I mentioned previously, only 265 years have passed since the birthof the British Museum as the first public museum. We cannot help but say that themuseum is an instrument still in need of experimental validation. We do not know how
long it is going to last. Compared with the museum, schools will last as long as humans
persist. In other words, schools are the ultimate instruments for reproduction and, I
believe, hold the key to the succession of memory handed down in the local communityfrom generation to generation. Thus, for the development of the database for the memoryof tsunamis, collaboration with local schools is the top priority.
Fortunately, this database development has already been featured in textbooks used inseveral elementary and junior high schools, and is gaining momentum.
I would like to conclude my talk by stating that the key to the succession of intangible
cultural heritage is to get local schools, that is, children who will lead the next generation,
involved in this endeavour.
References
Cameron, Duncan F. (1972). The Museum: A Temple or the Forum. Journal of World History 14 (1), 189–
202.
Kenji, Yoshida. (2014). Bunka no Hakken [Discovery of Cultures]. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. (Original
Work Published in 1999).

10

Articles
Session 1
Community Development-ICH and Regional Development

Safeguarding Endangered Language as a Component of Community
Development: A Case of Hudhud Chants
Lourdes Z. Hinampas1 and Jeslie O. Del Ayre2

1, 2

Commission on the Filipino Language, Philippines

Hudhud is an oral narrative traditionally chanted in the rice field and in the village
during funeral wake. It embodies the customary laws, religious beliefs, traditional
practices, and reflects the importance of rice cultivation in community development.
With its inscription in the UNESCO Representative List of Humanity, several
safeguarding strategies were initiated including establishment of Hudhud School of
Living Traditions (SLT). By this program, various activities were developed consist ofinclusion of teaching hudhud in school curricula, research, documentation, publications,training, competition, and festivals. Despite the efforts in the community and at thenational and international levels, still there was a challenge being faced by thecommunity in the vitality and viability of the language which is the vehicle of the oral
tradition. Yattuka, one of the languages of hudhud was reported by the Ifugao Cultural
Heritage Office (ICHO) as endangered. To address the concern, the community
together with the ICHO, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)
and the Commission on Filipino Language (CFL) are developing a collaboration tosafeguard the Yattuka language through the SLT and the Bahay-Wika focused on
language revitalization. This paper discusses the SLT program, implementation
processes, results and outputs, including the challenges of the program from 2004–2007.
It will also present the Bahay-Wika program and its importance in safeguarding ICH
and community development.
Keywords: Hudhud, intangible cultural heritage, Bahay-Wika, language revitalization

1 Background About Hudhud
Hudhud is an oral narrative traditionally chanted in the rice fields and villages during
funeral wake in Ifugao, a landlocked watershed province bounded by mountain ranges innorthern part of the Philippines. It is politically divided into 11 municipalities, namely,
Aguinaldo, Alfonso Lista, Asipulo, Banaue, Hingyon, Hungduan, Kiangan, Lagawe,
Lamut, Mayoyao, and Tinoc. The traditional economy of Ifugao is based on agriculture,hunting, and forestry. Additional source of living are wood carvings, handicrafts, andhand-woven fabrics, which are sold to tourists. It is also known for its rich cultural
heritages and traditions. One of its priceless contributions to humanity is the payyó (riceterraces), which was inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1995.
Another invaluable contribution of the Ifugao people to humanity is the Hudhud—a
non-ritual oral narrative chanted to break the monotony of backbreaking physical labour
while weeding and harvesting; and more so the boredom during funeral wakes. It is alsoa retelling of the deeds of mythical heroes and heroines who represent the best of Ifugao

13character, as well as a celebration of Ifugao wealth. 1 It is performed in three different
languages: Tuwali Ifugao, Amganad Ifugao, and Yattuka. 2
Hudhud is performed in four different situations: (1) hudhud di ani—harvest hudhud,
performed during weeding and harvesting native varieties of rice; (2) hudhud ni kollot—
haircut rite song, performed during kollot, the haircut rite for boys of the rich families,
which is performed in Yattuka language only; (3) hudhud di nate/hudhud ni nosi—funeralchant, used to guide the soul to the abode of the dead during the wake or bogwa thesecondary burial ritual, and (4) uja-uj—the wedding ritual for the rich, which is not
performed anymore by the modern Ifugao. It is sung by a lead chanter munhaw-e or mohawi who narrates the events of the story, and the chorus, mun-abbuy, consisting of two or
more people mun or ma who finish every line with formula containing the characternames, place names and rhythmic fillers. Hudhud is a predominantly female tradition
sung by women who have passed child bearing age. In Asipulo, males join the chorus
much more often than elsewhere. Occasionally male lead chanters can be met. Suchchanters can either be males who mastered the art of Hudhud from their mothers, or who
were taught by elder women. 3 There are more than 200 versions of Hudhud, with some
40 episodes each, and one complete narration may take anywhere from three to four days.
As time passes by, many factors contributed to the decline of the chanting of Hudhud.
One of such is the rise of new generations more inclined to modern practices andconsidered traditional practices primitive. When technology was introduced, it has alsochanged the way of planting in rice terraces and observance of funeral wakes. Hudhudchanting was then the most usual way to ease the hardship and fatigue of farmers caused
by weeding and harvesting of rice and to keep them awake in funeral wakes. It has been
replaced by radio, television, and mobile phones. As a result, the interest of the young
generations declined, and it was seldom performed in its traditional contexts of rice
weeding and harvesting, wakes and burials, and cutting of hair. 4
Hence, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)–government
agency mandated to conserve, promote, and protect the nation’s historical and cultural
heritage–has to identify, develop, and implement strategies that will address the issues ofcultural transmissions, and also instill the value of culture, so that the practices of
traditional culture and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage (ICH) will be significant
and compatible with current social practices.
2 Safeguarding Efforts Since 2001
In 2001, Hudhud has gained international recognition when it was declared by United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as Masterpiece of
1

National Commission for Culture and the Arts. (2005). Hudhud Multimedia Packet.
Manila: NCCA.
2
Klimenko, S.B. and Stanyukovich, M.V. “Yattuka and Tuwali Ifugao Hudhud: Yattuka,
Keley-I, and Tuwali Ifugao Interference.” Downloaded from Academia.edu. p. 585.
3
Stanyukovich, M.V. (2013) “Epics as a Means to Control Memory and Emotions ofGods and Humans: Ritual Implications of Hudhud Among the Yattuka and Tuwali Ifugao”
in Revel, N. (ed.). Songs of Memory in Islands of Southeast Asia. Cambridge Scholar
publications, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. p. 168.
4
National Commission for Culture and the Arts. (2008). Safeguarding and Transmissionof the Hudhud Chants: Detailed Report of Activities. Manila: NCCA.

14

the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity and International, and in 2008 it was
inscribed in Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, andawarded Arirang Prize by the Republic of Korea. It was also declared a National Cultural
Treasure of the Philippines by the National Museum of the Philippines in 2001 and a
Provincial Cultural Treasure by the Ifugao province in 2007.
The recognitions given to Hudhud at national and international levels further
strengthened the commitment of national and international institutions to sustain thesafeguarding of one of the notable intangible cultural heritages. In 2003, UNESCO/Japan
Funds-In-Trust for the Preservation and Promotion of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
extended financial support to implement the action plan and sustainable programs
developed by NCCA. The action plan it created focused on four areas: education, research,
publication, and promotion.
The program ran from 2004–2007 and was managed by NCCA Intangible Heritage
Committee (NCCA IHC) in cooperation with the Provincial Government of Ifugao (PGI)
and Department of Education (DepEd-Ifugao). These are the key institutions in theprovince responsible for policy-making and education. Ifugao Intangible Heritage
Executive Committee (IIHEC) was also created. It was composed of local experts
representing municipalities in Ifugao, representatives of National Museum of thePhilippines (NMP), and PGI. Culture bearers, chanters, and practitioners from thecommunity who are directly connected to the ICH concerned were also tapped to takepart.
NCCA established Hudhud School of Living Traditions (HSLT) in the community andin different elementary schools in Ifugao. The concept of HSLT was derived from theconcept of School of Living Traditions (SLT) established by NCCA since 1995. Over theyears, there has been a number of SLT among different ethnolinguistic groups in thePhilippines. NCCA developed the concept of SLT defined as, one where a living
master/cultural bearer or culture specialist teaches skills and techniques of doing a
traditional art or craft. The mode of teaching is usually non-formal, oral and with practicaldemonstrations. The site may be the house of the living master, a community social hall,or a centre constructed for the purpose. But the concept of HSLT was designed to address
the need not only to safeguard the continued practice of Hudhud chants but also to
encourage its transmission to young Ifugao. 5
On the first year of its implementation, only five (5) HSLT were established. Although
Hudhud chanters conduct their own non-formal classes, they are assisted by volunteer
public school teachers of Ifugao. On its second year, the HSLT expanded to accommodate
more students interested in studying the chant. The volunteer teachers also underwent
intensive training; eventually they become the teachers of Hudhud. Teaching guides forteachers and students were also developed. As part of the tripartite agreement, the PGIprovides financial assistance annually to support HSLT operations while DepEd-Ifugao
provides the needed manpower, classrooms, and facilities.
Moreover, based on the detailed report submitted to UNESCO/Japan FIT, theoutcomes of the three-year program were the following:5

Talavera, Renee C. “The Role of Schools for Living Traditions in Safeguarding theIntangible Cultural Heritage in the Philippines: The Case of Hudhud Chants of the Ifugao.”

15

Education• 19 HSLT were established in seven (7) municipalities, Banaue, Hapao,
Hingyon, Hungduan, Kiangan, Lamut, and Lagawe. Each HSLT has anaverage of 30 students.
• More than 1,000 elementary students trained in Hudhud chanting.
• Integration of Hudhud into the language arts curriculum in Ifugao province.
Research and Publication• Documentation and transcription of the following: 17 narrated and chanted
Hudhud (complete stories); one (1) narrated Hudhud (complete story);
and one (1) chanted (partial story)• Translation into English of three (3) complete Hudhud (chanted) and threestories (narrated)• Registry of culture bearers includes 197 culture bearers (Hudhud chanters,
high priests, ritual practitioners, etc.)• Two children’s books were published to encourage the young Ifugaos tolearn the different versions of Hudhud through reading: Pumbakhayon:
An Origin Myth of the Ifugao Hudhud and Halikpon: A Retelling of anAncient Ifugao Chant
Promotions• Annual Hudhud competitions were organized in Ifugao.
• Creation of Hudhud Perpetual Award as an annual recognition of
performances in cultural context.
• Hudhud multimedia packets containing printed information,
documentary, and recording. It has been distributed in 19 HSLT, 94
public and private school libraries, and in 80 local government units (80)in Ifugao, 532 municipal libraries nationwide, 100 Philippine embassies
and consulates, different cultural organizations, universities, research
centers, media, and selected participants in national and international
conferences.
• DepEd-Ifugao organized the Hudhud Festival gathering at least 300
students of HSLT to perform.
The three-year safeguarding project obviously changed the nature of the initialconcerns by increasing the interest in Hudhud and stabilizing its viability as a living
tradition. Strong local support has also been the key to its success. Behind this are thelocal government officials, school principals and teachers, Hudhud chanters, and othercommunity members themselves who worked hard to guarantee the successful
implementation of programs.
When the three-year program was about to end, the PGI organized the Ifugao
Provincial Council for Cultural Heritage (IPCCH). This was a concrete indicator of the
program’s impact in the community. Through it as well, the local government and thecommunity could take the lead in implementing and ensuring continuity of projects
already in place. Furthermore, the PGI assumed financial responsibility for sustaining
HSLT and other related safeguarding activities through Executive Order 16, s. 2008.

16

Presently, the Ifugao Cultural Heritage Office (ICHO), formerly IPCCH, is theimplementing arm of PGI in all aspects of cultural development programs in the province.
They also managed the operations of SLT, wherein teaching of Hudhud chants to children
is still practiced. Also, teaching Hudhud chants is still integrated in elementary
curriculum. It is part of the subject Music, Arts, Physical Education, Health (MAPEH),
specifically in Music. It is being taught from Grade 4 to Grade 6 pupils. Moreover,
Hudhud as an oral tradition is still part of literature classes in higher levels. The Hudhud
Perpetual Award and annual competition were considered very helpful in mainstreaming
Hudhud, however due to funding concerns there were times it was cancelled, but is
expected to be brought back once the funds are settled.
3 New Challenges in Safeguarding
Inclusions of Hudhud in formal education curriculum may be considered as one of thesignificant achievements of HSLT. On the other hand, one of the challenges faced inmainstreaming this oral tradition is to maintain the uniqueness of each version and avoid
standardization which could lead to putting aside other versions. However, the HSLT
pedagogical method— memorization of texts provided by the teachers, did notcompletely avoid these risks. In addition to this, Hudhud used archaic words. The young
generations cannot fully understand its meaning. Also, as reported by ICHO, one of thelanguages of Hudhud—Yattuka, is being considered by the community and its speakers
to be in danger of extinction. These arising concerns need to be addressed in order tocontinue the propagation of Hudhud as a living tradition.
Yattuka is spoken in Bgry. Amduntog and Brgy. Nungawa in the municipality of
Asipulo, Ifugao. Based on the 2010 population census of National Statistics Office (NSO),
there are about 2,700 people in these two villages–1,400 people in Brgy. Amduntog, and
600 in Brgy. Nungawa. According to their elders, children no longer learn Yattuka as
their first language, only adults aged 45 and up can speak the language. In daily
conversations, the languages spoken in two barangays are Tuwali, Ayangan, Ilokano, andFilipino. The elders are afraid that their indigenous language will disappear, andeventually young generations will forget their oral traditions like Hudhud chants because
they are not using the language anymore, considering that one variety of Hudhud is only
performed in Yattuka—the Hudhud ni kollot.
4 Integration Bahay-Wika with Hudhud School of Living Traditions
To address the concerns on Yatttuka endangerment, and later on the extinction of an ICH,
Hudhud ni kollot, the Commission on the Filipino Language (CFL) proposed theintegration of Bahay-Wika program in Schools of Living Tradition in Brgy. Amduntog
and Brgy. Nungawa.
Bahay-Wika is a language immersion program that focuses on language revitalization
for children from infant to five years of age and up. Total immersion in the language isperformed through the interaction with native speakers of the language. The purpose ofthis program is to provide intensive exposure to children on basic vocabularies andtraditional practices in their indigenous language. 6
6Johnston, B., & Johnson, K.A. (2002). Preschool Immersion Education for Indigenous
Languages: A Survey of Resources. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 26 (2). p.
108.
17

The goal of the program is not to “teach” children their language, rather to create anenvironment where language can be acquired naturally. It has been proven and consideredby various language organizations in Canada, New Zealand, Alaska, and Hawai’i 7 as oneof the most effective models and ways of promoting and revitalizing the language.
Bahay-Wika was launched in 2018 in the Ayta community in Bangkal, Abucay, Bataan
where Ayta Magbukun language is spoken. Ayta Magbukun is one of the Philippine
languages which is severely endangered. Like Yattuka, Ayta Magbukun is no longer
learned by the children, it is only spoken by elders and few adults.
The emphasis of every session in Bahay-Wika is on the development of children’s
receptive and expressive skills through the interaction with the elders who are the native
speakers. At the same time, this program nurtures children’s cultural and personal identity.
Bahay-Wika also includes the master-apprentice program where parents (apprentice)of the children are taught by the elders (masters) to enhance their ability to speak Ayta
Magbukun. In this way, the parents could continue speaking Ayta Magbukun with theirchildren at home.
The Bahay-Wika is a community-driven program managed by community members,
with support from CFL and local government units. The teachers who served as
facilitators, elders who also join in every session served as speakers and culture bearers,
their role is to interact and talk to the children; and other staff who handle theadministrative aspect are all community members.
To be able to sustain the program, other community activities such as capacity building
and training are conducted. The purpose of these is to capacitate and educate thecommunity, especially the elders in developing plans and organizing community projects.
These activities are the initial steps in preparing them to become independent.
5 Conclusion and Recommendation
The SLT and Bahay-Wika programs are both essential in safeguarding ICH. ThroughBahay-Wika, an endangered language like Yattuka will be revitalized. For an oral
tradition, it is important that the language sustain its vitality, actively used in thecommunity, so the younger generation will understand its content and value in theirculture. Also, by these programs, community is strengthened and developed because thecommunity members are involved in implementing the activities and cultivating theirown language.
Tremendous support and active participation of local government units, other national
government agencies, international organizations, and most of all community members
led to the success of the safeguarding and transmission of Hudhud chants. We advocate
that, language revitalization and preservation be considered as measures of safeguarding
ICH. It is important for young children to understand the language, not only the chantused in the Hudhud, so that they can better understand its cultural value.
The current SLT program has been proven effective in safeguarding and transmitting
ICH such as Hudhud. The integration of Bahay-Wika in SLT, shall be given attention to
Yattuka to ensure the transmission of Hudhud chant, furthermore, it will revitalize the7

McIvor, O. (2006). Language Nest Program in BC: Early Childhood Immersion
Program in Two First Nations Communitie. Victoria, BC: First Peoples’ Heritage,
Language and Culture Council.

18

language of the community. Strong collaboration among the NCCA, CFL, ICHO, as wellas the community is already in place to achieve this endeavor.
In the years since implementing SLT and Bahay-Wika program, there is a renewed
drive to synergize the best of what programs both offer:-

commitment and collaboration of stakeholders (international organizations,
national and local government, and most importantly the culture bearers)
safe space where language can be taught by elders and acquired by young
childrencontinued practice of the Hudhud chants in all its rich variety and context as amode of transmission.

It is strong belief that language revitalization and preservation efforts are key measuresin safeguarding ICH. Children best preserve the ICH of chanting Hudhud as it isembedded in the language. Integration of Bahay-Wika in SLT shall be the groundworkfor meaningful and impactful transmission of the Hudhud chants. The ICH of Hudhud
rests, not only in their performances and utterances, but also in the grander scheme andsymbolic power of a living tradition language owned by its flourishing community.
References
Johnston, B., & Johnson, K.A. (2002). Preschool Immersion Education for Indigenous Languages: A
Survey of Resources. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 26 (2).
Klimenko, S.B. and Stanyukovich, M.V. “Yattuka and Tuwali Ifugao Hudhud: Yattuka, Keley-I, andTuwali Ifugao Interference.” Downloaded from Academia.edu.
McIvor, O. (2006). Language Nest Program in BC: Early Childhood Immersion Program in Two First
Nations Communitie. Victoria, BC: First Peoples’ Heritage, Language and Culture Council.
National Commission for Culture and the Arts. (2005). Hudhud Multimedia Packet. Manila: NCCA.
______ (2008). Safeguarding and Transmission of the Hudhud Chants: Detailed Report of Activities.
Manila: NCCA.
Peralta, Jesus T. (Ed.) (2013). Pinagmulan: Enumerations from the Philippine Inventory of Intangible
Cultural Heritage. Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts and International
Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Stanyukovich, M.V. (2013) “Epics as a Means to Control Memory and Emotions of Gods and Humans:
Ritual Implications of Hudhud Among the Yattuka and Tuwali Ifugao” in Revel, N. (ed.). Songs ofMemory in Islands of Southeast Asia. Cambridge Scholar publications, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Talavera, Renee C. “The Role of Schools for Living Traditions in Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural
Heritage in the Philippines: The Case of Hudhud Chants of the Ifugao.”
Tobias, Maricris Jan. “Tangible Programs to Safeguard Philippine Intangible
Heritage.” https://ichcourier.ichcap.org/article/tangible-programs-to-safeguard-philippine-intangibleheritage/https://ncca.gov.ph/school-of-living-traditions/
https://www.dilgcar.com/index.php/2015-07-10-09-25-49/province-of-ifugao

19Casting Ethnicity into Material:
Cultural Identity and Tourism Consumption of “Zang-yin (Tibetan
Silver)” in Southwest China
LI Fei
Institute for Non-orthodox Chinese Culture, Sichuan University, China“Zang-yin” (藏銀), known as “Tibetan silver”, has become a very popular material
label and gained a remarkable commercial success in the current ethnic crafts andsouvenirs market of China. However, what “Zang-yin” refers to still waits to be
explored. From a synchronic point of view, this paper aims to examine how “Zang-yin”
both as a tangible “material” and an intangible “representation of material” in tourism
industry, reflects the complicated interweaves between materiality and ethnicity in theimagination and identity practice of the multi-ethnic China. From a diachronic
perspective, this paper explores the manifold social construction process of “Zang-yin”.
In details, (a) how the traditional handicraft of silver alloy making was created byancient Tibetan artisans to express their culture; (b) how the name and material of“Zang-yin” developed and changed in the long-term interaction process between
Tibetan and the Dynasties of China’s Inner Plains, and then took on its historicalcharacter of “impurity”; (c) how “Zang-yin” was reconstructed, appropriated andgeneralized as a general material category and a successful commercial strategy to
pursue profits through the “social alchemy” of material in the mass tourism era; (d)how those memories, narratives, material making and consumption about “Zang-yin”
in different communities were integrated into, and in turn reflected the imagination andconstruction of the multi-ethnic relationship in contemporary China.
Keywords: ethnic identity, material, tourism, Zang-yin (藏銀, Tibetan silver)

Introduction: Story of Material
Over the past several decades, issues of “material” and “materiality” have become an
indispensable dimension for ethnographic studies and theoretical explorations of ethnic
crafts and souvenirs. In his pioneering studies on ethnic crafts and souvenirs of “theFourth World”, Graburn, an American anthropologist, finds that cultural outsiders rarely
care about materials of ethnic crafts, which, to makers, are usually one of the mostsignificant elements.[1] In fact , materials are not like other factors of an ethnic handicraft
or souvenir , such as symbol, motif, design theme, pattern, color, or size, which convey
obvious symbolic significance at the first sight, but they also carry comprehensive
cultural meanings no less than any other factors .
Based on that, this paper focuses on the case of “Zang-yin” (Tibetan silver), aims to
explore the complicated interweaves between materiality and ethnicity in China’s ethnic
tourism today from bilateral perspectives of diachronic retracing and synchronic analysis.
It further discusses the following issues on four levels. First, how Tibetan traditional skillsof silver alloy making embody their unique religious, cultural and aesthetic concepts;
second, how the name and entity of “Zang-yin” take root in historical interaction between
Tibetan local government and the Dynasties of China’s Inner Plains, and eventually takeshape in the construction process of China’s nation-state in modern and contemporary
time; third, how the name of “Zang-yin” becomes a profit-seeking commercial strategy
21

via reconstruction, appropriation and generalization, and becomes a cultural fashion
through the “social alchemy” in the tourism age; last, in multi-ethnic China today, bymaking and consuming different ethnic materials, such as “Zang-yin”, “Miao-yin (苗銀,silver of Miao people)”, “Qiang-yin (羌銀, silver of Qiang people)” and “Dai-yin (傣銀,silver of Dai people)”, how the social imagination and identity around “Inner Otherness”,“Han and non-Han” and “Diversity in Unity of the Chinese Nation” get continuously
perceived, repeatedly confirmed and eventually embodied in daily experience ofindividuals.
Based on the case of “Zang-yin” in China’s multi-ethnic history and tourism practice
today, this paper attempts to propose that material neither reflects certain social-cultural
significance in a transparent or static way, nor should be seen as something secondary or
subordinate—it will lose rich meanings when built into the whole objects of crafts andsouvenirs. Materials, both their names and entities are social-historically constructed, thus
need to be interrogated in the dynamical framework of anthropological Tourism Studies.
In short, materials have their own stories to tell.
1 Name/Entity: Cross-ethnic History and Historical Narratives of Material
In China today, many kinds of ethnic crafts, decorations and ornaments made of “Zangyin”, literally “Tibetan Silver” by its name, become very popular souvenirs for ethnic
tourists and the great number of fans of Tibetan culture. At the same time, it is noteworthy
that there emerge some very typical social narrations about “Zang-yin”, which is widely
spread among the public and represents the general attitude towards “Zang-yin”:“. . .Zang-yin is a kind of alloy. As for Tibetan people, it’s actually “white copper”(cupronickel), or it could be understood as a kind of silver alloy only with about
10%-30% silver in it. Because Tibetan people lacked advanced technologies anddevices to refine silver, Zang-yin couldn’t reach a high fineness in old time. So,
please don't doubt their integrity when Tibetan people sincerely told you their
Zangyin decorations are “true/real silver”! The main value of Zang-yin crafts lies intheir ethnic craftsmanship. (Cited from a famous Chinese website: Interactive
Cyclopedia”, “Zang-yin” entry) 1
However, questions emerge: what kind of material exactly is “Zang-yin”? How did thename of “Zang-yin” come into being? Why could and should those cheap alloys be taken
as the “real silver”? And how could this seemingly “inauthentic” ethnic material reflect
interactive relationship among different peoples in tourism market? Hence, “Zang-yin”
cannot be naturally perceived as “Tibetan silver” like what the name suggests. It should
be further discussed in the ancient silver-making history of Tibetan people.
1.1 History and Historical Narratives of “Zang-yin”
On the level of material production, archaeological studies find that the earliest peak ofsilverware making in ancient Tibet could be traced back to Tubo (吐蕃) Empire from the
7th to 8th century. Back then, Tubo at the traffic hub of Central Asia witnessed frequent
communication and trade with outside world via the highly profitable and culturallyinteractive Silk Road that linked China with Mediterranean. The then silverware making
1baike.com. http://www.baike.com/wiki/%E8%97%8F%E9%93%B6, 2016-10-10.
22

of Tubo boasted remarkable craftsmanship, pattern, figure, and style and so on, whichwere usually seen as a result of cross-cultural impact from China, Persia and Sassanid
Empire, and so on. [2, 3]
Like gold, silver with aesthetic and practical values is also a widely treasured metallic
material in worldwide ancient cultures, and, as a compound mineral, it is difficult to bemined in ancient times. To date, merely some fragmentary records scatter in Tibetan
classics, such as The Red Annuals (Deb-ther dman-po,红史), The Blue Annals (Deb-thersngon-po,青史) and A Feast/ for Scholars (Mkhas Pavi Dgav Ston, 贤者喜宴).The threeclassics all refer to the following content: exploitation of silver mines and production ofsilverware approximately date back to the reign of 9th king of Tubo, Tsenpo Pude
Gungyal (布德貢結讚普) in the 1st century, while there is no further discussion for a lackof detailed data and evidence.[4, 5] Despite that the former classics record time-honored
silver making of Tibetan people, silver is actually not their local product in Tibet history.
Furthermore, the powerful Dynasties of China’s Inner Plains act as Tibetan’s mostimportant silver suppliers in their long-term interaction history. Especially from Yuan
Dynasty (1206–1368) to late Qing Dynasty (1616–1911), silver served as handsome
awards and valuable gifts granted by Dynasties of China’s Inner Plains to Tibetan local
government. A large amount of silver flowed into Tibet, which increasingly became acrucial material-economic strategy for Dynasties of China’s Inner Plains to strengthen
their control over Tibet.[4, 6] Therefore, the tradition of Tibetan silverware making is
deeply rooted in the far-reaching history of Han-Tibet cultural/political relationship.
In Tibetan, the word “ད�ལ།” (Dngul) denotes both “silver” and “money”. In the old times,
silver was also a token of wealth and status. In traditional Tibetan society that was highly
hierarchical, silver was chiefly possessed and consumed by the clergy and upper-class.
However, it was really rare to the lower class like common people and serfs. Therefore,
some alloys with low content of silver were made to satisfy religious, practical andaesthetic demands of folk life. Generally speaking, common traditional Tibetan silver
alloys have approximately 70% copper and less than 30% silver, which were cheaper andmore durable for the lower class. Hence, they were widly used for making ritual ware,ornaments and daily essentials, such as statues, shrines, jewelry, bottles and bowls.
Meanwhile, “cupronickel” (白 銅 ), a copper-nickel alloy, is often used by Tibetans as thesubstitute for silver in various occasions for its similar appearance and luster to silver.
From the historical perspective of cross-ethnic interaction, “Zang-yin” is apparently
designated by a culturally external group—Han Chinese people. In effect, the parlance of“Zang-yin” emerged very recently, and became a comparatively fixed concept
approximately in the latter half of the 20th century. In this century-long period, “Zangyin” has some comprehensive links with another key concept— “Fan-yin” (番 銀 ) in themodern monetary history of China.
Since the 18th century when the Qing Dynasty was forcibly intruded by Western great
powers, an increasing number of foreign silver coins flowed into China from Great Britain,
Republic of France, the Netherlands and Japan via colonial and trade activities. Thosecoins, with more advanced casting craftsmanship, more balanced size and more stable
and sufficient purity, became popular among Chinese people, which quickly and heavily
struck the long-existed coinage of China.[7] Relevant documents show that by the end of
the Qing Dynasty, foreign silver coins in China had reached a high proportion around43%, almost a half of the whole currency in circulation.[8] It was in this very context that23

Fan-yin gained its initial meaning as “sliver coins from foreign countries” in historical
documents of the Qing Dynasty.
In 1792 (56th year of Qianlong Era), the Qing Dynasty ordered Tibetan local
government to organize “Baozang Bureau of Tibet” (西藏寶藏局) and establish “SnowMint” ( 雪造幣廠 ) in Lasa City to cast “Baozang Silver Coin” ( 寶藏銀幣 ). 2 In 1793,
Emperor Qianlong promulgated the famous decree “Twenty-nine Provisions for the
Better Governing of Tibet, Made by Imperial Order” (欽定藏內善後章程二十九條) by way
of consolidating Central Government’s all-around control over Tibet in terms of politics,
economy, culture, and military affairs. In this decree, the organization of “Baozang
Bureau of Tibet” and casting of “Baozang silver coin” are one of the key provisions andmeasures in the sphere of politics and economy.
It should be noticed that, this is the first time for both Tibetan local government and
the Qing Dynasty to create their own silver coins in the modern monetary history. By
doing this, the Qing Dynasty both tried to defend against the large number of inferior
silver coins flowing inside from Gurkha (Nepel) to exchange China's silver ingots sincethe 18th century,[4] and tried to consolidate its economic and political sovereignty overTibet while defend against foreign colonial powers, especially the constant infiltration of
the British colonists who coveted Tibet for a long time. [9] Meanwhile, casting of“Baozang silver coin” is also an important way for the Qing Dynasty to accumulate
necessary experiences for establishing its own silver coinage in inner region to defend
against the huge amount of “silver coins from foreign countries” and to safeguard theEmpire’s economic sovereignty. The coming-into-being of “Baozang silver coins” (宝藏银币), therefore, became a milestone of the unification of monetary system between Tibet
and China’s inland. [8, 10]
The Qing Empire followed the long-lasting political idea of “Tianxia” (天 下 觀 ) andthe ethnic administration framework of “Han (漢)/Fan (番)” of Han Chinese people who
believed that they were the center of world. Hence, the important reform of currency
system carried out in Tibet is also elaborated in the same framework of “Han (漢)/Fan(番)”. Therefore, “Baozang silver coin” (寶藏銀幣) is often referred to as “Fan-yin”(番银)in later Chinese documents. From then on, “Fan-yin” (番银) took on another historicalmeaning — “silver coins cast in non-Han areas of the Empire”. It also shows thecomplicated meanings of this Chinese word “Fan” (番)—both as “ethnic peoples insideof the empire” and “all foreigners outside of the empire”.
As a crucial measure of economic-political control, the Qing Dynasty tried to keep thestandard and fineness of “Fan-yin” in Tibet consistent with that in China’s inland.
However, due to grave collapse of social economy of modern Tibet under internally andexternally pressure, the fineness of Tibetan “Fan-yin” also decreased rapidly. According
to the historical documents, its purity dived in a few decades to less than 50%–60% ofthat of silver coins of China’s inland. Therefore, “Fan-yin” cast and circulating in Tibet
2“Baozang”(宝藏) altogether in Chinese usually means “treasure.” However, based on
the Qing Dynasty’s currency casting and circulation system, “Baozang” here should beinterpreted like this: “Bao” (宝) comes from “Tong Bao” (通 寶 ), characters commonlyused for currency casting of past dynasties; and “Zang”( 藏 ) refers to “Xizang ( 西藏,Tibet),” the specific regions of silver coin casting. Just as Baoshan Bureau in Shanxi
Province, and Baozhe Bureau in Zhejiang Province, “Baozang silver coin” refers to coins
cast by “Baozang Bureau” in Tibet. [Refer to Boulnois, L. Gold and Silver Coins in Tibet:
History, Tale and Evolution (西藏的黄金和银币——历史、传说与演变). Geng S. (trans).
Beijing: China Tibetology Publishing House, 1999:246-247.

24and its surroundings becomes a typical example of inferior silver coins in the modern
coinage history of China. 3 Furthermore, the endless struggles among multilateral powers
like the Qing Dynasty, Tibetan local government and warlords in Tibetan frontiers (藏邊割據軍閥) for fineness, right of casting and control of Tibetan local silver coins also reflect
complicatedly entangled Han-Tibet relationship from the late Qing Dynasty to the
Republic of China (1912–1949).[11]From the beginning of 20th century, in the construction process of the modern nationstate of China,“Fan” (番), the long-standing key word with multiple connotations, gradually shrunkback into the nation-state boundary of modern China, and lost its meaning of “foreign”
or “foreigner”. Then after the founding of the new regime in 1949, “Fan” ( 番 ) was
eventually replaced by a brand-new term, “Shaoshu Minzu” ( 少 数 民 族 ), namely“Minority people”, which refereed to those Non-Han ethnic peoples according to the newsocialistic ethnic policies. Under the same policy framework, Tibetan people wasofficially recognized as one of the 56 “Minzus” ( 民族 ), namely “Zang Zu” ( 藏族 ).
Correspondingly, the historical concept Tibetan “Fan-yin” is steadily transformed intoanother term “Zang-yin”. On one hand, the parlance of “Zang-yin”(藏银) or “Zang-yuan”(藏元) already emerged for denoting silver coins cast in Tibet in Han-Tibet mingling areas
since the late Qing Dynasty. On the other hand, the term “Zang-yin” officially took shapeand spread in the whole society till the late 20th century. In the new period, some scholars
who studied China’s ancient coins started to adopt the concept “Zang-yin” in their works. 4
Since the 1990s with quickly thriving mass tourism and ethnic tourism, “Zang-yin” turned
into a word widely known to the sphere of social consumption. During the wordtransmission, “Zang-yin” was firstly separated from its academic connotation “silver
coins cast in Tibet in late Qing Dynasty,” and won wide recognition and acquired newsocial connotations via the authoritativeness of academic discourse to some extent. By
adding the appellation of ethnic peoples in front of the metallic material “silver”, “Zangyin” is seen as some special “ethnic material” used for making Tibetan crafts or souvenirs
in Tibetan culture style. Nonetheless, some strong hint of “material impurity” consistently
hovers above the name of “Zang-yin”.
3

Numerous classics of the late Qing Dynasty recorded inferior purity of Tibetan Fanyin.
For example, Youtai, the cabinet minister resident (駐藏大臣) in Tibet wrote in 1904 (光绪三十年, 30th year of Guangxu Era) that “Four taels of Tibetan Fanyin equal to twotaels and 20 grams of silver of Inner Plains” [Refer to (Qing)You, T. Diary of Youtai’s
Residency in Tibet (有泰駐藏日記) , Vol. 5. China Tibetology Press, 1988: 30); and anothercabinet minister Lianyu wrote in different articles in 1910 (2nd year of Xuantong Era)that “silver coins cast in Tibetan mint did not have the former character mark, and werethin and light more adulterated with copper. Unpopular among merchants, they were still
forcibly used for business. Furthermore, Tibetan dollars cast in Sichuan faced an arbitrary
reduction in the price. I repeatedly gave orders to stop casting, but non-Han officials
merely turned a deaf ear to them.” and that “silver coins cast by Bureau of Financial
Administration of Tibetan local government were flimsy, adulterated with around 1/2
copper.” [Refer to (Qing) Lian, Y. Lianyu’s Residency in Tibet (聯豫駐藏奏稿). Wu, F.
(ed.) Lhasa: Tibetan People’s Publishing House, 1972: 111, 135].
4
The concept of “Zang-yin” emerged as scholars’ contemporary parlance for silver coinsof the late Qing Dynasty cast in Tibet. Representative works include Cao, G. (1999).
Local Currency in Tibet of China [中國西藏地方貨幣 ]. Sichuan: Sichuan Nationality
Publishing House; Wang, H. (2007). Local Currency in Tibet [西藏地方貨幣 ]. Xining:
Qinghai People’s Publishing House.

251.2 Purity/Impurity: Ethnic Material and Cultural Difference
In mass consumption, the designation of “Zang-yin” as an “ethnic material” has twofold
conspicuous connotations: attempt to veil and hint impurity of its material in themeantime. It leads to an ambiguous zone in-between where merchants seek huge profits.
However, based on the analysis of cultural significance of material, Tibetans cherish
completely different traditions, attitudes and concepts. In their traditional social life,
silver alloys with low impurity are in wider use than pure silver for the deficiency inmetallic silver resources. In effect, it is in the past several decades that a large number of
products made from pure silver are widely manufactured for trade and practical use inTibet.[12] Nonetheless, except the material fact of metallic silver deficiency, there are somein-depth cultural concepts that will help us transcend the simple “physical determinism”
about the “material impurity” of “Zang-yin”.
First, Han society in China’s Inner Plains has developed a deep-rooted “silver standard”
monetary system in its time-honored economic and cultural course, among which themetallic silver plays an indispensable role. In spite of dynastic changes, fine silver
unremittingly provides the base and standard for economic activities and commodity
trading value of the market in China’s Inner Plains. As the French Tibetologist Boulnois
points out that, in the old days, Han people who were highly dependent on pure silver andfond of pure silver ingots as a mode of payment found it exceedingly hard to accept any
idea on substituting them with silver alloys. But for Tibetans, they never establish any“metallic standard” monetary system in history, thereby, unlike Han people, bearing no
stubbornly deep-seated obsessiveness about purity of silver. Therefore, Tibetans were notactually seriously plagued by the circulation of inferior silver coins of Gurkha in Tibet in
the 17th century. Furthermore, the increasingly lower purity of Tibetan “Fan-yin” in thelate Qing Dynasty made Central Government thoroughly realize Tibetans’ immaterial andinsensible attitudes towards the purity of silver coins. This conceptual discrepancy isconducive to explanations of tremendous difficulties plaguing the Qing Empire when
striving for unifying the currency system between Tibet and China’s Inner Plains.[4]Second, when Tibetan craftsmen mix other materials into valuable metals, it does notnecessarily mean that the latter becomes inferior or secondary. Take well-known Tibetan
traditional material “white Lima” (白利瑪) for example. “white Lima” boasts attractively
silvery white appearance and luster, while it is, in nature, a kind of copper alloy. It
possibly contains a small amount of silver or none. However, owing to its ancient andelaborate casting craftsmanship and sacred religious significance, it is a traditional
metallic material highly valued by Tibetan people. Therefore, it is, like other Lima in
multicolor, yellow, violet, and red., widely employed for making statues of Buddha andritual utensils, embodying superb casting craftsmanship of Tibetan craftsmen, andTibetan unique religious concepts and worship of holy, mysterious and glorious
Buddha.[13]In brief, material concepts of “purity” and “impurity” should possibly not be simply
located in the knowledge system of modern metallurgy that judges them by scientificstandard and precise measurement. The impurity of “Zang-yin” should be seen as a set of
unique local knowledge of traditional Tibetan society, reflecting Tibetans’ special
lifestyle, and religious and aesthetic sentiments.

26

2 In the Name of “Zang-yin”: Mass Consumption and Social Alchemy of Material
Based on the above analysis, “Zang-yin”, both as a material and as a material concept,
witnesses a historic creation in the multi-layer and complicated course of the society.
During that process, the Qing Empire suffering from pressure of external colonialism andcrisis of internal administration, was passively involved in a worldwide capitalism system
in construction; Tibet was more closely integrated into the reign of the Qing Dynasty.
Different in speed and extent, both Han society in China’s Inner Plains and Tibetan
Society on the frontier inevitably stride into the irreversible process of modernization.
It should be highlighted that the pair of concepts of material “purity/impurity” in thecase of “Zang-yin” in this paper is not borrowed from the anthropologist Douglas’sinterpretation of “purity”. Douglas in her book Purity and Danger presents an analysis ofmaterial “purity/impurity” and “clean/dirty” that is greatly endowed with binary
connotations of “divinity/secularism”.[14] However, “purity” in this paper denotes amaterial intermingling, especially mixing low-value material into high-value one, andrepresents a value criterion for depreciation and loss. In the context of tourism
consumption, it is precisely the material mark of “impurity” that plays a crucial role
underlying “social alchemy” effect embodied by “Zang-yin”.
2.1 Commodity Transformation of Ethnic Symbol
In present China’s market of ethnic crafts and souvenirs, “Zang-yin” has become an
unusually prevalent material label. Various goods are manufactured, and ready for tradeand consumption in the name of “Zang-yin,” and possess a considerably sizable market
share. Hence, tourists can purchase a variety of products and ornaments made from
“Zang-yin” in the “right” places, such as Barkor Street (八廓街) in the old town of Lasa
(拉萨) City, ancient gold-silver workshop “Tashigyetsal” (扎西吉彩) in Shigatse (日喀则)City, the famous “Tibetan Street” (藏民街) in Chengdu City (四川省成都市,the provincial
capital of Sichuan Province), and, unsurprisingly, scenic spots in other places like Beijing(北京) City, Lijiang City (丽江) and Dali (大理) Prefecture in Yunnan Province, and eventhe distant Sanya City ( 海 南 省 三 亚 市 ,Hainan Province). Therefore, “Zang-yin” isubiquitous in any place where there are souvenir stands and retailers. However, people
hardly know what kind of material “Zang-yin” exactly is. Driven by the consumerism
logic, “Zang-yin” becomes a wavering signifier that is rather sketchy and all-inclusive.
To Han people, “Zang-yin” sounds like some silver or silverware with Tibetan
characteristics created by Tibetan people, and is usually cheaper than “real” silverware.
But to Tibetan people, it traditionally refers to silver alloys where the content of copperand other constituents are usually more than silver for a deficiency in metallic silver andTibetans’ unique metallic casting craftsmanship in Tibetan history. Nowadays when puresilver is no longer difficult to acquire, traditionally ancient “Zang-yin” is rare with its
casting craftsmanship on the brink of vanishing. Additionally, owing to the close
historical interaction between Tibetan regions and Nepal in multiple fields like religion,
culture and trade, many ancient and present Buddhism utensils and artware made from
“Zang-yin” are, in effect, cast by Nepalese craftsmen. Also, in the present commercial
district of Taiyang Island (太阳岛 ) in northern Lasa City stand numerous silverware
workshops owned by Bai (白族) silver craftsmen from Dali (大理) Prefecture, Yunnan (云南) Province. They or their ancestors who came to Tibet via Tea-Horse Road possess asizable market share in the production and sale of “Zang-yin” by superb craftsmanshipand excellent reputation continuously built. To retailers engaged in trade of ethnic crafts
27and souvenirs, “Zang-yin” as a chief source of profit could hence be any cheap metal,
alloys or other materials similar to silver in terms of appearance and luster, such as tin,nickel, tin-lead alloys, cupronickel, galvanized iron, or even resin plated with silvery
appearance—only if they can bring about handsome economic profit in the name of“Zang-yin”.
Therefore, tourists and ordinary consumers can purchase a variety of commodities in
the name of “Zang-yin,” which are expected to have certain common characteristics of“Zang-yin”.[1] For example, they should be silvery but not too glittering, better with someblack marks to achieve a greater extent of antiquity and mystery. The surface should not
be too sleek, reflecting the simple and unsophisticated metallic processing craftsmanshipof national minority. In terms of the contour lines, ware should explicitly embody Tibetan
people’s unique pattern, style and aesthetic beauty at first glance, regardless of the size.
They are generally mounted with turquoise, coral, amber, or crystal as ornaments, andunlikely with diamond. Also, the majority of common decorative patterns and symbols
originate from basic creeds of Tibetan Buddhism, such as lotus, vajra (金剛杵), the Six
Syllable Mantra ( 六 字 真 言 ), and character “卍” or “卐” ( 萬 字 符 ). Purchase price of“authentic” or “fake” ware or ornaments made from “Zang-yin” may vary to a great extent,
which depends on a series of relevant elements, including manufacturer, purchaselocation, commodity exhibition sites, purchaser’s knowledge background and aesthetic
taste, and some more profound social and cultural concepts restricted by era and relevant
to crafts of national minority and their value.[1] Nonetheless, “Zang-yin” has, in effect,
become one of the most successful commodities and tokens of Tibetan culture in China’s
tourism market.
As it points out above that material “impurity” is a crucial label deeply located in social
memory and discourse system about “Zang-yin”, formation of “impurity” of “Zang-yin”
as a historical fact and memory, from the perspective of Tibetan culture, is attributed tointerwoven influence of multiple elements, including the deficiency in metallic silver ofancient Tibet, local knowledge of Tibetan silver making tradition and craftsmanshipsystem, Tibetan people’s unique daily experience, religious attitudes and aesthetic needs,
and long-term Han-Tibet interaction in politics, economy and culture. However, inpresent era of tourism industry, “impurity” of “Zang-yin” witnesses the gradual loss of
the above pluralistic historical memory and cultural connotations, and it is reconstructed
into some code boosting commodification of material transformation, and a conceptual
tool for pursuing commercial profits.
2.2 Formation of Ethnic “Material Genre”
On Wuhouciheng Street ( 武侯祠横街 ) in Chengdu City, Mr. Tsewang ( 澤 旺 ) from
Kangding (康定) City in Sichuan Province runs a shop specialized in retail and wholesaleof ornaments with Tibetan characteristics. Similar Tibetan-owned shops specialized in
ethnic and religious crafts and souvenirs hold more than a half share of neighboringbusiness. In recent years, this “Tibetan Street” known far and wide develops into a“Tibetan Block” in larger scale extending from Temple of Marquis to the wholesurrounding area of Southwest Minzu University(西南民族大學), by abundant resource of
tourists attracted by its surrounding: international tourist spot Temple of Marquis. In Mr.
Tsewang’s shop,various ornaments made from “Zang-yin” including rings, necklaces,
bracelets, Tibetan amulet in casket (嘎烏盒), usual amulets (護身符), hair clasps, smallscale statues of Buddha, oil lamps (油燈盞), teacups, bowls and chopsticks occupy near28

70% of commodities. Except the disparity between wholesale and retail price, andregional difference in customer source, cultural interaction in consumption behavior of“Zang-yin” is more significant. First, ordinary Han and other non-Tibetan tourists preferdaily ornaments with Tibetan characteristics that fit their habits like rings, necklaces andbracelets to “Tibetanized”(藏族化) ones like Tibetan amulets in casket, usual amulets, hairclasps and statues of Buddha, which reflects the underlying yardstick of boundary
awareness of culture identity. Second, unlike Tibetan or Han wholesalers who replenish
their stock from here on a long-term basis, almost every ordinary tourist inquires that if
the material is “silver” during selection. The shop owner Mr. Tsewang then explains that
it is “Zang-yin” or “silver ornaments with Tibetan characteristics.” His customers either
doubt it without getting to the bottom, or readily accept it, neither of which affects thefollowing haggle over the price to further transact or cancel the deal. “Culture Otherness”
and “Foreground” contexts respectively set in “Tibetan Street” and ethnic tourism block
establish and consolidate the cultural advantage of Tibetans as Minority here, anddominate consumption expectation of tourists to a great extent. Mr. Tsewang as a Tibetan
has the legitimate power of discourse interpretation of “Zang-yin”, and establishes asafety valve regulating potential conflicts of ethnic cultures by his flexible grasp of
tourists’ psychology and trade skills in the micro-context of daily life. Therefore, morein-depth issues underlying “Zang-yin” have transcended rhetoric question “purity or
impurity” or “authentic or fake” and are directed at the formation logic of “material genre”
of ethnic materials.
By the assembly of certain ethnicity and materiality, the social course of manufacture
and consumption of modern “Zang-yin” constructs a new material form, and embodies
intrinsic paradoxes between “ethnic” and “non-ethnic,” and between “authentic” and“inauthentic”: as a proper name, “Zang-yin” realizes ethnicalization of general metallic
silver, which unveils certain crucial historical and cultural attributes of Tibetan silverware
making tradition. In this sense, “Zang-yin” reflects “authentic” value of material inaccordance with “internal insight” of ethnic culture. However, as a general name in themarket of tourism consumer goods, it is appropriated for glossing over inferior orcounterfeit goods to a great extent. As a commercial strategy, the parlance of “Zang-yin”
is conducive to the transformation of historical material attribute of “impurity” to a tool
for pursuing profits, while prevalent inferior or counterfeit goods are apt to incur
distortion and misunderstanding about Tibetan culture, thereby making “Zang-yin” notonly “non-ethnic”, but “non-authentic”.
Based on the enlightening concept of “social/socio symbolic alchemy” borrowed fromBourdieu,[15] it is more distinct that the huge success of material legend of “Zang-yin” isattributed to contest and manipulation of historical narratives and cultural imagination
revolving around “Zang-yin” by multilateral powers like commercial capital, mass media
and even the academic circles. On one hand, social alchemy of “Zang-yin” consolidates
the material Zang-yin’s cultural token of “Otherness.” On the other hand, it effectively
evades detailed enquiry about Zang-yin’s materiality formation and doubts over its
impurity. Therefore, it is essential to thoroughly introspect how the concept of “Zang-yin”
is created, appropriated and further generalized to a “magical word” in modern market of
ethnic crafts and souvenirs. It is even more crucial to realize how the construction processof social concept of “Zang-yin” in turn stimulates the emergence of a large number ofmaterial entities “in the name of Zang-yin” in reality,[16] and the brand-new material genre

29

of “ethnic material”. Meanwhile, a new model of culture perception in multi-ethnic Chinais thereby under construction.
To summarize, in the case of “Zang-yin”, there are two basic prerequisites for theexertion of “social alchemy” effect: firstly, historical changes, dislocation, appropriation
and reconstruction between the name and flexible entities of “Zang-yin” have built up an
indispensable basis for manipulation of the value of ethnic culture and commodity intoday’s tourism market; secondly, it has a close intrinsic correlation with imagination of“Inner Otherness” of a multi-ethnic country and construction of consumers’ self-identity.
As the anthropologists of tourism Salazar and Graburn reveal that consumption of ethnic
crafts and souvenirs signifies imagination of different groups and places via material,
which is deeply rooted in complicated relations of social power, it is, therefore, by nomeans a purely neutral practice behavior.[17]3 Imagination of Multi-ethnic China: Beyond the Case of “Zang-yin”
Since the 1980s when mass tourism gradually emerged in China, it is recognized at thevery start that the development of ethnic tourism shoulders significant missions tostimulate economic progress of national minority regions and embody the policy ofnational unity.[18] Ethnic tourism provides a new means for particularly Han with morethan 90% population of China to go to remote ethnic regions, and learn different national
minorities and their cultures. Furthermore, based on the theory of an Australian scholar
Morris, manufacture and consumption of ethnic crafts and souvenirs signify theconstruction of a “national image space” [19] in the administrative territory of a country.
Hence, correlation of material with ethnicity inside nation state realizes spatialized andvisualized imagination and representation. Therefore, ethnic crafts and souvenirs becomea crucial material carrier and medium for bearing the imagination of multi-ethnic China
and advancing cross-ethnic cultural interaction. In the case of “Zang-yin”, integration ofrich ethnic peculiarities and mass trend creates a novel culture experience, and turns
intangible “Otherness” materialized/ substantiated for consumption. The accompanying
problem is, in the “multi-national image space” of present China, there is considerably
diversified “Otherness” that provides consumers with cultural imagination beyond daily
life and of ethnic peculiarities, but ethnic tourism industry can by no means promise toprovide equal opportunities for the transformation of every ethnic culture into highly
profitable cultural commodities. Inside nation state, the mechanisms and limitations fortransformation between imagination and consumption of “Otherness” are rooted in somedeep structures of society and culture in both history and present age.
3.1 Transformation and Limitation: Between Ethnicity and Commodity
The commercial success of “Zang-yin” not only triumphantly represents splendidly
outstanding Tibetan culture, but unveils that historical/cultural discrepancy among
different national minorities induces varied genres and sequence of “Inner Otherness”
imagination, and is transformed into the reality discrepancy of social/economic situations
in tourism industry.
For instance, to the majority of Han tourists, Miao people (苗族) and Dai people(傣族)are comparatively typical type of romanticism; Menggu people (蒙古族), Kazak (哈薩克族) people and Wa people (佤族) are robust, brave and even ferociously intrepid examples
for their nomadic or hunting traditions; Naxi people (納西族) is rather counted as themysterious and old type; Manchu (滿族), Hui (回族), Zhuang (壯族) and Tujia (土家族)30

peoples are often considered to be lacking in “Otherness”, for they absorb plentiful Han’s
culture and customs in many aspects of life and culture. In comparison, Tibetan culture
not only cherishes high recognizability in multiple aspects like exoticism, romanticism
and mystery, but is more attractive than adjacent national minorities with less population
like Monba people ( 門巴族 ) and Lhoba people ( 珞巴族 ) that are seemingly vague toordinary tourists who could hardly make a distinction, thereby reflecting some “does-notmatter otherness”. In such types of cultural imagination and structure of sequence,prevalence of “Zang-yin” is not purely the natural consequence of market rules.
Relevant to “Zang-yin,” silverware of Yi people (彝族) is also a comparable case. In
terms of craftsmanship, aesthetic value and cultural connotations, silverware making
tradition of Yi people can utterly rival that of Tibetan people. For Yi people, silver is not
only the traditional token of wealth, power and influence, and beauty, but the essential
for mediators (德古) to reconcile a dispute and for priests (畢摩) to perform religious rites.
Skilled Yi silver craftsmen can forge by hand exquisite silver ornaments emblazoned withpatterns of ethnic tradition like fern, cockscomb, ram’s horn, cloud, the sun, moon, andstars. On the Torchlight Festival ( 火把節 ), Yi’s women in the heartland of Daliang
Mountains (大凉山) in Sichuan Province like Butuo (布拖) and Zhaojue (昭覺) counties
wear a set of traditional silver ornaments as heavy as more than 20 kilograms, acclaimed
as the acme of perfection in terms of their size and exquisiteness. However, different from
Tibetan people, it seems that the Yi merely favors pure silver, and traditionally rarely
accepts silver alloys as the substitute for it. In traditional silverware workshops in
Jilabutuo, the “silverware town” renowned to Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan Province,
silver craftsmen keep the indigenous method to date: to burn silver ornaments into
charcoal fire and brush them with alum solution for a polish. That “real silver fears nofire” (真金不怕火煉) is a means for Yi’s craftsmen and masses to inspect the purity ofsilver ornaments, and bears ritual implication that transcends practical needs. This
concept of upholding pure silver partly originates from Yi’s ancient faith in animism andreverence for the silver elf “Sese”.
From a historical perspective, the development of Yi’s silverware making in modern
and contemporary times is closely connected with trade in opium, and silver ingots andcoins between Han’s domain and Yi’s districts since the late Qing Dynasty. In effect, in
Republic of China (1912–1949) when Yi districts of Liangshan Prefecture remained tobe the largest nation-wide opium plantation, silver ingots continuously flowed into Yi
districts that output opium.[20] Therefore, similar to “Zang-yin”, the tradition of Yi’ssilver making is also rooted in cultural, political and economic interaction zones between“Han/non-Han”. Nonetheless, unlike “Zang-yin,” there is no such a concept of “Yiyin”(彝银 ) as a kind of ethnic material. If “Zang-yin” in the name of ethnic successfully
bypasses detailed enquiry about what kind of material it is, Yi’s traditional emphasis overthe purity of silver deprives possibilities for modern tourism industry to manipulate
obscure relations between ethnicity and materiality. It expounds on why Yi’s silverware
hardly wins commercial success in souvenir market like “Zang-yin” to a certain extent.
In present China’s ethnic tourism market, Tibet has turned into one of the hottest
tourism destinations. However, the tourism development of Yi’s districts is comparatively
backward, especially for the largest Yi’s community in Liangshan Yi Autonomous
Prefecture in Sichuan Province. Consequently, silverware and silver ornaments made by
Yi’s craftsmen that similarly boast the distinct culture trait of “Otherness,” superb
craftsmanship, and good reputation for high purity are, nevertheless, principally31

manufactured and available for consumption in Yi’s districts, and are commonly labelled
by tourists and non-natives as “countrified” and “unfashionable.” On the subtle
demarcation line between “ethnic fashion” and “rustic,” “Zang-yin” and Yi’s silverware
reflect structuralized difference in position of the two minority peoples in modern tourism
industry.
Additionally, against the background of globalization, ethnic imagination andconsumption are likely to break through intrinsic relational structure inside the multiethnic country, and be affected by internally and externally complicated factors. Tibet isone of the most significant legends in human geography both in China and internationalsociety, which is also seen as the “Last Pure Land” in terms of culture, religions, andecology. Based on mysterious imagination of “Shangri-La” among modern andcontemporary Western society and influence of numerous international politic factors thatare complicated and realistic, Tibetan people may be the most attractive to and popularwith the Western society among China’s 55 national minorities. The Tibetan style wins
wide recognition among westerners, and, beyond their reach, Tibet even becomes moremysterious and attractive. For Westerners, it is an “indirect tourism” [21] to “Land of Snow”
beyond their reach when they consume ware and ornaments made from “Zang-yin”.
Tibetan culture holds a culturally advantageous position in the international society,benefiting from comparatively high international popularity and “generalized positive
moral image” [22]. By consuming crafts and souvenirs made from “Zang-yin”, Han tourists
also feel like they closely follow the world-wide trend, which is another factor that
stimulates “Zang-yin” to become the mass consumption trend.
To summarize, possibility and limitation of transformation from “ethnicity” to“commodity” may greatly rely on the spatial adequacy for cultural interpretation andcommercial manipulation between self-identity of “main body” nationality and“Otherness” imagination of different national minorities. The commercial success of“Zang-yin” unveils that the non-balanced structure of “Inner Otherness” imagination ofmulti-ethnic China is also the consequence of contest and negotiation among multiple
internal and external power relations.
3.2 Diversity in Unity: Consumption, Experience and Reflection of Ethnic Tourism
In southwest China, besides Tibetan people and Yi people, many other national minorities
like Miao, Dai, Dong, Qiang and Jingpo (景頗族) also create their own silver making
traditions during the historically cross-ethnic interaction. Therefore, corresponding
parlance like “Miao-yin (苗银,silver of Miao people)”, “Dai-yin (傣银, silver of Dai
people)” and “Qiang-yin (羌银, silver of Qiang people)” also spreads in China. When
“Zang-yin” enjoys high popularity as a religious token, “Miao-yin” is considered to beendowed with romantic, elaborate and exaggerated beauty; “Dai-yin” is purported toboast some curative effect, for ancient Dai craftsmen specially used solution of herbal
medicine for silverware making; as for “Qiang-yin”, it started to catch external attention
as the souvenir of Qiang people merely a few years ago. Also, the support for anddevelopment of “Qiang-yin” are components of project of local culture and economy
reconstruction in Qiang communities after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. “Zang-yin”,“Miao-yin”, “Dai-yin” and “Qiang-yin” all follow the same nomenclature: to add thename of minority peoples like Zang, Miao, Dai and Qiang in front of the metal “yin(silver),” which endows material with certain ethnicity, or realizes materiality andconcreteness of certain ethnicity by way of seeking commercial profit. However,32questions like if those ethnic materials are pure silver, silver alloys or anything else are
either unsettled, sidestepped, or acquiesced.
Undeniably, commercialization of these “ethnic materials” still helps or evenconsolidates to some extent the representation of diverse cultural traditions and identity
in ethnic tourism. Therefore, “Zang-yin” together with “Miao-yin,” “Dai-yin” and“Qiang-yin” as the “subculture sign” in mass consumption positively directs the masses
to comprehend and endorse China’s dominant ideological discourse of “The Pattern ofDiversity in Unity of the Chinese Nation” (中華民族多元一體格局) pattern. [23]The nomenclature of “Zang-yin” unveils the cultural logic of coupling of materiality
and ethnicity in tourism industry. Furthermore, emerging “material genres” like “Zangyin”, “Miao-yin”, “Dai-yin” and “Qiang-yin”, and manufacture and consumption ofcorresponding entities reveal basic ethnic conception’s penetration into and shaping of
tourism industry of the nation state. In the era of heritage, Han tourists can purchasetangible “Zang-yin”, “Miao-yin”, “Dai-yin” and “Qiang-yin”, or buy “Yi embroidery”(彝繡), “Miao embroidery” (苗繡), “Dong embroidery” (侗繡) and “Qiang embroidery”(羌繡); or enjoin intangible “Tibetan circle dance” (藏族鍋莊), “Qiang circle dance” (羌族鍋莊), “Yi circle dance” (彝族鍋莊), “Lisu circle dance” (傈僳鍋莊) and “Pumi circle dance”(普米鍋莊). This convenient and efficient model of cultural analogy implies three basicstages of “Otherness” consumption: (1) consume, compare, and imagine different ethnic
cultures; (2) seek similarity among different ethnic cultures, construct analogicalimagination and categorize it; (3) construct a new material genre in the discourse system
of Han language and rename it. The above three stages unveil the fundamental laws for
ethnic tourism to stimulate ethnic culture imagination: imagine ethnic culture as“Otherness,” and as some mirror image of tourists’ “Self”. Correspondingly, on the
micro-level of individual practice, a typical model of cultural analogy is widely
established through mass participation into ethnic tourism and mass consumption of
ethnic souvenirs. It integrates effectively national politic discourse and social collective
narratives, and then blends them with individual consumption practice of tourists, thereby
turning the abstract conception of “Diversity in Unity of the Chinese Nation” eventuallypracticable on the physical dimension of individual.
By the consumption of “ethnic materials” like “Zang-yin”, “Miao-yin”, “Dai-yin” and“Qiang-yin” that share the same logic of cultural representation, profound “tradition ofmaterial” unique to every ethnic group is likely to be incorporated in a rectified “system
of material” as equivalent of real existence to imagination of “The Pattern of Diversity inUnity of the Chinese Nation”. Furthermore, social practice of ethnic tourism consolidates“Otherness” of national minority, and turns into the course of creation of “Culture
Oneness” of the Chinese Nation, namely, “Culture Oneness that transcends and includes
Han people and non-Han ethnic groups”.[24] Despite that it reflects the historical fact ofmulti-ethnic interaction and cultural communication in certain regions, cultural diversity
may face the risk of losing independent value, degraded as “cultural mosaics”[25] of the
grand prospect of imagination towards nation-state community. In this way, “Zang-yin”
would be naturally seen as a subdivision of silver making traditions of “the Chinese
Nation”, characterized by inferiority in craftsmanship, level and quality; and its material
property of “impurity” would neither be perceived as peculiarities of Tibetan silver
making tradition, nor embody Tibetan people’s cultural memories and lively experiencearound silver.

33

Conclusion
From twofold perspectives of history and anthropology, “Zang-yin” is explored on
multiple levels of “material”, “conceptual construction of material” and “social practiceof material”. As a symbolic paradox of material in ethnic tourism, “Zang-yin” is not only
the flexible tool of ethnic imagination, but also the outcome of it, [17] and then helps tofulfill various demands of different social roles by manipulating social discourse. In thename of “Zang-yin”, all narratives, construction, manufacture and consumption revolving
it are incorporated into a long-term process cross-cultural interaction of multi-ethnic
China. Finally, the ways of how minority peoples learn to be “the minority” [26] and how
Han is constructed as “the non-minority” [27] of China, both became the embodied facts
in the social practices of ethnicization and commodification of material.
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Pittsburgh, America.

35

Expanding the Groundwork for Research in the Revitalization andSustainability of Micronesian Seafaring
Vicente M. Diaz

Department of American Indian Studies, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, USA
For almost half a century Pacific Islanders have worked to revitalize traditionalseafaring often with remarkable success. In recent years, under climate crises and othersocial and political challenges, such efforts have also begun to explicitly link canoe
culture restoration and proliferation in terms of sustainability; we are now in the midstof operationalizing cultural revival in terms of intangible cultural heritage. Supportiveof these efforts, I also argue for the need to expand the terms by which we understandthe space and contours of seafaring culture and the Indigenous identities staked in it.
To illustrate and substantiate the argument I present a case study of efforts by a
Chuukese community to practice traditional Carolinian seafaring culture in their new
home in rural west Minnesota in view of seafaring culture’s unique spatio-temporal
logics and a critical analytic framework drawn from new forms of global and criticalIndigenous studies.
Keywords: Micronesia, Seafaring, Cultural Revival

Introduction: Toward New Research in Canoe Culture and Sustainability in
Oceania
Research into a community’s efforts to safeguard its traditional seafaring culture forsustainability is urgent, but not as straightforward as one might think. In a time of climatechange that endangers especially those in the low-lying islands, as in the Central
Carolines, where seafaring tends to be strongest, there are a number of considerations,beyond varying definitions of sustainability, that also warrant new, critical, perspectives.
These considerations include population dispersal in the twenty-first century, ongoingcolonialism, and Indigenous seafaring epistemologies (ways of knowing) and ontologies(ways of being) associated with seafaring cultural knowledge and new forms of
conducting research.
In contemporary Micronesia, there are noteworthy efforts to safeguard traditionalseafaring for sustainability purposes, some in which I have been involved 1. These local
In the early 1990s, I worked with the organization, Traditions About Seafaring Islands,
and helped convene and direct the Micronesian Seafaring Society (MSS) (Diaz 1994 andDiaz 2002), a regional organization of canoe builders and navigators from all sevennations and territories in the Micronesia. Though the MSS was short-lived, networking
continues through individuals, projects and events, like regional festivals, such as the 12th
Festival of Pacific Arts held in Guam in 2016, which included a Canoe Summit of canoebuilders and navigators (Uslander 2016; UNESCO 2016) which I helped organize andmoderate. In the mid 1990s, I co-produced a documentary about a new generation ofnavigators from Polowat and their counterparts in Guam (Diaz, DeLisle, and Nelson1997). In the late 1990s, I co-founded the University of Guam Seafarers Society, whichgrew into the Guam Traditional Seafarers, whose activities included community-engaged
teaching and research in the revival of seafaring knowledge under master navigators from137

and regional cases have kin elsewhere across the larger Pacific region, as exemplified in
the work of organizations like Hawai’i’s Polynesian Voyaging Society (Polynesian
Voyaging Society), and various Maori tribes in Aotearoa (Waka Hourua 2020). Or thatof the Okeanos Foundation for the Sea (Okeanos Foundation; Galluci 2020) and the Vaka
Taumako Project in the Solomon Islands (The Vaka Taumako Project). This list is not
exhaustive, though interestingly enough, all of these projects, in the larger Pacific as in
Micronesia, overlap and intertwine with each and other like-minded programs, throughpersonnel, motives, and programs.
Contemporary efforts to safeguard canoe culture across Oceania also provide goodmaterial with which to critically examine research interests in cultural preservation anddevelopment through the framework of intangible cultural heritage (Diaz Forthcoming,
2018a, 2018b, Diaz 2015b). Especially where it has continued unabated (such as in theCentral Carolines), traditional seafaring features values and principles, technologies andways of knowing and being, that reveal profound alterity or radical cultural difference -and social “densities” (Andersen 2009) -- as compared to and contrasted from modern,especially western systems (Diaz 2016, 2015a). Along these lines, this paper shifts
grounds to argue that traditional Indigenous seafaring culture by its very nature, andIndigenous diasporic conditions created by economic and environmental refugee-ism,also demand that we rethink the presumed interiorities and boundaries of our conceptual
categories as a first order of research business. More specifically, I argue that we needappropriately capacious and elastic concepts of culture, tradition, and even community
identity, and for which examples and models can be found in Indigenous Traditional
Ecological Knowledge (TEK), especially as they are engaged in the emergent academic
field called Critical Indigenous Studies (Whyte 2018; Moreton-Robinson ed. 2016), andfinally, in what we might call “trans-Indigenous” collaborations with other Indigenous
peoples. To illustrate these ideas, this paper is divided into two parts. Part I commenceswith a sampling of how various efforts to revitalize canoe culture in Micronesia employ
different definitions of sustainability, followed by a case of how a displaced Chuukese
community in rural west Minnesota also looks to traditional Carolinian seafaring toensure their future as Chuukese, but through designed collaboration with Minnesota’s
Indigenous Dakota communities that also seek resilient futures through the revitalizationof their own TEK around canoes, water, and sky knowledge. In Part II, I tease out thedifferences and densities of traditional Carolinian seafaring knowledge through its spatiotemporal logics, and consider these alongside new academic efforts to join Indigenous
cultural and political revitalization with the urgent need for new forms of research andknowledge production.
1.1 In Micronesia
In Micronesia, successful efforts to revitalize seafaring can be found in the MarshallIslands’ Waan Aelon in Majel project (Waan Aelon 2020), in Palau’s Traditional NonInstrument Navigation Program at the Palau Community College (Sewralur, Tellei,
Olgeril, and Tadao 2017), in the Marianas (as we shall see shortly), and, most especially,in the remarkable story of seafaring persistence and continuity in the Central Carolines,
Polowat. Since 2001, I have continued this work in the US Midwest, but with American
Indian counterparts who are also reviving their canoe and water traditions, and as
informed by critical Indigenous theory. This paper draws from this more recent work.
38especially as attested to by the renewed and continued voyages in and out of the region
by practitioners from traditional canoe houses in the islands of Polowat and Satawal(Cunningham, Kranz and Ikea 2006; Flood 2002; Metzgar 2006, 1996; Ridgell, Ikea, andUruo 1994). In Guam, the tradition of outrigger building and navigation had been
understood to be all but lost, or at least reduced, by the late 1980s, to a single builder ofrelatively simple outrigger dugout paddling canoes (Diaz, Delisle, and Nelson, 1997). But,
after nearly three decades of revitalization, there are now, in Guam, about half a dozen
sailing canoes built and maintained by a handful of organized groups and individuals,
including the San Diego, California-based organization, Chamorro Hands in Education
Links Unity (CHE’LU), and its celebrated voyaging canoe, Sakman Chamorro. In the
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, where there is a sizeable Carolinian
community that has also revitalized its varied connections to the seafaring traditions of
their respective atolls in the Central Carolines (Brower 1983; Olopai 2005), the revival
includes the Saipan-based Okeanos Marianas double-hull canoe (Okeanos Marianas) anda half dozen or so single hull outrigger sailing canoes built by the organization, 500 Sails,
through its “Improving Health Outcomes through Traditional Maritime Activities” grant
project to build 500 sailing canoes by 2030 (500 Sails). In each of these cases, and as
exemplified best in the story of the survival of the tradition in the Central Carolines (inthe atolls between Chuuk and Yap States of the Federated States of Micronesia), thequestion of sustainability, we might say, hitches the health of the people to the status of
the outrigger canoe and the ability to sail it the traditional way. Put another way, the canoe
carries, metaphorically and literally, the wellbeing of the people, even to the point where
the presence of the canoe gets to stand in, sometimes problematically, for the existenceof traditional culture, while its absence is taken to signal cultural loss. In between thesetwo poles, the larger the number of canoes – especially open-ocean canoes, and thenumber of bona fide seafarers steeped in traditional knowledge of sailing without the useof modern-instruments -- the healthier is regarded to be the community’s ‘cultural’ status.
In several of the cases, the projects invoke specific definitions of sustainability. For
example, in the case of 500 Sails, whose larger vision is to engage in “Restoring Maritime
Traditions in the Mariana Islands,” the “magic” number of 500 (as in 500 canoes to build)as the measure for achieving cultural restoration (and hence, broader community cultural
health) draws from an entry in the logbook of the Miguel López de Legazpi expedition of
1565 in which Legazpi observes “a great number of proas … more than four or five
hundred around the ships” (500 Sails). While the organization’s website solicits donations
for the “immediate and long-term sustainability of our programs…” – which
operationalizes sustainability conventionally, that is, in terms of the survivability andpermanence of its organizational program -- the (more than) rhetorical choice to reachback five centuries for the magic number (500 canoes, or the set number to match thenumber of canoes that a Spanish explorer once estimated to have surrounded his ship in
the 16th century) as the chosen measure for canoe culture health restoration five hundredyears later (500 sails for 500 years of ongoing colonization) foregrounds the need todecolonize and the principles of Indigenous resurgence as key measures in which todefine the terms of sustainability (Dhillon, ed. 2018). In this paper, we will return to theimport of Indigenous decolonization and the cultures of Indigenous resurgence in the casestudy and final section. In recent years, 500 Sails has partnered with the New Zealandbased Okeanos Foundation around a double hull canoe called the Okeanos Marianas. Here,too, the objectives merge “traditional” discourses of sustainability in terms of using

39

tradition in non-harmful and historically appropriate ways that also measure sustainability
in terms of pre-contact or non-western (read: Indigenous) ways: to champion traditional“wayfinding” (non-instrument navigation) and to provide “a more feasible and costeffective way of transporting people and goods around the Mariana archipelago”(Okeanos Marianas).
In Guam, the community organization, Traditions About Seafaring Islands (whose
acronym means “the sea” in Chamorro), had teamed up in 2010 with Chamorro marine
biologists at the University of Guam, a US Land Grant and Sea Grant Institution, to securea United States National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration sustainability
grant to explore traditional Chamorro fishing techniques, to build outrigger sailing canoes
to help wean local fishermen off coal-based fuel driven vessels, and to promote the spreadof Indigenous maritime technology and knowledge. The Chamorro marine biologist,
Jason Biggs, reiterates pre-colonial history as a baseline measure:
Prior to European contact and conquest, the Chamorro people were renowned
throughout the Western Pacific for their ability to fish the open ocean in addition
to their inshore waters. Over the centuries, native Chamorro fishing practices,
Indigenous maritime skills, knowledge and tools have been replaced with
Western technology. We need to reestablish our knowledge of our traditional
fishing skills so we don't lose the safe, sustainable seafood supply that has
defined us as a people for centuries (Grant to Revive, 2010).
As a Sea Grant institution, the University of Guam is also charged with upholding the
Sea Grant convention’s environmental stewardship ethos of “enhanc(ing) understandingof coastal processes in ways that promote the use of sustainable practices in humanactivities and result in improved conservation, protection and maintenance of coastal
resources property” (ibid). For example, in 2018, the University of Guam’s Center for
Island Sustainability contracted Yapese navigator Larry Raigetal of the community-basedorganization Waa-gey to offer a hands-on traditional seafaring course that included“environmental lessons on climate change in both scientific and humanistic contexts.”
Stefan Krause explains that traditional seafaring and Waa-gey in particular serve as,a sustainable alternative to costly motorboats used for fishing and traveling toneighboring islands. This understanding of the economic benefits of preserving
this important element of Yap's cultural heritage is a powerful argument that
underscores the relationship between traditional knowledge and sustainable
development practices not just in the Pacific, but around the world” (Krause
2015, 303).
This objective was entirely in keeping with the Center’s mission. Established in 2009,
the Center’s mission is, “to lead and support the transition of island communities towarda sustainable future … to become a focal institute in our region for adapting and modelingsustainable technologies to meet island needs in the broader areas of the environment,
economy, society, and education.”(Center for Island Sustainability).
These are just some examples of how voyaging for sustainability are operationalized
in the region. But seafaring also teaches us that Islanders and their “home” lands must be
understood in more expansive ways, albeit without sacrificing or losing the specificity or

40

particularity of their claims to lands and waters they consider “theirs”. In the cases above,
Chamorros of Guam and the Marianas collaborate with Carolinian seafarers; in one case,collaboration also includes Polynesian seafarers based in New Zealand. In next section,
the project of advancing traditional Carolinian seafaring charts new grounds in newcollaborations through new deployment of ancient knowledge systems under new
conditions and challenges.
1.2 Elsewhere: the Milanesians 2
In the past two decades, a Chuukese community of almost 400 individuals (primarily
from Romanum Island in the Faichuuk region of the Chuuk Lagoon) has sprung up in a
Minnesota town called Milan, rendering them the furthest group (of significant size) in
the Chuukese diaspora in the continental United States. 3 The Chuukese of Milan havealso begun to refer to themselves as the Milanesians, a play on the town’s name and thestandard taxonomy of Oceania into the more familiar Polynesia, Melanesia, andMicronesia. In rural west Minnesota, the Milanesians have traded a self-subsistent
lifestyle of fishing and harvesting back in the Chuuk lagoon for small town life of modest
wage earning. It is a young demographic; its leaders are in their late thirties and early
forties. On the whole, rural southwest Minnesota towns are in economic decline. Milanis the sole exception, and on account of the still-growing population of Chuukese. But
rural west Minnesota is still profoundly part of Miní Sóta Makhóčhe (Westermann andWhite 2012), the traditional homelands of the Dakhóta Oyáte. Beginning in the 1860s,
through bloody warfare and a genocidal campaign of extermination, Dakota had beenrounded up and removed from the state, but a small number began to return in the latenineteenth and early twentieth century. Now there are four state and federally-recognizedcommunities, the closest to the Milanesians being the Upper Sioux Community, or
Petihutazizi Ka‘pi Makhóčhe/“Where They Dig for Yellow Medicine. The Milanesians
have also been building relations with members of the Lower Sioux Community or
Cansayapi/“Where They Paint the Trees Red.” In 2016, the Milanesians asked my help
to build a traditional outrigger sailing canoe and learn the fundamentals of Carolinian
voyaging. Customarily, one acquired a canoe and/or seafaring knowledge from one’s
clans. As all Chuukese have clan relations across the many islands within and beyond the
Chuuk lagoon, I advised the leaders to find out who their kinship ties were to Polowat(where the tradition is still practiced, and where I had working and “fictive relations,” asanthropologists refer to such forms of social adoption and kinship extension). As it turned
out, the leaders had such customary ties to the same Polowat clan and canoe house into
which I myself had been adopted and with whom I continue to work. Such a coincidence
rendered all of us kin, though my own lineage is to the Eastern Carolines (Pohnpei). Thistie also helps bind the project to my academic home department (American IndianStudies), and the research program that I head (the Native Canoe Program). Moreover,the deployment of such kinship ties to the US Midwest and to Dakota Makoce potentiallymeans that folks from that specific canoe house in Polowat might now look to and include,in their “traditional” circuits of travel, rural west Minnesota, for potential support for
housing, food and other assistance. What was needed next was to build good relations
2

This section annotates from Diaz 2019 and Diaz 2018b.
For media coverage of the Milanesians see the following: Pioneer TV 2014; Twin City
Public TV 2019;341

with the real “home” team, the Dakota, not only because we are on their lands and waters,
but also because the characteristic efficacy of traditional navigation requires knowing
local waters and skies, flora and fauna; on recognizing into whose lands and waters one
has entered by learning substantive knowledge of that locality. So, long story short, weare now immersed in what might be called a trans-Indigenous community-engaged
research project that features and shapes interdisciplinary scholarship through building
good relations with two Indigenous communities that are themselves building relations
around shared cultural revitalization projects involving canoe building and learning of
Indigenous knowledge systems about water and skies. Thus, this trans-Indigenous
community cultural project is also about exploring new research protocols informed bycommitments to decolonization, Indigenous nation-building, and equity. Preliminary
research “outcomes” include a 20ft wa herak/Carolinian sailing canoe and an 18 ft
wata/Dakota dugout (Cherveny 2019), “participatory action workshops” in Dakota andMicronesian water and sky knowledge, and even the development of Virtual Reality
voyaging simulation (but that’s another story. See Kelly 2019). These activities bridgeand expand domains and communities (academic vs non-academic; culture vs science,land vs sky vs water; Dakota vs Chuukese, Oceania vs the Great Plains) typicallyconsidered separate and even mutually-exclusive. For example, part of learning the
traditional Carolinian system of using stars for directional purposes, called paafu, also
now requires knowing how the constellations shift when one moves from the latitudes ofCarolines to the northern hemisphere. That knowledge, in the Dakota context, also
requires how the movement of the same constellations used in paafu have cosmologicaland “instructional” meaning and value in the Dakota context. In the Dakota context, too,
the Milanesians are learning about the profound inter-relationality that exists among theentities or domains of land, water, and sky, and between these and those of the humanpeople world and those of the non-human people, all of whom are understood andregarded as “relatives” in Dakota culture, for, in Dakota and other Indigenous knowledge
systems, human beings simply don’t have the monopoly over person or peoplehood. Thissense of profound inter-relationality is captured in the concept of the kapemni, whichteaches that all that is found below, on earth , is reflected in the sky and stars, and viceversa (Goodman 1992). This remarkable understanding and ethic of profound andprescribed interconnectivity, is also about the demand for inter-accountability and caregiving among everything in the cosmos, and these are only part of what it means for
Dakota to have or make good “relations” – to relate to all as good “relatives” as expressedin their concept of mitakuye owasin. What is unfolding here is a research/culture projectin which learning what it means to be Dakota in Miní Sóta Makhóčhe constitutes a prerequisite for learning how to be a good Carolinian navigator; that to succeed,
Micronesians need to learn how to be good relatives with Dakota human people, lands,
waters, skies, and all other forms of non-human persons.
2 New Grounds: Seafaring’s Spatio-temporalities 4
The Milanesian effort to revitalize their/our cultural traditions in and through proper orgood relations with and in Miní Sóta Makhóčhe can help us rethink our approach toresearch, but the good thing here is that Micronesian seafaring culture itself can also help
us learn how to think differently. In what follows, I will briefly touch on traditional
4This section excerpts from Diaz 2019, 2018b, 2015a, and 2015b.
42

seafaring concepts and practices that involve seafaring’s “spatial temporal” logics. To
begin, we would do well to remember that, at the root of traditional Indigenous seafaring
tradition are routes: seafaring culture is all about mobility as a way to strengthen one’s
cultural roots, one’s deep connection to home. It is also about how traditional seafaring
pushes the boundaries of our categories of place and selfhood. Below are four examples
taken from traditional Carolinian and Marshall Islands TEK: paafu, etak, pookof, andaelon. Together they help us rethink the underlying spatial-temporal and ontologicalassumptions and logics that continue to inform cultural research and modern practice.
2.1 Paafu
Paafu is a teaching tool that uses a circle of points, usually represented by shells or pebbles
upon a woven mat, to represent the rising and setting stars and/or constellations around
an island (or a canoe) in order to mark the directions where other lands or objects lie fromthat island or canoe that is centered in the diagram. In the literature and in popular(mis)understanding, paafu is mistranslated as a star “compass” even while the traditional
system of which it is a part, and the new systems that are built on it in the past fifty yearsof revitalization, insist, erroneously and problematically, on calling it (and themselves)“non-instrumental” in nature or essence (Diaz 2015b). In fact, paafu instrumentalizes
celestial knowledge although it does so not through cardinal directionality (westerncompass technology) but through what we might call an Indigenous cartography of andsocial relation between positionality and directionality. The rising and setting points ofstars, for example, mark directions (directionality) from whence lies socially meaningful
locales as they are considered from any number of privileged locations (positions) on
earth. Of the many interesting things we can say of paafu as an Indigenous form of
instrumentalizing the skies for the purposes of navigation – as a mnemonic, for instance– one is how paafu also taxonomizes known locales that lie astride the direction of a paafu
point as siblings. For example, from the vantage point or position of Polowat, in the
direction of the rising star Mailap (aka Altair), lie, collectively, the islands in the Chuuk
Lagoon, and thereafter, Pohnpei, and then Kosrae, and then the Marshalls, and so forth.
Similarly, from Polowat atoll, Guam lies Tan Welo (where rises the Big Dipper), and then,far enough, Hawai’i, and beyond, California, and, in the general bearing, if you go far
enough, Minnesota, and so forth. We might say that under paafu, when considered from
Polowat, Chamorros, Hawaiians, and Dakota communities are siblings under the rising
Big Dipper. As an Indigenous cartography, paafu’s utility for geographic directionality
can also prompt alternative ways of expanding place and personhood through metaphorsand practices of relative-making.
2.2 EtakEtak is a system of triangulation that involves plotting distance and rate traveled, and thus,
the ability to always know where one is out in the open ocean at any given time. Looselytranslated into English as moving islands, etak works by bearing towards the constellation(as in paafu) under which lies a target destination, while back sighting and calculating
how long it takes for one’s departure island to recede and disappear from view. That unitof analyses (from the moment one shoves off one’s island of departure in the direction ofa target island, to when that island of departure can no longer be seen) will then constitutea “leg” of a voyage, a voyage whose cumulative operation will entail also charting the
movement of a third reference island along another star course, namely, from what stars
43

it sits when one is positioned in one’s island of departure, to where it should be when seenfrom the vantage point or position of the destination island. Upon realizing the sum effectof this operation, a researcher observed that this system of seafaring made it seem as if
the canoe were stationary while islands moved by. What’s noteworthy about etak is that
it is also an instrumentalization of ecological knowledge –a map and a time piece -enabling navigators from our part of the world to travel far and wide beginning a longtime ago. We can also say that etak compresses, or at least mediates, the distance between
Milan in Minnesota and Chuuk in Micronesia by how it comes to know Dakota locality– Dakota land, waters, and skies.
2.3 Pookof
Simply put, pookof is a system of land-finding, more specifically, of honing or zooming
into a target island by “expanding” it (which can also be contracted, even to the point of
disappearance). This expansion is accomplished by knowing the inventory of creaturesendogenous/Indigenous to any given island, and their travel habits. An island can thus
be expanded if you know its Indigenous creatures through their travel, their itineraries
around an island, that in turn also serve to expand the island’s territorial boundaries.
When you see a given species of bird or fish, and you know who belongs where and mostespecially, their travel habits -- the pookof of an island -- you also then know into whose
island home you have sailed. Thus, islands are known by dint of the furthest travels of
their Indigenous creatures. The notion of expanding an island also includes knowing
things like the distinct look of clouds above and around an island, the character of currents
and waves as they deflect around islands, and of course, the group of stars associated with
an island and the range of stars under which an island can travel, as for instance, in etak,paafu, and wofanu.
From the vantage point of paafu, etak, and pookof “technology” we might say that, 1)
islands are mobile, 2) they are elastic, able to expand and contract, and 3) their coordinatesin time and space are emplotted via the farthest reaches of their Indigenous creatures, inall directions, including from above and below (as we shall see in the next section). Fromthese vantage points, we cannot say that islands are isolated, tiny, and remote, regardlessof how they have been defined, and thus marginalized, in western historical and culturaland natural cartography. If John Donne famously observed that “no man is an island” todispel the myth of man as an intrinsically autonomous, independent, agent, Indigenous
seafaring’s spatio-temporalities further teach us that no island was ever an island to begin
with: no island is an island.
2.4 No Aelon is an Island
This point is reinforced well in the Marshall Islands, where the term for islands is aelon[ai-lahng], where ae means “currents,” and lang means “sky” (Ahlgren 2016). Yet,aelon’s composite materiality of fluidity (currents) and infinite vastness (sky) also
connote specificity and indispensability of site locality, even foundationality, beginningwith how the surrounding environment works together to also inform notions of collective
personhood. Much as how sea and currents pound and shape land into existence, land’s
contours in turn give distinct form to water, winds, rain, and air. The meanings run as
deep as islands run down to the ocean floor: the currents of ae include submarine flowfrom seafloor to surface, as waves and swells, all of which bend and wend around, indeed
produce, the particular contours of individual and chains of atolls, while atoll and island
44

features, again from bottom of the sea to the surface, in turn give shape to water’s behavior
and its distinct forms around the islands. Moreover, currents don’t stop at sea level: they
manifest as winds and clouds, who move and behave in patterned and anomalous waysthat are also linked to the movements further up, of stars and other celestial bodies – lang.
Movement from seafloor to the stars is how Indigenous Marshallese define islands andIslanderness, helping explain why, like navigators of Taumako (George 2018),
Marshallese navigators are particularly adept at voyaging through knowing and feelingwaves and swells. (Genz et al. 2009). Such is an island in Marshallese discourse.
3 Conclusion: Voyaging with Sustainable Critical Indigenous Scholarship
Traditional seafaring ontology and epistemology – its spatial and temporal logics – aswell as properly designed cultural research – (must) make nonsense of modern boundaries
and definitions enroute to successful voyaging. Mainstream scholarship – especially inthe eve of the globe’s catastrophic destruction -- is only beginning to catch up with such
Indigenous alterities and ethics, and no field has led the surge forward better than critical,
comparative, and global Indigenous studies through the lens of Indigeneity. A keyword
in Critical Indigenous Studies, Indigeneity describes the claims and conditions ofaboriginal belonging to specific places, best expressed in vernacular terms of thecommunities themselves (Coulthard and Simpson 2016). In this sense, Indigeneity is an
ontological category of historical, social, cultural, and political existence. Indigeneity isalso an analytic category whose aim is to critically account for the conditions under whichsuch a subject position comes into existence. In recent years, Critical Indigenous Studies
has begun to explore the potential for radical Indigenous cultural alterity (Simpson 2017;
Coulthard 2014) and density (Andersen 2009) for asserting a political presence that does
not unwittingly replicate old and new forms of colonial and other forms of power
inequalities. This work falls under the framework known as Resurgence (Aikau et al2026; Alfred and Corntassel 2005; Corntassel 2012; Dhillon ed. 2018). In dialogue andsolidarity with this work, the cultural material presented here likewise demands ananalytic that can keep apace with the vernacular specificities of Indigenous technologies
and discourses of mobility, concurring with Chad Allen’s (2012) justification for affixing
the prefix “trans” to the figure of Indigenous resurgence and survivance as defined above.
By trans-Indigeneity, then, I mean the claims and conditions of aboriginal belonging to
specific places, but as such discourses of vertical depth or rootedness (in deep time andplace) are further “carried” in two additional processes: (1) in productive relations withhistories, narratives, and technologies of travel or geographic reach, here referred to aslateral or horizontal routedness, and (2) in collaboration with other equally deep andmoving Indigenous peoples and traditions from elsewhere (Aikau et al 2016; Cook 2018).
This trans-Indigenous framework for resurgence offers ways to counter those elements ofsettler colonialism and other forms of colonial discourse that operate by erasing or
disavowing prior Indigenous presence and knowledge. Our project of what it takes to be
Chuukese in Dakota land, water, and skies demands as much as shows the potential of
keeping cultural depth and reach, roots and routes, always articulated together; they also
describe how traditional seafaring culture refuses the suffocating logics that haveconfined and sequestered traditional Indigenous culture in time and place. Research into
these domains ought to follow suit.

45

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48

Tourism, Regional Development and Conservation of Heritage in Asia
Akiko Tashiro

Research Faculty of Media and Communication, Hokkaido University, Japan
Natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis sweep amount of things away frompeople and society. Such disasters also impose on the local community to make various
decision for revitalization. Cultural heritage, including landscapes and townscapes,
could be lost as a result of the complicated situation and decisions that are made on theoccasion of a disaster. In Japan, because of revised of national law for culturalproperties, government promote tourism as a tool of regional development and also
conservation of heritage. There are various cultural heritage at various levels like local,
national and global level. How do we promote to conserve heritage at local level? How
people discover their own heritage by themselves? How tourism involve on theprocess? Phenology Calendar attract attention as method to find out “heritage” in region
by local community. Based on presentations of the session, this paper will discuss someissues on tourism, regional development and heritage in Asia, especially through a caseof Padang, Indonesia.
Keywords: Heritage, tourism, regional development

1 Introduction
In Japan, repeated natural disasters have affected various issues on cultural heritage. In
particular, the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 was a major disaster that
prompted the government and academics to review the current system for conservationof cultural heritage in Japan. Similarly in Indonesia, natural disasters have affected many
cultural heritage properties. Islamic documents and inscriptions were damaged in Acheby an earthquake and tsunami in 2004, the Prambanan compounds by an earthquake in2006, and Borobudur by the eruption of Mt. Merapi in 2010. Padang was also struck by
an earthquake on 30 September 2009. After this disaster, UNESCO and the Indonesian
government assessed the damage to cultural heritage, including manuscripts, historicalbuildings and museums, in collaboration with international experts. 1 Since then, Japaneseexperts have conducted several studies and held workshops on cultural heritage in
Padang, especially with regard to historical buildings and landscapes. 2 In Japan,
government promote tourism as a tool of regional development and also conservation ofheritage. Based on presentation of the session, this article will discuss some issues on
tourism, regional development and heritage in Asia, through case of Padang.
2 Disaster and Cultural Heritage
2.1 Community and its Revitalization
Murosaki, professor emeritus at Kobe University, states that disasters show a kind of“distortion” of the affected society, one of which could be a decline in culture after the
1(UNESCO 2010)(NRICP Tokyo 2011)(NRICP Tokyo 2012)(NRICP Tokyo 2013)(NRICP Tokyo
2016)
2

49

disaster, and that it is necessary to address this distortion during the process of recovery
from disaster. Through past disasters, people have learned and experienced that not only
“reconstruction” but also “revitalization” is needed. Murosaki gives three disasters inJapan as examples of successful revitalization. These are the earthquake and fire in
Kinosaki, Hyogo prefecture in 1925, the fire in Hakodate, Hokkaido prefecture in 1934,
and the atomic bomb in Hiroshima in 1945. In the case of Kinosaki, a famous hot springin Japan, many historic buildings burned down in a fire caused by the earthquake. Afterthe disaster, residents discussed whether or not they should reconstruct the buildings withreinforced concrete, as buildings made of reinforced concrete would certainly be stronger
against fire and earthquake than buildings made of wood. However, residents of Kinosaki
chose to use wood to re-store the buildings to their original appearance. They concluded
that the hot spring is a characteristic of the area, and that its atmosphere could only be
produced by wooden structures and the landscape created by them. The town landscapecreated by the wooden structures was considered crucial to the recovery process of thearea. The example of Kinosaki tells us not only how residents decide on the importantfactors for the future of their society, but also how they regard the culture and past that
their ancestors have established over many years. Murosaki also issues a strong alarm thata community may lose its heritage and culture, both tangible and intangible, if the area is
protected and surrounded by a high breakwater. A high breakwater can keep thecommunity safe, but destruction of the landscape may lead to destruction of the culture
and living environment of the community. Therefore, it is important to discuss how thelandscape could be revitalized after a dis-aster. It is also useful to recognize and discover
the heritage and characteristic of the community before a disaster.
2.2 Cultural Heritage as a Symbol of Local Community
Before a disaster, an inventory of cultural heritage should be prepared at the local andnational levels. Mitsui, an architect, suggests five things to do in advance, in reflection of
the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011.
First, he says to discover heritage at the local level. Maita, visiting fellow at Hokkaido
University, invented the “phenology calendar” based on the methodology of ecology.
The phenology calendar shows a community’s activities during the year. These include
activities related to food, religious ceremonies and festivals. The calendar is to becompleted by each community through information collection workshops. Based on theinformation collected, the phenology calendar can be designed for the public. Second, an
inventory of cultural heritage should be created at the local level before a disaster. Valuesof cultural heritage should include subjective and objective values at the local level.
Therefore, workshops need to be held by the community with the participation of various
stake-holders. Third, a phenology calendar may play an essential role as an open book forthe public. Sharing heritage information contributes to disaster prevention. With theawareness that information panels on buildings are not enough to disseminate information,
the community should be encouraged to take more active involvement in heritage
preservation.
Two more things, networking of experts and budget support system for conservationof cultural heritage, should be implemented mainly by the municipality. The number ofarchitects who can assess the historical background of buildings is limited, so a
networking of experts at the regional, national and international levels is needed fordamage assessment when a disaster occurs. For example, a damage assessment of heritage50

via information sharing is able to be conducted in urgent situations owing to the close
relationship among ICOMOS, UNESCO, and academics at the local, national andinternational levels. The economic factors of conservation are also an urgent matter in thewake of a disaster. Many cases in the past show how quickly building owners decide to
demolish their buildings after a disaster when they receive an estimate of the cost of
keeping the affected building.
The first three activities should be conducted at the initiative of the local community.
It means people discovering their values and heritage, making a list of them, and sharing
information with others. The latter two activities could be led by the municipality in theform of support for economic factors and a system to support owners.
3 Tourism, Regional Development and Conservation of Heritage
3.1 Cultural Identity and its Consumption in Tourism
Presentation by Dr. LI Fei showed us that complicated interaction between ethnic identity
and its consumption through case of Zangyin in China. China is a multi-ethnic country
and the study revealed how historical cross-ethnic interaction was happened, especiallyfor “Inner Otherness” and “Han and non-Han”. In contemporary China, sometimes
ethnicity was described as Han or non-Han, and it was consumed by tourism industry.
How tradition have been invented and how the majority is constructed as the non-minority.
Case of Zangyin gave us very important tips to understand multi-ethnic country China.
Chinese government officially categorizes 56 Ethnic groups, and commodity in Tourism
industry contributes to cast or reinforce its boundary, and the boundary is controlled. How
is it about religious issues on Zangyin? Zangyin was an example of minority but how
about relationship between ethnic identity and religion, Han and another Han in China?
For instance, Hui people in Kunming.
3.2 Regional Sustainable Development Through Indigenous Knowledge
Dr. Vicente Diaz’s presentation provided us very detailed information on projects for
Carolinian regional sustainable development. Correlation between sustainability andtraditional knowledge, how people think about culture, “indigenous cultural alterity”,“radical difference”, and “cultural density”. What is revitalization of culture? Case of
Milan is interesting because of its motivation and process. People seek to learn seafaring
culture because they think it could be their base to con-tract identity as Chuukese for their
future.
Finally, what kind of role can university play to conserve intangible heritage?
Presented projects are closely worked with locals, and participants from university and it
is not limited on researchers and professors. How university can contribute to regionalsustainable development as academics or institutes of higher education?
3.3 Conservation of Language and Culture
Revitalization from disaster for tangible heritage could be different from revitalization ofculture. Also it is necessary to examine the potency of tourism in revitalization process,both in revitalization of tangible and intangible heritage. City of Padang was affected byearthquake in 2009 and the case showed how local community made a decision on theirregional development or they could not, in view of the circumstances. The city is locatedin a multi-ethnic country, Indonesia, and the historic area of Padang could be perceived51

as a symbol of multi-ethnic area based on historical background during Dutch colonial
period.
4 Padang as Kawasan Cagar Budaya (Cultural Heritage Region)
Since the earthquake in 2009, Japanese experts on cultural heritage have collaborated
with Balai Penelitian Cagar Budaya Batusangkar (BPCB Batusangkar: Research Centerfor Cultural Heritage, Batsusangkar), the provincial government of West Sumatra, thecity government of Padang, Andalas University, and Bung Hatta University. Reports ofresearch have been published in Indonesian, English and Japanese, 3 and several
workshops have been held in Padang from 2010 to 2017. 4 The research revealed thecharacteristics of the historical district of Padang, examined how the utilization of spaceby residents has changed, and clarified the transition of the townscape after theearthquake. This section shows these results and discusses the values of Padang as
Kawasan Cagar Budaya, cultural heritage region.
4.1 History of Padang and its Residents
Padang was a small fishing village that developed rapidly after the construction of a fort
by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) around 1666. There are several studies about
the history of Padang. 5 The studies reveal how the townscape of Padang developed fromthe early 19th century until today. The oldest map illustrating the city of Padang was
drawn during the British Empire and shows the original appearance of the town with thefortress constructed by the VOC. The fortress was destroyed under British occupation.
After the Dutch colonial government was reinstated in Padang, it sold a block of thefortress to the local community and built official facilities, a city hall, a market, andmilitary bases in the north. 6 It is said that current shophouses in Padang show theinfluence of two Dutch local rules around this period: 1) the alignment of houses along
the street and 2) the prohibition of grass roofs. 7
The Minangkabau are the major ethnic group in West Sumatra, but a variety of otherethnic groups also live in Padang, the provincial capital. There are the Minangkabau,
Batak, Nias, Java, Tamir, Chinese, and others. Khaerunnisa’s research in 2013 revealedchanges to buildings and their uses before and after the earthquake in 2009. 8 I also
conducted semi-structural interviews with the residents of 35 buildings in September
2012 and 2013, November 2014 and August 2017, in collaboration with students ofAndalas University and Bung Hatta University. 9 These interviews and field works
revealed three important features of community in Padang: logistics hub, land ownership,and social ties among residents. Firstly, the historic area of Padang, especially aroundPasar Hillir Street and Pasar Batipuh Street, is a logistics hub in the province. Manybuildings are used as warehouses. This is why the daytime population on these streets islarger compared to the nighttime population. In these streets, the floating population,
3(UNESCO 2010)(NRICP Tokyo 2012)(NRICP Tokyo 2013)(NRICP Tokyo 2011)(NRICP Tokyo 2016)5(Colombijn 1994)(Colombijn 1996)(Zaidulfar 2002)
6(Colombijn 1994)(Colombijn 1996)(Zaidulfar 2002)
7(Colombijn 1996)
8(Khaerunnisa 2013)9(Tashiro, Takeuchi, Wakita and Wongso 2019)452

including drivers, day employees and officers, is the majority, and this makes it difficult
for residents to recognize the area as “their” area. Secondly, landownership of the historicarea of Padang is complicated. There are more renters along Pasar Hillir Street and Pasar
Mudik Street than along Niaga Street, Klenteng Street and Pasar Batipuh Street. Owners
often live outside of the historic area and rent out their building over various rental
periods, from short periods to long periods, or from a few months to more than 20 years.
Finally, social ties among residents are stronger than geographically based ties along thestreets. The Himpunan Bersat Teguh or Heng Beng Tong, hereafter, HBT, and Hok Tek
Tong, hereafter HTT, are the oldest Chinese organizations in the historic area of Padang.
Family organizations such as the Lim, Lee (Kwee/Lie), Tan (Tang), Huang (W-I/Oei),
Tjoa (Kwa/Chua), Gho (Go), Ong, and Kho existed as of 2017. Additionally, religious
networks of Muslims and Christians are also observed. These residents do not have astrong sense of community based on geographical ties.
4.2 Damage and Changes After the Earthquake in 2009
Takeuchi and Funo conducted a survey on building types in the historic area of Padang. 10
Large private buildings and non-residential buildings such as storages, offices, andfactories are gathered along Batang Arau Street. There are many Chinese facilities,
including a temple, funeral facilities, assembly halls for family organizations, two-story
shophouses, and three- and four-story warehouses and birdhouses in the block of theformer VOC fort and along Klenteng Street, the T-shaped street running toward the northand east ends of the block. A continuous row of two-story shophouses stretches to thenorth along Niaga Street. The shophouses form the commercial area of the historic areaof Padang.

10(UNESCO 2010)53

Figure 1. Distribution map of damaged buildings in 2009 [UNESCO 2010]
Figure 1 shows damaged buildings by earthquake in 2009. From 2009 to 2017,
Japanese experts continued their survey and classified the changes into 4 levels of damage
to the buildings: small-scale repair including painting of the exterior walls, large-scale
repair to remove construction materials or exterior walls, the level that requires
rebuilding, and the level that requires demolishing. 11 The continuous study revealed somecharacteristic changes in the historic area of Padang by tracking each level of damage,especially the three levels of large-scale repair, rebuilding and demolishing.
4.3 Padang as a Historic Area, Kawasan Cagar Budaya
As a result of research for a decade, several suggestions are made. 12 In 2010, the law for
cultural heritage in Indonesia was revised, and a new category called “Kawasan”(Region/Area) was established. In Padang, buildings in the historic area are preserved
without considering design, building volume and use, because of the local code of thecity to preserve the facade of buildings. First, it is necessary for the municipality andowners to share a common understanding of the significance of the attractive historic
townscape. A revised code and a guideline for its operation should be prepared that also
includes provisions regarding support systems such as a tax reduction and budget support
for restoration. In Padang, residents’ ties are based on social and religious ties and not on
geographical ties. Most of the residents recognize the area as Kawasan Kuno or Kota Tua
but not as Kawasan Cagar Budaya. Geographical ties at the street level would be
11
12(Tashiro, Takeuchi, Wakita and Wongso 2019)(Ibid.)
54

encouraged if common understanding on Kawasan Cagar Budaya is shared amongresidents and various municipal divisions. Also, conservation by law at the national levelis still limited to buildings today, but it is necessary to also designate areas for futureconservation. Finally, function replacement and space division were seen most frequently
in the historic area of Padang, and showed how people continue to use historic buildings
to match their changes in circumstance. At present, residents do not have any adequate
techniques for the restoration on historic buildings as part of Kawasan Cagar Budaya, so
it is necessary to formulate restoration or reinforcement guidelines for historic buildings
and disseminate them among residents.
5 Conclusion
Through past disasters, people have learned various lessons in safety. Conservation ofcultural heritage is one such lesson that has been recognized as necessary through pastexperience. Not everything can be conserved as heritage, so people select their heritage
according to their values. Values, however, change with time and also by nation orsociety. Disasters prompt people to think about what kind of heritage they have and what
they should hand over to the next generation. Cultural heritage such as Kawasan Cagar
Budaya is prone to be seriously affected by disaster and could easily disappear.
Townscapes are a type of heritage that shows how the local community has created theirliving environment in coexistence with nature. Revitalization could be achieved only if
the entire local community comes together in selecting, recognizing, and sharing
understanding that their townscape is their heritage. It is the local community that is
responsible for creating, maintaining, and handing over their heritage to the future.
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Colombijn, F. (1994). Patches of Padang, The History of an Indonesian Town in the Twentieth Century
and the Use of Urban Space. Research School CNWS
De Steurs, H.J.J.L. Ridder. (1849). De Vestiging en Uitbreding der Nederlanders ter Westkust van Sumatra,
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Hobsbawn, Eric. and Terence Ranger. eds. (1983). The Invention of Tradition, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
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Khaerunnisa. (2013). Kajian Mengenai Kerentanana Rumah dan Ruko Cagar Budaya oleh Pemilik Rumah
pada di Kota Lama Padang Terhadap Pembangunan Kembali Pasca Gempa 2009. Report on
Conservation and Rehabilitation for Historic Area of Padang, pp. 39-50. NRICP Tokyo
Mitsui, Wataru (2012). “Things which we can do before and after disaster”, Nomura, S. and Koresawa N.
(eds.) Disaster, Space and History: Theories of Architectural Preservation and Regeneration in Japan,
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Murosaki, Yoshiteru. (2016). “Natural Disaster Recovery and Tourism Creation”, in Nishiyama, N.
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National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. (2013). Report on Conservation andRehabilitation for Historic Area of Padang. NRICP Tokyo.
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Tashiro, A. Takeuchi, Y. Wakita, Y. and Wongso, Jonny. (2019). Conservation and Rehabilitation ofHistoric Urban Landscapes as Kawasan Cagar Budaya: Case in Padang, West Sumatra. 5th ISTEcSIndonesia
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56

The Museums as New Industry and Utilizing Intangible Cultural
Properties
Hideki Yoshihara
Biratori Town Office, Hokkaido, Japan
Around the early 1980s, the phrase “it is being lost” typically accompanied any
discussion of Ainu culture. In April 2019, the “Act on Promoting Measures to Realizea Society in Which the Pride of the Ainu People is Respected” (the Ainu PromotionAct) was established. Intended as a national effort to promote measures and policies
related to the Ainu people, it encompasses not only the conventional aspects of welfare
and culture, but also extends to fields such as regional and industrial development,
tourism, international exchange, environmental conservation, etc. In conjunction with
this, efforts are being made with a sense of urgency towards the opening of the National
Ainu Museum and the National Ainu Park in April 2020. In my own experience, one
landmark event emphasizing the importance of change, at least in the Biratori region,
was when “Ainu traditional dance” was designated as an Important Intangible Cultural
Property in 1984. Changing and deepening people’s awareness of intangible culturalproperties, including initiatives related to iwor (traditional living spaces) development
plans, encourages them to act and transform the face of a region. Museum systems havecome to play a crucial role in this process. In this forum, I would like to offer commentsfrom the perspective that museum work should be further broadened and developed.
Keywords: Ainu culture, Tourism, Museum

1 Introduction
Iramkarapte! The town of Biratori, where I work as a local government official, is now
often introduced as a municipality that works hard on Ainu-related policies and measuresamong the municipalities in Hokkaido. One of the characteristics of the town’s efforts topromote Ainu culture is its emphasis on museums, such as the Biratori Town Nibutani
Ainu Culture Museum. Underlying the town’s strategy is the “Iwor Project”, which aims
to establish the entire region as a field museum, using the actual museums as pillars.
The project was named after the Ainu word iwor, which means land and space thathave supported traditional Ainu living. In the areas of administration, it is often translated
as “traditional living space”. The “Iwor Project” is designed as a project to creatively
revive and develop iwor in contemporary environments. This is an initiative positioned
as one of the pillars of Ainu policy, prior to the “Symbolic Space for Ethnic Harmony”,
which includes National Ainu Museum and National Ainu Park, which are being
constructed by the Japanese government in Shiraoi Town, Hokkaido.
In this paper, I will introduce, as one of the important cases, the 21st Century Forest
for Ainu Cultural Tradition Project, which the town of Biratori in the Hidaka Region,
Hokkaido, has worked on since 2012 in cooperation with the Hokkaido Forest
Administration Bureau and the Biratori Ainu Association. I believe this project is one of
the tasks necessary to make the new Ainu policy more concrete and richer, as the Japanese57government admits the mistakes of its previous policy and is making a transition. I want
you to understand that these tasks are being implemented with reference to and carefulconsideration of the “Project to Preserve Ainu Culture and Its Environment”, which
Biratori has worked on with great support from the Hokkaido Regional Development
Bureau, the “Project to Establish Traditional Living Spaces (Iwor)” by the Foundation for
Ainu Culture, and the “Project for the Preservation of Cultural Landscapes” that has been
implemented by Biratori in recent years with guidance and support from the Agency for
Cultural Affairs.
This paper is based on the presentation I made at the International Researchers Forum.
The main theme of the forum was “Perspectives of Research for Intangible Cultural
Heritage towards a Sustainable Society”, and the theme of the first session wascommunity development. To address these themes, I was planning to discuss thedesignation of traditional Ainu dance as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property,
which was a significant turning point for intangible cultural heritage in the Biratori region,
with a focus on the history, current status, and future prospects of the initiatives related
to their preservation and use. For various reasons, however, what I discussed during thesession was more about the Iwor Project and the 21st Century Forest for Ainu Cultural
Tradition Project. One of the reasons was that the new Ainu policy took a rapid and an
unexpected turn, and I had to spend several hours day and night from months before theforum to update the 21st Century Forest for Ainu Cultural Tradition Project and the Iwor
Project. However, the new findings and lessons learned from these efforts were valuable.
Thus, I thought they would not contradict the themes of the research forum initially set
up, or rather, that they would serve the same purpose. This will be discussed and expanded
upon in the Conclusion. While introducing the cases in which I was involved, I will also
highlight some criticisms concerning the three reports presented during Session 1.
2 Museums as a New Industry
Facilities related to cultural assets and cultural resources are concentrated in the Nibutani
area in Biratori, such as the Biratori Town Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum, the Sarugawa
Museum of History, and the Ainu Culture Information Centre of Biratori (serving also as
an arts and crafts gallery). This area where these facilities are located has been developed
collectively as Nibutani Kotan. Kotan is a word that means “village”. The town has spent
about 30 years establishing this cluster of museums. The use of cultural heritages ischanging the face of the Nibutani area, and has become the image for the entire town of
Biratori.
Mayor Mitsuru Kawakami of Biratori often uses keywords to introduce thecharacteristics of the town, such as “rich nature”, “delicious tomatoes and wagyu beef”,
and “Ainu culture that defines the characteristics of the area”. Yukara, a hot springs
accommodation facility that opened in 2014, has been successful. This facility is
characterised by the use of Ainu designs in both the interior and the exterior.
Activities have been implemented actively in various areas of culture and tourism,
built around Nibutani Kotan, which is, in a sense, a collective and encompassing museum
itself (in the broad sense I have been propounding). There are over 40 people working inthis area, and the number is increasing. Working at a museum is becoming one of thegreat “vocations” in a town with a population of just 5,000. This is one of the reasons I
call this presentation “Museums as a New Industry”.

58Table 1 shows what kind of changes were seen in every decade from the 1970s to thepresent. I hope you will understand why I use the phrase “museums as a new industry”.
Table 1. Summary: the history of community (place / ethnic community)
1970’s:“Recognition for re-ethnic history and culture”<case> Opening of Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum (1972)
1980’s: “Protect the tradition, inherit the future”<case> Specified Ainu dances were designated as important forkcultural property (1984)
1990’s: “Inheritance of Ainu traditional culture”<case> “Act on the Promotion of Ainu Culture” (1997)
2000’s: “The independent-minded participation of residents including Ainu andpartnership with the experts”<cases> The start of ”Survey of Environmental preservation of Ainu
culture” and “iwor development projects”
2010’s : “Expansion and deepening of inheritance and Promotion of Ainu
Culture”<case> “Basic plan on Ainu cultural promotion in Biratori Town"(2011)*Practical activities, research and survey of Ainu culture Saru basin, the ethnic
Ainu. In each period of history surrounding the culture, has been presented the“standard” one.
The 1970’s “Recognition for re-ethnic history and culture”
The 1970s was a period when the perception toward Ainu history and culture wasrenewed. An important Ainu ritual involving bears called iomante was reproduced, whichraised ethnic consciousness and confidence in young people. An excellent documentary
was produced by the Centre for Ethnological Visual Documentation (Iomante, Centre forEthnological Visual Documentation, 1977), which became a valuable reference for later
generations. Behind this was the opening of the Nibutani Museum of Ainu Cultural
Resources (currently the Kayano Shigeru Nibutani Ainu Museum) in 1972.
The 1980’s “Protect the tradition, inherit the future”
The 1980s is a period when the expression “protect the tradition and hand it down to the
future” came out and was embraced in the Biratori region. Ainu dance was designated as
an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property by the government (the Ministry of
Education, Science, Sports and Culture). Dance is an area that still draws the highest
numbers of people. Various types of activities are now seen, including an effort toreproduce traditional dancing from old videos and audio recordings. The government”sinvolvement led to a positive and major shift, which is worth praising.
The 1990’s “Inheritance of Ainu traditional culture”“Modern inheritance of traditional Ainu culture” is the concept of the Biratori Town
Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum, which opened in 1991. Instead of a nostalgic mindset

59

for merely inheriting things from previous ages, it is a message that we want to inherit
things from the past by reflecting on current circumstances and adding creativity.
Meanwhile, 1993 was proclaimed the International Year of the World’s Indigenous
People by the United Nations. A large-scale international forum was held in Nibutani,
Biratori. This forum was held for a second time in 2005, and a third time in 2019. In 1997,
the Act on the Promotion of Ainu Culture and Dissemination and Enlightenment ofKnowledge about Ainu Tradition, etc. (abbreviated as “Act on the Promotion of Ainu
Culture”) was established. In the same year, the Sapporo district court ruled that theconstruction of the Nibutani dam was illegal. The ruling became final because neither theplaintiff nor the defendant filed an appeal.
The 2000’s “The independent-minded participation of residents including Ainu andPartnership with the experts”

Entering the new millennium, the Iwor Project, along the Saru River Basin, was put
together and became the foundational strategy for preserving and using cultural heritagein Biratori and promoting Ainu culture. This is a project for trying to creatively
reconstruct Ainu traditional living space (iwor) at the right spot along the Saru River
Basin. Seven places in Hokkaido were selected for the establishment of iwor. The national
museum and the park collectively called “Symbolic Space for Ethnic Harmony”, which
is now under construction in the town of Shiraoi, can be seen as one of the developed
styles of this iwor-related initiative.
In the case of Biratori, this iwor-related project was established based on acomprehensive investigation of the Saru River Basin that was carried out by a team ofresearchers led by Seiichi Izumi, a great cultural anthropologist and folklorist. The highly
specialised field investigation by researchers led to a re-evaluation of Ainu traditions andtheir active inheritance.
The 2010’s “Expansion and deepening of inheritance and Promotion of Ainu
Culture”
In 2010, the Basic Plan for the Promotion of Ainu Culture in Biratori was put together.
There are still very few local governments and municipalities developing these basic
plans to promote Ainu culture. This basic plan is renewed every 10 years. Right now, theplan for the next decade is being discussed.
The Act on Promoting Measures to Realize a Society in Which the Pride of the Ainu
People is Respected (the Ainu Policy Promotion Act) was established in April 2019 andcame into force in May. It was designed to expand the areas where Ainu-related measures
are taken and to use the budget to drive such measures. The Symbolic Space for Ethnic
Harmony centred around the national museum and the park, Upopoy 1, which is scheduled
to open on April 24 of this year.
When Nibutani Kotan is compared with the Symbolic Space for Ethnic Harmony
established by the national government, there are many similarities in the functions andthe roles of the facilities within the “space” as well as in the entire structure. I am not the
only person to point this out—many of others have said so as well. Is this a coincidence,or was one modelled after the other? The one established first was of course Nibutani
Kotan in the Biratori region. Setting aside which came first, I would like to see this1

Website introducing Upopoy: https://ainu-upopoy.jp/
60phenomenon as evidence that such museum-like facilities are essential for the people andculture of Ainu and their future.
Biratori is actively working on preservation and use in terms of landscape andenvironment, because the core idea is that they are an infrastructure essential for theregeneration and promotion of the culture. This idea has been demonstrated and stressedas the various efforts have been made. Practices implemented based on this philosophy
has brought about great achievements in the medium- to long-term. I want to remind youof this point.
3 Interpretation of “Multicultural Layers” in the Landscape
In Section 3, I would like to introduce the efforts related to the cultural landscape in
Biratori. The “cultural landscape” is a relatively new concept, which was defined in the
Act on Protection of Cultural Properties of Japan (amended in 2004). In 2007, The“Cultural Landscape of the Saru River Basin Based on Ainu Tradition and Modern
Reclamation” was designated by the national government (the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) as the third important cultural landscape inJapan, the first in Hokkaido. “Multicultural layers” is the key concept here. Currently,
preparations are being made towards the selection of the fourth landscape.

Figure 1. Concept of Multi-layered Cultural Elements Characterizing the CulturalLandscape of the Sarugawa River Basin
Figure 1 is the revised version I made based on the conceptual scheme 2 listed on p.
236 of the 2017 Hokkaido Biratori Town report of its investigation of the culturallandscape and the natural environment in Biratori. The names of the periods given to eachstratum of the layered original version have been changed to expressions that are moresuited for the intentions of this figure (tentative). It is “an extremely valuable cultural2

The scheme listed in the report itself was created based on Yoshihara’s opinions and arough original drawing.
61

landscape that shows the multicultural layers according to land use for agriculture andforestry after the reclamation period, while retaining the elements of the Ainu culture to
the present day”, according to the press release provided by the Agency for Cultural
Affairs upon its selection as an Important Cultural Landscape (official website, May
2007). The description by the Agency for Cultural Affairs simply illustrates thecharacteristics and values of Saru River Basin’s cultural landscape, but this conceptual
scheme has been updated several times to make it easier to understand.
There are several elements comprising the landscape in the areas that Biratoripresented to the Agency for Cultural Affairs as important cultural landscape and wereselected as such. Due to editorial restrictions, I would like to introduce one of them thatcharacterises the region’s “multicultural stratification”.
How does the landscape photo of a herd of cows eating grass show “multiculturallayering”, which is the characteristic of the landscape of this region? What kind of
phenomenon is the “multicultural layering” in this area? Below, let me explain using
Figure 1.
Production of wagyu beef became a full-scale operation in the 1960s in Biratori. The
pasturing of horses and cows began in the early days in the Memu and Toyonuka areas.
The Biratori Livestock Corporation is now based in Memu. What led the area to thepasturing of horses and cows was the production of war horses that began in the 1900s.
This history is related to large clusters of lilies of the valley, which spreads near the
pasture field owned by the town, where the photo was taken. Horses and cows were
pastured on the land originally suited for lilies of the valley. Because they do not eat liliesof the valley, which are poisonous, this cluster was left uneaten and became densely
distributed.
In contrast to the Ainu Policy Act established in 2019 we can see that the period inlayers A and B are nature-sided phenomena that occurred in this area in modern andcontemporary times. These changes in environment and landscape are the process and theresult of the leadership from people of Wa descent who moved from outside of Hokkaido
and became stronger. What should be noted here is the fact that people of Ainu descenttried very hard to adapt to the modern and contemporary age, at least in the Hidaka area,
including Biratori and the neighbouring Iburi. These efforts have often been seen, rather
one-sidedly, as a superficial assimilation to society of the Wa people. However, if we use
more aggressive expressions, it should be regarded as a participation or contribution tomodernisation that took place in the form of “reclamation”. If we only see the two terms“Ainu tradition” and “modern reclamation” as used in the name given when it was
selected as a cultural landscape, “Cultural Landscape of the Saru River Basin Based on
Ainu Tradition and Modern Reclamation”, the story of this region may become too
simplified and may be misunderstood. Furthermore, we might overlook the current effortsof the people in this area who are trying to inherit “Ainu tradition” in a contemporary
fashion and envision the future where multiple ethnic groups and multiple cultures coexist.
Let me explain a little more in association with Table 1 and the Ainu Policy Act
established in 2019 by taking a look at Layers C and D in Figure 1. These layers represent
legendary or local places that are believed to go back to early modern and medieval times
in the Japanese history, which are scattered in various places in the mountains behind therangeland for cattle. These include rocky hills used for prayers called cino-mi-sir (“themountain where we pray”). One of the important points of controversy during the62Nibutani dam litigation, whose verdict was finalized in 1997, was this cino-mi-sir, which
was considered one of the historical legacies showing the high cultural value of the area.

Figure 2. Rangeland in front of the Mountains Where Many Cino-mi-sir are
Located. Rangeland Located near Photo A. Flatland on the River Terrace isUsed for Grazing Cows and Horses. Location: Memu, Biratori Town (viewfrom the left bank of Nukabira River). Date: July, 2017
Additionally, there is a place containing a buried cultural property (ruins) of theSatsumon and Jomon cultures times the rangeland. The recent archaeologicalinvestigations and studies have revealed that greenstones called aotora were distributed
widely as superior materials from which to make stone axes in the Jomon period. The
aotora material can be collected only in the Saru River Basin in Hokkaido. More than halfof the stone axes from the Jomon period excavated from the famous great SannaiMaruyama ruins in Aomori Prefecture are made with this aotora. Gaining further
scientific knowledge has allowed us to see that there were interactions between various
people, which are dynamic even within each layer of the figure. I would like to stress that“multicultural layering” does not simply mean an overlap of multiple layers.
4 A New Phase in Culture and the Environment: The Use of State-Owned Forests
As mentioned earlier, new legislation was put together recently for Ainu policy. The Ainu
Policy Promotion Act came into force in May 2019. In these important times, government
officials in Biratori are hoping and expecting that a cluster of appropriate and effective
Ainu policies will be formed, as they have faced and worked on various relevant measures
every day from the municipal standpoint of the area where many Ainu people live. They
also believe that they should also contribute to realising various measures and enhancing
their effectiveness by making sure the policies to be formed would reflect the will of thelocal Ainu people and by participating in some way.

63

In the first section, I will introduce the 21st Century Forest for Ainu Cultural Tradition
Project, which I believe is the most important of these efforts, and will discuss its aims. I
am deeply involved in these efforts in a professional capacity. And I think it is meaningful
to discuss this to prepare for and respond to speculations and criticisms from theadministrative perspective, as well as from the academic standpoint.
(1A) The aims of the 21st Century Forest for Ainu Cultural Tradition Project: The
significance of the strengthening and expansion of the project implementation
structure
When the 21st Century Forest for Ainu Cultural Tradition revitalisation project
undertaken in Biratori, Hokkaido was proposed by the Hokkaido Forest Administration
Bureau in 2012, and the agreement was concluded the following year (see the excerpt at
the right), people engaging with the Ainu people and culture had high hopes for the future,
because the philosophies set out and the proposed ideas were extremely sincere andappropriate.
However, it has not moved ahead with the scale and speed originally expected,
unfortunately. This is because a promotion system aligned with the intent of the project
could not be formed, and frankly, the budget for it could not be secured. While various
measures and projects remain in such a state, we are hoping that newly planned legislative
measures related to Ainu policy would promote these efforts strongly and smoothly. They
should be planned and formed as such. This proposal, consisting of eight areas startingwith 1A and 1B, is designed to upgrade the projects undertaken in agreement with the
Biratori Ainu Association, Biratori Town, and the Hokkaido Forest Administration
Bureau, using new grant systems and the system of common forests, upon theestablishment and enforcement of the Ainu Policy Promotion Act.
(1B) Expansion of space where the Kotan-kor-kamuy (Blakiston’s fish owl) can makeits habitat sustainably
Kotan-kor-kamuy in Ainu is the name of the god who controls the village. Kotan-korkamuy is often seen as a species that lives deep in the mountains. However, they used tolive near human dwellings and were relatively close to us.
This Kotan-kor-kamuy is used as the symbol of the 21st Century Forest for Ainu
Cultural Tradition Project. This has a great significance, because expanding the space
where Kotan-kor-kamuy can make their habitat sustainably means that one of the issues
raised in this document is going in the right direction toward resolution.
Considering in detail the measures to “expand the space” will be a core agenda in thenext step. It has the following two pillars here: preserving the environment of the space
itself from a long-term perspective, and swiftly implementing each measure that is provento be effective. Both of these should be combined to realise the goal effectively.
(2) Formation of an Iwor-style multilayered forest: A large-scale testing site forvarious forest preservation theories and techniques
Through the 21st Century Forest for Ainu Cultural Tradition Project, as well as various
initiatives undertaken previously by the town of Biratori such as the Project to Preserve
Ainu Culture and Its Environment, the Project to Establish the Traditional Living Space(Iwor), and the Project for the Preservation of Cultural Landscapes, people involved have64

felt there is a diversity of images, theories, and methods of forest preservation. Even when
we talk about rejuvenating the “traditional forests that developed Ainu culture”, there arevarious perspectives as to what to do next.
In Biratori, the image of the forest they want to build has been called an “Iwor-stylemultilayered forest”. However, there has not been a common understanding on this idea
itself. However, we cannot simply try each forest preservation theory one by one, because
forest preservation takes a long span of time. I believe we should study various forest
preservation theories and techniques simultaneously while building a large-testing site in
the Saru River Basin for upgrading skills and promoting usage and human cultivation.
(3) Inheritance of the materials and techniques used in Ainu tools (“places” where
tangible and intangible cultural properties are combined): The preservation andusage of forests as “places”
One of the things that should be used as an important clue when implementing the forest
preservation initiatives mentioned in the previous section is the traditional everyday tools
as shown in the slide extracted from Ainu no mingu, written by Shigeru Kayano. Most ofthem are made with by-products of “traditional forests where Ainu culture developed”,
and they supported a highly sustainable living based on the use of the forests.
These tools are designated “important tangible folk cultural properties” of Japan as “acollection of Ainu livelihood tools in Nibutani and the surrounding areas in Hokkaido”.
The techniques for making them and the knowledge system should be preserved as“folklore techniques”. Additionally, dancing, which established the use of animals andplants as motifs are designated “important intangible folk cultural properties” of Japanand are registered in the list of “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of
Humanity”.
The entire forest selected as an “important cultural landscape” is seen as an important
cultural resource. This is connected deeply with the issue of preservation and its usage asa field museum.
(4) The setting up of space where the modern inheritance of traditional Ainu hunting
culture is tested and implemented: Support for those who try to live today as Ainu
hunters
In Biratori, there are young people who seek to live as hunters as they inherit theknowledge on traditional Ainu hunting and its techniques. There are not many, but
providing strong support for these people is important both culturally and economically.
There has not been much progress in recent years in terms of domains related toanimals, particularly hunting, compared to various activities related to plants, while
movement toward inheritance and promotion of Ainu culture is becoming more active.
However, I believe putting effort into these domains and investing in them will have agreat ripple effect on other areas, including food culture.
For example, deer can be eaten as meat, and its horns, bones, and skins can be used asmaterials for handicrafts (deer are simply discarded and eradicated when they are deemedharmful). It can be a step for establishing a complex industry that covers wide areas,
including the development of unique cooking, processing, and selling methods withhigher added values, which can also contribute to tourism.

65

(5) Promotion of collaboration with privately owned forests such as Mitsui forests
and town-owned forests: International forest certification and its application andusage
International forest certification systems are becoming more popular. There, respecting
the rights of indigenous people is one of the principles that must be complied with. For
example, Mitsui & Co. has obtained FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certification for
its 12,129-hectare forest in Biratori. FSC defines negotiations with the relevant
indigenous people, a guarantee of traditional rights, the identification of important places,
the protection of intellectual properties, etc., as criteria and requirements for certification.
Following Mitsui, Oji Paper Co. and Nippon Paper Industries Co. have concluded
agreements with the Biratori Ainu Association and the town of Biratori after priorconsultation on the premise that they would acquire international forest certifications.
This should be seen as a positive trend for Ainu people and culture. There are many
issues, both on the side of the Ainu people and on the side of the region, that need followthrough, with the principle of FPIC (free, prior, and informed consent) emphasised incertification processes, to create a viable system for implementing preservation measuresand monitoring based on consent, and to realise and maintain a win-win relationship. In
this respect, Biratori is expected to be a model for other areas. Thus, the town should
consider how to accommodate it as a new business.
(6) Preservation of the cultural landscape and the environment as a comprehensive
framework: Investigation, research, and countermeasures that conform to thestandards of world heritages and geoparks
Hokkaido has a long and deep history. This is evident from the large number ofarchaeological and folklore materials available as well as the written documents that havebeen left, although there are not many in terms of the number compared to areas south of
the Tsugaru Channel.
However, the modern and contemporary social environments, especially the disrespect
for the existence of Ainu people and their history and culture, have made it difficult to
see this. Even so-called intellectuals sometimes make public statements as if Hokkaido
has a short and shallow history.
Biratori’s initiatives related to the cultural landscape and the environment spanningover a decade have led us to illustrate the shifts in history and culture using the layered
structure, as shown in the figure 1, and to give new values to the idea of “multiculturallayering”. These achievements have been made by referring to the trends in research andstudies of world heritage sites.
Going forward, we should continue investigations, research, and countermeasures that
conform to the standards of the domains, such as world heritage sites, geoparks, andnational (nature) parks. I believe they should elicit the potential of the initiatives
undertaken in this region, and further enhance their sustainability and evolvability.
(7) Development of a new industry (a place for earning a living and making acontribution) using Ainu culture and forests: Setting up a large-scale field museum
One of the characteristics of the Ainu-related measures undertaken by Biratori Town isthe creation of a cluster of museums (in the broad sense of the word) to inherit and revive
the culture and make it the foundation or infrastructure for regional promotion. This is an66

idea in common with the Saru River Basin Iwor Project, which is designed to use a wide
area as a place for inheriting and developing Ainu culture.
Many of today’s events and cases indicate that “culture” is indeed linked to various
industries and creates them. In the case of Biratori, the primary method for mediating andfacilitating these activities was to set up a cluster of museums, which I believe is aneffective strategy from a long-term perspective.
This positions the wide-area forest space as a field (on-site) museum, while preserving
the environment and resources and using it as a place for Ainu people to earn a living andmake active contributions. A social attempt to this end is worth investing the cost it
deserves.
A Summary of Section 4, and Future Tasks
Figure 3 shows the structure of the Project to Preserve Ainu Culture and Its Environment,
which the town of Biratori has worked on since 2003. A similar framework was alreadyestablished in the 21st Century Forest for Ainu Cultural Tradition Project as well. Thereis no room for detailed discussion here, but there are very few similar cases, and the factthat projects with so many problems have survived this far with this structure proves thatit has a certain validity.
I understand that the important point from now on is to form an implementation groupto serve as a core for research and countermeasures through the active participation of
local people, including the Ainu people; to form a series of legislations for implementing
various initiatives strongly and smoothly; and to secure budgets for supporting them.

Figure 3. Basic Concept of System of Ainu Culture and Environment
Conservation Project67

People in Biratori, including myself, believe that this type of project, which can be
deployed in a wide river and forest space, can lead to the creation of new “industries” or“vocations” if it proceeds appropriately, and can be a high synergistic initiative that canserve as a base for human cultivation. This has been verified to a certain extent by the
Project to Preserve Ainu Culture and Its Environment that has been undertaken for the
past 15 years, as described earlier. It would be desirable to further develop the river-based
initiative and establish and expand a series of flexible and aggressive laws and projects
that can be deployed in other areas, such as forests. In this sense, the Project to Preserve
Ainu Culture and Its Environment that has been implemented in the Biratori region in thefield of culture and environment is now entering a new phase now in which it can use avast space in the state-owned forest.
5 The Mentality of Those Who Work on the Preservation and Use of Cultural
Heritages
In Section 5, I will offer my impressions and opinions of the presentations given by threemembers in Session 1 and give an overview of what I found helpful in light of my own
tasks. Upon doing so, I will introduce the projects that I have been involved in. I will alsooffer my views while considering this forum’s theme, “Perspectives of Research for
Intangible Cultural Heritage—Towards a Sustainable Society”.
There were three presentations in Session 1.
Presenter 1: Lourdes Z. Hinampas, National Commission for Culture and Art, The
Philippines: “Safeguarding Endangered Language as a Component of Community
Development: A Case of Hudhud Chants”
Presenter 2: Li Fei, Sichuan University, China: “Casting Ethnicity into Material:
Cultural Identity and Tourism Consumption of Zangyin (Tibetan Silver) in Southwest
China”
Presenter 3: Vicente M, Diaz, University of Minnesota, USA: “Sustaining Seafaring
and Island Research at a Time of Rising Seas, Sinking Islands, and Settler Colonial
Knowledge Production”
All of them offered very fine studies, analysis, and discussion worth noting during theforum; discussions that have been brushed up are included in this report of their papers,
which I would like to read thoroughly and urge you to do the same. As mentioned earlier,
I would like to present the following five points to remember when utilising cultural
heritages for “community development”.
(1) A multifaceted and comprehensive approach
I would like to stress the importance of taking a multifaceted and comprehensive approachas much as possible when exploring where the problems lie and seeking their solutions. I
would like to introduce the case of the Project to Preserve Ainu Culture and Its
Environment as a project I worked on. This is a case involving assessments and68mitigations (preservation measures) for river development—particularly dam
construction. 3
In this project, investigations have been conducted in various fields, including spiritual
culture (the traditional view of nature and religious beliefs included), nature (especiallyrivers) environment, the use of animals and plants, food culture, education, and the namesof places in Ainu language, to implement preservation measures.
(2) Seeing the concept of culture broadly and flexibly
Next, I would like to remind you that seeing the concept of “culture” broadly and flexibly
instead of thinking of it in a limited way can sometimes open more doors.
As an example of seeing the concept that way, below is a long excerpt from the Reportof the Advisory Council for Future Ainu Policy (2008). This advisory council is anadvisory body of the government, but wise members offer various considerations in thereport. Seeing those signs accurately, selecting a concept that suits our own
circumstances, or creating a concept if necessary, are essential tasks and skills we must
have.
The following sentences were quoted from my presentation during the forum
Policies related to the culture in a broad sense
Promotion of the use of land/resources
The Ainu people have a deep spiritual and cultural connection with theland. Therefore, it is extremely important to make efforts to enable
comprehensive activities, etc., to help the continuance of Ainu culture use theland/resources in a timely manner based on opinions and the livelihood of thecontemporary Ainu people in promoting and succeeding the culture of the
Ainu as indigenous people.
Specifically, it is necessary to expand the implementation area of theregeneration project of the Ainu traditional living environment (iwor) in
consideration of opinions of the Ainu and concerned parties. In addition, it isessential to materialize the continuance of the Ainu culture using theland/resources in a timely manner by setting up a place where the concerned
parties, including the Ainu people and governmental staff, can makenecessary adjustments regarding the use of natural materials in national/public
lands and sea/inland waters in the implementation area of said project, etc.
(Extracted from the Report of the Advisory Council for Future Ainu
Policy 4)(3) Stakeholders’ participation according to their sense of ownership
Irrespective of the size or the nature of the projects, stakeholders’ appropriate andcontinuous involvement, according to their sense of ownership, determines the success or3

Leaflet introducing the Ainu Culture Preservation Control Office, the working teamleading the Project to Preserve Ainu Culture and Its Environment. Please refer to thefollowing URL:
https://www.hkd.mlit.go.jp/mr/sarugawa_damu/tn6s9g0000003aqw.html
4Final Report of the Advisory Council for Future Ainu Policy (July 2009)https://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/ainu/dai10/siryou1_en.pdf
69

failure of the projects. In the structural conceptual scheme of the Project to Preserve Ainu
Culture and Its Environment shown in Figure 3, the exploratory committee controllingthe entire project is located in the centre, and is surrounded by the Biratori Ainu
Association (the association representing the Ainu people), Biratori Town (representing
the local people), and the Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau (which is in chargeof the development itself).
I would like to add and stress that we should avoid being obsessed with dichotomy,such as “Ainu people vs. the administration” or “indigenous people vs. the developer”,
because it is a mindset and attitude for fixating and applying structure. There is no roomfor detailed discussion here, but there are many people of Ainu descent are working atgovernmental bodies in Hokkaido, especially in the Hidaka region. The problem here isthat the number is still relatively low.
(4) Principle of FPICC
Not only the Project to Preserve Ainu Culture and Its Environment but also various
initiatives related to Ainu people and Ainu culture in the Biratori region have been carriedout in compliance with the basic idea of “voluntary participation by local people,
including the Ainu people, in collaboration with experts”. This idea is in line with the
FPIC principle (free, prior, and informed consent) proposed by various UN bodies, etc.
However, in Biratori, we have added one more “C” to it and implemented various
initiatives with FPICC. The last C here represents “collaboration”.
(5) Principle of Ukouk
There is a unique style of singing and performing called ukouk in Ainu performance.
Ukouk is a singing and dancing form of artistic expression unique to the Ainu people, inwhich they respond to the lyrics or styles of singing of the people next to them orsurrounding them by singing together (“trolling”) or changing actions. Scales and singing
techniques can be written down on a staff notation to a certain extent, but what is written
on a piece of paper is just a rough idea. In addition, improvisation is another importantfeature.
These features were connected with old communities, but even today they may influenceand be influenced by how they live and work, or how their communities are built. We
should at least avoid a vertical or horizontal mindset, let alone the imposition of wills. It
may be easier to understand if we say that the issue is one of ethnic diversity in therelationship between individuals and groups, ways of living, work styles, etc.
6 Conclusion
Under the theme Museums as New Industry: Utilizing Intangible Cultural Properties,
I have offered my views while introducing cases from the Biratori region in Hokkaido.
Based on these cases, the preservation and use of cultural heritages, tangible or intangible,
has many possibilities and can contribute to community development.
The cases discussed, in my opinion, are cases where the foundational community andits culture were forced to change unwillingly in the historical context, and were damaged
greatly. The damages done were greater than those caused by natural disasters, such as
earthquake and extreme weather, and “reconstruction” will be the long-term agenda. In
these cases, the value of the areas or communities where efforts that are rarely seen70

elsewhere are being made should be expressed as follows and praised positively: “Thereis a regional and ethnic community where the culture of the indigenous people that used
to be on the verge of extinction is now being rejuvenated steadily; that society is being
rebuilt in a contemporary fashion, and its foundation is strengthened sustainably”.
More importantly, I am beginning to think that this is the outstanding universal value(OUV) of the cultural heritages of this area, and their essential value.
To add to this, the role of museums is not just to provide vocations, of course. It is tocollaborate with the community like the one mentioned above, protect people in it andpromote various activities, while preserving the community itself. The museum systemcalled Nibutani Kotan has been built while being aware of such responsibilities to acertain extent. 5
These are also important responsibilities of the National Ainu Museum and Park,
collectively known as the “Symbolic Space for Ethnic Harmony” (Upopoy), which isscheduled to open in April 2020. By carrying out these responsibilities, a prerequisite forbecoming the facility that lives up to its name can be created.

Figure 4. Photo of the Bear-shaped Rock Destroyed Partially During the
Earthquake in September 2018. There is a Difference of Opinion in the
Region as to Whether the Rock Should be ‘Reproduced’—a Delicate andUrgent Matter that Occurs when it Comes to Preservation and the Use of
Cultural Heritages.

5“Modern Inheritance of Traditional Ainu Culture”, set forth by the Biratori Town
Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum in 1991, was the first instance indicating awareness ofsuch responsibilities.
71Articles
Session 2
Community Development-Environment and ICH

Urban Continuity: Retaining Identity and Resilience of the Historic
City of Kathmandu
Kai Weise
ICOMOS Nepal, Nepal
Kathmandu City developed over the past millennia adapting to the natural setting
defined by the cultural identity of the people who settled here. The physical urban
structure and morphology were created out of historic circumstances. Economic
development based on agriculture and trade allowed for the urban culture to flourish.
Humans projected their belief in the supernatural, linking this to symbolism and rituals.
The Licchavis in the mid first millennia established settlements as well as rituals andfestivals of which some are still alive. The historic cities that we see today were
however established and built during the Malla period between the 13th and 18th
centuries. This was when magnificent structures were built by skilled crafts-persons.
The urban setting was maintained by the community through their complex social
system of Guthis.
This paper introduces the historic city of Kathmandu through its development over time.
The physical development is explained in the context of intangible heritage: the beliefs,
skills, knowledge and community systems. The 2015 earthquake caused great damage
and raised many questions. The paper assesses the relevance of traditional systems inpost-disaster rehabilitation as well as a means of ensuring continuity, resilience andsustainability of the historic city of Kathmandu.
Keywords: cultural continuity, urban resilience, historic city

1 Introduction
The city is not just a built landscape but a living entity made up of thousands of people
who go around doing their daily activities. It is through these activities that the city is
maintained, changed and whenever a disaster strikes, the city morphs and recovers. Urban
resilience lies in the communities and their activities. These activities also ensure culturalcontinuity.
The Kathmandu Valley is known to have been a lake possibly until some twenty
thousand years ago. This geological phenomenon has been explained in the Swayambhu
Purana, a religious text on the creation of the valley. As the waters drained out of thevalley, a fertile landscape appeared from the floor of the lake (Bajracharya 1978: 37-41).
People settled in this landscape, developing into a highly evolved agrarian society.
Profiting from agriculture and controlling the lucrative trade, the community evolved
cultural activities and building technologies. They learned to adapt to their environment,
including the regular earthquakes that affected the area (Weise 2015: 15).
This paper introduces the historic city of Kathmandu through its development overtime. The physical development is explained in the context of intangible heritage: thebeliefs, skills, knowledge and community systems. The 2015 earthquake caused greatdamage and raised many questions. The paper will assess the relevance of traditional
systems in post-disaster rehabilitation as well as a means of ensuring continuity, resilienceand sustainability of historic city of Kathmandu

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2 Historic Centre of Kathmandu
The history of settlement in the Kathmandu Valley is shrouded by uncertainty until the
Licchavi Period beginning in the fifth century CE. There are inscriptions that provide
some insight of the grand palaces that were built and the settlements that were established(Shaha 1992: 31). Somewhere towards the second half of the first millennium there arerecords of cities being established along the lines of the Vastu Sastras. These early
developments laid the foundations for the urbanization that took place during the Malla
period that began in the thirteenth century and continued until the late eighteenth century
when the valley was conquered by the Prithvi Narayan Shah (Gutshow 1982).
2.1 Trade Routes and Monastic Complexes
The trade routes through the Kathmandu Valley connected the Gangetic Plains to the
Tibetan Plateau and beyond. These early trade routes were linked to what today is referred
to as the Silk Roads, which crisscrossed Asia and connected to Europe. The trade routes
that passed through Kathmandu weaved their ways through the mountains and crossed
the Himalayas over the Kuti and Kerung Passes. Within the Kathmandu Valley, theseearly routes through the landscape established the main spine for later developments ofmarket centres and religious structures (Weise 1992: 32).
Some of the oldest sites in the valley are known to have been site of spiritual
importance. These are for example the Swayambhu Stupa located on a hillock which is
closely linked to the founding legends of the Kathmandu Valley. Bauddhanath, anotherancient stupa is located on the main trade route towards the Kuti Pass. The most important
Hindu site of Pashupatinath is located at a thirtha or ford across the River Bagmati (Hutt
1994). Early developments were also known to have been the viharas, locally calledbahals or bahis.
Some of the earliest settlements would have been markets that developed around thecrossings of trade routes. Such market centres are still identifiable with the city centres
today. Early development of settlements in Kathmandu identifies Koligram in the northand Dakshin Koligram in the south. These would have been market centres founded by
the Lichhavis, possibly with even earlier roots.
2.2 City Founding and Continuity
The founding of cities is an important part of the ancient Vastu Sastra texts. Planningguidelines are provided in detail which would have been widely known during the second
half of the first millennium CE. The founding of the city of Kantipur is ascribed to King
Gunakamadeva in 723 CE testified by a founding stone with inscription in Maru Tol(Slusser 1982). The city was planned in the shape of Manjushri’s sword with the point
facing a north-eastly direction. A depiction of the city plan on an old manuscript shows awall adorned with city gates (Gutshow 1982: 110).
These gates do not exist anymore, however processional routes, particularly thosefollowed during Indra Jatra demarcate the city boundaries which are identified byprotective deities. The overlay of the cosmological plan integrated the already existing
trade routes, settlements as well as the monastic structures. To fill the remaining spacewithin the city boundaries urban extensions, particularly between the fifteenth andsixteenth centuries, were planned in grid form and following the cardinal directions(Gutshow 1982).

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The urban order was also defined by where the various trade groups were located. The
central areas, particularly around the palace and main temple areas, were reserved for thehigher-ranking trades such as the gold smiths and sweet shops. The various trades groups,
who also belonged to specific families and guilds lived in clearly defined areas. The lower
ranking groups, particularly those working with dead animals and waste lived on theoutskirts, particularly near the river. In the case of Kathmandu this would have been
particularly towards the Vishnumati River (Weise 1992: 60).
The urban form, though adapted to the basic topography and earlier developments,
followed a strict order and hierarchy of spaces. Particularly important are the cardinal
directions for the orientation of temples and shines, as well as the entrances to importantbuildings. The monastic courtyard buildings, the bahals, general had the main shrine tothe southern side facing the entrance on the north. This same structure can be foundthroughout the city, even where the monastic courtyards have long changed into semipublic living spaces (Weise 1992: 39).
The city has always developed with new overlays which have respected the older
structures. This can be seen even after regular destruction by earthquakes. The traces ofsuch devastation can still be found where buildings might have been lost, but the spatial
order remains. The area of the main shrine of an earlier monastic complex will not be
encroached upon, while the surrounding dwellings are allowed to be modified andadapted to changing requirements.
2.3 Breaking the Boundaries
During the medieval period, the urban boundaries where strictly adhered to, particularly
since the outside area were not protected by the deities. The city grew within its
boundaries with the urban buildings increasing in height. Newari architecture restricted
itself to three floors and an attic floor where often the kitchen was located under the roof,
with a cutout terrace. (Weise 1992: 30). The kitchen was also on the top floor sincecooking was done on the open fire and there was not chimney. The smoke also helped tokeep the attic clear of insects and rodents. The restriction of height was largely also dueto the threat of earthquakes. Furthermore, the density of the urban fabric didn’t allow tallbuildings, since it would shade the courtyards and block ventilation reducing the hygieneof the urban habitation.
It was initially only the lower castes who lived outside the city walls. This changed
diametrically once the valley was conquered by Prithvi Narayan Shah in the late 1760s.
The Shah Kings first had palace towers built, such as the Nine-storey Basantapur Tower
at Hanuman Dhoka. This was followed by the nobility requiring palaces for themselves,
however, there was no space left within the city. Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa built his
own palace on the edge of the city in 1805 (Pruscha 1975: 121). In 1819 he built a smaller
palace outside the city in Chauni, which now houses the National Museum. This was an
initial break from tradition by the Prime Minister who was powerful enough to fulfilled
his needs by changing tradition.
The trend was further evolved by the Rana Prime Ministers who governed Nepal
between 1846 and 1951. They built many palaces in European neo-classic style outside
the city walls and linked them with roads. Particularly after the 1934 Nepal Bihar
Earthquake, they took the opportunity to develop urban inserts, following European
examples such as the boulevards built by Georges-Eugène Haussman’s through historic
Paris. A new street was carved into the old city connecting the Royal Palace at Hanuman

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Dhoka to the parade ground in the western suburbs (GTZ 1995:72-75). They also opened
up the Basantapur square to allow for a better view of the Neo-classical Gaddhi Baitak,or thrown hall, which was supposedly designed inspired by the British Library buildingin London. Such interventions went totally against the approach and standards of
traditional urban planning.
3 The City and its Intangible Heritage
There is a clearly defined boundary to the historic city of Kathmandu, demarcated bydeities and a processional route. The city wall, which was depicted on various early
diagrams of the city, doesn’t exist anymore. This has however hardly deterred from theunderstanding that protection is not necessarily physical, but much effective when it isspiritual. It is said that when King Gunakamadeva founded the city of Kantipur, now
better known as Kathmandu, he also introduced the festival of Indra Jatra to ensure thatthe city is protected (Toffin 1992: 73).
3.1 Urban Communities
The people who settled in the Kathmandu Valley over many centuries developed theirown language, Newari. This Tibeto-Burmese language is unique, for it defines a linguistic
community that developed both the agrarian sector as well as urban habitation. This is, intoday’s understanding of urban community, a conflicting development, since “urban” isoften understood as being a densely populated area which is generally non-agrarian. Dueto the fertile soil allowing for numerous crops to be grown within a single year, as well
as being strategically located on the trade route, the communities in Kathmandu Valley
flourished.
Understanding the value of the fertile land, the Newari community built theirsettlements compact and generally in areas that were less fertile. The land was categorizedbased on its agricultural productivity (Karky 1982: 57). These were areas on higher
ground which could not be irrigated, which however due to artisan wells allowed for fresh
water supply. As the settlements grew, particularly the three cities of Kantipur(Kathmandu), Lalitpur (Patan) and Bhaktapur (Bhadgaon), further water supply systems
were required, which led to water being channelized to city water spouts (BeckerRitterspach 1994). These the compact settlements of the Newars was a very specificcharacteristics very different from other ethnic groups in the Himalayan foothills. It isonly when one goes to the settlements in the higher mountains that such compact
structures were found, however for very different reasons, to protect from the harshclimate (Weise 2000: 4).
The community members, though to a largely farmers, usually also followed othertrades. The arts and crafts of the Newars were highly developed, particularly in respect tometallurgy and wood crafts. The Newari architecture, a combination of brick in mud
mortar and timber elements, has been highly adapted to the local conditions, availabilityof materials, as well as hazards such as fire and earthquakes.
3.2 The Artisans and Traditional Knowledge
The settlements of the Kathmandu Valley have been adapted over the past millennia,
some with possibly even earlier origins. Over time the artisans learned how to adapt thebuildings to the imminent hazards. It is important to note the carefully designed buildings,

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balancing out the strengths and weaknesses of materials. There possibly were major fires
that wiped out the earlier settlements of the Kathmandu Valley leaving no trace of such
early structures. Only recently have we been able to date the foundations of
Kasthamandap to the seventh century CE, providing evidence of early structure being
primarily built of timber (Coningham et al. 2016: 3).
The construction of buildings using primarily timber seems to have changed sometimein the early part of the second millennium CE when the use of brick masonry became
more prominent, particularly to create fire walls between row housing. The threat of fires
was largely mitigated; however, the new problem of earthquake stability arose. This led
to the need to develop detailing to provide improved seismic stability to the new structures.
In Newari architecture there were more than a hundred different types of joints, thoughmany of these have already been forgotten (Weise 2019: 34-35). The innovative ideas ofusing timber lacing in the masonry along with timber pegs allowed movement but reduced
the chance of collapse. The loadbearing structure was allowed to function in compression,
particularly by weighing down the building. This was achieved by using a thick layer ofearth on the roofs which also ensured that water seepage was absorbed before causingrotting of the timber planking below.
The structures that have been developed over centuries of careful trial and error,
learning from the effects of regular earthquakes, doesn’t follow modern engineering
principles. This clash of approaches towards assessing structural systems has led toconfusion and conflict between traditional knowledge and scientific assessment. There isa need for better understanding this phenomenon. Possibly the intrinsic characteristics of
traditional structures is based on dampening external forces through flexibility andductility. Cross-bracing such as diagonal elements are not used other than as struts to
support roof projections. The earth used to fill the spaces between the foundations seems
to have a very specific role of dampening. The mud mortar used in brickwork has a similaraffect, however such brickwork must have some form of timber ties to separate thebrickwork at layers to hamper cracking and keep the brickwork deflecting out of plain.
Furthermore, the thick mud layer on the roof provides the required weight for the loadbearing structure to remain stable. All these principles seem to go against the norms ofmodern engineering that promotes strength and stiffness. Modern engineering has,
therefore, not been able to understand the principles of traditional structures.
3.3 The Festivals and Rituals
The historical cities are molded to form the vessel for communities to live their lives andcarry out their rituals and celebrations. A certain level of conceptual planning is carriedout; however, the urban fabric is amorphous. The Newari cities such as Kathmandu havelayers of different spaces and structures that are closely intertwined with the cosmologicaldiagrams at urban, community and household levels. These are linked to daily rituals or
annual festivals. There are certain requirements for events that take place only every
twelve years.
Being primarily an agrarian society, many of the festivals and rituals are linked to theseasons as well as the gods, spirits and demons that control the weather and rain. The
water serpents or nags are particularly powerful. When the valley was a lake before it was
drained by Bodhisattva Manjushri for human habitation, this was the realm of the nags
(Bajracharya 1978: 41). They must be kept appeased for they control the rains. There arealso many rituals that are linked to daily routines such as cleaning, cooking and eating.

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This most spectacular are however the main chariot festivals. In the historic centre of
Kathmandu these would be primarily the Seto Machhendranath chariot festival and the
combined festivals of Indra Jatra and Kumari Jatra. The Seto Machhendranath festival
takes place in the spring when the statue of Janabaha Dyo or Avalokiteśvara is removed
from the temple at Janabaha and carried to where a large chariot is reassembled. The
chariot is then pulled through the streets from the upper town in Ason to the central town
in Hanuman Dhoka and on the lower town in Lagan, each section by the communities of
the three part of the city. This requires all the communities to work together while
ensuring that the route of the chariot is kept free.
During the ancient festival of Indra Jatra, processions go around the periphery of thecity, making sure that the both the living and the departed communities are protected.
Such festivals unity the city while paying respect to ancestors (Toffin 1992: 74). At thesame time, the Kumari jatra is celebrated, which requires Kumari, the living goddess, tobe pulled around the city in a chariot, along with Lord Ganesh and Lord Bhairav, each intheir own chariot. The head of state, formerly the King and now the President of therepublic, has to get the blessing of Kumari on this day to legitimize their position. Despite
the change in political system, such rituals have continued, since their significance goes
far beyond the belief in the powers of the gods, and are part of the identity of the local
community.
4 The Urban Community and Earthquake Resilience
Every eighty to a hundred years there is an earthquake that has major impact on the
Kathmandu Valley. Though this is a relatively long period and there is a generation gap
in between, the knowledge gained after each earthquake was passed down to thefollowing generation. This allowed communities to adapt to the particular context of the
Kathmandu Valley and the eminent hazards. There is constantly period in history when
the lessons were forgotten leading to deadly consequences. In the 1934 earthquake partsof the Narayanhiti Royal Palace, a neo-classic structure built in European style and clearlylacking seismic detailing, collapsed killing two daughters of the King (Rana 1935: 59).
However, an entirely new system of building has emerged using reinforced cement
concrete and all traditional knowledge has been replaced by engineering science. The
implications of this is still unknown, particularly as the concrete ages and it is difficult torestore.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires under Goal 11 countries topledged to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”
and Target 11.4 aims to “strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world's culturaland natural heritage” (UN 2015). That the SDGs link the protection of cultural and natural
heritage to cities and human settlements sends a clear message that this issue is becoming
imperative. However, in it is not clear how best to deal with the urban context since thebuilt heritage so closely linked to the intangible and the way the communities live within
the context.
4.1 The Historic City: Adapting and Transforming
The historic city of Kathmandu has changed over time. Initially it consisted of various
trade routes, market squares and monastic courtyard buildings. With the founding of thecity in the eight century CE, a structure was given, particularly by defining the boundaries.
The boundaries might have later been fortified with walls and gates; however, the more8080

effective controls were rings of deities that warded of evil and ensured that people
remained within these boundaries. Over time the space within the boundary was filledwith streets being laid out in grid form. The space got filled out by streets and courtyard
developments. The building heights rose to three floors and an attic floor but was
restricted to this for structural as well as environmental reasons. These clear structures
were however shattered each time there was an earthquake and parts of the city werepartially rebuilt, often leaving only the traces of earlier strictures. The city continued tomorph and adapt to changing populations.
The most distinct elements of the historic city are the open spaces. The bustling market
streets, loud, crowded and constantly in motion. The inner courtyards are however
generally quiet and slow moving. These are living spaces for the communities living inthe surrounding buildings. These spaces that would have begun with the typology of thecourtyard of the monastic buildings quickly adapted to the requirement of the surrounding
dwellings. This meant the courtyards were places where the children played, the elderly
sunbathed and very often this was were agricultural and household activities took place.
The city has had to adapt to allow for vehicular traffic which causes the streets to clog
up, enraging the pedestrians and assaulting them with exhaust fumes. Motorcycles are
driven through the quiet courtyards, entrance passages and through narrow alleys.
However, the most intrusive of all developments has been the buildings built of reinforced
cement concrete that rise up seven to even ten stories. Not only have these buildings
replaced the traditional ones, but have totally destroyed the character and quality of theurban fabric.
4.2 Traditional Knowledge and Historic Structures
After the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, there was a rush to reconstruct houses and monuments.
Calculations were done on how much this would cost. Standardized designs were adopted
by the government engineers, such as the catalogue that was prepared by the Department
of Urban Development and Building Construction. In the entire process, traditional
knowledge was not given any respect. It has been replaced by science. The government
requires certification and registration before work is allocated, though there is no means
for traditional artisans to obtain these. The impact of this can be seen when working withtraditional artisans who, though they understand the materials, technology and detailing,
wait for the engineer to provide instructions. Traditional knowledge, even with its
restrictions, has been tested over centuries, while the science that is employed is often
based on assumptions that are not necessarily relevant to the specific context.
Kasthamandap, one of the most iconic historical buildings in Kathmandu, collapsed
during the recent earthquake killing numerous people. The planning of its reconstruction
was given to a senior engineer who had never worked on traditional monuments. One of
the results of the calculations was that the foundations were not sufficient for the structure
and that it needed to be strengthened through micro-piling. In the meantime, it waspossible for archaeologists from Durham University to investigate the foundations. They
found the foundations of brick masonry in mud mortar to be in perfect condition and weredated to be from the seventh century CE. The foundations had performed perfectly for
fourteen hundred years, but according to engineering calculations they were found to be
insufficient. The calculations of the senior engineer were surely not wrong, but theunderstanding of traditional structures and materials was lacking.

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The conflict between traditional knowledge and engineering arises due to themisunderstanding that these two can be directly translated. That is not the case, since they
are based on totally different languages and mindsets. The implementation of projects andprocedures are entirely different. It is therefore necessary to find a means for these twosystems to communicate.
4.3 Activism and the Will of the Community
The city and its cultural heritage were built, used and maintained by the local communities.
In the Newari community, guthis, social organizations or trusts, were established, to carryout community activities including festivals as well as to maintain community structures(Sharma and Shrestha 2006: 3). When a temple or rest-house was built, the donor would
also provide land as the resource to make sure the structure was maintained. Communities
members contributed to these activities. This system ensured a close-knit society as wellas the maintenance of the essential components of the city.
When Kathmandu was conquered by the Shahs and governed by various strongheaded Prime Ministers, they gradually chiseled away at this system, with particularinterest in taxation. It was however in King Mahendra in 1965 who nationalized theguthi’s to break the system, grab the guthi land and thereby neutralize the power base.
This move also required the government to take on the responsibility of maintenance ofthe monuments. Mismanagement and general lack of interest led to devastating effect on
the monuments. Most of the monuments that collapsed during the last earthquake wasdue to lack of maintenance and inappropriate interventions (ICOMOS Nepal 2016: 78).
There has been a forced disconnect between the community and their heritage due tonationalization of the monuments and direct government interventions. However, after
the massive destruction caused by the earthquake a new wave of local activism has arisen
to counter the mismanagement and possible inappropriate reconstruction of themonuments. This phenomenon can however only be found in Kathmandu and was neverallowed to arise in Bhaktapur nor in Patan. Community protests led to changes ingovernment decisions such as with the reconstruction of Rani Pokhari as well as
Kasthamandap. Furthermore, communities began working together with lawyers andlegal action was taken whenever any monument was threatened with inappropriate
reconstruction. Such activism by the communities is a positive step towards reclaiming
their heritage, however it needs to lead to finding appropriate solutions and means of
employing traditional craftsperson.
5 Conclusion: Continuity in Place of Conservation
The historic city is a living entity which goes through constant change. This is where
communities live, work and pursue their recreational and religious activities. It istherefore hardly possible to consider conserving a city. A historic urban setting does
however have certain important attributes that define its characteristics. It is this character
that needs to be maintained, ensuring that the city doesn’t lose its connection to the past.
This connection is largely dependent on the activities of the communities and how theurban setting is used and maintained.
Beyond identity, the city must remain livable, which requires that the basic quality is
maintained. The medieval city was dirty, often lacking sanitation and in general not avery pleasant place to live in. This will need to change, since health and hygiene is an
essential part of human habitation. To achieve this inappropriate development must be
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controlled, particularly such things as traffic, pollution, and the creation of an unhygienic
environment. One of the most detrimental developments in a densely built up area arebuildings that become taller. These are not only structurally dangerous but also impact
the urban hygiene of an area, causing excessive shading and blocking ventilation.
The artisans who are the bearers of traditional knowledge must be reintegrated into themaintenance and rehabilitation process of monuments and the historic city. This will
require artisans to be given respect and acknowledgement. Furthermore, for thisknowledge to be passed on to future generations, the apprenticeships and training must
be integrated into all projects which also comes with certification for artisans. Artisansare critical to ensure continuity of the historic settlements as well as post-disasterrehabilitation and resilience of the community (Weise 2019: 138).
There is going to be regular change, and with environmental impact, cyclical renewalof the urban fabric is essential. What needs to be ensured is the cultural continuity of thehistoric city. This can only be achieved through the local communities who are the bearersof the local culture, and have the motivation ensure festivals and rituals are carried out.
The resilience of communities is based on ensuring cultural continuity.
References
Bajracharya, M.B. (1978). Mythological History of the Nepal Valley from Svayambhu Purana. Kathmandu,
Nepal: Avalok Publishers.
Coningham, R. et al. (2016). Post-Disaster Archaeological Investigations at the Kathmandu Valley
UNESCO World Heritage Property (Nepal) Post-Earthquake Archaeological Assessment and
Evaluation of the Kasthamandap, Hanuman Dhoka’s Durbar Square Interim Report of the NovemberDecember 2016 Season of Field Activities. Durham, UK: UNESCO Chair, Durham University.
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Nepal: Deutsche Gesellschaft
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Kiscadale Publications.
ICOMOS Nepal (2016). Post-Earthquake Rehabilitation of Cultural Heritage in Nepal. Kathmandu, Nepal:
ICOMOS Nepal (unpublished document).
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Nepalese Studies, Vol 9. No. 1 & 2 (pp. 55-64). Kathmandu, Nepal: CNAS/TU
Prusha, C. ed., (1975). Kathmandu Valley. The Preservation of Physical Environment and Cultural
Heritage. A Protective Inventory. (2 Vols) Vienna, Austria: Anton School & Co.
Rana, B.S.J.B. (1935). Nepalko Mahabhukampa 1990 (The Great Earthquake in Nepal 1934 CE)
Kathmandu, Nepal: Ratna Pustak Bhandar.
Shaha, R. (1992). Ancient and Medieval Nepal. New Delhi, India: Manohar Publishers & Distributors.
Sharma, D.R. & Shrestha, T.B. (2006). Guthi, Community-based Conservation in the Kathmandu Valley.
Kathmandu Nepal: UNESCO (unpublished report).
Slusser, M.S. (1982). Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley. (2 Vols.) New Jersey,
USA: Princeton University Press.
Toffin, G. (1992). The Indra Jatra of Kathmandu as a Royal Festival: Past and Present. in Contributions
to Nepal Studies, Vol. 19, No. 1 (pp. 73-92). Kathmandu, Nepal: CNAS/TU
Toffin, G. ed. (2016). Man and His House in the Himalayas: Ecology of Nepal. Kathmandu, Nepal: Vajra
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Nations.
Weise, K. (1992). Kathmandu, the Metamorphosis and the Present Issues, Case Study Ason Chowk,
Analysis of a Square. Zurich, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (unpublished thesis)
Weise, K. (2000). Supporting and Improving Traditional Building Practices in the Central Himalayas
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Weise, K. ed. (2015). Revisiting Kathmandu Symposium on Safeguarding Living Urban Heritage.
Kathmandu Nepal: UNESCO Publication.
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built, living and natural: Journal of the Development and Research Organization for Nature, Art andHeritage and Aryan Books International, India Volume XII August 2019 (131-139)

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The System of Lapat, an Indigenous Resources Management
System of Some Communities in Abra, Philippines
Norma A. Respicio
University of Philippines Diliman, Philippines
The paper introduces Lapat, an indigenous system of managing the physical terrain andnatural resources that form the basis of the economy, as practiced by the Masadiit, Itneg
sub-group in three municipalities of Abra, a province situated at the northwestern sideof the Cordillera Mountain Range in Northern Luzon, Philippines.
Lapat thrives on three principles: 1) stewardship – an understanding and a covenantamong members of the community that land and resources are precious bequeaths from
forebears and have to be propagated, enriched, well taken care of and to be passed on
to the succeeding generations; 2) communal responsibility – that stewardship is by theentire community so that all practices and attached responsibilities in tending,cultivating, and harvesting resources are done with propriety, and care; and 3)
sustainability - observance of the first two principles (stewardship and community
responsibility) can only ensure healthy living of the entire community and sustainabilityof the eco-system that is safeguarded from abuse and/or negligence.
There is a symbiotic relationship among the above principles. Lapat exemplifies
community togetherness, respect and understanding among community members, careand valuing of the natural environment and eco-system. At its finest, Lapat is a system
and a practice that is proven mitigator of natural disasters and effects of climate change.
Lapat ensures the sustainability of healthy community living.
Keywords: Stewardship, Community Responsibility, Sustainability, Understanding/Respect

The Philippines is an island-country set in the tropical waters of the South China Sea at
the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. It is dry from January to May and rain-swept therest of the year especially the monsoon months of June to September. The country’s
archipelagic character makes it vulnerable to climatic changes. The balmy ocean air
becomes searing heat of 40degrees C in summer, and the monsoon rains extend in
duration with increased volume.
Typhoons Yolanda/Haiyan, Ompong, and Tisoy
Four years ago, the islands of Leyte and Samar in eastern Visayas, were devastated by atyphoon of Category 5 strength. Coming from the Pacific Ocean, the mega-super typhooninternationally code-named Haiyan, claimed thousands of lives, cut-down all vegetation,and flattened man-made structures. The gustiness of wind seemed immeasurable. Its
strength caused the ocean waters to surge over coconut trees and ram a mega-toncommercial ship into coastal villages. So unprecedented was the extent of the combined
power of wind and ocean that people in the locality and the entire country, did not evenhave a word for it. Dalluyong or tall sea waves was so inadequate a word!
Last year in September, another super-typhoon locally named Ompong, hit the country.
From the Pacific Ocean it cut through Northern Luzon – landing at north-eastern valleysof Isabela-Cagayan, it swept through the Cordillera mountain range, and exit to the West8585

Philippine Sea through the Ilocos plains. The typhoon’s eye gathered so much strengthand its extent or coverage from the center was four hundred fifty kilometers. It uprooted
centuries-old trees, shattered glass windows, carried away the roofs of village-houses,and flattened all agricultural crops to the ground. The Cordillera mountains recorded
numerous eroded sites, road cuts, and landslides. Worst hit were areas of a mining
company established in the early decades of the 20th century. The typhoon caused wide
stretch of mountain sides to erode, obliterating the vegetation. Innumerable houses ofsmall-scale miners were crushed and buried under tons of earth and trees, along with theminers and their families.
The past two-days, another super-typhoon has been grazing through the very midst of
the archipelago. It came from the Pacific Ocean side and expected to exit on the west
towards the South China Sea. Its 800- kilometer radius is so wide! It covers 2/3 of thearchipelago. It has caused storm surges, devastation of agricultural crops particularly, rice,and swept away some houses built along riverbank.
Not all is lost or a sorry sight. On the other side of the Cordillera Mountain Range is aculture and a practice that can mitigate or probably deter the harsh effects of climatechange. This is the Lapat. It is an indigenous system of managing the physical terrain andnatural resources that are the basis of the economy of the people. It is basically a way ofprotecting, propagating, and sustaining the entire eco-system by regulating the use or
harvest of nature’s resources such as trees, vines, wild game in the forest, fishes and shells
in streams and rivers, and the continuous replenishment of vegetation.
The system of the Lapat thrives on three underlying principles, these are: 1.)
stewardship; 2.) communal ownership and collective responsibility; and 3.) sustainability.
In the principle of stewardship as explained by Mr. Philip Tingonong, one of theleading advocates of Lapat, the land and the natural resources are bequeathals to thepeople as cultural heritage from their forebears. And with the same thought of passing
them on as material-cultural heritage to the succeeding generations, the land and natural
resources are to be well taken cared-of, protected, and cultivated for the sustainability oflife and culture.
In consonance with the above principle of stewardship, the community is responsible
for the maintenance of healthy robust forest. Planting of trees in all areas possible is aconstant activity.
Catching forest animals such as deer, wild pigs, and fowls in Lapat area is regulated.
Doe and pregnant animals should be released when caught in a trap and should not betargeted in a hunt. This is implemented along with the national ordinance prohibiting thecatching of wild birds such as eagles, owls, and bill horn among others. Once the target
animal slips into a Lapat area, the hunter cannot pursue its hunt. In a way, the Lapat area
is a sanctuary for animals, birds, and fowls.
The principle of communal responsibility: Under this principle, the lands and natural
resources are those of the community so that their use or harvest of produce are regulated
and not abused as these are not for one individual or a family alone but for all the membersof the community. And since all the resources – land, watersheds, streams, and forests arethose of the community, each member of the community has the responsibility to takecare, protect, and propagate them for the interest of all. During the clearing and burningof mountain sides of cogon grass and bushes in preparation for dry rice agriculture, theresponsibility of regulating and containing the fire within the area is primarily that of theindividual concerned but sees to it that the clearing and fire do not adversely affect8686

adjacent patches planted with other crops. Nowadays, it is more often, to have suchactivities overseen by elders or responsible neighbors in the community. The foregoingillustrates the second principle in the Lapat system which is communal ownership andcollective responsibility.
The third principle in the Lapat System is sustainability. Although resources are aplenty in a Lapat area the gathering of wood in the forest especially in watersheds, andfishes in rivers and streams is not indiscriminate. Hardwood trees such as Narra, Molave,and Kamagong maybe cut down for use as house posts, floor and roof beams only after
they reach the number of years of maturity. And the quantity is limited to what is needed,
e.g., based on the size and design of the house to be constructed. The same can be said
for rattan, nito vines, and anibong or fish tail palms which necessitate a certain numberof years to mature before they can be gathered. Rattan is used to fasten palm leaves onroof beams of houses. Rattan, along with bamboo and nito vines, are the main materials
for making farm baskets, bags, and hats while anibong palm leaves are materials for houseroofing.
The same rule applies in rivers and streams. When gathering riverine food such as
fishes, crustaceans, shells, and frogs the use of poison or chemicals is a strict taboo. Thisis meant to protect small riverine life from disappearing. Even the use of the old methodof catching fishes by throwing bullay flowers that emit toxic substances when wet - tostupefy fishes, is now forbidden, according to Mr. Johnny Ballao-ad, an elder and officialof barangay Bazar, municipality of Sallapadan.
For the sustainability of resources, areas of the forest, watersheds, and/or rivers can be
declared as Lapat for certain periods of time - months or years, to allow their regenerationand for people to enjoy, gather, and share with relatives and all members of thecommunity.
Lapat Among the Isnag
The Isnag group in the adjacent province of Apayao at the northern end of the Cordillera
Mountain Range also practice the Lapat. When there is death in the community, certain
area/s of the mountains, fields, and rivers are declared as Lapat for several years. A red
cloth attached to the upper end of a piece of wood is planted on the area declared as Lapat
to inform everyone that the area is Lapat. During the period as Lapat, no one cantransgress and gather resources in the area. This allows the regeneration or undeterred
replenishment of natural resources, growth of trees, forest products, wild animals, and theenrichment of riverine life such as freshwater fish, eel, river shells, wild edible fern, andbees wax and honey from wild honey beehives. Only after the completion of the periodof mourning by the bereaved family that the declared Lapat can be reopened for everyone
to partake of the multiplied natural properties of the fields, rivers and forests.
But then again, for sustainability to thrive, the two other principles of the Lapat System
which are Stewardship, and Communal Ownership and Collective Responsibility, shouldbe equally observed and practiced with utmost respect. Each principle supports the twoother principles.
And it is because of the above principles, that extraction of mineral resources in awide-scale, and commercial logging are prohibited in the Lapat areas. The elders in thecommunity are too well-aware of the pollution of water systems in large-scale mining
areas. For these elders, who imbibe the wisdom of their forbears, gold is not precious atall, as commercial mining would only pollute the rivers and waterways which have8787

sustained their farming activities, ways of living, and heritage. The furniture industry nomatter how profitable, is strictly regulated. The people know too well that cutting down
trees can cause soil erosion, leading to destruction of rivers, fields and entire villages.
The Lapat System Now Government Law
Lapat administration, enforcement and governance have been formalized andimplemented as laws in local governments – both barangay and municipal levels – ofSallapadan, Boliney, and Bucloc in the province of Abra, of the Cordillera Administrative
Region. The Lapat System is fully recognized as an effective indigenous natural resourcesmanagement system. And its total implementation is the flagship program of theCordillera Highland Agricultural Resources Management Project.
The Lapat system has thrived through generations among the Itneg groups in theProvince of Abra on the northwestern side of the Cordillera mountain range. It isparticularly practiced by the Masadiit Itneg sub-groups in the towns of Sallapadan,
Boliney, and Bucloc. The Isnag of the adjacent Apayao province continue the practice of
Lapat even without formal government laws enforcing it. Theirs is observed on thestrength of a strong community culture that thrives across generations.
Lapat System as Mitigator of Effects of Climate Change
After Ompong, the super typhoon that hit Northern Luzon in September last year, Mrs.
Pacita Ballao-ad, wife of Barangay Kagawad, Johnny Ballao-ad, and Barangay Captain
Eliza Dakiwas all of Bazar, Sallapadan, reported with pride, that adverse effects on
resources were very minimal. Only few small branches of trees were broken, and somenewly opened roads got slightly eroded. Most important of all, there were no lives ofpeople and animals, lost. And the people continue to cultivate their fields, plant more
endemic trees and vegetation in these Lapat municipalities, keep their rivers healthy, andlater gather the fruits always in moderation.
References and Interviewees
Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Second Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource
Management Project (DENR-CHARMP2). (2004). The Way of Lapat, an Effective Indigenous
Natural Resources Management System of the Tinggians in Abra, Philippines. Baguio City.
Interviewees: Philip Tingonong, Manuel and Mrs. Tessie, Eliza Dakiwas, Johnny and Pacita Ballao-ad
and Dominador Pudol, of the Disaster Risk Reduction Office, Bangued Abra; Lorie Balicnang, Lambin,
and Jerry of Apayao.Bajracharya, M.B. (1978). Mythological History of the Nepal Valley from
Svayambhu Purana. Kathmandu, Nepal: Avalok Publishers.

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Astamatrika in Newar Settlements, Kathmandu Valley
Tomoko Mori
School of Design, Sapporo City University, Japan
After the Gorkha earthquake in 2015, the Tokyo National Research Institute forCultural Properties began working in Kathmandu. Our team surveyed Khokana, which
is on the World Heritage Tentative list. During the research, we found a relationshipbetween the environment and the intangible culture of Astamatrika, that is the eightmother goddesses named Bramhayani, Kumari, Mahakali, Rudrayani, Vaishnavi,
Indrayani, Maheshwari, and Mahalaxmi. These are considered to be thepersonifications of Shiva Shakti as well as the eight different appearances of Lord
Shiva’s consort in Hinduism. Situated in central Khokana, Rudrayani temple plays animportant role during the goddess festival when the mask dance, called Astamatrika
Pyakhan, is performed every year. The community here also worships other sevengoddesses whose temples are situated outside of Khokana, every twelve years. This
paper demonstrates the relationship between the environment and the intangible culture
through the Astamatrika that are worshipped in Khokana as one of important factors
for urban planning and sustainable community design, called Machizukuri.
Keywords: Newar Settlements, Historical Environment, Astamatrika, Hinduism,
Kathmandu Valley

1 Comments on the Two Papers Presentations and Contributions to the Discussion
In his presentation, “Urban Continuity: Retaining Identity and Resilience of the HistoricalCity of Kathmandu”, Kai Weise introduces the Nepalese city of Kathmandu, where
people have constructed local and ritual culture over thousands of years by projecting
supernatural beliefs into symbols and rituals as they adapt to the natural environment inways determined by the residents’ cultural identity. Magnificent buildings have also been
constructed by master craftsmen, and the city has been developed and maintained by the
local community through the social system of guthi.
Meanwhile, in “The Lapat System”, Norma A. Respicio presents an indigenous system
in Abra in the Philippines, for managing physical terrain and natural resources that
constitute its economic foundations. Respicio explains that lapat is based on the following
three principles: 1) stewardship, that is, understanding and promise among community
members that land and resources are valuable gifts passed down from ancestors, and must
therefore be well-managed and made to flourish for future generations; 2) communal
responsibility, that is, the responsibility of management lies with the whole community
for all tasks including the diligent care, cultivation, and harvesting of resources; and 3)
sustainability, that is, by complying with the first two principles (stewardship andcommunal responsibility), it becomes possible to guarantee the sustainability of healthy,sound lifestyles and ecosystems for the community as a whole, as well as to protect theselifestyles and ecosystems from abuse and abandonment.
Both of these presentations investigate how residents have understood thepreconditions on which their cities or local communities are built, such as the naturalenvironment and natural resources; furthermore, whether these cities built not only the8989

mechanisms for their on-going use, but also their communities as a whole, around thisunderstanding. In Kathmandu, this is represented by the social system of guthi, while in
Abra Province of Luzon Island in the northern Philippines, it is represented by theindigenous system of lapat; both are for managing the physical terrain and natural
resources of the area. As both Weise and Respicio have stated, these systems arecharacterised by a symbiotic relationship between a city/region’s natural environment andresources, and its residents. While the current situation in the Philippines is of greatinterest, Kathmandu is facing particularly dire issues. I have personally witnessed the
population concentration and modernisation of Kathmandu, as well as the impact of the2015 earthquake. Through my involvement with Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, I
struggle with the enormity of challenges that lie ahead.
As a specialist in urban conservation, I would like to introduce the topic of how toconserve historical environments, focusing on the general environment created byhumans, or the so-called ‘built environment’, beginning with my findings related to theAstamatrika.
2 Outline of Astamatrika
2.1 The Astamatrika of Kathmandu Valley
In Kathmandu Valley, where Buddhism and Hinduism from India combine and coexist
with folk beliefs, it is believed that there are more deities than people. The area also hosts
many rituals and religious festivals, making it a treasure trove of intangible cultures. The
concept of Astamatrika is said to have originated during the Upanishad era, or even inprehistoric times. In Sanskrit, the word asta signifies “eight” and matrika signifies“goddess”. The Astamatrika are comprised of eight mother goddesses: Bramhayani,
Kumari, Mahakali, Rudrayani, Vaishnavi, Indrayani, Maheshwari, and Mahalaxmi. The
word matrika also symbolises the power and energy of Hindu gods. In particular, it
represents the amazing power of the goddesses to destroy the demons of ignorance andmisunderstanding. As aforementioned, these goddesses are considered to bepersonifications of Shiva Shakti, as well as the eight different appearances of Lord
Shiva’s consort in Hinduism.
In the region of Kathmandu Valley, Astamatrika worship is prominent even today. The
eight mother goddesses are important not only in the context of intangible culture, but arealso physically engraved into important architectural sections of Newar-style temple
buildings, such as the brace supporting the roof or archways at the entrance. In addition,
the Astamatrika Dance is performed in royal cities like Patan, as well as in surrounding
villages. Many myths and religious narratives describe the origins of the Astamatrika
Dance, but its development can be traced specifically to the medieval Malla Dynasty. In
a dream, King Shri Nivas Malla (1627–1687) of Patan was told by the eight mothergoddesses, “if you build the country as we say, it will surely prosper”. As instructed, hewent on to build holy sites in various places. He used his own fortune to create a dance
management organisation, and had masks and costumes of the goddesses made according
to the visions he saw in the dream; the dance could thereby be performed every year. The
city of Patan was built according to the divine message he received in the dream. Temples
for the goddesses were built in the four cardinal directions, and images of the goddesses
were placed at the gates (dhoka). Till date, the people of Patan believe that the protectionof the Astamatrika has brought them prosperity. Moreover, the Astamatrika Dance isgracefully performed each year at Mul Chowk (royal courtyard).
9090

In this way, the Astamatrika unite temples and/or the gods and goddesses into the urban
space in some form. Furthermore, the indigenous Newar people liken and sometimes refer
to Kathmandu Valley as the Nepalese mandala, wherein the eight mother goddesses are
said to be situated in eight cardinal directions to protect the valley. In Kathmandu Valley,
the Astamatrika have religious and spatial significance in that they protect the area. This
paper focuses on this spatial significance of the Astamatrika.
2.2 Spatial Significance of the Astamatrika
As described, goddesses are said to surround Kathmandu Valley in eight cardinal
directions to form a mandala and protect the valley. There are also said to be multiple
rings of Astamatrika deities. For example, the ancient schematic diagram of 1741 showseight mother goddesses in each of the following areas: outer Kathmandu city, within the
Kathmandu Valley, and outside the Kathmandu Valley. Thus, the diagram shows a totalof 24 goddesses.
The places where the goddesses reside are called pitha, and the goddesses are
represented at these pitha by a stone symbol. Pitha are generally located at the perimeterof residential areas. This paper focuses on the spatial significance of the Astamatrika, anduses the Khokana village located in the southwest area of Kathmandu Valley as a casestudy to examine the locations of the Astamatrika and their relationship to the community
as evinced in the Astamatrika Dance.
3 Outline of Khokana
Khokana is a Newar historical settlement that prospered in the Middle Ages, and wasincluded in Nepal’s Tentative List for World Cultural Heritage Sites in 1996. The
tentative list included four sites in Kathmandu Valley such as residences around theroyal palace, a former trading hub, and a town with medieval architecture. Khokana
was a rural settlement whose primary industry was rice cultivation, with concentrated
settled areas on reclaimed agricultural land. With the aim of qualifying for extended
registration, the relationship of these assets to the World Cultural Heritage Site ofKathmandu Valley has been highlighted, and it is essential that the relationship to thethree royal cities that comprise World Cultural Heritage Sites in Nepal be clarified. Aspart of this effort, I have explored the relationship between the royal cities and thevillages such as Khokana that are scattered across Kathmandu Valley, with a focus on
the Astamatrika.
3.1 Location and Population
Khokana is located in the southwestern area of the Kathmandu Valley, approximately six
kilometers south of the ancient capital of Patan. It previously lay along a former traderoute between India and Tibet that flourished during the medieval period.
Based on the 2011 national census, the population of Khokana is 4,927. Comparedwith the 2,546 people recorded in sources from 1969, the population has roughly doubled
in the last forty years. Furthermore, data from the time of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake
showed the population to be 5,386 thus, it may be understood that there has been a trend
towards population increase in recent years. Ninety-seven percent of residents are Newari
who engage in agriculture and are called ‘Jyapu’; there are many whose family name is
Dangol or Maharjan.

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The territory of Khokana roughly overlaps with the territory of the former Khokana
VDC (Village Development Committee). Its boundaries are fundamentally waterboundaries; it is divided from the surrounding region by the Bagmati River to the west,
an irrigation canal to the east, and a mountain stream to the south. Because it escapes theerosion from the roadside housing development along the main ridge road (EkantakunaTikabhairab Road), Khokana’s residents continue their historical way of life and use of
the land.
The settlement is divided into the two settled areas of north and south. The southcomprises the former Districts 1-8., while the north is the former District 9, withpopulations of 5,132 and 236 respectively. Over 90% of Khokana’s residents live in theSouthern Settled Area, which has a dominant presence. This paper focused on theSouthern Settled Area and called it Khokana.
3.2 Landscapes
The two settled regions are set among hillocks and the topography gently inclines in acone shape towards the Bagmati River, with terraced paddy fields forming a beautiful
landscape. The highly dense settled area is built on, which are disadvantageous for a water
environment; the conic topography is used almost entirely as farmland. Double-cropping
is practiced there for rice planting and wheat, potatoes, and brown mustard.

Figure 1. Map of Khokana (Digital Globe, 2015)

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The temple at the centre of the settled area and the Shikari temple on its western edge
are important ritual spaces, and rituals are traditionally performed along a fixed routefrom the settled area. There is a crematorium on the Bagmati riverside and ashes are
released into the river after cremation. The route for funerals is well-established, and theroutes and entrances are divided into outward and return journeys.
In the northwest, there exist burial remains that are thought to be the ruins of a village.
The artefacts in the ground make it unsuitable as cultivated land, so it remains wilderness;
however, there are stone places of worship and stone statues interspersed across the land,so it is an important religious place.
4 Astamatrika in Khokana
4.1 Gods and Places
Figure 2 depicts the locations of religious structures, each colour representing the god
worshipped there. Rudrayani Temple, located at the centre of the settled area, is the main
temple of Khokana, where Rudrayani, one of the Astamatrika mother goddesses, isworshipped. Many other gods are also housed in shrines of different sizes and worshipped
there. Although some of these are clustered around Rudrayani Temple, they are generally
scattered throughout community spaces, specifically six squares called lachi. Amongthem, Chwe Lachi (community square in a high place) and Kwe Lachi (community squarein a low place) host dances and rituals during religious services, and are regarded asimportant places in Khokana where many gods gather.

Figure 2. Gods and Places in the Settled Area
Chwe Lachi is home to the three-storey Newar-style Rudrayani Temple and shrines
dedicated to Hindu gods, as well as a relatively large stupa, a pair of lion statues, and analtar constructed atop a platform; thus symbolising the centrality of Chwe Lachi to9393

Khokana. Kwe Lachi is home to Khokana’s three guthi buildings, as well as shrines thatwere rebuilt after the earthquake using traditional construction methods of Newararchitecture. During important festivals, this large square transforms into a stage where
dances are performed. The guthi buildings are two-storey structures designed Newar stylewith a large open space on the second floor. There, one can witness various scenes thatare exhibited around Kwe Lachi; for example, an altar is set up during festivals, andworshippers line up to see the enshrined goddess transferred from the chariot, or portableshrine.
4.2 Main Temple and Pitha
Rudrayani Temple, the central temple in Khokana, is a majestic Newar-style building
with a three-storey pagoda located at the centre of the settled area, and enshrines theAstamatrika goddess Rudrayani. Dewa Chen (God’s house), located on the north side of
the Rudrayani Temple, stores the equipment used in rituals. As per legend, the goddess
appeared in a place called Sikali Kyo (the square where the goddess settled), about a 20minute walk northwest of Rudrayani Temple. The Sikali Temple enshrines the goddess
symbolised by a stone icon, and a part of Astamatrika Pyakhan also takes place here. In
a grand festival, the idol of the goddess Rudrayani is carried in a portable shrine from
Rudrayani Temple—where it is housed—to Sikali Temple, where a ritual is performed.
The idol is then carried through the streets in a procession, returning to the temple at theend of the festival. In Khokana, the goddess Rudrayani is also called Sikali Maju. The
Sikali Temple is the goddess’ pitha, and the role of the idol carried on the portable shrine
is to invite the goddess’ spirit to the Rudrayani Temple. I believe there is a one-to-one
correspondence between the pitha outside the settled area and the central temple inside
the settled area. I have confirmed this aspect in other studies pertaining to the Newar
Settlements, and I would like to conduct additional studies in the future to further clarify
this.
4.3 Astamatrika Pyakhan
In Khokana, the Astamatrika Dance is referred to as Astamatrika Pyakhan (dance), and it
is celebrated in grand style every year. There are masks for each of the eight mothergoddesses, Bramhayani, Kumari, Mahakali, Rudrayani, Vaishnavi, Indrayani,
Maheshwari, and Mahalaxmi. The masks and costumes of each deity are made in thesame colour; for example, the performer wears a white mask and a white silk costume torepresent Rudrayani.
As mentioned, Astamatrika Pyakhan dates back to the medieval Malla Dynasty. The
dance is said to have started when King Malla of Patan heeded the divine revelation given
to him by the eight mother goddesses in a dream, and using his personal fortune to forma dance management organisation, he ordered masks and costumes to be made in theimage of the goddesses, so that the dance may be performed every year.
In Khokana, in addition to the eight mother goddesses, the dance also features six
patron gods: Bhairava, Ganesh, Shiva, Shakti Kumar, Hanuman, and Kumar. Thus, a totalof 14 masks form a line and perform a magnificent dance.

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4.4 Barha Barshe MelaIn Newar tradition, in addition to the annual festivals, a grand festival takes place every
twelve years; in Khokana, this festival, called Barha Barshe Mela, is held to celebrate
goddess Rudrayani. The festival is celebrated on a larger scale than annual festivals; newgoddess costumes and masks are created and dances are performed at the dabu (traditional
stages) in Patan and Kathmandu. Historically, even kings have sent gifts and offerings to
the festival, including in 1999. However, hosting the festival remains a significant
financial burden. The next festival is expected to be held in 2023, but there are difficulties
in preparing for and carrying the festival forward.
A particular feature of this grand festival is the ritual wherein participants gather
outside settlements that enshrine an Astamatrika goddess—other than the goddess
Rudrayani—and guide the spirit back to Khokana. A member of Rudrayani Guthi
informed me of the relevant locations and these have been marked on the map of Figure
3. Some of these locations overlap with the Astamatrika of Patan; further, they cover a
very wide area, even inviting a spirit from as far away as Pashupatinath. Notably, theAstamatrika of royal cities such as Kathmandu and Patan are arranged so that theysurround the city, whereas the formation of the Astamatrika of Khokana is different.
Particularly, in contrast to the Astamatrika exclusive to the royal cities, Khokana is in asubordinate position that overlaps with a portion of these. It is worth considering the
spatial discrepancy revealed by the relationship between royal cities and rural settlements.

Figure 3. The Astamatrika of Patan and Khokana(Edited by the Author on a Google Earth Image)9595

4.5 Social Organisation
4.5.1 Guthi
Guthi, the concept Kai Weise described in his aforementioned presentation, is a social
system for performing traditional ceremonies and maintaining temples. Multiple guthi
exist in Khokana. Among them, the Rudrayani Guthi hosts large events such as religious
festivals and is in charge of temple management and dances; important tasks related to
Khokana are carried out by a group of 46 male heads of households, passed down througha hereditary system. The Guthi has also decided which households will play the roles of
the gods in the Astamatrika Pyakhan; these roles are passed down from generation to
generation.
More than 20 rituals and festivals of various sizes are held annually in Khokana andare supported by a group called Manka Khala, which is active in organising events suchas musical performances, and traditional dances and songs. In Astamatrika Pyakhan, guthi
oversee rituals and traditional dances, while Manka Khala perform and sing. The festivals
are thus built on a division of roles among all members.
4.5.2 The Caste System
A caste system expressing differences in social position exists in Nepal, and applies to
Buddhists and Hindus. In religious ceremonies and rituals, different roles are assigned bycaste and this is clearly evident in Astamatrika Pyakhan as well; however, this isperceived as a division of roles rather than as a problem of discrimination. Each caste
executes duties and roles that can be performed only by that caste; hence, the festival canbe viewed as an important opportunity to exhibit these roles.
5 Conclusion
As described, I conducted spatial and social examinations of Khokana’s Astamatrika asa case study. The following characteristics can be gleaned from the results. First, in theroyal city of Patan, the Astamatrika surround the settled area and have a clear spatial orderseparating the inside from the outside; this order is not apparent in Khokana. It can beinferred that the settlement is subordinate to the exclusive Astamatrika of the royal city.
It would be worthwhile to study the Astamatrika of other settlements to analyse spatialdifferences representing the social positioning of settlements in Kathmandu Valley. The
second aspect is the relationship between pitha outside the settled area and the central
temple within the settled area The temple seems to have a central position in the settledarea as a spatial device to invite the goddess’ spirit from the sacred pitha, from which she
emerges, into the settled area. This has been seen in other Newar Settlements surveys, but
I would like to conduct additional investigations to further clarify the details.
Conversely, if an Astamatrika goddess is enshrined in the central temple, it could beconcluded with certainty that the settlement worships the Astamatrika. Although it has
not been discussed here, there is no Astamatrika worship in the settlement of Bungamati,
located south of Khokana.
This paper has attempted to clarify characteristics of Newar Settlements through thestudy of the Astamatrika. Notably, intangible culture may be the key to further elucidate
these characteristics and I intend to conduct studies to clarify this.
Finally, local elders are wary that future generations will not undertake the hereditary
work passed down to them in the caste system. The caste system is closely linked to the9696succession of Astamatrika Pyakhan; thus, it will be necessary to study the future
preservation and succession of intangible culture, taking into account such changes insocial structure. It is also linked to the preservation and succession of many existing
temples, as well as transformation in the urban structure. As such, it serves as an important
perspective for urban planning. In other words, it is necessary to simultaneously discuss
lifestyles of people and their spaces—from the perspective of urban development.
Acknowledgements
This report was supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan through its projectwith National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo as the implementation body. Special
thanks are given to Mr. Kashinath Tamot, former Associate Professor of Tribhuvan University, for his
support to the project, and Dr. Shovana Bajracharya for her support in Khokana. The survey in Khokana
was supported by people in Khokana as well as by Dr. Hiromichi Kubota and Dr. Tomo Ishimura from
National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, and the Kathmandu project members fromthe urban design laboratory of the University of Tokyo, led by Professor Yukio Nishimura.
References
UNESCO HP: (accessed 2019-11-7)
http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/844/
http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5257/
http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5258/
Bajracharya. A. & Bajracharya. S. (2008) . Living in KHOKANA “A Village of Miracles” (Japanese) .
Blair D. K. (1983) , 4 villages: Architecture in NEPAL, Craft & Folk Art Museum
Gutschow. N. & Bajracharya. M. (1977) . Ritual as Mediator of Space in Kathmandu. Journal of the Nepal
Research Centre, Vol. 1 (Humanities) , 1-10.
National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. (2016) . 2015 Project for International Contribution to
Cultural Heritage Protection Project for Investigation of Damage Situation of Cultural Heritage in
Nepal: Survey of Historic Settlement
Nishimura. Y. (2004) . Urban Conservation Planning (Japanese) . University of Tokyo Press

9797

Articles
Session 3
Discussions from Education Perspective

Ako- Negotiating the Intersection Between SDG 4.7 and Intangible
Cultural Heritage
Sandra L.Morrison1 and Timote Vaioleti2
1

Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies, University of Waikato, New Zealand
2
IMPAECT* (Indigenous Māori & Pacific Charitable Trust)This paper discusses the traditional Māori and Polynesian concept of ako as theintersecting point where Target 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals meets with
Intangible Cultural Heritage and education. Ako belongs to a Pacific indigenous
worldview which is guided by co-existence, mutual obligations amongst all entities
physically even metaphysically. Ako confirms that all entities are connected and exist
in a symbiotic relationship which preserves relationships, builds sustainable livelihoods
and connects the living with the lands, the seas and the rest of nature. Ako is also thecarrier of memory in supporting intergenerational transfer of knowledge and practise,both physically and spiritually especially with regards to intangible cultural heritage.
In this paper, we give examples of ako in practise with reference to how ako guides thequality of education for indigenous peoples and draws on traditions to support
adaptation to modern and complex problems of today as we move to maintain wellbeing
for the collective and harmony with each other and their God/s.
Key words: Ako; indigenous wordview; quality education for indigenous peoples

1 Introduction
According to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage (n.d, ) the safeguarding of intangible
cultural heritage (ICH) for Māori was traditionally conducted through oral and artistic
methods.
These include:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

The use of song or waiata
The use of proverbial sayings or whakataukī
The use of carving or whakairo and weaving or rāranga
The use of storytelling or kōrero pūrākau
The use of geneaology or whakapapa

Like many other indigenous societies, these forms of oral and visual transmission
abound and provide the reasoning for why certain phemonena occur and at times,
explanation for peoples’ relationship to place. In many cases, certain places have been set
aside to preserve and honour the sacredness of the event that may have occurred at aparticular site. Oral and visual transmission is part of a wider knowledge system and forMāori who descend from Polynesia, oral histories shape the worldview. Knowledge was
integral to the gradual process of settlement and adaptation following a series of
traditional voyages by Māori to Aotearoa (New Zealand). This knowledge or what has
become known as Mātauranga Māori has allowed knowledge on intangible heritage tocontinue to live throughout the many generations while being adapted to suit andsometimes resolve current issues.
101This paper draws on a Māori and Polynesian ‘kōrero pūrākau’ or story to tell of anancient Polynesian navigator who according to tribal histories was the first human totravel to the Antarctica and Southern Oceans. Through the traditional concept of ‘ako’ as
the intersecting point where Target 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals meets with
Intangible Cultural Heritage and education, his story is told. The navigation story isimportant as his journey of exploration and curiosity becomes a link to raising awarenessfor young Māori today on climate change.
In this paper, I provide a background of Mātauranga Māori/Māori knowledge
highlighting a deeper explanation of ako and kōrero pūrākau and nested within a Māori
worldview. Secondly, the pūrākau relating to the Polynesian explorer Hui Te Rangiora
will be told and how that story is transmitted today through the performing arts of kapa
haka to contribute to the sustainable development agenda and in particular to climatechange. Thirdly, it is important to talk about the New Zealand position with ICH andreference some examples that Māori communities are prepared to go to ensure theintegrity and the protection of their treasures or their ICH. Threaded throughout thispapers is the connections of the sustainable development goals and SDG 4 in particular,
ICH and education through ako and pūrākau. These connections flow seamlessly moving
between the natural world, the physical world and the spiritual world.
2 Te Ao Māori: a Māori Worldview
In 2019, there is still a very distinct practise of Māori values which gains its source fromearly stories of creation. Mātauranga Māori or Māori knowledge is embedded within aMāori worldview, a world view which is holistic, cyclic and inter related. (Kaai-Oldman,2004). A Māori worldview acknowledges the comprehension of a visible and an invisible
world, the presence of gods and goddesses who have domain over specified spheres anda number of Māori values of which whakapapa (geneaology) is critical. Whakapapa
affirms a relationship between all living things in the universe, including humans. In its
literal sense, whakapapa is the layering of relationships and the claiming of an identity toa set of geographical indicators, be it land, water, rivers or oceans as well as ancestors.
Within this claim, is the activation of a set of customary values which guide Māori
behaviours. Some examples of these customary values are mana (honour, prestige andauthority), whanaungatanga (kinship rights and obligations, belonging to a collective
identity); mauri (life force or essence); wairua (acknowledgement of a spiritual dimension
equal to the physical dimension); tapu (restriction and sacred); noa (to make common
again), kaitiaki (an ethic of responsibility to the environment; stewardship), manaakitanga( hospitality). These customary concepts have a relationship with each other and form theway that Māori see the world through the fundamental social units of whānau, hapū andiwi. These social structures are very cohesive despite being hierarchical with members
knowing their role and place. (Kaai-Oldman, 2004)
Mātauranga Māori is knowledge that has evolved from within this worldview and isgenerally based on the environmental encounters that Māori have had from a long historyof association with the environment through resource use practises, social interactions
and ritual. Marsden (1998) brings in a spiritual dimension talking about the knowledge
and understanding of everything visible or invisible that exists across the universe. Yet it
has to be acknowledged that it is not locked in the past rather that it is dynamic andevolving. Knowledge was prized and parts of it were so specialized or tapu (sacred) thatlearners had to be especially chosen to access it let alone become its practitioners. In many102

cases such learning occurred in special places and at special times. Knowledge was tobenefit the collective and not for individual gain. Mātauranga Māori comes with an ethicof responsibility between the generations to strive for cultural sustainability andwellbeing which is encompassed by the concept of kaitiakitanga meaning to be a good
guardian of things treasured.
Morrison and Vaioleti (2011) describe ako as the transmission of knowledge often
referred today to mean teaching and learning. It occurs within a context of cultural
nuances, values and philosophies determined by wider cultural contexts and practises.
Essentially ako means to learn behaviours, life skills or knowledge in a society where
people are expected to behave in accordance with their rank or social status. Ako ensured
that learning occurred through observation and osmosis and listening to adults whoalready had the necessary skills to survive. The purpose of ako was decided by the needsof the group as seen by both the learner and the teacher and consequently there was almost
always shared vision and understanding. Ako ensured the safeguarding of intangible
cultural heritage by ensuring that knowledge was passed down in order to keep thestrength of culture. Learning and teaching is now often associated with education
although ako is much more than education in its formal sense.
Kōrero pūrākau are stories or folklore. Lee (2005) uses the Māori language to relate
its full meaning by saying that the word pū represents the base and rākau means tree andtherefore they are interpreted stories that represent the experiences, knowledge andteachings that form the pū (base) from which the rākau needs to grow, or even survive.
Lee (2005) further says that pūrākau can inform and inspire, warn and persuade, arouse
the imagination, maintain relationships, protocols, rituals and rules. They are firmly
grounded in experience and knowledge and considered vital to cultural social and politicaldevelopment.
Both ako and kōrero pūrākau become the carriers of memory and are essential toreaffirming the sense of tribal identity particularly to place. For this paper, pūrākau andako come together as part of pedagogical framework in the story of Hui Te Rangiora, agreat Polynesian navigator who according to stories from Te Tau Ihu o te waka a Māui
( top of the South Island) was the first human to travel to the Antarctica and Southern
Oceans. The story is told and repurposed to bring a contemporary message to the youthof today which is to be prepared for the emerging phenomena of climate change and tofind ways to adapt to this, something that will be discussed further. The repurposing oftraditional stories is advocated for in recent work by Munshi, Kurian and Morrison.
(2019). Research on this journey to the Antarctica by Hui Te Rangiora is part of a larger
research project on Māori Associations with the Antarctica and Southern Oceans to
support adaptation and is funded by the National Deep South Science Challenge:
Changing with our climate.
3 Pūrākau of Hui Te Rangiora
The story of Hui Te Rangiora is located within the top of the South Island, in a small town
called Motueka. Hui Te Rangiora, also known as his Polynesian name, Ui Te Rangiora
was already known for his voyaging around the Pacific. Like many other Polynesian
explorers, he was inspired by adventure as well as the search for new lands. He is credited
for bringing the name Motueka (Motue’a) and its near neighbouring town Tākaka (Tā’a’a)to New Zealand from islands found in French Polynesia as well as other place names.
Tahitian pūrākau has a story where the man eating shark Te Kaiwhakaruaki (Te103‘Aifa’arua’i) resided in the channel known as Parapara, a channel which separated theislands. This same story has been transposed almost detail for detail to Motueka with theexistence of a taniwha (serpent) called Te Kaiwhakaruaki who resided at Parapara inGolden Bay and ravaged people travelling between Motueka and Tākaka. (Mitchell &Mitchell, n.d)
The pūrākau says that Ui-te-rangiora and another Polynesian navigator Te Arutanganuku and their people built a large canoe for the express purpose of going "to see thewonders of the ocean." (Smith, n.d., p.128).The wonderful things were:
the rocks that grow out of the sea, the monstrous seas; the female that dwells in thosemountainous waves whose tresses wave about in the waters and on the surface of thesea; and the frozen sea of pia, with the deceitful animal of that sea who dives to great
depths-a foggy, misty, and dark place not seen by the sun. Other things are like rocks,
whose summits pierce the skies, they are completely bare and without any vegetationon them. (Smith, n.d., pp 128-129)
It seems that both voyagers had visited these areas previously although at different
times (250 years apart). Hui Te Rangiora built a pāi, or great canoe which was made outof mens bones. and named Te iwi o Atea, Atea’s bones, this being the name of a former
waka which voyaged to the Antarctica, although the story does not name whether it was
Ui Te rangiora or Te Arutanga-nuku who was the navigator . (Smith, n.d, p.128)
Smith (n.d. p. 129) continues:
the meaning is quite clear; that the bare rocks that grow out of the frozen sea are theicebergs of the Antarctic; the tresses that float on the monstrous waves are the longleaves of the bull-kelp—over 50 feet long—quite a new feature to a people who dwelt
in the tropics, where there is nothing of the kind; the deceitful animal that dives so
deep, is the walrus or the sea-lion or sea-elephant. The frozen ocean is expressed by
the term Te tai-uka-a-pia, in which tai is the sea, uka, (Māori huka) is ice, a
pia means— a, as, like, after the manner of; pia, the arrowroot, which when scraped
is exactly like snow, to which this simple people compared it as the only or best
simile known to them.
This is but one recorded version of a relationship and a journey into the Southernoceans by a Polynesian. Other tribes will hold their own kōrero pūrākau such as Ngai
Tahu for whom an explorer called Tamarereti is their person who travelled to the
Antarctica and Southern Oceans following his curiosity and wish to see the Aurora
Australis.
The tribal communities who hold ‘mana’/prestige in the community of Motueka and
Takaka are Ngāti Rarua, Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Tama. Māori communal activities occur
at the marae or meeting place called Te Awhina. Hui Te Rangiora sits aloft the meetinghouse named Tūrangapeke at Te Awhina marae gazing out in his continual search for newlands. He also sits aloft the pou at the entrance to the Riuwaka Resurgence, a river
tributary renowned for its ancient springs and waters and where Hui Te Rangiora healed
himself following his discovery of Antarctica and before returning to Polynesia. His gazeis firmly transfixed on the horizon. This place is now set aside as wāhi tapu, a sacred104

place. These visual expressions capture his story as he is remembered by Ngāti Rārua and
Te Ati Awa.
More recently, the local kapa haka group appropriately called Motueka Mai Tawhiti
which literally means ‘Motueka Brought from Afar’ has composed several waiata not
only to remember Hui Te Rangiora and the numerous pūrākau associated with his voyages
into the top of the South Island but also to raise awareness of sustainable development
and climate change, in particular amongst young people.
The Hui Te Rangiora story and association with the Antarctica and Southern Oceans
is a remarkable story because it is one story of Polynesians journeying into the Southern
Oceans at a time when humans journeying that far would have been extremely small in a
number even if they had lived to relate the tale. Antarctica is one of the regions of theworld where the impacts of climate change are most apparent and pronounced. The
impacts of climate change in Antarctica will have dramatic effects both globally andlocally and research currently being undertaken in this region provides important insights
into what the climate future of NZ will be. It has been western explorers and later westernscientists who have been credited with exploration and discoveries in this area. Yet wehave a pūrākau which through the process of ako talks about a voyage by a Polynesiannavigator in 650 AD, long before many of the western explorers. Further, using kapa hakaas a conduit has created an opportunity for young people to engage with climate change
through repurposing his journey.
Kapa haka is an important conduit to bring young Māori into any debate given its
attraction for young people. Motueka Mai Tawhiti kapa haka group has a membership of
30 plus children ranging in age from 5 years to 12 years They gather regularly and at least
once a month, to engage in performing arts through kapa haka and thesewaiata/songs/chants have the potential to ignite an increasing awareness to contemporary
issues. Moreover this is just the beginning of the discussion with this group and as theirawareness increases then the Hui te Rangiora story becomes a key reference in furtheringthat discussion. At a hui/meeting held with members of the kapa haka group in October
2019, which included the wider whānau/familymembers, I explained research that I wasundertaking on climate change from a kaupapa Māori (Māori philosophy) perspective,
based in Māori epistemology and hopefully in a way that a 5 year old child would
understand. I explained that Papatūānuku (Earth Mother) was still crying for her beloved
partner, Ranginui /Sky Father from whom they had been separated for many many years.
Now the distance in their relationship had been made even more difficult because climatechange impacts had caused Papatūānuku to now be surrounded by a blanket and therefore
Papatūānuku was getting warmer and some of the air trapped in the blanket needed to getout. I explained further that if Hui Te Rangiora was to journey to the Southern Oceans
today that he would notice the changes in the ‘rocks that grew out of the sea’ as there
would not be as many rocks; the monstrous seas would probably be less monstrous; thefemale that dwells in those mountainous waves whose tresses wave about in the waters
and on the surface of the sea would have less tresses and they would not wave around somuch; and the frozen sea of pia will have less pia and there would be less deceitful
animals of that sea; perhaps even the great depths are not as great anymore. I then asked
the children how can Papatūānuku be happier and how can we as humans help her to behappier? One smart child suggested that Hui te Rangiora needs to make holes in her
blanket to allow the trapped air to escape. We then went on to talk about some of the
poisonous gases that was trapped in the blanket and how can we stop the build up of the105poisonous gases. With the help of the whānau, we talked about changes that needed tohappen both as whānau and also as belonging to a country and also a global community
if we were to have an adaptation strategy in mind. Moreover we referred to Hui Te
Rangiora as someone who would use his skills of navigation and journeying to raiseawareness on climate change as he would be noticing the dramatic changes in the ocean
if he were to journey today.
Identifying ways to connect Mātauranga Māori with climate change science andbringing Māori into discussions when their voices have been minimal is a important shift
for many reasons. One reason is that given the complexity of the problem, solutions
require the input of both western science and other knowledge systems including
indigenous/Māori knowledge. One knowledge system will not be sufficient to finding
solutions and working with communities to form appropriate adaptation strategies toclimate change. Despite the story of Hui Te Rangiora not having verification by westernscientists, it stands in its own integrity and supports the “ maintaining and sustaining links
between the cultural and the material call for the intertwining of matauranga knowledge
with scientific insights.( Munshi, Kurian and Morrison, 2019 p.72).
Pūrākau is one form of ICH and it draws on a local tribal story to relay a contemporary
message. Pūrākau can also connect us as people to place and explain our relationship toplace in a historical narrative which continues and is held today. The Hui Te Rangiora
story is one such story- it reaffirms a ancient relationship between people and place andjoins the intangible heritage with the tangible heritage. This relationship shapes tribal
identity and just as importantly comes with a commitment of stewardship andresponsibility to care for the land. Ako plays a vital role in assisting Māori young people
to advance their learning opportunities in conjunction with instilling cultural values,
which in this case is kapa haka. The young people are part of a community of learning inwhich their learning experience is relevant, worthwhile and engaging. This is far different
to what is offered to them in the formal education system where Māori often are
disconnected to the subjects and the pedagogies used. Poor performance statistics inMāori education is often put down to the fact that the curriculum, and the pedagogies used
are derived from outside the cultural experiences of Māori. Yet here, they are being
introduced to an important issue and learning through their own stories.
4 Important Intersections with Ako
Turning now to the Sustainable Development Goals, these are part of the 2030 Agenda
for Sustainable Development agreed to by the global community in September 2015.
They contain a vision for a more sustainable future. They are structured around 17 goals,
169 targets and is a plan of action with a broad and a holistic approach. The Agenda urges
the global community to reduce inequities, strive for peace, tackle climate change anddeal with a host of issues while leaving no one behind. The 2030 Agenda recognises theplace of culture such as in SDG 4.7 which says ‘By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire
the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among
others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, humanrights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global
citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution tosustainable development’.
The Report on Culture 2030 Indicators says:

106Culture contributes both as a sector of activity within itself and as an intrinsic
component present in other sectors. While the safeguarding and promotion ofculture represents an end in itself, it also contributes transversally to many of the
SDGs. (p.12)
I add also that this transversal application also relates to the role of education as acontributing factor to ensuring that the SDGs are met. Educational aims can be successful
if the cultural context of the learner and the teacher is acknowledged and as stated earlier,if the learning experience is relevant, worthwhile and engaging.
Quality education for Māori is therefore concerned with a distinct knowledge systemthat has evolved over thousands of years and is inextricably linked to territories andresources. It is seen as a continuous process that is holistic acknowledging the spirit world
and the natural world. Quality education must ensure the sustainability of Māori futuresand cultures.It includes Mātauranga Māori such as kōrero pūrākau, working withappropriate pedagogies such as ako both of which are carriers of memory in terms ofconnecting stories to place. This is also a method for protecting ICH.
5 Intangible Cultural Heritage
The Convention states that intangible cultural heritage is manifested in the following
domains: 1
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

oral traditions and expressions, including languages, as a vehicle of theintangible cultural heritage;
performing arts, such as traditional music, dance and theatre;social practices, rituals and festival events;
knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; andtraditional craftsmanshipIn relation to NZ and the Convention for ICH, NZ has not ratified the Convention
neither is there a National Register or National Inventory. There also appears to be no
intention in the immediate future for ratification either. Conversations and the debate in
New Zealand on the protection of its cultural heritage has focussed predominantly on
examples from the Māori experience. This is because Māori place high value on theprotection of taonga (treasures) and have been active in upholding the integrity of its use.
It is not so easy to divide the physical/tangible heritage from the natural and intangible;
the intangible cannot be separated from the tangible or the natural. They are boundtogether as one. The tangible and the natural heritage holds the intangible. While the term
Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) may be unfamiliar to many in NZ, the principles andtenets of what is required to protect cultural heritage has a high level of engagement fromMāori communities including tribal communities. At times of engagement by NZ
representatives in conferences working on ICH over the years kapa haka (performingarts) 2 and traditional arts and crafts are both thought to be worthy of safeguarding under
the Convention although there is no registry. It is apt then, that this article discusses the1
2

Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003, art 2.3
http://www.accu.or.jp/ich/en/training/casestudy_pdf/case_study_report_newzealand.pdf

107art of kapa haka as a conduit and pedagogical tool where quality learning takes place foryoung Māori.
An important example of the lengths that Māori will go when wanting to protect theirtaonga or treasures is when the tribe of Ngāti Toa Rangatira sought to have exclusive
composition rights for the haka (war dance) called Ka Mate Ka Mate. The Haka Ka Mate
Attribution Bill (2014) requires that where the haka is used in certain circumstances, forexample in a commercial context, the authorship of the Ka mate haka by Ngāti Toa
Rangatira chief, Te Rauparaha is acknowledged. This is haka has been made even more
popular because the rugby sports team, the All Blacks often perform it prior to rugby
matches when playing international matches. Hence the custodians of the haka wish toprotect its integrity. Māori feel very strongly about protecting their taonga/treasures andthis right is guaranteed to them under the Te Tiriti o Waitangi/ the Treaty of Waitangi, atreaty signed in 1840 which allowed for British settlement.
6 Conclusion
This paper discussed the traditional Māori and Polynesian concept of ako as theintersecting point where Target 4 of the Sustainable Development Goal’s, meets with
Intangible Cultural Heritage and education with reference to a pūrākau of a Polynesiannavigator called Hui te Rangiora. Ako is also the carrier of memory in supportingintergenerational transfer of knowledge and practise both physically and spiritually. Ako
guides the quality of education for indigenous peoples and draws on traditions to support
adaptation to modern and complex problems of today. Not to be forgotten is the role ofculture which like education contributes transversally to all of the SDG’s. The importanceof local education and community or whānau participation also supports the SDG’s.
Context matters in terms of aligning learning with identity, critical reflections on
historical discourses and reaffirming cultural aspirations.
References
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Pearson Longman.
Lee, J. (2005). Māori cultural regeneration: pūrākau as pedagogy. Paper presented as part of a
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Mitchell, H & J. (n.d.). Te Tau Ihu O Te Waka = A History of Maori of Nelson and Marlborough. Volume
1: Te Tangata Me Te Whenua = The People and the Land. Wellington: Huia.
Morrison, S & Vaioleti, T. (2011). Ako- a traditional learning concept for Māori and Pacific youth and its
relationship to lifelong learning. In Bildung und Erziehung. Adult Education in Southeast Asia and thePacific, 31-52.
Munshi, D., Kurian, P., & Morrison, S. (2019). A culture-centered approach to climate change adaptation:
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Futures: Reimagining Global Climate Justice (pp. 64-72). London: Zed Books.
Smith, P. (n.d.). [preamble] - Hawaiki: The Original Home of the Maori; with a Sketch of PolynesianHistory. Whitcombe and Tombs Limited, Christchurch. pp 128-129
UNESCO (2019) Culture 2030 Indicators. Paris;Unesco

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Education on Disaster Risk Reduction for Heritage CulturalLandscape (SAUJANA)
Laretna T. Adishakti
Department of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas
Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Cultural landscape is a manifestation of the interaction between humans and the naturalenvironment that is reflected in space and time (UNESCO, 1992). Started in the end of
the 1980s, this interaction has become a new perspective in global discourse of heritage
conservation. Stated in the Charter of Indonesian Heritage Conservation 2003, the wordsaujana, meaning, “as far as you can see,'' has been used in translating the term “culturallandscape”. Many heritage saujana in Indonesia are located in the ring of fire and/or
becoming tourism destinations, which makes them also vulnerable from the impact ofmass tourism. Several evidences in the disaster affected areas have shown lesson learnt
on the importance of safeguarding the integration of various heritage with the total
involvement of community on the disaster risk mitigation. This paper will highlight the
Heritage Saujana Education on Disaster Risk Reduction based on the author's
involvement as mediator and entrepreneur on conducting several programs post majordisasters in heritage saujana in Java, Indonesia, such as 12 years Integration of Reviving
Folk Batik Post-Earthquake; Saujana Conservation of Imogiri Heritage Village;
Kotagede Crafts Revival Post-Earthquake; and Creating Artworks Post Merapi
Mountain Eruptions.
Keywords: heritage saujana, Risk Disaster Reduction, community mediator,
entrepreneur.

1 Introduction

Disaster is a catastrophe,
Disaster could be an opportunity,
Opportunity needs creativity,
Creativity needs collaborations(Adishakti, 2006)

When a disaster destroys what we have, not only objects, the environment, the heritagesaujana 1, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, even lives and the future of lives, it’s
important to consider strategies on how, where, why, how, and what to do next. Anyefforts should include emergency response to sustainable plan for social, cultural,
economic, and living environments, from planning to implementation. Especially withIndonesia’s vulnerable location in the “Ring of Fire”, comprehensive disaster
preparedness and risk reductions are a must.
When planning for disaster preparedness and risk reduction, the challenge is tocontinue exploring and discovering opportunities. It requires creativity to take advantageof these opportunities. How can these creative efforts be implemented in a timely and
1

The Charter of Indonesian Heritage Conservation 2003 stated that the heritage ofIndonesia is the legacy of nature, culture, and saujana, the weave of the two.
109

sustainable way. When working with disaster affected areas in heritage saujana, it’s
important to consider the condition, sensitivity to the local population, the environment,
and carefully exploring its hidden potential. With these considerations, these efforts will
require a long period of time from planning to implementation.
Heritage saujana or cultural landscape, is the inextricable unity between nature andmanmade heritage in space and time. It embraces a diversity of manifestations of theinteraction between humankind and its natural environment (UNESCO, 1992). In which
the social system and the way humans manage the space and express a complex
phenomenon of tangible and intangible identities. The interaction of nature and culture
has become a new perspective in global discourse of sciences especially those which
concern with heritage conservation started in the end of the 1980s. Previously, since thebeginning of the Industrial Revolution in the first half of the nineteenth century, natureand culture have often been conceived of an extreme opposite in Western thought(Plachter & Rossler, 1995).
In 2003, the Indonesian heritage activists in the Indonesian Heritage Conservation
Network (Jaringan Pelestarian Pusaka Indonesia) in collaboration with Indonesian
ICOMOS and Ministry of Cultural and Tourism declared the first charter on heritage
conservation Indonesia ever had, Indonesian Heritage Conservation Charter 2003. This
charter stated that Indonesian heritage consists of natural, cultural and saujana heritage(cultural landscape, a mix of natural and cultural heritage). This charter has also
highlighted the use of saujana in translated cultural landscape. The word "saujana", inIndonesian dictionary meaning “as far as the eye could see”.
In this regard, towards sustainable creation based on opportunities in the disaster
affected heritage saujana requires collaboration with various parties, multi-disciplinary,across sectors, local and cross-continent networks. For this reason, the role of the
facilitators, as well as the mediators, and entrepreneurs, to knit opportunities, creation,and collaboration are significant. The question than how to develop the heritage saujana
education on Disaster Risk Reduction that will also encourage creativity on reviving thedisaster affected intangible cultural heritage and further development for better livelihoodand quality of life for the local population.
2 Case Study Location: Yogyakarta Indonesia
Yogyakarta, Indonesia after the independence of Indonesia in 1945 has become theSpecial Territory of Yogyakarta. The City of Yogyakarta is now known as the center ofhigher education, major tourist destination, the center for traditional and modern arts, aswell as one of the best cultural centers in Indonesia. This province has experienced
difficult times after the 5.9 Richter earthquake struck on May 27th, 2006. At least six
thousand died, and many more people were injured and lost their homes. As a result of
this terrible natural disaster, Jogja has lost its unique cultural heritage (both tangible andintangible ones). The tangible heritage such as the World Heritage Prambanan temple,
Yogyakarta Palace area, the inside the Baluwerti fortress or nJeron Beteng area including
Tamansari, and Kotagede Historical District. The earthquake had also seriously disrupted
such core activities of local industries, such as batik craft, sterling silver, pottery, wood
craft, ikat, and other traditional crafts practiced in the southern part of Yogyakarta City
and Bantul District.
Another huge disaster occurred in Yogyakarta between October and November 2010.
There were multiple eruptions period of Mount Merapi Yogyakarta, one of the world’s

110most active volcanoes. First eruption on 26 October 2010, and followed by huge eruptions
on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th November 2010. The hazards zone enlarged into 20 km,
140 million cubic volcanic materials, pyroclastic flow up to 17 km along Gendol river.
322 people reported killed, and an estimated 2,465 households became homeless, and 29
villages were destroyed/disappeared. The Borobudur World Culture Heritage Temple wastotally covered mostly by ash containing sulfur and acid which can decay the stones.
3 Post-disaster Action Programs
In response to those catastrophes, the author was involved in the three post-disasterprograms:- Reviving Folk Batik Post-Earthquake, in Imogiri Batik Village;- Kotagede Heritage District Crafts Revival Post-Earthquake; and- Creating Art Works Post Merapi Mountain Eruption.
3.1 Reviving Folk Batik Post-Earthquake, in Imogiri Batik Village
3.1.1 The Setting and Its Historical Background
Imogiri batik village in Bantul Regency, 12 kilometres south of Yogyakarta City is an
important heritage saujana where the Royal Cemetery Complex located the hill, many
traditional houses, and the home of the batik craft small scale industry. In the year 16321640, during the Mataram Moslem Era, the 3rd King of Mataram Kingdom, Sultan Agungordered to build the Mataram’s Royal cemetery in Imogiri. He was buried there in 1645.
There are 410 stairs to reach the cemetery. Due to the needs of batik for funeral ceremonyand other types of ceremonies have created batik villages surrounding Imogiri Royal
Cemetery. In the year 1755, Mataram Kingdom divided into Surakarta and Yogyakarta
Rulers. Imogiri Royal Cemetery was also divided to Surakarta and Yogyakarta Kingdoms.
Each Kingdom has each own batik pattern and styles. As Yogyakarta formerly was partof the Hindu-Mataram, there is the Old Javanese Ramayana Kakawin which show theorigin of the word batik: tika, “sacred drawing, scared painting (PadmadipuraWangsawikrama, 2016).
Traditional batik painting Bantulan is one of the biggest potential of the Imogiri
district in Bantul, Yogyakarta. Most of the crafters inherited the skills from their family
for hundreds of years. There were about 900 groups of batik crafters in Imogiri, consistof both old and young people organized in groups of crafters, overall there were 4,500
crafters in Imogiri. For hundreds of years, the Bantulan batik from Imogiri had influenced
many parts of Central Java region such as Tegal, Bayat, and Semarang.
Since 1970s Bantulan batik was declined. Most crafters have shifted batik painting as
their second jobs instead of their main occupations. There were only several active batik
crafters groups. The declining batik market had slowed the crafters down, as well as the
skills. The younger generation had lost their interest in batik craft.
The condition slightly changed when Mrs. Jogopertiwi kept trying to develop theexistence of Imogiri batik in 1990s. Young generation interests were increased. She
received an Upakarti Award from the President of Indonesia for her efforts. Unfortunately,
she passed away in 2002. In the year 2005, the Friends of Indonesian Batik “Sekar Jagad”
established the Imogiri Eco-museum Batik “Joglo Ciptowening” dedicated to Mrs.
Jogopertiwi. The museum was opened by Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, and has
exhibited various types of batik patterns from Imogiri and its surrounding areas since then.

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The May 27/2016 earthquake had shaken Bantul district as well as Bantulan batik
crafters’ life. Imogiri and Bantul were among the hardest hit region where the city literally
lost its capacity to function. Most of the residents were mourning from losing their family
members and their houses. Imogiri Eco-museum Batik was also collapsed.
3.1.2 The Actions
Jogja Heritage Society in collaboration with the Sekar Jagad Batik Lovers have initiatedto revive the Imogiri folk batik craft. The other collaborators are Department ofArchitecture and Planning of Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesian Heritage Trust, Losari
Foundation, Mayasari Indonesia, Community Service of Yogyakarta Agricultural
Institute, and individual donors. This program was supported by Culture Emergency
Response from Prince Claus Fund, Netherlands, 2006 – 2007. The objective of thisprogram is to help rebuilding the heritage saujana of Imogiri and residents based on theirmost potential, the intangible heritage.
This activity is also part of the program called “Give Back Jogja Folk Heritage”, an
integrated conservation effort of tangible and intangible heritage by rebuilding the
economy through utilizing their potential assets. This program is aimed to assist thecrafters to be financially independent in the future.

Figure 1. Imogiri batik crafters participated in the daily workshop post-earthquake(Source: Adishakti, 2006)
The Reviving Imogiri Folk Batik actions consist of:1) Group Batik painting activities: Organize batik painting activities in local residents’front yard as a workshop area in Pajimatan village, Girirejo. The target of the firstactivity is to get about 50 women crafters involved.
2) Site Preparation and Maintenance.
3) Public batik painting workshop: organize workshops and trainings for interested
public by recruiting local batik crafters.
4) Batik Crafts Flea Markets (Pasar Tiban Batik): Organize Batik Crafts Flea Markets
every day at workshop sites.

1125) Natural dye of batik processing.
6) Establish Temporary Imogiri Batik Eco-museum in the workshop site.
The overall activities were held in Pajimatan village, Girirejo, Imogiri District in
Bantul, Yogyakarta. The key important activity was to get the local community involved
as much as possible by utilizing “what they can do” or their most potential assets to help
them get back on their own while simultaneously revitalizing the culture and theeconomy.
The following program, Jogja Heritage Society in collaboration with AustraliaIndonesia Partnership (AIP) conducted the Yogyakarta – Central Java Assistance
Program (YCAP) in 2007.
--

Target of this program: There were 100 skillful and experienced traditional
women artisans of batik Imogiri, who need help to sustain their livelihood.
Focus: women's empowerment, batik conservation, and improving family
welfare.
Organizer: provided shelter, equipment and raw materials such as white cloth
and wax, and helped for marketing and promotion.
Objective: to shift the mindset of the people into a more dynamic, creative,
and productive.
Training programs:• to improve their skill in batik design, batik techniques, and colouring,• to improve productivity, quality control, marketing, and sustainability ofthe business,• to learn environmental control and waste management. Some people got
training to guide local heritage trails activity.
Action 1: Batik training.
Action 2: Colouring training.
Action 3: Dress making training.
Action 4: Construction of batik dyeing place.
Action 5: Construction of batik dyeing and drainage.
Action 6: Construction batik workshop.
Action 7: Marketing through series of exhibitions.

The achievement indicators of the development are:-improvement of the quality of life,strengthening of communication and networking,empowered community,
12 batik community co-operations established,
construction a batik complex called Gazebo, which later on becoming thecenter of batik excellent.

3.2 Kotagede Heritage District Crafts Revival Post-Earthquake
3.2.1 The Historical BackgroundKotagede is located about 6 km to the south east of Yogyakarta City, Indonesia.
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Yogyakarta is a palace city built in 1755. The rulers in this Muslim Mataram Kingdom
were succession in various courts since 15th century. There were Pajang, Kotagede, Kerto,
Plered, Kartosuro, Surakarta and the devised of Mataram as Surakarta and Yogyakarta.
Formerly, in the 8th- 10th C, this region had known as Mataram, but as the site of theFirst Great Central Javanese Empire whose fundamentally followed the Buddhist andlater Hindus principles. There were the succession of Indian kings such as the builders ofthe magnificent Buddhist temple Bodobudur, and the Hindus temple Prambanan.
Kotagede, the former capital of Islamic Mataram Kingdom in 16C, means a “big city”.
It represents the Javanese ideal site and its unique characteristics. As a typical city of Java,urban structure of Kotagede formerly based on the concept called Catur Gatra Tunggal(four components in one). It means that the center of a Javanese city consists of 4components. There are palace, mosque, market and square (alun-alun). The palace wassurrounded by the wall and the inner moat (Jagang Jero). In the 16th Century, Kotagede
functioned as a busy and lively center of trade.
In this century, the two components of Javanese city remain are the Grand Mosque ofMataram (Masjid Agung Mataram) and the market that is still busy. Several otherphysical assets existed are Mataram Royal Cemetery, Seliran Ancient Pool, Monuments(Clock of Hamengku Buwono VII and Fort Baluwerti), Kalang houses, traditional houses
and its townscape (historical buildings, small alleys, and rukunan streets). In the case of
biotic assets, Kotagede has various types of historic flora and fauna, for instance banyan
trees, mentaok, kenanga, and other rare trees. The site of palace and the square areoccupied by settlements known as Kampung Alun-alun and Kampung Dalem. Although
the remains of the palace and parts of the royal features have been long ago disappeared,
the residential structure still exhibits the Javanese significant culture. Those current
settlements and urban spaces that are mostly now utilized by present society form a living
cultural asset & famous for its silverworks.
Administratively, Kotagede is part of two districts (Yogyakarta Municipality andBantul Regency). It consists of five urban villages: Kalurahan Prenggan, Kalurahan
Purbayan, Kalurahan Basen, Desa Jagalan and Singosaren. As a religious compound,
Kotagede invented the fast-learning method of reading the Koran, especially for children.
Beyond the well-known image of silver crafts, Kotagede is also a center of Javanese crafts
and arts (gold, silver, copper, leather, etc.), and traditional food (kipo, legomoro, etc.).
Performing arts such as gamelan music group (karawitan), religious music group(syalawatan), Javanese poetry reading (mocopat), keroncong music, tingklung wayang
puppet as well as offering ceremonies on special days (caos) and leading an ascetic
religious life (tirakatan).
Due to the 2006 Java Earthquake, this heritage district that well-known for its
traditional houses and unique Kalang houses and kampong of sterling silver crafters isseriously endangered. Many traditional houses - embodiment of folk heritage – have been
destroyed by the earthquake. Their owners deprived of necessary means resources might
not be able to restore them in their traditional forms. Most of silver crafters have lost thenecessary resources to continue their work. Therefore, urgent actions are needed in orderto safeguard these precious assets (tangible and intangible cultural heritage). Afterwards
they could become an important potential for the local economy and an attractive tourist
destination.

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3.2.2 The Actions
Post-earthquake in 2006, a revitalization program of Kotagede Heritage District has been
initiated by “Pusaka Jogja Bangkit! (Jogja Heritage Revival!) “, a collaborative parties
consist of Jogja Heritage Society; Center for Heritage Conservation, Department ofArchitecture and Planning of Universitas Gadjah Mada; Indonesian Heritage Trust;
ICOMOS Indonesia, and other supportive institutions including local community. This
program focuses on building the local economy through building both tangible andintangible heritage as invaluable potential for economic and sustainable development.
One program focusing on the reviving of the intangible cultural heritage is Kotagede
Heritage District Crafts Revival Post-Earthquake, organized by Department ofArchitecture and Planning of Universitas Gadjah Mada supported by Exxon Mobile Oil,
2007-2008. The action programs are:
- Revitalize the economy of the crafters post-earthquake through;.. small scale crafts empowerment under the Kotagede outstanding craft orderprogram,.. develop catalogue of Kotagede small scale craft.
- Marketing of Kotagede crafts;.. build showroom for all,.. promotion through exhibition.
- Revitalize Kotagede Culture focusing on crafts and tourism;.. develop center for Kotagede conservation and revitalization postearthquake,.. strengthen the movement on Kotagede conservation and revitalization postearthquake.

Figure 2. Catalogue 2008 of Kotagede Crafts post-earthquake(Source: Omah UGM, 2008)
3.3 Creating Artworks Post Merapi Mountain Eruption
3.3.1 The Historical Background
Mount Merapi is the generator of civilization around Yogyakarta. As one of the world’s
most active volcanoes having erupted for centuries. The volcano eruption is a natural
phenomenon that has continued and will continue to happen. Therefore, risk evaluationand preparedness are needed, based on the previous experience from generation to115

generation. About 6,410 hectares of this mountain has been declared as Mount Merapi
National Park. When the huge multiple eruptions happened in the period of October –November 2010, and 2,465 households became homeless and 29 villages
destroyed/disappeared. Many of them have lived in the temporary house called
HUNTARA.
3.3.2 The Actions
The Social & Economy Recovery Project of the Residents of Merapi Slopes was
conducted by Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Gadjah Mada incollaboration with Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction, 2011-2012. The
author was involved in some part of this project that focused on the increasing livelihoodsin the Kuwang and Gondang Temporary Houses in the Merapi Slopes. The opportunity
to work towards increasing livelihood can be carried out by utilizing various networks
owned by the team that gave promising socio-economically and sustainably programs.
This process of increasing livelihood was the object of this action research, and it isexpected to be a reference for various similar cases in Indonesia in particular, and various
parts of the world in general.
One of the development of new activities for the residents to meet opportunity,
creativity and collaboration post-disaster was producing new artworks based on
traditional Merapi handicrafts which is called Merapi Crafts. The program began withtraining for women who live in the 6 x 6 meters temporary house (Huntara) in Kuwang
and Gondang villages. The practical method of training was to create the denim walletwith recycle of natural indigo batik and embroidery design that illustrated the image ofTraining on ideas of
Denim wallet with recycle ofMedia Coverage as part ofdesign andnatural indigo batik
promotion
embroidery
Figure 3. The process of producing the new Merapi Crafts post-eruption(Source: Adishakti, 2012)
erupted mountain and surrounded area of Kuwang and Gondang temporary houses posteruptions. Galeri Batik Jawa freely supplied the scrap materials of natural indigo batik
and has given assistance on product marketing. The program brought creative products
meets the objectives of generating income, building confidence of the community, andcreating future intangible cultural heritage.

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4 The Sustainable Program and Comprehensive Conservation of Heritage Saujana
Heritage itself is a sustainable concept where our common responsibility to future
generations in the time of globalization is to develop the local identity (Mimura, 2003).
The sense of continuity of heritage becomes more important than ever. Heritage, tangible
or intangible culture, not just about the past. Continuity amid change is the central concept
of conservation, a notion that differs from preservation (Adishakti, 1997). Heritage
conservation is management of change (Asworth, 1991). However, changes which havetaken place are not drastic in nature, it consistently preserves the outstanding value andthrough selectively choice of changing. The sustainability of heritage is related with theefforts of the community in managing those heritages. It is, therefore, a duty for everyone
to be the heritage agent of change in this century to maintain and pass along to the future
generations and at the same time it is a right to create, develop and contemplate the future
heritage as well as managing heritage as creative industry.
Heritage communities at the local level of disaster affected areas need support. Theirenthusiasm in participating within tangible and intangible cultural heritage conservationneed support from the global community. The community mediators as well as
entrepreneurs are needed to motivate, empower, and foster community movement.
From 3 (three) cases of actions post-disaster observed that the case of Imogiri,
Reviving Folk Batik Post-Earthquake, has exhibited fast recovery and development.
Instead of a long term collaboration among local crafters and outsider supports from
community mediators, enterpreneurs and donors, the world recognition for batik andstrong market demands have also given much positive impact on this sustainable program.
Consequently, the reviving of batik and conservation of its heritage saujana should becomprehensively handled by care, yet innovative to meet the world class demands.
4.1 The Outsider Supports and Market of Intangible Culture Heritage Post-disaster.
Following is a comparison of case studies experiences in conducting the actions postdisaster: reaching the opportunities, creating innovative products and develop markets,and supporting mostly by other collaborators. As previously mentioned, the case of
Imogiri, Reviving Folk Batik Post-Earthquake, has exhibited fast recovery anddevelopment.

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Table 1. Post-disasters Actions and Sustainable Programs
Condition &Imogiri case
Kotagede case
Mount Merapi caseefforts(1)(2)(3)
Disaster- Earthquake- Earthquake- Regular eruption- Printed textile with batik- The price of silver- Homelesspattern
unstable- Loss of income- Decreasing of batik small- Decreasing of silver
scale industry
small scale industry
Opportunities - Generation transfer of batik - Generation transfer - Public &making process in community of silver crafters inacademician
level
community level
concerned- Concerned public &- Concerned public & (mediator)- Concerned
academician (community
academician
mediators)(community
entrepreneurs
mediators)- Concerned entrepreneurs- Income generated- Heritage District
from creative- World recognition
products- International market trends in Revitalization
Program- Women spirit ofsustainable handmade- Reconstruction ofworking
products
UGM Traditional- Agricultural opportunities
House in Kotagede
from growing natural dye
plants.
- Sustainable economic
generation from the above
opportunities
Creativities- Products- Daily workshop and- Developed many
- New artworks bystrengthened the batik making new designs andthe women in theprocess
new packaging
temporary houses
namely Merapi- More classical patterns have - Product demands
Craftsemerged by the batik crafters from entrepreneurs- Product demands- Product demands from
- Utilization of
fromentrepreneurs
reconstructed ofentrepreneurs, but
UGM Traditional- Innovation batik forlimited types ofHouse in Kotagede
contemporary fashion,
products
for silver showcase
accessories, and home decor- Reviving the natural indigo
batik- Utilization of Gazebo /Traditional House for batik
education center and shop
- Tourist destination- New Batik Galleries- New Homestays

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- Marketing- On site marketing (batik- Some exhibitions, - Some exhibitions,
national & global
galleries & shops increasing) national & global- Many national & international - In the UGM
exhibitions, such as
Traditional House,
Kotagede
International Folk Art
Market, Santa Fe USA, since
2016
Community mediators Researchers &Collaborations Community mediators:& designers:
community- Jogja Heritage Society
mediators:- Department of- Sekar Jagad Batik Lovers- Faculty ofArchitecture and- Department of Architecture
Economics &Planning, UGM
and Planning, UGM
Business UGM- Indonesian Heritage Trust
Donor:- Losari Foundation- Exxon Mobile Oil Donor:- Mayasari Indonesia- Australia- Yogyakarta Agriculture
Donor forIndonesia Facility
Institutereconstruction of
for Disaster
Donors:UGM Traditional
Reduction
House:- Culture Emergency
Entrepreneur:
Response, Prince Claus Fund - UGM
Galeri Batik Jawa
- JICA- Australia-Indonesia- Total Indonesie
Partnership (AIP)- Individual Donors
Entrepreneurs: Galeri Batik
Jawa and others.
4.2 Toward Comprehensive Conservation and Achieving SDG’s in the Imogiri
Case
The needs of comprehensive conservation and toward for achieving Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG’s) in Imogiri heritage saujana the path for further sustainable
development should be, therefore, categorized into:
1) World class recognitions and supports
2) Building world class market
3) Building world class people centered management
4) Building world class Imogiri batik heritage saujana
4.2.1 World Class Recognitions and Supports
The first mitigation actions post-earthquake on the Reviving of Folk Batik Imogiri, it was
supported by world class organization Prince Claus Fund, Netherlands through the
Culture Emergency Response (CER) program in 2006-2007. The CER stated that
“Culture connects individuals to our communities and their history. Safeguarding
cultural heritage can contribute to better understanding and social acceptance ofcommunity. It can strengthen communities’ sense of identity and give us the resilience torecover from conflict or natural disaster”.

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In the year 2009, Batik Indonesia was inscribed by UNESCO as Masterpieces of Oraland Intangible Heritage of Humanity. And in the year 2014, Yogyakarta is designated byWorld Craft Council as World Batik City.
4.2.2 Building World Class Market
At the same time, the marketing from Galeri Batik Jawa, an entrepreneur who hasbusiness on natural indigo batik in collaboration with many Imogiri batik crafters havereached better world market, such as in Asia, Europe and the US through exhibitions,bazars, workshops, lectures and fashion shows in the prominent venues. While on site
marketing conducted by the local step by step has increased and received more buyers.
Many new batik galleries have been developed.
4.2.3 Building World Class People Centered Management
Due to the many opportunities and challenges for further development, Imogiri batik as
well as its heritage saujana need more environmental friendly programs as well as worldclass spatial planning and design development. Several programs from Universitas
Gadjah Mada led by author have been conducted since 2016, they are:---

International Summer Course on Imogiri Saujana Heritage: Participatory Planningand Design for Batik Eco-Museum, Universitas Gadjah Mada, 2016. This programorganized in Yogyakarta and Imogiri heritage village, 6 – 19 October 2016. There are
9 (nine) facilitators from Indonesia, Japan, India, Taiwan, French, and Malaysia, and
22 (twenty-two) participants from Malaysia, Nepal, Myanmar and Indonesia.
Architectural Thematic Studio, Department of Architecture and Planning, UGM,
2016. The assignment in one semester was designing Batik Eco-museum in Imogiri
Heritage Village. Participated by 8 (eight) students.
Universitas Gadjah Mada Community Service program, 2017, focuses on the“Community Empowerment on the Batik Display and Interior of Shop/Gallery andHomestay, Sekar Arum Group, Giriloyo Wukirsari, Imogiri, DIY”. One of theachievements is the local community have committed to utilize and/or design the
Limasan type of traditional house for homestay or batik gallery.
Universitas Gadjah Mada Community Service program, 2018, focuses on the“Community Empowerment on the Hospitality Design, Wukirsari, Imogiri, DIY”.
Some achievements are the establishment of 2 (two) community culinary markets that
opened every Legi 2 Sunday (Sor Jati Market) and every Kliwon Sunday ( Jolontoro
Market).

Several world class programs have also been organized in the Gazebo Batik Complex,
Imogiri Batik Village which have given more world recognitions, there are:-Jogja International Batik Biennale (JIBB) 2016 and 2018. This JIBB organized oncein two years is a responsibility program after Yogyakarta designated as Jogja World
Batik City in 2014. JIBB biennially programs are batik exhibition, international
symposium, public lectures, and batik – natural dye workshop. This batik – natural2

In the Javanese calendar, there are 5 pasaran days: Kliwon, Legi, Paing, Pon and Wage120

-dye workshop has always been organized in the Gazebo Batik Complex and its
surrounding areas.
Traditional Textile ASEAN Symposium 2019. Part of this international symposium
was batik workshop organized in the Gazebo Batik Complex, Imogiri Batik Village.

The Imogiri batik crafters currently have already performed their professionalism inmanaging batik events, workshops and courses in the Gazebo Batik Complex. For
example, batik courses for individuals until hundreds students including food andbeverage preparation. Their local batik instructors have also been invited to teach batik
in many parts of Indonesia.
4.2.4 Building World Class Imogiri Heritage Saujana
Since the establishment of Mataram’s Royal Cemetery in the 16th century up until 2019,the brief layering of space and activities development are consisted of royal cemetery,
heritage saujana with 3 (three) UNESCO world masterpieces (batik, wayang and keris),
Java earthquake, reviving folk batik, batik & saujana development, hospitality design
development, edu-tourism development, local entrepreneur development, and toward thequality of life which can be for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
This last point will be focused for further action research and sustainable programs. One
important issue is how Imogiri batik could focus on reviving the Imogiri ancient blue-dye
tradition as indigo is part of the fabric of everyday lives (Legrand, 2013) andenvironmentally friendly.

Figure 4. The Development of Imogiri Batik Village Post-Earthquake, 2006 – 2019
(Source: Adishakti, 2019)121

5 Lesson Learnt for Education on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) for Heritage Saujana
The experience of reviving local intangible cultural heritage as well as creating artworks
post-disaster has proven that sustainable creation-based opportunities in the disaster
affected heritage saujana requires the development of skills and creativity of the local
community, including the crafters, and increasing their capacity to collaborate withvarious parties, multidisciplinary sectors both local and global networks. However, therole of the facilitators as well as the mediators and entrepreneurs who can support thetransformation from idea into reality is very important. In the case of Imogiri, in addition
to many world recognitions and supports, it has also exhibited the advanced collaboration
with professional entrepreneur in the success of global marketing of Imogiri batik. In thisregard, education for competent community mediators and entrepreneurs who are creativeand innovative to work with the local community of heritage saujana should be
holistically prepared.
Following is the suggestion in developing education on Disaster Risk Reduction for
heritage saujana.
5.1 Goals:--

Encouraging the creativity on reviving the disaster affected natural andcultural heritage – tangible and intangible, and further development for better
livelihood, development quality and business of those heritage and otherartworks, environment friendly, quality of life and utilize as the bridge inachieving Sustainable Development Goals,
Going beyond the effort of Disaster Risk Reduction to creating sustainable
effort to conserve the heritage saujana as a basic need for better livelihood andquality of life post-disaster,
Increase public awareness of the importance of intangible cultural heritage intheir community, appreciate and further able to develop the quality of those
heritage and creating artworks based on local resources,
Develop promotion for intangible cultural heritage that have high opportunity
in the national and global market.

5.2 Method and Target Education on DRR for Heritage Saujana:-Training for local community, local crafters, and local entrepreneurs,
Training for trainer for community mediators, academician, and heritage activists,
Special trainings for folk art designers,
Field/summer school for students and scholars,
Capacity building for government agencies and specialists,
Various activities for public awareness campaigns.

5.3 Subjects:-

Basic DRR,
Sustainable Development Goals,
Heritage Saujana Conservation,
Reviving Intangible Culture Heritage and Creating New Artworks post-disaster;.. Strengthen the skill of craft making process,.. Action research on exploration of business opportunity,

122

-

.. Enhance the creativity,.. Understanding the partnership and finding collaborators.
Heritage economy and marketing development.

5.4 Supporting System:-

Preparation of curriculum and training materials,
Produced manual for education,
Organize exhibition and workshop for campaign activity.

6 Concluding Remarks---

Reviving intangible cultural heritage in the heritage saujana is about livelihood
development and related to the quality of the whole aspects of environment, that is
the saujana conservation itself,
Promote the implementation of the Gianyar Declaration 2017 on Culture
Sustainability & Climate Change: Strategy 13 –The duty to promote creative
industries based on the conservation of nature and culture. The global heritage
community has a duty to promote responsible creative industries based on theconservation of nature and culture to provide job creation, including post disasters, togenerate locally based economic activity and to enhance the innovation of folk art andheritage design,
For further action researches and sustainable programs in Imogiri should focus on;.. Develop more natural indigo batik of Imogiri and cultivate various plant-dyes onsite,.. Conservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage products is about
professional market. Explore more heritage economy in Imogiri,.. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through Imogiri heritage saujanaconservation.
Revisited the cases of Kotagede Heritage District Crafts Revival Post-Earthquake andCreating Artworks Post Merapi Mountain Eruption.

Acknowledgments
I wish to thank disaster affected communities in Yogyakarta for inspiration, understanding andcollaboration.
References
Adishakti, L.T. et.al. (2018). Community Empowerment on the Hospitality Design, Wukirsari, Imogiri, DIY.
Universitas Gadjah Mada Community Service.
Adishakti, L.T. et.al. (2017). Community Empowerment on the Batik Display and Interior of Shop/Gallery
and Homestay, Sekar Arum Group, Giriloyo Wukirsari, Imogiri, DIY. Universitas Gadjah Mada
Community Service.
Adishakti, L.T. et.al. (2016). International Summer Course on Imogiri Saujana Heritage: Participatory
Planning and Design for Batik Eco-Museum. Department of Architecture and Planning, Faculty ofEngineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada.
Adishakti, Laretna T. (2009). Reconstruction Process in Kotagede Heritage District, Yogyakarta,
Indonesia. Published by Jogja Heritage Society, supported by the people of Fukuoka, Japan through UNHABITAT.
Adishakti, Laretna T. (2008). Community Empowerment Program on the Revitalization of Kotagede
Heritage District, Indonesia Post-earthquake. In T. Kidokoro, J. Okata, S. Matsumura, & N. Shima(Eds.) Vulnerable Cities: Realities, Innovations and Strategies (pp 241-256). Springer, Japan.

123

Adishakti, Laretna T. (2006). Recovery of Monuments and Folk Heritage in Jogja Post-Earthquake. Article
in ICOMOS Newsletter Vol. 16, No.2, December 2006, pp10 – 11.
Adishakti, Laretna T. (1997). A Study on the Conservation Planning of Yogyakarta Historic-tourist City
based on Urban Space Heritage Conception. Unpublished dissertation. Kyoto University. Kyoto.
Ashworth, GJ. (1991). Heritage Planning: conservation as management of change. Geo Press, theNetherlands.
Faculty of Economics & Business Universitas Gadjah Mada (2012). The Social & Economy Recovery
Project of the Residents of Merapi Slopes in collaboration with Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster
Reduction.
Indonesian Heritage Trust (2017). The Gianyar Declaration 2017: Cultural Sustainability and Climate
Change, in collaboration with the International National Trusts Organization (INTO) and the Gianyar
Regency, Indonesia.
Japan Foundation (2016). Natural Dye Batik: Recollecting Lost Knowledge: Japan, Indonesia andMalaysia, supported by World Craft Council-Asia Pacific Region.
Jaringan Pelestarian Pusaka Indonesia (2003), Piagam Pelestarian Pusaka Indonesia (Indonesian Charterfor Heritage Conservation) in collaboration with ICOMOS Indonesia and Ministry of Culture andTourism, Republic of Indonesia.
Legrand, Catherine (2013). INDIGO: The Color that Changed the World. Thames & Hudson Itd, NewYork.
Mimura, Hiroshi (2003). The Awakening of A Heritage Environment Ethic in Asia. Paper presented in theInternational Symposium and Workshop “Managing Heritage Symposium”, organized by Center for
Heritage Conservation, Department of Architecture and Planning, UGM and the Japan Foundation Asia
Center.
Padmadipura-Wangsawikrama, Manu W. (2016). Tulis-Tirthayatra: Origin, Networks, and Intellectual
Route of the Mataram’s Batik in the Javanese Cultural Ecology. Keynote Speaker paper in theInternational Symposium of Jogja World Batik City on “Batik: Tradition for Innovations”.
Plachter, Harald & Rossler, Mechtild (1995). Cultural Landscapes: Reconnecting Culture and Nature. In B.
Droste, H. Plachter, & M. Rossler (Eds.) Cultural Landscapes of Universal Value (pp. 15–18). Gustav
Fischer Verlag Jena, Stuttgart, New York in cooperation with UNESCO.

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Intangible Cultural Heritage Within the Mathematics Teaching
Methods Course for Pre-service Teachers: Awareness andAppreciation of Pre- colonization Knowledge and Wisdom
Munirah Ghazali1,2, Vassilis Makrakis3 and Muzirah Musa1
1

School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
2
RCE Penang, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
3Frederick University, Cyprus

Malaysia is a relatively “young” country who just celebrated its 62 years of
independence from the British. Malaysia is known as Malaya before independence andconsequently, the education system is influenced by British colonization of Malaya for
about 200 years. Since gaining independence, there was a rigorous and systematic effort
to develop and promote a National Education system through various reports andinitiatives that gives rise to current educational excellence in Malaysia.
On the other hand, Malaya has a long history that goes back for more than thousandsof years with well-established education system that forms an intangible cultural
heritage but may be less documented. Therefore, this paper reports on an initiative to
examine the undergraduate mathematics teaching methods course content and to relate
whether the course contents takes into consideration the long history of mathematics
teaching in Malaysia and Malaya (then). This study is part of a bigger Erasmus +Capacity Building in Higher Education Programme. One of the issues often
encountered in the pre service teachers learning experience of mathematics is this senseof lack of cultural connection between mathematics and the surrounding environment.
Often, mathematics is seen as learning a set of rules and procedures as students’
struggle to develop meaning for the subject. Therefore, this paper proposes to examine
the teaching of mathematics in Malaysia from the long historical lens to include aspectsof ethnomathematics as part of continuous improvement in the undergraduate
mathematics teachers curriculum.
Keywords: Mathematics Education, intangible cultural heritage, ethnomathematics,
Education for Sustainable Development, pre service teachers

Introduction
Malaysia is a country in South East Asia with a population of nearly 30 million. Since
Independence, the government has been driving towards a modern and developed
Malaysia through its education system. As such, mathematics is seen as an important
subject that can support this endeavour. Higher education institutions have theresponsibility of training future mathematics teachers. At Universiti Sains Malaysia, themathematics teacher education courses include two mathematics teaching methods apartfrom the mathematics, and basic education courses. One of the issues often encounteredin the pre service teachers learning experience of mathematics is this sense of lack of
cultural connection between mathematics and the surrounding environment. Often,
mathematics is seen as learning a set of rules and procedures as students’ struggle todevelop meaning for the subject. Therefore, this paper propose to examine the teachingof mathematics in Malaysia from the long historical lens to include aspects of
ethnomathematics.

125

In the early centuries, the Malay world comprises the modern day Indonesia, Malaysia,
Brunei, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Kampuchea. The subject of mathematics
was taught and studied in this region in conjunction with other branches of knowledge
especially those that are related to the Islamic jurisprudence, before the arrival of westernmathematics. Islamic mathematics came into the Malay world through the efforts ofreligious scholars from this part of the world that had gone to the Middle East to study
theology. They mastered the mathematics of the day in its original form in an integrated
manner with branches of theology (Mat Rofa and Kamel Atan, 2000). Whatever waslearnt in the Middle East was brought back and disseminated to students in the traditional
schools. Among the works collected and brought back were reference books on a variety
of branches of mathematics especially from Makkah, Madinah and al-Azhar University.
They became the references for the teachers in imparting their mathematical knowledge
to their students. The serious efforts and quality of works of the early Malay scholars in
the field of mathematics can be gleaned through the few manuscripts that have survived
to this day. (Mat Rofa and Kamel Atan, 2000).
The motivating factors in the teaching of mathematics in the Islamic system of
education in the Malay Archipelago are tied to the need to comprehend the basic teachingsof the religion and efficient implementation of the administrative procedures as outlined
by regulations stipulated by Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) that governs everyday activities
in the life of a Muslim. This was the dominant factor in the determination of mathematics
education in the Islamic school curriculum prior to the introduction of the secular school
system brought by the western colonialists in the late 19th century. The secular school
system introduce mathematics from western perspective and consequently is silenced on
the contribution of the Islamic system of education in general and Islamic mathematics
perspective in particular. Therefore, the wealth of knowledge and wisdom regarding
mathematics education from Islamic perspective is often missed and ignored (Mat Rofa
and Kamel Atan, 2000). The contribution of local scholars towards Mathematics before
colonisation as well as during. Malaysia was colonised by Britain from 1764 to 1957, andthe education system after independence is somewhat influenced by this situation. Current
historical content is rather western bias (due to resources, many are from western
perspectives and writing). However, there are historical account (resources are not manybut can be found in the work of Malaysian mathematics educators). It is concluded that
future teachers need to know the content as well as the situation that gives rise to current
mathematics teaching in Malaysia as well as at the global level.
Education in Malaysia after Independence
Since gaining independence, there was a rigorous and systematic effort to develop andpromote a National Education system through various reports and initiatives that gives
rise to current educational excellence in Malaysia. This is evidenced through the various
education reports and initiatives over 50 years of independence such as the Razak report
1957 and the Rahman Talib report 1961
The National Education System Reform was created after the Malaysian Parliament
passed the bill of Education Act 1961 based on Razak Report 1956 and Rahman Talib
Report 1961. The Education Act 1961, reflects tolerance practices by the government
towards the multi-racial communities in Malaysia. The objective of Education Act 1961
or known also as The Federal education policy aims to establish a national system of
education that comprise the elements that promotes the cultural, economic and political126

advancement in Malaysia, besides making the Malay language as the national language.
The education reform is summarized through The National Philosophy of Education
which states that:
Education in Malaysia is an on-going effort towards further developing the potential
of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, so as to produce individuals who areintellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonious, based ona firm belief in and devotion to God. Such an effort is designed to produce Malaysian
citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess high moral standards, and
who are responsible and capable of achieving a high level of personal wellbeing as well
as being able to contribute to the harmony and betterment of the family, the society andthe nation at large.
The Malaysian Secondary School Mathematics Curriculum
During the last five decades, the Malaysian secondary school mathematics curriculum has
undergone several significant changes. The traditional approach that emphasized on theattainment of skills was replaced by the modern approach in the 70’s. In the late 80’s aspart of the nation-wide curriculum reform based on the National Philosophy of Education,
the school curriculum experienced another change (Asiah Abu Samah, 1982). Thechanges have strong influence on the teaching and learning processes and consequently
challenge the current assumptions about teaching and learning. It is necessary that we
make the “psychological paradigmatic” shifts so that we could cope with the demands ofeducational change (Noor Azlan Ahmad Zanzali, 1996).
The main aim of teaching is to create a meaningful learning environment such thatstudents enjoy and yet find learning a challenging experience. For example, learning thebasic number facts as an end to itself should not be encouraged. The basic multiplication
should be constantly related to everyday living experiences. The students are to beengaged in solving problems (related to everyday experiences). Recommended activities
that provide opportunities for students to construct their own knowledge is quite evident
in the curriculum.
Pedagogical Implications
From the pedagogical perspective, KBSM emphasised that the teaching approach shouldtake into consideration the integration in the following aspects: 1) learning and teachingmaterials 2) within and between subjects in the curriculum. 3) between theoreticalconsideration and practical applications. 4) between curriculum and co-curriculum
activities. 5) between classroom and outside classroom activities. 6) between teachingstrategies and learning styles. Besides these, teaching should at the same time instil values
and norms conforming to the aspirations of the National Philosophy of Education.
Implications on Teaching
The quality of teaching lies in the ability of the teacher to transform the knowledge(subject matter) in the form that can be understood by the learners (Fernstemacher, 1986).
These should be done through activities that give ample opportunities for students toconstruct their own knowledge. Teachers should be able to understand and appreciate thechanges that the curriculum is attempting to implement and not otherwise. Teacher
training institutions, among other things, should endeavour to prepare teachers who will127

be able to handle changes in the curriculum (Noor Azlan, 1995). Often, the new
curriculum will attempt to introduce significant changes in the practice of teaching. To
convey knowledge about curricular changes seen as paradigmatic changes in thephilosophy and aims of education should be an important component in teacher
development program. Educators should not only provide teachers with the necessary
procedural skills, but also more importantly, attempt to understand and thus change thepresent assumption on teaching and learning mathematics. Unfortunately, themathematics curriculum as implemented at the school level still do not acknowledge thelong history of Islamic scholars contribution to mathematics. It is therefore proposed thatsuch long history and contribution should be revisited in the light on intangible cultural
heritage.
Mathematics Education Curriculum for Pre-service Teachers in Malaysia
There are two compulsory teaching method courses offered to prospective mathematics
teachers. The courses aim to produce effective, responsible and dedicated mathematics
teachers through developing and enhancing knowledge, skills and attitudes towards
mathematics. The courses focus both on the theory and practice of mathematics teaching
relevant to current development and requirement of mathematics education.
This course emphasizes mathematical content and pedagogy as well as the theories
and practices of mathematics teaching. The course also integrates ICT in the teaching andlearning of mathematics. Furthermore, the main aim of the mathematics teaching method
course is to equip the students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to become effective
and competent mathematics teachers. Among the aims of the course is for students to becognizant of the issues regarding the KSSM Mathematics curriculum such as:
Planning for mathematics instruction will require the incorporation of appropriate andrelevant pedagogical approaches and tools for teaching mathematical concepts and skills.
Issues and topics discussed include Problem solving in mathematics, misconceptions
in mathematics, theories of learning mathematics as well as issues and challenges inmathematics teaching and learning. Assessment as, of and for learning in mathematics is
also explored in order to improve students’ learning and teachers’ teaching. Integrationof ICT in mathematics teaching and learning is also given special attention. The course
also discusses on resource development for the teaching and learning of mathematics.
Intangible Cultural Heritage
The importance of intangible cultural heritage is not the cultural manifestation itself but
rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one
generation to the next. The social and economic value of this transmission of knowledge
is relevant for minority groups and for mainstream social groups within a State, and is as
important for developing States as for developed ones. In 2003, the UNESCO General
Conference adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage, aninternational treaty acknowledging that cultural heritage is more than tangible places,monuments and objects; it also encompasses traditions and living expressions. Known asintangible cultural heritage (ICH), these include performing arts, rituals, and theknowledge and skills required to produce traditional crafts. Intangible cultural heritage is
not valued because it is unique, but rather because it is relevant for the community
practicing it. Furthermore, its importance is not in the cultural manifestation itself, but inthe wealth of knowledge, know-how and skills that are transmitted from one generation128

to the next. This transmission of knowledge is important for all cultural groups, whether
they represent a mainstream group or a minority within a nation, and whether they residein an industrialized country or in a less industrialized one. ‘Intangible cultural heritage’means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the
instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities,groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. Thisintangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly
recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction
with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity,
thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity(UNESCO, https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/01851-EN.pdf).
Integrating ICH and ESD in Pre-service Teachers Mathematics Teaching Methods
Course and the Idea of Ethnomathematics
The mathematics teaching methods course is the first of the two compulsory teaching
method courses offered to prospective mathematics teachers. This course aim to produce
effective, responsible and dedicated mathematics teachers through developing andenhancing knowledge, skills and attitudes towards mathematics. This course focus bothon the theory and practice of mathematics teaching relevant to current development andrequirement of mathematics education. This course emphasizes mathematical content andpedagogy as well as the theories and practices of mathematics teaching. One of theimportant topics in the mathematics undergraduate teaching methods course is History ofMathematics in Malaysia which often trace back only to mathematics during the Britishcolonization.
Based on the question ‘What do you think is missed or silenced from the course
content? Why is it so? Give sound explanations and reasons, the following conclusion ismade.
The contribution of local scholars towards Mathematics before colonisation as well as
during. Malaysia was colonised by Britain from 1764 to 1957, and the education systemafter independence is somewhat influenced by this situation. Current historical content israther western bias (due to resources, many are from western perspectives and writing).
However, there are historical account (resources are not many but can be found in thework of Malaysian mathematics educators). It is concluded that future teachers need toknow the content as well as the situation that gives rise to current mathematics teachingin Malaysia as well as at the global level. One way to address to include the knowledgeof mathematics in Malaya before the colonization era is through the topic
ethnomathematics in the mathematics teaching methods course. Ethnomathematics is thestudy of the relationship between mathematics and culture.[1] Often associated with"cultures without written expression",[2] it may also be defined as "the mathematics
which is practised among identifiable cultural groups".[3] It refers to a broad cluster ofideas ranging from distinct numerical and mathematical systems to multicultural
mathematics education. The goal of ethnomathematics is to contribute both to theunderstanding of culture and the understanding of mathematics, and mainly to lead to an
appreciation of the connections between the two. Ethnomathematics encourages us towitness and struggle to understand how mathematics continues to be culturally adapted
and used by people around the planet and throughout time. Traditionally in mathematics
classrooms, the relevance of culture has been strangely absent from the content and129

instruction. The result is that many students and teachers unquestioningly believe that noconnection exists between mathematics and culture. Failing to consider other possibilities,
they believe that mathematics is acultural, a discipline without cultural significance.
Conclusion
It is suggested that incorporating the topic ethnomathematics in the teaching methods
course could address the long contribution of mathematics history in Malaya before
colonization. It is believed that allowing students to relate mathematics to the rich cultural
tradition allow the students to construct a personal understanding of the mathematics thatis presented. The values, traditions, beliefs, language, and habits reflective of the cultureof the students are acknowledged. In such situations, this allows future teachers to invent
personally meaningful conceptualizations of teaching and learning mathematics gaining
a deeper and conceptually significant understanding of the mathematics that they are
studying. For example, this is evident in Islamic interests whose role is to explore how
the Malays make use of mathematics in the development of their civilization, thus
showing the mathematical elements behind the face of their culture. The art of weaving,for example, includes the concept of continuous, patterned, symmetrical and uniform
mapping, while the game of lore is certainly closely related to central and egalitarian
questions (Mat Rofa, Kamel Ariffin, 2010)
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Instructional Approach on Primary School Pupils’ Achievement in Geometry. Journal of Scientific
Research & Reports, 9(2), 1-15. doi: 10.9734/JSRR/2016/19079
Asiah Abu Samah (1982). Perkembangan Kurikulum Matematik Sekolah di Malaysia Sejak Zaman
Penjajah. Paper presented in National Mathematics Symposium, UKM, 12-14 Aug. 1982.
Bishop, A. J. (1988). Mathematics Education in its Cultural Context. Educational Studies in Mathematics,
19(2), 179-191
D'Ambrosio, Ubi. 1987 Reflections on Ethnomathematics. International Study Group cn
Ethnomathematics Newsletter, 3 (1).
D'Ambrosio, Ubiratan. (2001). What is Ethnomathematics, and How Can it Help Children in Schools?
Teaching Children Mathematics, 7(6), 308.
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Handbook of research on teaching (3rd. ed., pp. 37 – 49). New York: Mac Millan.
Forrester, Viviane. (1999)/ The Economic Horror. London: Blackwell Publishing.
Mat Rofa Ismail amd Kamel Ariffin Mohd Atan, (2010). Mathematics in the Malay World Prior to the
Arrival of Western Mathematics. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 8, 729-734. Doi:
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Matematik Merentas Tamadun and Mat Rofa Ismail. (2004). Ethnomathematics. Dewan Bahasa dan
Pustaka Mathematics. NCTM., Reston, VA. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000)
Principles and Standards for school mathematics. NCTM.
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131Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage and Promoting Sustainable
Development Through Education
Duong Bich Hanh
UNESCO Bangkok
It has become increasingly acknowledged that using integrating intangible cultural
heritage (ICH) in teaching and learning in schools can provide a win-win solution toboth the education and culture sectors. On the one hand, as children spend more andmore time in formal school setting, transmission of ICH can no longer be carried out
only in traditional manners, within families and communities. Schools then become an
appropriate place for the transmission and awareness raising to take place. On the other
hand, educators are also looking out for ways to make education more relevant andeffective, and having it grounded in the local context and environment, learning canbecome more meaningful for students and teaching more enjoyable for teachers.
UNESCO has been identifying and analyzing approaches in which ICH has been
integrated in teaching and learning in schools, both in class and in extra-curricular
activities. The paper presents the existing approaches identified to date, and analyzes
the contribution these approaches can make to improving education quality,
safeguarding ICH and promoting sustainable development. The case studies come fromprojects that UNESCO has implemented, as well as those collected through various
conferences and workshops, and submissions from a recent survey.
Keywords: education, SDGs, ESD

The Sustainable Development Agenda
The Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015), consisting of 8 goals, 21 targets and
60 indicators, have given way to a broader, more encompassing and inclusive Sustainable
Development Goals. The 17 goals, 169 targets and 231 indicators, merged what was
identified under the MDGs and combined them with the Rio environmental agenda.
Adopted by the United Nations Member States in 2015, the SDGs cover a wide range ofareas, including those under the culture and education themes that are core to the
UNESCO mandate.
Grouping under the five pillars – often referred to as 5Ps – the SDGs targets goals
aiming to achieve environmental sustainability (Planet), inclusive and sustainable growth(Prosperity), inclusive social development (People), political participation, peace andjustice (Peace) and, none of these can be achievement without Partnerships for sustainable
development. Unlike the MDGs, the SDGs also concern countries in the global north,
therefore being a universal mandate, requiring attention and efforts of all the countries.
They also reflect a broader, more holistic approach to sustainability that puts forward
linkages and synergies between different policy areas. Stretching the limits of linear andsectoral thinking, this bold vision demands creative approaches to addressing
interconnected challenges.
Education and Sustainable Development Agenda
Being one of the most important aspect of human development, education has its own
separate goal – SDG4, which calls for “ensur[ing] inclusive and equitable, quality
education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. It expresses the new key
features of Education 2030, which includes the universal relevance for education to be arights-based public good. With fundamental principles including inclusion, equity and133gender equality, it addresses all forms of discrimination of situations, including
emergencies, which impede the fulfillment of the right to education.
“Education for All” and “Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education” are UNESCO’scentral educational goals, and the pillars of Sustainable Development Goal 4. The conceptof “quality education” encompasses respect for local cultures and engagement with local
communities and recognizes that for education to be of high quality it requires: motivatedstudents and teachers; locally-relevant curricula; learner-centered methodology; andinclusive, accessible environments. Target 4.7 specifically calls for the appreciation ofcultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development. Other targets
under Goal 4 are also of great importance in our culture context, including:• Target 4.2 on “access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primaryeducation so that they are ready for primary education”;• Target 4.3 on “access to affordable and quality technical and vocation training”;• Target 4.4 on “increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills,
including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs andentrepreneurship”; and• Target 4.6 which advocates for “all youth and a substantial proportion of adults,
both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy”.
In addition to having its own separate goal, various education related themes have also
been reflected in many other goals, including Goal 1 (No Poverty), Goal 3 (Health andWell-being), Goal 5 (Gender Equality), Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth),
Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), Goal 13 (Climate Change
Mitigation), and Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).
ICH and Sustainable Development
With the 2030 Agenda, the international community has recognized – for the first time –the role of culture in sustainable development. The Agenda explicitly and implicitly refers
to culture across many of its goals and targets. The role of culture is particularly reflected
in Goal 11 focused on human settlements and its Target 11.4 to ‘strengthen efforts toprotect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage', as well as in Goal 4
focused on education and its Target 4.7 aimed at ensuring ‘that all learners acquire theknowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including … througheducation for sustainable development,… promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s
contribution to sustainable development’.
The values of ICH are embedded in the practices and lifestyle of the practicing
community and contributes to a wide range of goals, across all five pillars. ICH caneffectively contribute to sustainable development along each of the dimensions, and its
safeguarding is therefore essential if communities around the globe are ever to realize thefuture we want for all.
Inclusive social development
Inclusive social development cannot be achieved without sustainable food security,
quality health care, access to safe water and sanitation, quality education for all, inclusive
social protection systems and gender equality. These goals must be underpinned by134

inclusive governance and the freedom for people to choose their own value systems.
Human societies have constantly developed and adapted their intangible cultural heritage,
including knowledge and practices concerning nature as well as social practices, in orderto address fundamental needs and social issues across time and space. Traditional healthcare, foodways, water management systems, social gatherings, celebrations andknowledge transmission systems – different forms of ICH knowledge and practices – playessential roles for communities to achieve inclusive social development.
Environmental sustainability
Environmental sustainability requires ensuring a stable climate, sustainably managing
natural resources and protecting biodiversity. These in turn depend on improved scientificunderstanding and knowledge sharing about climate change, natural hazards, the spaceenvironment and natural resource limits. Strengthening resilience among vulnerable
populations in the face of climate change and natural disasters is essential to limiting their
human, social and economic costs.
Traditional knowledge, values and practices accumulated and renewed acrossgenerations as part of intangible cultural heritage have guided human societies in theirinteractions with the surrounding natural environment for millennia. Today, thecontribution of intangible cultural heritage to environmental sustainability is recognizedin many fields such as biodiversity conservation, sustainable natural resource
management and natural disaster preparedness and response.
As a living heritage, the body of knowledge, values and practices of intangible cultural
heritage related to environment has the capacity to evolve and adapt for a moresustainable use of natural resources when necessary, permitting communities to better
face natural disasters and the challenges of climate change.
Inclusive economic development
Sustainable development depends upon stable, equitable and inclusive economic growth,
based on sustainable patterns of production and consumption. Inclusive economic
development does not focus only on those identified as poor, but also on vulnerable
people in precarious livelihoods and others who are excluded from full participation ineconomic activity. This requires productive and decent employment, reduction of poverty
and inequalities, low carbon as well as resource-efficient economic growth, and welfare
protection. ICH constitutes an important asset for this transformative change. It
constitutes a driving force for economic development, encompassing a diversity of
productive activities, with both monetary and nonmonetary value, and contributes inparticular to strengthening local economies. As a living heritage, it can also constitute animportant source of innovation in the face of change and help achieve inclusive economic
development at the local and international levels.
Peace and security
Peace and security – including freedom from conflict, discrimination and all forms ofviolence – are prerequisites for sustainable development. Meeting these imperatives
requires respect for human rights, effective systems of justice, inclusive politicalprocesses and appropriate systems of conflict prevention and resolution. Peace and135

security also depend on fair access and control to natural resources by local people, as
well as securing land tenure and rights without any form of discrimination or exclusion.
Various practices, representations and expressions of intangible cultural heritage havepeace making and peace building at their core, and promote dialogue and mutual
understanding. Safeguarding activities themselves can contribute to the construction ofpeace. Intangible cultural heritage and such safeguarding activities allow communities,
Culture as an enabler for sustainable development
In addition to being a driver for sustainable development, culture in general has also been
increasingly recognized as enabler for sustainable development. Culture-sensitive
approaches have demonstrated concretely how one can address both the economic andhuman rights dimensions of poverty at the same time, while providing solutions tocomplex development issues in an innovative and multisectoral manner. Development
interventions that are responsive to the cultural context and the particularities of a placeand community, and advance a human-centred approach to development, are mosteffective, and likely to yield sustainable, inclusive and equitable outcomes.
Acknowledging and promoting respect for cultural diversity within a human right based
approach, moreover, can facilitate intercultural dialogue, prevent conflicts and protect therights of marginalized groups, within and between nations, thus creating optimal
conditions for achieving development goals. Culture, understood this way, makes
development more sustainable.
Safeguarding ICH in Education to Achieve SDGs
The 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage sets out
the framework for safeguarding ICH toward the sustainable development at the global
level. The Convention, now ratified by 178 countries, aims to:••••

Safeguard the intangible heritage of humanity;
Ensure respect for it;
Raise awareness of the importance of ICH and ensure mutual appreciation thereof;
Provide for international cooperation and assistance.

Being considered as “the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge andskills (including instruments, objects, artefacts, cultural spaces) that communities,groups and, in some cases, individuals, recognize as part of their cultural heritage”,
ICH is “transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly re-created bycommunities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with natureand their history, and provides them with a sense of continuity”.
ICH has five main characteristics, as listed below:••

Traditional, contemporary and living: Intangible cultural heritage does not only
represent inherited traditions from the past. ICH is recognized as living heritage
in constant evolution. The focus, therefore, is on ensuring continuous re-creationand transmission of cultural expressions, knowledge and skills.
Inclusive: ICH contributes to social cohesion, encouraging a sense of identity andresponsibility that helps individuals to feel part of one or more communities andto feel part of society at large. A certain practice can belong to more than one
136

•
•

•

culture. An expression of ICH in one culture may be similar to one practiced byothers, from the neighbouring village, a city on the opposite side of the world, or
peoples who have migrated and settled in a different region. Regardless of their
origin, they have been passed from one generation to another, have evolved in
response to their environments and they contribute to giving people a sense ofidentity and continuity.
Representative: Intangible cultural heritage depends on those people whoseknowledge of traditions, skills and customs are passed on to the rest of thecommunity and from generation to generation, or to other communities.
Community-based: Intangible cultural heritage can only be heritage when it isrecognized as such by the communities, groups or individuals that create, maintainand transmit it. Nobody else can decide for a given community that an expression
or practice is their heritage.
Respectful of human rights: Communities are encouraged to perform andsafeguard their ICH insofar as the associated practices are compatible withinternational human rights. Activities and celebrations endangering the life or
health of some individuals or groups, or that are detrimental to mutual respect
within a community or between groups are not supported by the ICH convention
or any associated programme.

Education is one of the keys to transmitting these values from the past to thepresent, and into the future.
Even though the issue of ICH has only recently been emphasized, it has been integrated
in the Convention since its very beginning, through article 2.3 (transmission throughformal and non-formal education as a safeguarding measure) and article 14 (ensure
recognition of, respect for, and enhancement of the intangible cultural heritage in society
through education). It is then elaborated further through the Operational Directives.
It is increasingly recognized that ICH brings strong contribution to achieving the
education goal (SDG4). Heritage education and heritage in education are very importantdrivers of the formation of life skills, which include adaptation, creativity, innovation,
respect for each other, and respect for diversity, a key element of sustainable development.
By promoting in school cultural values that are unique to each country and even each
community, we influence the way that we learn, the way we think, the way we act andthe way we relate to each other.
Pragmatically, by integrating culture, ICH in particular, and education, we can develop
a lively and relevant way of teaching. Teachers are offered the opportunity to become
creative and innovative in the preparation of their lesson plans. Lessons become more
dynamic, easier for students to relate – so easier to understand, when they are enrichedwith anecdotes and expressions from the local cultures – be it popular folk songs, local
legends, traditions or festivals.
Such approach is likely to be more engaging for young learners and also contributes
to narrow down the divides that sometimes exist between “knowledge from school” and“knowledge from home”. Schools, teachers, parents, communities and the media can all
constitute valuable knowledge sources and models for positive behaviours for younger
generations. Fostering exchanges and cooperation among these actors is more likely tocreate an enabling environments where teachers better understand the cultural and social
environment to which their students belong, and are given the opportunity to tailor their137

teaching, and to ignite a learning spark among these children. Such approach has beenquite successfully tested through the project “Promoting Intangible Cultural Heritage in
Education for Sustainable Development”, financed by the Government of Japan,
coordinated by UNESCO Bangkok and piloted in 4 countries – Pakistan, Palau,
Uzbekistan and Viet Nam during the period of 2013-2015.
In fact integrating ICH and education is a concept that has been used by many. For
example, the concept ethno-mathematics as explored in Murina Ghazali’s paper“Intangible cultural heritage within the mathematics teaching methods course for preservice teachers’ highlighted awareness and appreciation of pre-colonization knowledge
and wisdom” presents further illustration in this regard. Or the traditional Polynesia
concept of Ako, as described in Sandra L. Morrison’s paper, guides the quality ofeducation for indigenous peoples and draws on traditions to support adaptation to modern
and complex problems of today.
ICH education is now one of the two global priorities for UNESCO under the scope ofthe 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage – the one
the priority being capacity building. ICH can be connected with many importanteducation themes, such as global citizenship education, technical and vocational
education and training, education for sustainable development, and mother tongue andmultilingual education.
Combining ICH Elements and ESD Principles for Learning
The task of combining ICH elements and ESD principles for teaching and learning in theclassroom may pose a challenge to teachers. A good starting point is to look for traditional
practices, knowledge, skills and values that have helped communities cope sustainably
with recurrent issues such as food security, threats to health and livelihoods, andenvironmental and social disputes. Studying how communities have successfully
managed their cultural resources and assets or maintained the continuity of their valuable
practices, skills and knowledge can reinforce understanding of sustainable practices.
Conversely, studying why some communities are unable to manage or control their local
resources can help students understand non-sustainable practices.

Figure 1: Incorporating ESD and ICH to Enhance Subject Learning
Source: UNESCO 2015138

By embedding knowledge about local ICH into subject disciplines and incorporating
ESD principles and pedagogical methods (participatory, relevant, etc.), students are able
to connect the practices in their community to their local environment, materials andresources, and learn more effectively. This contributes to a more meaningful education,
grounded in reality, and provides an opportunity for students to reflect on issues ofsustainability and continuity, equity and responsibility.
ICH provides culturally-relevant content to the curriculum and enables students tosee the relevance of both classroom-based and local community-based knowledge andskills. This reduces the risk of children being torn between the values and knowledge
learned through the school and those learned in the community, and feeling alienated by
one or the other.
Classroom and textbook knowledge become applicable and relevant when students can:••••Gain the knowledge, values and skills that underpin local practices.
Learn how to use culture-based models systems and tools.
Learn how local resources are utilized for local livelihoods.
Understand the scientific, social, symbolic and economic value of local practices.

The integration of ICH elements and ESD principles into existing school subjects andactivities provides an excellent avenue for students to build knowledge and skills acrossmultiple disciplines.
For students at secondary level, the relationship between ICH, ESD and formal subject
learning can be understood by using a thematic approach. Social, economic andenvironmental issues faced by the community can be explored through the critical study(research, debate, dialogue) of specific ICH practices, as suggested in the following table.
If students are to learn about sustainability from a holistic perspective, then ICH
elements and ESD concepts and learning methods (participatory, etc.) should beembedded into as many subject disciplines as possible within the curriculum.
Integration of ICH and ESD into several subjects may take time, but this isadvantageous in that it enables students to learn about and examine local knowledge andpractices from various perspectives: social, environmental and economic, and tounderstand the linkages between these sectors.

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Table 1. How the Study of ICH Practices can Reinforce Subject Learning
Social themes related to Social Study of ICH Related Practices
Studies, History, Health Sciences
Health and well-being
Examine and share traditional practices andknowledge related to health, diet and care, and theirrelationship to social and environmental factors.
Gender equality
Examine and understand social patterns andevolution in an ICH practice in terms of
marginalization, gender access, equity, etc.
Peace and human security, Examine and share ideas of traditional family andconflict resolution
community structures and values, notions of caring
and security,
traditional conflict-handlingmechanism.
Environmental Theme Related to Study of ICH Related PracticeScience, Geography
Biodiversity
Examine indigenous knowledge of plant use inlocal medicine, and traditional watershed andcoastal management systems.
Natural resources
Examine how local resources (flora, fauna, water,etc.) are produced, utilized and managed by local
people to produce cultural goods (food, traditional
medicines, clothes, furniture, building materials,etc.).
Economic Themes Related to Study of Related ICH PracticeCommerce and Economics
Income distribution
Study the production line of a traditional craft,
trade or livelihood activity that uses local resources
and benefits the community collectively.
Sustainable livelihoods
Study a farming or fishing community andunderstand how they practice farm-to-platecontributes to a self-sufficient economy.
Poverty reduction
Examine how the entry of industrially-produced
goods affects livelihoods of traditional traders in
the community.
Many examples from the pilots can be used to illustrate this approach. For example, inmathematics class, students explored basic geometrical concepts through tribal
embroidery. In Palauan studies, students transposed the tradition lf notion of respect
towards community members to understand respect and security on the road. In physicaleducation, students practiced traditional folk games to improve their dexterity anddevelop a sense of team work and community belonging. In physics class, students
discovered oscillation through traditional Muong gongs.
The same ICH element can be considered to be integrate in various subjects. The
example from Pakistan can illustrate this point:

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There are three tribes in villages in the Swat Valley, who are out to fight each other
under the pretext that the others have diverted rainwater channels to theiragricultural fields and orchards, and have inundated and destroyed those fields.
The matter has been brought to the jirga (council).
Possible activities in social sciences class
Resolve the dispute by explaining to the leaders of the three tribes that the cause of thedestruction was flooding due to rainwater rather than deliberate sabotage.
Possible activities in Science and Mathematics
1. Calculate the area of the farmland occupied by each tribe.
2. Calculate the financial losses incurred by each of the affected tribes.
Possible activities in Social Studies and Environmental Science
1. What are the methods used to measure the length of water channels in agrarian hilly
areas?
2. What is rainwater harvesting?
3. How does the Toba system work in desert areas like Cholistan?
4. What was the traditional method of rainwater storage on G.T. Road?
Possible discussion in History class
1. What is the meaning of a tribal feud?
2. What were the methods used in the past to resolve tribal feuds?
3. Are these methods in harmony with present-day human rights laws and social values?

Figure 2: Potential Approaches to Integrating ICH-ESD into the Curriculum
Source: UNESCO 2015
Various entry points for integrating ICH and ESD into the curriculum include subject
infusion, thematic curricular infusion, local content quota infusion, extra-curricular141

activities, cross-curricular infusion and whole school projects. Education systems,
policies and practices had to be taken into consideration to find the best fit.
Integrating ICH in Pre-primary Education
This approach contributes directly to the achievement of Target 4.2 of SDG4, which
promotes “access to quality early childhood and development, care and pre-primaryeducation so that they are ready for primary education”. An example can be taken from
UNESCO’s intervention at the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve in Nicaragua. Like manyother indigenous peoples, the Mayangna people of the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve areconcerned about the erosion of their culture, language and knowledge. After UNESCO’s
launch of the book “Mayangna Knowledge of the Interdependence of People and Nature:
Fishes and Turtles”, Mayangna leaders requested the further support of UNESCO tointegrate the contents of the book into the Mayangna formal education system. A new
project component was developed to development pedagogical materials that would
support the transmission of Mayangna knowledge, culture and language in the classroom,
and at the same time to encourage and catalyse interactions and discussions between
students and their families and communities about the value of such knowledge andculture in the lives of contemporary Mayangna people. By the end of the project, preschool and third grade pedagogical materials in the Mayangna language were produced,
co-written and co-designed by Mayangna education professionals. The collaborative andconsultative methodology used to develop the materials has engaged a wide range ofMayangna experts, teachers, students, leaders, parents and community members in theprocess of indigenous education, including raising awareness about the importance ofMayangna knowledge for Mayangna identity formation and community cohesion.
Collection and use of traditional children games have also proved an effective ways topromote learning outcomes among the pre-school children, and at the same time
promoting the communities’ ICH.
ICH and Technical and Vocational Education and Training
Many ICH domains, such as performing arts and traditional crafts, have a strong anddirect link to TVET. Participants in a UNESCO-UNEVOC TVET forum in November
2018 have reached a consensus that TVET can become important spaces for transmissionof ICH, in the context where traditional transmission systems become less effective oreven obsolete. Integrating ICH in TVET can address developing skills in documentation,
promotion, design, and management, etc. These new spaces can also allow for new waysof transmission, such as the use of information and communication and technologies, forsafeguarding ICH. It will also be a good way to engage young people and motivate them
to be active bearers. While there are many opportunities have been identified, certainly
challenges have also been warned. The complex linkages between ICH and TVET are
currently being further analyzed within the framework of the 2003 Convention.
An example can be taken from Turkey, about an element inscribed in UNESCO
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity: Traditional
craftsmanship of çini-making. Çini are traditional, handmade glazed tiles and ceramics
made in Turkey featuring colourful motifs of plants, animals and geometric patterns often
found on facades of buildings and in homes throughout the country. Producing çiniinvolves a series of processes. The clay is first shaped, lined, dried and fired in ovens
specifically for çini making. Designs representing local customs and beliefs are then142drilled on paper and transferred to the surface with coal dust. Outer contours of thepatterns are hand drawn, the surface dyed in various colours and then the work is glazed
and fired. Çini-making workshops involve craftspeople, supervisors and apprentices.
Each craftsperson has a specific role – shaping, design and dye, polishing andundercoating or firing. Practitioners consider çini making as an outlet for self-expression,development and healing, as well as a means of maintaining an art form that is a symbolic
aspect of Turkey’s cultural identity, strengthening links from the past to the present
providing continuity. Çini making is not confined to workshop spaces. The tradition is
also practised in the home, public education centres, vocation schools and universities
throughout the country where neither age, gender nor ethnicity are barriers to knowledge
sharing, transmission and skills development. At the moment, there are 10 vocational
schools providing a two-year degree on the art of çini making.
The link between ICH and TVET also can be useful in situation similar to what
happened in Kathmandu, Nepal after the earthquake. In his paper in this volume, Kai
Weise described the relevance of traditional systems in post-disaster rehabilitation andsustainability of Kathmandu historic city. It will be useful to see how these traditional
systems, together with associated skills and knowledge, be reflected in the TVET system
in Nepal.
ICH to Achieve Literacy and Numeracy
Literacy through Poetry/Heritage was designed for rural women in Yemen who want tolearn to read and write but are not interested in formal education. Adapting Freirean and“community literature” approaches, texts were created from classroom discussion andstudents’ poetry and proverbs generated in class. These texts were written on large piecesof paper and pasted on the wall. They provided the material for learning activities throughwhich students developed reading and writing skills. The texts were also reproduced inlarge type, so that students would learn to read typed, as well as handwritten, text. At theend of the course, each student received a bound collection of the texts generated in herclass, a “book” that she helped compose.
The method explores potential links between traditional arts and effective learning
strategies by utilizing learners’ own oral poetic traditions to teach literacy skills.
Incorporating poetry in teaching not only affirms intangible heritage; it facilitates learningand develops critical thinking skills. Using women’s poetic expression serves not only topromote literacy, but to preserve a valued and valuable tradition as well. In Yemen, short,
two line poems are utilized effectively to mediate conflict. Poetry synthesizes the issue at
hand and allows for disagreement without confrontation. When someone feels insulted,
expressing anger in a poem is more sophisticated than physical violence or shouting.
Moreover, rhetoric that one’s adversaries appreciate increases their willingness to accept
compromise. This is critical thinking at its best.
Project outcomes surpassed expectations. Retention rates were high, at 81% and 74%,
respectively. 72% of learners in the first 5 classes could read and write new material, 37%
fluently and 35% by sounding out words. 63% of learners in the second phase, which met
for only 6 months, could read and write new material. Empowerment indicators included
greater respect shown to learners by their family members and increased community
interest in the education of adult women. Learners developed a new interest in theirchildren’s education and actively participated in national elections. In two communities,
they initiated health interventions. A major success with implications to the feasibility of143

the pilot is its participatory component. The training of new teachers for Phase 2 of thepilot was conducted entirely by local trainers.
In response to teacher and student evaluations, plans to expand this project or pilot it
elsewhere would include adding numeracy skills, developing a teacher's manual, andextending the teacher training workshop to two weeks. This method is appropriate forwomen and men in any country with an active oral tradition, including most, if not all,
MENA countries, and many countries in West and East Africa, Central Asia and Latin
America.
The paper has presented UNESCO’s perspective on the issues of ICH, education andsustainable development, as well as explored the linkages among the three. It also haspresented some approaches in which the three issues can be integrated. Many of theseapproaches still remain at the discussion and pilot stages. It will require a wide
involvement of stakeholders at the national level for these approaches to be mainstreamedin existing systems.
References
UNESCO. 2003. Convention for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage. Paris.
UNESCO. n.d. Intangible cultural heritage and sustainable development. Paris.
UNESCO. 2012. Culture: a driver and an enabler of sustainable development. Thematic Think Piece.
UNESCO. 2015. Learning with intangible cultural heritage for a sustainable future: Guidelines foreducators in the Asia-Pacific region. Bangkok.
UNESCO & UNEVOC. 2019. Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage through TVET: Report of the
UNESCO-UNEVOC virtual conference. Paris and Bonn.
UNESCO. Representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Paris.

144

Experience and Knowledge Gained as a Trainee in the Successor
Training Programme
Takanori Nakai
Preparatory Office for National Ainu Museum, JapanAs a third term trainee of the successor training programme, I had an opportunity tolearn the Ainu language and culture mainly through a training programme at the
National Ainu Museum located in Shiraoi, Hokkaido. The successor training
programme is concerned with developing young Ainu people as bearers of the Ainu
culture. The training programme covers a variety of topics, including language, rituals,
nature, artefacts, performing arts, fo
od, clothing, and shelter, as well as thedevelopment of educational materials. To provide an impetus for discussion, I will
describe what I experienced and learned as a trainee of the successor training
programme in relation to the session theme.
Keywords: the Ainu or Ainu people, The Foundation for Ainu Culture, successor
training programme, The National Ainu Museum

First, let me introduce myself in Ainu.
irankarapte.
ekasi pakno sinrit pakno pirkano ku=ki niwkes korka
ekasi kar puri sinrit kar puri ne keray kusu
tapampe neno ku=iki yakka nep irara ku=ki rok katu somo tapan na.
cikapuni kotan ta ku=sik’o wa ku=sukup.
NAKAI Takanori sekor re an pe ku=ne ruwe ne na.
aynu ku=ne yakka canan aynu ku=ne wa
anutari iposse nakka teeta puri nakka eraman rusuy pe ku=ne ruwe ne.
(Let me introduce myself.
This type of introduction is usually spoken by ekasi, an ancestor, so I hope I can speak in
a way that does it justice and I hope it doesn’t come off as disrespectful.
I was born and raised in Chikabumi.
My name is NAKAI Takanori.
Being an Ainu, I am still a novice who wants to learn the Ainu language and culture.)
The Ainu are indigenous people with a unique language and culture who have lived in
the northern areas of the Japanese archipelago, including the Hokkaido region, northernpart of the Tohoku region, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands, prior to the arrival of theJapanese. Currently, they live in all parts of Japan and around the world. In thispresentation, I will skip specific, individual explanations on the Ainu. 1
1

Instead, I will introduce the website of the Ainu Association of Hokkaido, which offers
one of the most detailed descriptions of the Ainu people. Japanese official website is :https://www.ainu-assn.or.jp/ainupeople/index.html,
and English official website is: https://www.ainu-assn.or.jp/english/ainupeople.html.
145

First, let me give a brief introduction about myself since it relates to the subject matterof this article. I was born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, and my mother is of Ainu descent. I
learned about the Ainu culture in Shiraoi City as a trainee of the successor training
programme for three years from April 2014 to March 2017. Currently, I am working at
the Preparatory Office in the National Ainu Museum.
Next, I would like to describe the successor training programme. It is a programme
implemented by the Foundation for Ainu Culture 2 as part of the “Traditional living
environment regeneration project,” of which the Ainu are the subjects. The project is also
commonly referred to as the “bearer training programme” and the trainees as “bearers,”
since it aims to develop bearers of activities related to the preservation of Ainu culture.
The aim of the successor training programme is to promote the development andactivities of general human resources, researchers, and practitioners who support Ainu
culture from the ground up. Training has been conducted on a range of topics, including
Ainu language, food, clothing, shelter, artefacts, performing arts, beliefs, rituals, anddevelopment of educational materials. From 2008 onward, the training programme for
the Ainu coming from Hokkaido and other parts of Japan has continuously been offeredat the Ainu Museum in Shiraoi City. I am a third-term trainee (2014-2017). The training
programme was run for three years for each term (approximately 240 days a year). There
are many things to learn and experience from this course, and you cannot legitimately
claim to be a “successor” immediately even after three years of learning. In the 2014–2017 programme in which I participated, training took place in the Ainu Museum.
In April 2018, the Ainu Museum was merged with the Foundation for Research andPromotion of Ainu Culture and subsequently renamed as the Foundation for Ainu Culture,
the governing body of the National Ainu Museum and Park 3 that will be opened in 24
April 2020.
Now, I was interested in the ako education for indigenous people (the practicalinstances of ako, a traditional concept of indigenous people) as presented by Prof. Sandra
Lee Morrison. In this article, I will describe my experiences and practices throughout myparticipation in the programme of “human development” in relation to the Ainu culture
to provide an impetus for discussion.
As stated above, the successor training programme ran for just three years. But throughit, I learned a variety of things, including the Ainu language, Ainu’s worldview and rituals,
their knowledge on flora and fauna as well as nature in general, how to make tools using
knifes, how to process and use items collected for cooking and how to make utensils, how
to develop educational materials and discourses concerning the Ainu, how to build houses,
performing arts such as playing instruments and dancing, and cooking.

2

When I participated in the successor training program, the name was the Foundation for
Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture. As mentioned later in this article, it was mergedwith the Ainu Museum in 2018 and renamed as the Foundation for Ainu Culture. The
official website of the Foundation for Ainu Culture is as follows. Japanese official
website; https://www.ff-ainu.or.jp/index.html, and English official website;
https://www.ff-ainu.or.jp/web/english/.
3
For the National Ainu Museum and Park (common name: UPOPOY), please visit thesites for Japanese portal site; https://ainu-upopoy.jp/, and for English portal site;
https://ainu-upopoy.jp/en/.
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Picture 1 is one of the most memorable training tasks for nature utilization. 4 For the
Ainu, salmon is a familiar food as well as a common material for making tools. This is a
picture of me catching a salmon using fishing gear called marek 5 in Ainu.
Prior to participating in this programme, I was ashamed to say that I had a superficial
appreciation for trees; I thought that “trees are just trees”. Through the successor training
programme, I changed my naïve view and learned that “trees are materials”. To capturea salmon, you must start by making some tools. You begin by collecting materials toconstruct a marek by hand, using the tools you have created. Fortunately, I was able touse these tools without breaking them. I was delighted to have had a chance to participate
in vocational activities. I also realized that training topics, such as knowledge on the floraand nature and how to make tools using knifes, were not independent from one another;rather, they were all connected. Moreover, I was greatly impressed by the technology andknowledge of my ancestors as I witnessed how the tools were made, which was not socomplex but was intricate enough such that it allows the holding of a salmon even when
the salmon was thrashing around wildly. Aside from vocational matters, I was able tolearn about the worldview of the Ainu. To the Ainu, the word that stands for “humans” iscalled aynu. The antonym of aynu is called kamuy. For example, beings that play animportant function for humans and have strong impacts on them, including animals,
plants, fire, and water, all of which are vital for human livelihood, as well as those which
are not, including infectious diseases, are termed kamuy. Kamuy is often translated into
Japanese as kami (gods). However, Kamuy are neither a single entity that rules terrestrial
as well as celestial bodies nor omniscient or omnipotent. Out of all the kamuy, there is
kamuy of fish which brings salmons to the human world. If the relationship with kamuy
of fish worsens, humans cannot obtain salmon, hence it is important to build a good
relationship with this kamuy. Thus, humans give to kamuy presents that make them happy.
The presents are inaw.

4

The special harvest permit for the practice of salmon fishery as part of the successor
training programme was granted by the Hokkaido prefectural government.
5
Marek is a spear for catching salmons by impaling them. When impaling the salmon, ahook is mounted on the tip of a long handle. The hook is tied to a string and the salmon
gets caught the hook. Even when the salmon goes on a rampage, the hook is detachedfrom the pocket and dangles with the string so that it does not detach from the salmon.
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Figure 2. Striking the head of thesalmon using an isapakikni
Figure 1. A marek is used to catch asalmonIn Figure 2, the rod that I was carrying with my right hand is an item called isapakikni
in Ainu. This rod is used to kill fish by striking its head, and it is just one kind of inaw. It
is believed that salmon have returned to the world of kamuy with this rod as a gift. Then,the next year, they go upstream to the same place. There is a folklore found in different
places about the salmon getting angry and never coming back if you fail to beat theirheads using an isapakikni or a dirty rod. An isapakikni is a practical tool to silence andkill salmon. At the same time, it has an important religious implication. I learned that the
Ainu’s occupational work was based on such a worldview. 6
Lastly, I will state my personal desires in relation to “human development.” I believethat there are various forms of human development, but I hope that the National Ainu
Museum will be able to serve primarily as a site for human development for the Ainu, asseen in the aforementioned successor training programme. Another of my personaldesires is that it would serve as a site for human resource development where you canacquire an abundance of knowledge and skills surrounding the Ainu.
Today, we, the Ainu, do not live a traditional, old-fashioned life. Unsurprisingly, we
are now living in the modern age, same as you. The presence of mind changes variably
6This training task made me think of the collision between the contemporary concept ofvalues, where people are encouraged to become part of a society that looks beyond genderdifference, and the ‘traditional concept of value’ in the Ainu society. To learn the ideas
and customs of our ancestors with respect while pursuing the harmonization of them withthe contemporary concept of values, what I did first was to investigate past records. The
details are described is the Ainu Museum WEB Journal: Monthly Journal Shiroro,
2. Striking the head of the salmon using
November 2015 Edition (only in JapaneseFigure
available);
http://www.ainu-museum.or.jp/siror/monthly/201511.html#cep_com3.
an isapakikni148with time. Some people are normally involved in the Ainu culture because of their senseof being an Ainu, while others are not involved in the Ainu culture even though they dohave the sense of being an Ainu. Still, there remain others who do not normally have thesense of being an Ainu. They get hired at different places, go to work, and live on theirown, as they go about their lives. In the regular exhibition, there is an exhibit testifying
to these situations. However, I am hoping that the museum serves as a site for educationaland human resource development in various ways, where the Ainu can learn, for example,
the law and human rights education concerning indigenous people, knowledge
concerning business, and economic sciences required for doing business that relate to the
Ainu culture with the Ainu taking the initiative, as well as performing dancing, singing,and oral epics.
The National Ainu Museum plays various roles and it is a hub for “promoting proper
knowledge and understanding concerning the Ainu history and culture for people in Japanand other countries and contributing to the creation and development of a new form of
the Ainu culture, while respecting the dignity of the Ainu.” I think this museum shouldplay the role of accommodating and providing training to many Ainu people.
I am currently engaged in preparing for the scheduled opening of the National Ainu
Museum on 24 April 2020. The objectives and policies for my survey and research at theMuseum are enumerated below. Above all, I think of myself as being in a position to learn
and practice many things.
・To learn the Ainu language and culture, and investigate my parents, ancestors, and thecommunity in which I was born;・To think of who I am as an Ainu;
・To practice the Ainu culture, regardless of likes and dislikes, success or failure;
・To provide assistance to activities of my hometown and handing over of folklore byutilizing surveys and research; and・To utilize experience I have gained from my hometown in investigating other parts of
Hokkaido and Japan.
In 2012, for a heritage trail pilot project by the Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies
at Hokkaido University to which I belonged, I introduced the town of Chikabumi in
Asahikawa-City, Hokkaido where I was born and raised 7.
It is, of course, important to visit the museum facilities and locations whose
geographical names originate from the Ainu language. On top of that, I realized that it
was important to actually walk with successors to directly hear about the local situationsin the past. The successor chosen in this pilot project was my mother because she wasable to tell me about various traditions, like how people lived, in what historical context,
and what kind of persons our local ancestors were. Through this experience, I came tothink that I should, at least, look into and learn more about the things my mother taughtme, and this is connected with my current research theme.
As a young researcher, I naturally learn many things from stories told by successors
living in the study community. However, more than that, these stories are interesting. I
7Refer to the link below, where I briefly introduce the course that I drew up. Hokkaido
University collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers HUSCAP;
https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/handle/2115/51253.

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believe conducting interviews with them generates stories that go beyond simple
introduction of the townscape and regional landscape.
From now on, I am particularly keen in establishing the values and understanding myrole as an Ainu. To this end, I think it is necessary to gain a foothold by investigating myimmediate family like parents, my ancestors, and my hometown, Asahikawa, and would
like to carry out research, surveys, and hands-on practice. Through this, I hope to provide
assistance to local activities in my hometown and handing over of traditions. In the future,
I hope to apply the experiences that I gain in my hometown to other parts of Hokkaido
and Japan. By gradually accumulating surveys, I hope to achieve the goals I havedescribed above.
pakno ku=ye na.
iyayraykere.
(That is all,I wish to express my appreciation.)

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The Traditional Knowledge Based ESD in a Bioregion
Reita Furusawa
International ESD/SDGs Center, Chubu University, Japanand RCE Chubu, Japan
Education is a key to achieve Sustainable Development. RCE Chubu, one of 169
Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
acknowledged by United Nations University, has developed an ESD model focusing
on bioregion. The objective of this paper is to present the Bioregional ESD Model andto discuss the possibility of application of Intangible Cultural Heritage to the modelfrom the viewpoints of community development as well as education. The targeted areaof RCE Chubu to promote ESD is a bioregion called Ise-Mikawa Bay Watershed.
Instead of using administrative boundaries, RCE Chubu is trying to recognize ourregion by using natural environmental boundary, the river basins flowing into IseMikawa Bay. By using the concept of bioregion, both biological and cultural diversityof the area can be examined. Local and traditional knowledge of each area in the IseMikawa Bay Watershed is indispensable for ESD since sustainable use of natural
resources is often depending on such knowledge. Moreover, traditional knowledge isstill developing in the region. In this paper, the author will discuss RCE Chubu’s
Traditional Knowledge ESD Project as a case of ESD activity.
Keywords: Bioregion, ESD, traditional knowledge, RCE

Introduction
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) plays a crucial role for the achievementof Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Some approaches are presented in thissession: the traditional Polynesian concept of education, education on Disaster Risk
Reduction, pre colonization knowledge and wisdom, and Intangible Cultural Heritage(ICH) education for promoting Sustainable Development. In this paper, linking with theabove approaches, I will discuss the roles of traditional knowledge for promoting ESD
and SDGs by presenting a bioregional ESD approach conducted by RCE Chubu (Chubu
Regional Centre of Expertise on ESD) in the central area of Japan.
1 The Regional Centre of Expertise on ESD in Chubu Region in Japan
1.1 United Nation’s Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD)
ESD has been developed in the United Nations initiative of the Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development (DESD) from 2005 to 2014. DESD was adopted at 57th Sessionof the United Nations General Assembly in December 2002, based on a proposal by Japanin the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg in thesame year. UNESCO was designated as a lead agency to implement the UN Decade, and
DESD was launched in 2005. United Nations University (UNU) also launched theRegional Centres of Expertise on ESD (RCE) initiative.
In 2014, the final conference on DESD was held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, named“UNESCO World Conference on ESD”. At the conference, UNESCO launched a follow
up initiative of DESD, the Global Action Program (GAP) on ESD (2014 to 2019).

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Currently, UNESCO is planning to establish a new ESD initiative, ESD for 2030, startingin 2020 and ending in 2030.
1.2 United Nations University’s Acknowledged RCE
An RCE (United Nations University’s acknowledged Regional Centre of Expertise on
ESD) is a network of existing local and regional institutions mobilized to promote alltypes and levels of learning and education programs for achieving sustainable
development. Currently, 169 RCEs are acknowledged by UNU worldwide including 7
RCEs in Japan. The objective of the RCE initiative is developing “a platform for multistakeholder dialogue to share information and experience and seek ways to promote interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral collaboration for ESD at the regional/local level (UNUIAS 2010).” An RCE can be interpreted as a mobilization mechanism to achieve muchcoveted locally-relevant and culturally appropriate ESD and a concrete manifestation of
the partnership approach emphasized in the DESD International Implementation Scheme(UNESCO 2005).
A region for an RCE should be “sufficiently large to include various institutions suchas universities, museums, zoos, botanical gardens and more than a handful of primary andsecondary schools, and should be small enough to make frequent face-to-facecommunication possible” (UNU-IAS 2010). Hence, RCEs are the multi-stakeholder
networks of the regions encourages collaborative actions between formal, non-formal andinformal education aiming to create a sustainable region (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Collaboration and Mutual Learning in an RCE
Network (UNU-IAS 2010)
Since higher education institutions were especially encouraged by UNU to play a
crucial role to develop an RCE because they were expected to provide leadership in all
types and levels of education, Chubu University took a lead with Nagoya University toestablish an RCE in the central (Chubu) area of Japan in 2007.
1.3 RCE Chubu and the Bioregion
RCE Chubu was acknowledged as the sixth RCE in Japan in October in 2007, and its
promoting organization RCE Chubu Committee was officially established in January
2008. RCE Chubu is a regional network on ESD with 78 local partner organizations (asof 2019) of educational institutions, NGOs, local governments, corporations, etc.
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The uniqueness of RCE Chubu is its target area. RCE Chubu’s region covers river
basins and watersheds of rivers that pour into the Ise and Mikawa bays, called Ise-Mikawa
Bay Watershed in the central area of Japan. The objective of RCE Chubu is to develop
human resources that can solve both local and global challenges of environmental,
economic and social problems that are obstacles for sustainable development.
Due to its broader geographic scope, which allows diversity in participating
institutions and on-going and planned activities, an RCE is required to have a body thatis responsible for the overall strategy of the RCE. The decision-making body of RCE
Chubu is set up as an RCE Chubu Organizing Committee, consisting of the partnerorganizations. The secretariat is in Chubu University, the key institution of RCE Chubu.
RCE Chubu was the largest ESD organization in the host city of UNESCO World
Conference on ESD, Aichi-Nagoya, and played important roles in the preparation of theConference. RCE Chubu also made a proposal of an ESD Model to promote ESD named“the Bioregional (Watershed) ESD Model” during the World Conference. RCE Chubu
was chosen as a key partner of the Global Action Program (GAP) on ESD by UNESCO
in 2015.
One of the characteristics of RCE Chubu’s initiative of the bioregion based ESD is amulti-stakeholder participated local ESD activity using the concept of bioregion as ourtargeted area to promote ESD. Within the region, we have been overcoming issues due tofragmentation by administrative district (i.e., difficulties of cross-border rivermanagement), and accelerating a problem solving based learning on regional ecologicaldiversities with participations of local stakeholders. We have chosen 12 major rivers in
the Ise-Mikawa Bay Watershed bioregion, and learn challenges of each river basin toachieve holistic understanding of problems in our region (see figure 2).

Figure 2. Ise-Mikawa Bay Watershed and Local Challenges
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As Morrison (2019) discussed in the Polynesian traditional concepts, indigenous or
local worldview “sees humans as an inter-dependent link in a chain that includes nature.”
Since RCE Chubu also shares this idea in our region, we set target area of ESD not in theartificial administrative boundary but within our natural environment in order to reevaluate traditional knowledge and local worldview. Through RCE Chubu’s ESD
activities, we have nurtured a sensibility for increasing sustainability of a bioregion, andconstruct an educational curriculum which aims to develop human resources who canunderstand and mitigate local issues.
Moreover, the opportunities for ESD stakeholders in Chubu area including AichiNagoya, to participate in the UNESCO World Conference on ESD was one of key
occasions to learn local and global agendas on ESD. After the World Conference, theBoard of Education of Aichi Prefecture established a committee to support the ASPnet
Schools in collaboration with RCE Chubu members. In addition, RCE Chubu has been
conducting the projects which support the Aichi-Nagoya Declaration of the conference
and UNESCO’s post DESD initiative called the Global Action Program (GAP) on ESD.
2 UNESCO’s GAP and Traditional Knowledge ESD Project2.1 GAP Priority Areas
The idea of utilizing traditional and local knowledge was emphasized in the “AichiNagoya Declaration” (para 10) adopted at the UNESCO World Conference on ESD(UNESCO 2014). RCE Chubu designed an action plan for the GAP. The Traditional
Knowledge ESD (TK-ESD) Project was one of its initiatives which was developed basedon the combination of the Aichi-Nagoya Declaration and RCE Chubu’s Bioregional ESD
Model. The project is also a part of “Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level”,
one of 5 GAP priority areas (see Table 1).
Table 1. 5 GAP Priority Areas
5 GAP Priority Areas
1 Advancing Policy
2 Learning and Training
Environments
3 Building Capacities of
Educators and Trainers
4 Empowering andMobilizing Youth
5 Accelerating
Sustainable Solutions at
Local Level

RCE Chubu's Projects■RCE Chubu “SD Policy■Advocacy Activity (Local
Maker Educational& Global)
Program”■Interdisciplinary ESD■Inter-subject Curricula in
Courses in Universities
Formal School Education in
Chubu Region■ASPNet School Teacher ■Workshops with the Aichi
Training Program (Chubu Association of University
U.)
Presidents■Credit Transfer System■Developing Bioregionalwith the Aichi Association ESD Modelof University Presidents (50Univs.)■Supporting 160 ASPNet ■Conducting the
Schools Network
Bioregion Traditional
Knowledge ESD Project

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2.2 Implementation of the Traditional Knowledge ESD (TK-ESD) Project
In RCE Chubu’s TK-ESD Project, we conducted 3 projects aiming to achieve asustainable community using Traditional Knowledge, with the participation of multistakeholders in the Ise-Mikawa Bay Watershed Bioregion.
As the first step of the project, we collected cases of sustainable development (SD)
activities that traditional knowledge was utilized. In the Ise-Mikawa Bay Watershed, we
have chosen 12 major rivers and gathered good practices from upstream, midstream anddownstream in each river basin. More than 36 cases and practices were classified
according to the subject of food, clothing, and shelter (i-shoku-jyu, 衣 ・ 食 ・ 住 ).
Regarding shelter, we broadly recognized it as living environment, and divided into four
categories (forest, water environment, community development, transportation andcommunication).
There were three steps of the project as followings.
1.

2.

3.

Implementing excavation and research of Traditional Knowledge: In the initial stageof this activity, cases of Traditional Knowledge regarding creation of a sustainable
society were collected from natural, social, and economic viewpoints. They were
Satoyama (community-based forest) culture and traditional agriculture forenvironmental conservation, festivals for maintaining local community or social
bonds, and Traditional Knowledge utilized for advanced manufacturing forsustainable economy.
Implementing the “Manabi-ba (learning place)” workshops: In the middle stage ofthis activity, RCE Chubu conducted the “Manabi-ba workshop”, ESD workshops
using Traditional Knowledge at various sites where cases of relative Traditional
Knowledge exist in the Ise-Mikawa Bay Watershed, in collaboration with multistakeholders. The nine workshops can be classified into three types; Inter-river basin
collaboration (one theme was discussed with stakeholders of different river basins),
Intra-river basin collaboration (one theme was discussed with stakeholders of thesame river basin), and Inter-thematic collaboration (two themes were discussed at thesame time) seminar series.
Holding a general meeting of the Traditional Knowledge ESD Project: Called out torelating NGOs and members of citizen groups involved in the above 1. and 2., general
citizens, people involved in education, government, and corporations, and perform
comprehensive networking events of Traditional Knowledge relating tosustainability of the Ise-Mikawa Bay Watershed. The outcomes of activities 1. and 2.
were presented and challenges of the Traditional Knowledge ESD practices werediscussed with diverse stakeholders (Furusawa 2017).

The achievements of the activities were also presented through channels of RCE
Chubu, UNESCO-GAP, as well as in the UNU-RCE Networks.
3 Cases of Traditional Knowledge ESD
In this section, I will present two examples of the TK-ESD Project in the relation to the
topics of the presentations of the Session3 in the Forum. They are related to festivals andDisaster Risk Reduction.

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3.1 Festivals and ESD
10 float festivals in the region of Ise-Mikawa Bay Watershed, with 23 float festivals inother parts of Japan were inscribed on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural
Heritage, as “Yama, Hoko, Yatai, Float Festivals,” in 2016 (see Table 2).
Table 2. ICH inscribed Float Festivals in Japan
Festival
The Hachinohe Sansha Festival
The Kakunodate Festival
The Tsuchizaki Shimei Shrine Festival
The Hanawa Festioval
The Shinjō Festival
Hitachi Hūryūmono
Karasuyama Yamaage
The Kanuma Imamiya Shrine Festival
The Chichibu Night Festival
The Kawagoe Hikawa Festival
The Sawara Float Festival
The Takaoka Mikurumayama Festival
The Uozu Tatemon Festival
The Johana Hikiyama Festival
The Seihaku Festival
The Takayama Festival
The Furukawa FestivalŌgaki Festival
Owari Tsushima Tennō Festival
The Chiryū Festival
The Inuyama Festival
The Kamezaki Shiohi Festival
The Sunari Festival
The Kujirabune Festival
The Ueno Tenjin Festival
The Ishidori Festival
The Nagahama Hikiyama Festival
The Kyoto Gion Festival Yamahoko Parade
The Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival
The Tobata Gion Festival
Karatsu Kunchi
The Yatsushiro Myōken Festival
The Hita Gion Festival

Municipality
Hachinohe
Senboku
Akita
KazunoShinjō
HitachiNasukarasuyama
KanumaChichibu
Kawagoe
KatoriTakaoka
Uozu
Nanto
Nanao
Takayama
Hida
Ōgaki
Tsushima/Aisai
Chiryū
Inuyama
Handa
Kanie
Yokkaichi
Iga
KuwanaNagahama
Kyoto
Fukuoka
Kitakyūshū
Karatsu
Yatsushiro
Hita

Prefecture
Aomori
Akita
Yamagata
IbarakiTochigi
Saitama
Chiba
ToyamaIshikawa
Gifu

Aichi

Mie
Shiga
Kyoto
Fukuoka
Saga
KumamotoŌitaMany Japanese traditional festivals have natural symbols such as secret plants andfestival foods. Hence, festivals can provide opportunities for the people to learn not only
traditional culture but also environmental issues in the local communities or regions.

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An example of secret plant can be seen in Kanie Sunari Festival. During the ritual in
the festival, reeds are used to purify and to put people’s agony and disaster away. Recently,
reeds are used for environmental activities to clean river water. Such a function of reeds
which is scientifically proofed, was already known from the olden times by the local
people in their traditional knowledge.
In the TK-ESD Project, RCE Chubu suggested organizers of festivals to develop ESD
programs using environmental and social elements in the festivals. Organizers of
traditional festivals are often facing with a problem of insufficient successors. Therefore,
organizers sometimes provide cultural education for young generations to teach thevalues of their traditions. However, they hardly pay attention to the environmental issues
related to the festival. Nevertheless, festivals are good opportunity to learn local wisdom
on nature and how people have been living with natural environment.
For example, “Kamezaki Shiohi Festival” is one of ICH registered float festivals in
Aichi Prefecture. People in Kamezaki in Handa City celebrates Shiohi Festival every May.
Shiohi means low tide in Japanese language, often used with gari (hunting). Shiohi-gariis clam collecting.
Kamezaki Shiohi Festival has a tradition of over 300 years. There is a festival rite of
the Kamisaki Shrine in which five “dashi” (floats) decorated with gorgeously
embroidered curtains and meticulously carved sculptures, are dragged down to the shores
when the tide is low (see Figure 3). Five groups of “ujiko” (people under the protectionof the local deity), each releases a dashi boarded with Karakuri Ningyo (mechanical dolls).
During the festival, participants enjoy a clam cuisine called “Kushi-Asari” (clamskewers).

Figure 3. Kamesaki Shiohi Festival
From the environmental aspect, Mikawa Bay, a bay bordered on Kamezaki, is atreasure trove of seafood coming from the rich natural environment. Dry beaches andshoals are especially notable for being biodiversity hotspot where shellfish such as Asariclams can be harvested in abundance. However, in recent years, these areas are often
attacked by the “red tide”. This brings down the oxygen level of the sea and results in a
dramatic decrease of clams and other shellfish. Moreover, dry beaches and shoals are
disappearing due to landfill projects. Preservation of these marine environments is one of
their main issues (Furusawa 2017).

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The signature cuisine of the event, Kushi-Asari, is made by dried Asari clams, a food
item symbolizing the Mikawa Bay. The event thus provides us an opportunity to learn
and think about the importance of preserving the marine environment of the Mikawa Bay
through the taste of traditional cuisine.
In addition, not only Shiohi Festival but also many float festivals in the region have
Karakuri Ningyo (mechanical dolls). A Karakuri Ningyo was old robotics manufactured
in Edo Era in the 19th century. Hence, one can use float festival to develop teachingmaterials of manufacturing education.
Chubu region is Japan’s manufacturing center with Toyota Motor company which was
originally established as a weaving machine manufacturing company. It is often said thatthe philosophy of manufacturing in this region was developed with enjoyment ofcraftsmanship.
Another ESD element of float festivals is a gender issue. Although some of the ICH
registered float festival in our region had changed its tradition of female ban in festivals
such as Inuyama Festival, or Kameyama Shiohi Festival which still maintain the traditionof non-admittance of women in particular areas. Therefore, gender issue can also be
discussed as ESD topic in the float festivals.
3.2 Traditional Knowledge for DRR
Traditional knowledge of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is also an important aspect toexamine local wisdom of co-existence of human and nature. In the TK-ESD Project, RCE
Chubu conducted a workshop to learn a traditional DRR system of Waju culture.
In the west side of the Nobi Plain in the Ise-Mikawa Bay Watershed Bioregion, many
rivers including Kiso, Ibi, and Nagara rivers (so called, the Kiso Three Rivers) flow into
Ise Bay. However, those major rivers were not well constructed but intricately joined
together by the beginning of the 20th century. It was a Dutch civil engineer Johannis De
Rijke who made a plan of the river improvement work under the Meiji government from1887 to 1912 and succeeded a complete diversion of the Kiso Three Rivers.
Before the natural rivers were artificially modified and controlled to prevent the floods,
local people had been developed DRR system with Waju-tei and Kasumi-tei. Waju or
Waju-tei is a dike or embankment (-tei) that surrounds the village to protect the village
from flood damage. It also refers to the communities including residences and crop fields
surrounded by Waju-tei. Waju was originally generated in 13th Century in today’s
western parts of Aichi, southern parts of Gifu, and northern parts of Mie prefecture (Ueda
2019).
The Waju culture was resilient because the lifestyle of the people in Waju was coliving with floods. Although the community was surrounded by dikes, people knew andaccepted that they are not fully protected by dikes from flood damages. Rather they wereprepared for flood damage and each house constructed a Mizuya (water house) which wasa raised flooring type house with a small boat to escape from water disaster.
Kasumi-tei (Kasumi Dike) is another traditional DRR system which can be seen around
Waju area. Kasumi-tei is a type of open levee. It is a discontinuous embankment where
the upstream and downstream embankments are doubled. During a flood, river waterflows backward into the open levee and reduces the flow of the flood flowing to thedownstream. When the flood is over, the flooded water will be drained. Kasumi-tei
provides not only a rational function for flood control for DRR but also agricultural
benefits. The sediment transported by the flood was fertile soil formed in the upstream

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forest, and Kasumi-tei had the function of accumulating it in the farming area without
flowing it to the downstream or sea.
Thus, learning Waju culture is not only understanding traditional civil engineering
works of DRR, but also as a flood control method that has an agricultural perspective andan ecological perspective. Although Waju and Kasumi-tei are no longer pragmaticallyfunctioned in the modern society in Japan, the concept of resilience in those traditional
DRR knowledge and lifestyle should be re-evaluate in order for us to deepen thediscussion of sustainable DRR strategies in Japan.
Conclusion
The focus of ESD is shifting to SDGs. UNESCO is currently planning to launch a new
initiative called ESD for 2030 in order to mainstream ESD for achieving SDGs by 2030.
RCE Chubu is also planning to launch a new project called “Ise-Mikawa Bay Bioregion
SDGs Design Project,” aiming to set our own SDG targets and to conduct activities forthe achievements of the local targets with multi-stakeholders in the region.
Cultural diversity is based on the diversity of the natural environment. Local traditional
knowledge including the wisdom of coexistence between people and nature cannot be
fully seen in modern administrative boundaries but examined in a bioregion. However,
the relationship between people and nature has changed with modernization. In the 19thand 20th centuries, there were significant changes in many countries which werecolonized by Western powers. Although Japan was never completely colonized, it waswesternized, and the Western concept of conquering nature spread from the idea of
symbiosis between people and nature.
We cannot abandon the modernized society and return to the past. However, when
designing a sustainable future, it will be necessary to once again learn the wisdom of
symbiosis between people and nature and incorporate it into ESD. ICH is not only asubject to learn the importance of preservation of cultural heritage but also a vital key toenrich ESD. Although SDGs are common global goals, they should be locally approached.
Therefore, mainstreaming the bioregional ESD approach which focuses on bothbiological and cultural diversity is a major challenge for us to promote in the UNESCO’s
initiative of ESD for 2030.
Acknowledgments
This research is supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [Kakenhi] 16K00686.
References
Furuawa, R., Okumura, K., Hara, S. (Ed.) . (2017) .伝統知を活かした流域圏の ESD ｰ伊勢・三河湾
流域圏 ESD 伝統知プロジェクトの取り組みｰ [Bioregion (watershed) ESD using traditional
knowledge: The Ise-Mikawa Bay Watershed Traditional Knowledge ESD Project] , RCE Chubu
Ueda, R.(2019). “Waju” and Its Evolution with Urban Technology – Japanese sustainable community fordisaster resilience. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. Vol249 (pp. 1-9)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO] (2005) UNDESDInternational Implementation Scheme― (2013). Global Action Programme on Education for Sustainable Development as follow-up to theUnited Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development after 2014 （Endorsed by
UNESCO Member States through the adoption of 37 C/Resolution 12）.
― (2014). UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development: Aichi-Nagoya
Declaration
UNU-IAS (2010). Five Years of Regional Centres of Expertise on ESD, Yokohama, Japan.

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Wrap-up Discussion

Wrap-up Discussion
On the second day of the Forum, Ms Duong Bich Hanh of UNESCO Bangkok Officechaired a full morning dedicated to wrap-up discussion. The session aimed to reflect thediscussions and views of the previous day. The first speaker was Mr Kikuchi of Tobunken,
a specialist in Japanese folk culture, who was asked to comment from the perspective of
the Japanese system of protection of cultural properties and to facilitate discussion. Then,
Mr Ishimura reported on Sessions 1 and 2, and Mr Iwamoto reported on Session 3. Third,
Mr Sato of Tokyo City University was invited as a commentator to provide his feedback
and comments on perspectives of the role of ICH for achieving the SDGs. Last, toconclude the wrap-up session, Ms Duong highlighted the main points discussed.
Mr Kikuchi’s Facilitator Comments
As an expert in the protection of folk cultural properties in Japan, Mr Kikuchi mentioned
the division between tangible and intangible cultural assets by referring to Japan’snational safeguarding system. He emphasised the importance of understanding theintangible aspects of tangible properties for accurate evaluation and effective protection.
He pointed out that, to collect and classify folkloric artefacts, the values of the objects
should not be evaluated solely on their material features. Valuation requires examining
the objects’ intangible qualities, such as artistic skills, the artisan, tools used and so on.
The situation is similar regarding research on safeguarding intangible properties, such as
festivals or performances, which need to be understood not only through their intangible
characteristics, such as skills and knowledge, but through their tangible features, such asmusical instruments, for effective safeguarding.
Mr Ishimura’s Report on Sessions 1 and 2
Mr Ishimura summarised the first two sessions and commented on the applications of
ICH to sustainable community development, pointing out that the economic aspect should
be addressed. In the cases of the Ifugao and Kathmandu, both of which are UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites, tourism is one of the most important livelihood activities of thelocal people. Related to tourism, promoting traditional crafts as an industry creates
livelihood opportunities, and the museum system is not an exception. However, weshould be careful to avoid excessive commercialisation of tourism because that often
alters the quality and meanings of the cultural heritage. Regarding that, he explained theimportant role of formal and non-formal education for accurate intergenerationaltransmission of cultural knowledge.
Mr Iwamoto’s Report on Session 3
In his report, Mr Iwamoto summarised the session and commented on three topics: (1)the importance of using ICH to deliver high-quality education (e.g., teachingenvironmental issues through ICH to enhance understanding of climate change), (2)curricular inclusion of traditional/indigenous (localized non-Western) knowledge thatsignificantly supports sustainable development, and (3) the importance of community to

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tourism and development because all the presentations focused on aspects of community,
types of community, culture bearers, and community ownership. These phenomena also
relate to exploitation of local interests by commerce and/or outsiders.
Commentator Feedback
Mr Sato, an expert in ESD and SDGs, explained the role of ICH as a bridge linking
economy to society and environment, which connects ICH, ESD and SDGs in ways that
promote achieving the SDGs. He emphasised that ICH might offer excellent opportunities
and ways to approach discussions on developing high-quality education that contributes
to sustainable development. ICH has the potential to generate the intergenerational andintra-generational communications needed to accomplish sustainable development
through community practices and education. He further explained the ways that
community is discovered and formed by individuals’ contributions; first, people
participate in groups and share their interests with others through joint activities. Then,
their local issues might be identified and acted on to enhance local society throughteamwork. He noted, importantly, the abundant opportunities available for us to discoverand formulate community: museum activities, school activities, survey activities, postdisaster activities and so on.
At the end of the Wrap-up Session, there was an open question and answer period.
Invited participants and the audience expressed keen interest and enthusiasticallyparticipated in the interaction. Ms Duong, as the Wrap-up Session Chair, highlighted andoutlined the points discussed during the period. She noted the following seven topics as
the agenda for future research on safeguarding ICH.
1. Ways to Ensure ICH Continuity•••

Additional research should be conducted on: ways to reconcile diverse views on ICH at the grassroots and convention
policy level concerning the issue of “authenticity” and the relationship between ICH and community.
Find ways to protect the meanings of the ICH at the community level and discoverways that ICH might empower communities, particularly its ability to balance
power among stakeholders.
Find ways to understand communities, and identify ways in which we might moreclearly hear the voices of marginalised groups, such as refugees and immigrants.
Along those lines, ascertain the influences that safeguarding ICH has oncommunities and their practices.

2. ICH’s Role in Education••

Create ways for ICH to add relevance and context to formal and non-formal
education.
Advance from raising awareness to encouraging practices in communities that
effectively vitalize and safeguard ICH.

3. Holistic Approach to Understanding ICH•

Additional research is needed in response to the increasing interest in the problems
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•

related to the gap between tangible and intangible culture indicated at the 1972
World Heritage Convention and 2003 Convention.
Additional research should consider the relationships between cultural heritageand nature and the way that dialects and languages might be employed tosafeguard ICH and develop new frameworks for examining ICH safeguarding.

4. Traditional/Indigenous Knowledge••

New scientific knowledge should be used to benefit ICH protection, such as
computer programs that supplement traditional canoe revitalization activities, tounderstand how different ways of knowing might be reconciled and how theymight complement each other for community sustainability.
Museums and schools should be developed as distinct platforms to benefit
communities and ensure the viability of cultural heritages.

5. ICH as a Way to Obtain Mutual Understanding•

In the context of people’s movement and mitigation over the globe, ICH should
be developed as a tool for deepening mutual understandings within communities
or with different communities.

6. ICH as a Tool to Restore the Balance of the Universe•

The relationships among humans, natural environments and our planet should be
revisited by considering the role of ICH, particularly regarding assumptions thatindigenous peoples have unique perspectives in their societies about
environmental and community problems.

7. Ways That ICH Research Might Help Shape Policy•

Additional research is needed to clarify ways that ICH contributes to shaping
policy on safeguarding ICH and on reinforcing the role of community.

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AnnexesWelcome Remarks and Opening Remarks

Welcome Remarks
Takamasa Saito
Director General
Tokyo National Institute for Cultural Properties
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
I am Saito Takamasa, Director General of the Tokyo National Institute for Cultural
Properties. I would like to thank all of you for gathering here today.
The Tokyo National Institute for Cultural Properties has been tasked with research on thepreservation of tangible and intangible cultural properties, including conservation science,and ensuring international cooperation in this work. Within our Department of Intangible
Cultural Heritage, we conduct research on traditional performing arts and handicraft
techniques, as well as festivals and folk customs in regional communities.
Our institute and the International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in
the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI), which is one of the organisers of this International
Researchers Forum, both belong to the Independent Administrative Institution, National
Institutes for Cultural Heritage. In other words, we could be considered sister research
institutes. We have been able to undertake various projects in cooperation with each other.
From 2016 until 2018, our institute cooperated with the IRCI in conducting its“Preliminary Research on ICH Safeguarding and the Disaster-Risk Management in the
Asia-Pacific Region". With this research, we were able to shine a light on the role ofintangible cultural heritage during disasters, for example, its effects in using traditional
disaster-prevention knowledge for disaster reduction or in strengthening the resilience ofregional communities.
The theme of our Forum is to investigate what role intangible cultural heritages canplay in achieving a sustainable society; I believe it is fair to say that this can be seen as
an extension of our previous activities.
I believe that societies that protect and transmit their rich traditions are often richsocieties because their intangible cultural heritage is deeply intertwined with people’s
lives. Looking from the opposite perspective, keeping traditions alive must mean ensuringthat the society that carries them on progresses towards sustainability. Additionally, doing
so will work in tandem with achieving international Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).
I believe that, in this Forum, we will be able to exchange ideas on how intangible
cultural heritage can best contribute to accomplishing these SDGs. Through theseexchanges, I look forward to the accomplishments and knowledge cultivated from ourresearch thus far being put to good use, and I sincerely hope that the results of this Forum
will be broadly distributed and prove useful to many worldwide.
Thank you for your attention.

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Opening Remarks
Wataru Iwamoto
Director-General
International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage
in the Asia Pacific Region (IRCI)
Dear Director-General Mr. Yoshida,
Director-General Mr. Saito,
and distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen,
It is my great honour to say a few words on behalf of the International Research Centre
for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia Pacific Region (IRCI). I would like to begin
by extending my hearty welcome to all of you participating in this International
Researchers Forum titled “Perspectives of Research for Intangible Cultural Heritage towards a Sustainable Society”. In particular, I would like to express my sincere gratitude
to Mr. Kenji Yoshida, the Director-General of the National Museum of Ethnology, who
has kindly agreed to deliver a keynote speech.
I would also like to thank the researchers, academics, and experts from the Asia-Pacificcountries as well as observers from CRIHAP and ICHCAP, our sister Category 2 centres
in our region.
IRCI is a UNESCO Category 2 centre established eight years ago based on anagreement between the Japanese Government and UNESCO. Since then, we have beenpromoting and contributing to research activities towards safeguarding intangible cultural
heritage in the region and promoting UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of theIntangible Cultural Heritage (ICH).
Today, it is my great pleasure that we have organised this Forum in cooperation with
the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, our sister institute under
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage in Japan, which conducts a comprehensive study
on all types of cultural properties, both tangible and intangible. In this regard, I would
like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Saito, the Director-General of the Institute. I
also heartily welcome Ms. Duong Bich Hanh, the cultural programme specialist of the
UNESCO Bangkok Office. Moreover, I would like to mention that this Forum isfinancially supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs as an international collaborative
project for the safeguarding of cultural properties.
Our centre has a role to promote research on the safeguarding of ICH, but it is needlessto say that we also work with Japanese researchers. With this in mind, we have organised
this Forum inviting Japanese researchers and experts in the field of ICH and sustainable
development.
Here, I would like to briefly explain the reason why we have organised this Forum.
Let us go back to the year 1987 when the concept of “Sustainable Development” waselaborated by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) to
propose an integrated development that consists of three dimensions: economic,
environmental and social. According to the “Brundtland Report” called in recognition of
the chairperson of the Commission, Sustainable Development is defined as a173
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“development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs”. As you know, the Preamble of theConvention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003 alreadystipulates “considering the importance of the intangible cultural heritage as a mainspringof cultural diversity and a guarantee of sustainable development”. Also, by the definition
given by Article 2 of the same Convention requires ICH to be compatible with Sustainable
Development.
On the other hand, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015
recognises that “all cultures can contribute to sustainable development”, and the roles ofculture are explicitly stated especially in Target 4.7. You may wish to refer to ourprogramme of today, where we have cited the Goals. Target 4.7 reads “By 2030, ensurethat all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable
development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development
and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peaceand non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s
contribution to sustainable development” and Target 11.4 also mentions “Strengthen
efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage”.
UNESCO manifests a considerable interest in the contribution of culture, namely
tangible and intangible cultural heritages, to the SDGs. For example, the recognition that
the Operational Directive of the 2003 Convention amended in 2016 includes the chapter
titled “Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and sustainable development at thenational level”. Following UNESCO’s increasing interest, our Centre commenced theresearch project titled “Multi-disciplinary Study of ICH’s Contribution to Sustainable
Development – Focusing on Education” from last year to investigate how ICH cancontribute to Target 4.7. It is needless to say that all the Goals of SDGs are not disparate,
but they are somewhat interconnected. Therefore, this Forum was also planned to reflect
upon these interlinkages of the Goals and the role of ICH. As you already know, theForum consists of four sessions discussing ICH and sustainable development from theviewpoint of community development (Goal 11(sustainable cities and communities)) andeducation (Goal 4 (quality education)). Through two days of debate, participants arerequested to explore the linkage between community development and education. I also
hope that the latent research topics for the contribution of ICH to a sustainable society are
investigated and that new perspectives of research for ICH safeguarding will be explored.
The outcome of this Forum will be published as a forum proceeding and it will be
widely disseminated among the researchers and research institutions in Japan andoverseas.
On behalf of the organisers, I expect that your active involvement and participation in
the discussions over the two days will ensure the success of this Forum and it will surely
contribute to the promotion of research for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage.
Thank you for your attention.

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Opening Remarks
Duong Bich Hanh
Programme Specialist and Chief of Culture Unit
UNESCO Bangkok Office
Good morning everyone,
Saito-san, Iwamoto-san, Yoshida-san, distinguished researchers, and participants of theForum.
It is a great honour for me to be here on behalf of UNESCO at this Forum. IRCI has
always been a very dear friend to UNESCO, and also the Tokyo National ResearchInstitute of Cultural Property who has been working with us in many countries over theworld. The fact that we are organizing a workshop on the intangible cultural heritage(ICH) topics here in the institute's that has always been traditionally working on tangible
heritage, points to an increasing interconnectedness between tangible heritage andintangible heritage and the need to look at these issues in a holistic manner. I also seesome friends from the tangible heritage world and your being here today serves as atestimony to this important linkage that we are making.
After such a thorough background that Iwamoto-san has provided, I'm not surewhether I have much more to say. But let me just say a few points of why this Forum isvery important to our work at UNESCO.
Iwamoto-san mentioned the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage. As you are probably aware, the Convention provides the framework
for all the work that we are doing concerning ICH safeguarding. The Convention defines
ICH as “the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills that
communities, groups, and in some cases, individuals, recognized as part of their cultural
heritage”. Your research probably touches upon many of the elements that are defined as
ICH without ever referring them as such. However, I hope the Convention can serve as a
useful reference for your work.
The second point I want to make is related to research. IRCI has a mandate for research,
many of you who are here are researchers. Let me remind everyone that research plays
an important role in the safeguarding of ICH. Under the Convention, research is identified
as one of the ICH safeguarding measures, together with other measures such as
identification, documentation, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement andtransmission. So what you are doing, researching on various issues concerning living
heritage, is in fact also contributing to safeguarding the ICH, to ensure its viability, whichis the ultimate goal of the 2003 Convention.
Iwamoto-san talked a lot about ICH and sustainable development, how it has been
included from the very beginning in the 2003 Convention. It is said to be the guarantee
for sustainable development. The contribution of ICH to sustainable development waslater further elaborated under the in the Operational Directive. In this regard, we can seethat ICH doesn't only contribute to SDG 4.7, but it also makes contribution across thewide spectrum of the SDGs from food security, health care, education to income

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generation, environment sustainability and peace. Our research can certainly contributeto provide concrete evidence of how ICH can contribute to sustainable development.
The Convention just went through one of the most important events annually, whichis the Intergovernmental Committee meeting. In this recent meeting, a guideline for thesafeguarding of ICH in emergency situation, such as conflict and disasters, got approved.
This guideline has been developed largely thanks to the research carried out on the
refugee situation in Syria and across the world. So the work of researchers means a lot to
UNESCO, it helps UNESCO to identify directions and guidance which the 178 countries
that have ratified this Convention oblige to implement. So your works are really of great
importance to us.
There are a couple of other points that I would like to mention. The Convention
suggests that research needs to be made accessible to the communities, groups andindividuals – practitioners of the heritage elements you do research on. Of course, this isvery basic and taken for granted by researchers because it is included in our research
protocol. But then it is to point out that it is very important for UNESCO that whatever
we talk about in this room, eventually should also be brought back to the communities
where you do your research. Further, the Convention also talks about teaching about ICH
in universities, and many of you here come from the university background and you are
an important agent to disseminate about the 2003 Convention’s principles to yourgenerations of students. And with this I would like to advertise about the Asia-PacificHigher Education Network for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, which wasformed in 2018. Its current secretariat is the Korean National University of Cultural
Heritage. UNESCO and ICHCAP – another Category 2 Center based in Republic ofKorea, have been supporting this process. There are currently about 20 universities acrossthe Asia-Pacific participating as members and we have begun to work together on ways
to teach ICH in universities along the line with the principles at the Convention. I hopesome of you who are here from universities will be interested in joining the network atsome point.
In closing, I would like to thank you all for this great opportunity. I look forward to
the future presentations and debates. Thank you again to IRCI and Tobunken for hosting
this important meeting.

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Forum Documents

International Researchers Forum: Perspectives of Research for
Intangible Cultural Heritage – towards a Sustainable Society
17-18 December 2019, Tokyo
Programme

Organisers･ International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the AsiaPacific Region, National Institutes for Cultural Heritage (IRCI)･ Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan
Co-organiser･ Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, National Institutes for
Cultural Heritage (Tobunken)
Venue
Seminar Room, Tokyo National Institute for Cultural Properties (Tobunken)
Day 1: 17 December
9:00Registration
9:40Welcome Remarks
10:00･ Takamasa Saito (Director General, Tobunken)
Opening Remarks･ Wataru Iwamoto (Director-General, IRCI)･ Duong Bich Hanh (UNESCO Bangkok Office)10:00- Keynote Speech
10:45“Intangible Cultural Heritage and Local Communities”
・Kenji Yoshida (Director-General, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan)
10:45- Break
11:00Session 1 : Community Development-ICH and Regional Development
12:50
Session Chair: Tomo Ishimura (Tōbunken)
・Presenter 1: Lourdes Z. Hinampas (Commission on Filipino Language,
Philippines)“Safeguarding Endangered Language as a Component of Community
Development: A Case of Hudhud Chants”
・Presenter 2: Li Fei (Sichuan University, China)“Casting Ethnicity into Material: Cultural Identity and Tourism
Consumption of ‘Zangyin (Tibetan silver)’ in Southwest China”
・Presenter 3: Vicente M. Diaz (University of Minnesota, USA)
“Sustaining Seafaring and Island Research at a Time of Rising Seas,
Sinking Islands, and Settler Colonial Knowledge Production”
・Comment 1: Akiko Tashiro (Hokkaido University, Japan)“Tourism, Regional Development and Conservation of Heritage in Asia”
・Comment 2: Hideki Yoshihara (Biratori Town Office, Hokkaido, Japan)“The Museums as New Industry and Utilizing Intangible Cultural
Properties”
20 minutes for each presentation + comments
・Discussion (10 minutes)
12:50- Lunch Break
14:00- Session 2 : Community Development-Environment and ICH
15:10
Session Chair: Tomo Ishimura (Tobunken)

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・Presenter 1: Kai U. P. Weise (ICOMOS Nepal)“Urban Continuity: Retaining identity and resilience of the Historic City ofKathmandu”
・Presenter 2: Norma A. Respicio (University of Philippines Diliman)“The System of Lapat, an Indigenous Resources Management System ofSome Communities in Abra, Philippines”
・Comment 1: Tomoko Mori (Sapporo City University, Japan)“Aṣṭa Mātṛkā in Newar Settlements, Kathmandu Valley”
20 minutes for each presentation + comments
・Discussion (10 minutes)
15:10- Break
15:30- Session 3 : Discussions from Education Perspective
17:40
Session Chair: Wataru Iwamoto (IRCI)・Presenter 1: Sandra L. Morrison (University of Waikato, New Zealand)“Ako- A traditional Polynesia concept at the intersection between SDG 4.7
and Intangible cultural Heritage”
・Presenter 2: Laretna T. Adishakti (Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia)“Education on Disaster Risk Reduction for Heritage Cultural Landscape(SAUJANA)”・Presenter 3: Munirah Bt. Ghazali (University of Science-Malaysia,
Malaysia)“Intangible Cultural Heritage within the mathematics teaching methods
course for pre service teachers’: awareness and appreciation of precolonization knowledge and wisdom”
・Presenter 4: Duong Bich Hanh (UNESCO Bangkok Office)“Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage and Promoting Sustainable
Development through Education”
・Commentator 1: Takanori Nakai (Preparatory Office for National Ainu
Museum, Hokkaido, Japan)“Lessons and Experiences Gained as a Trainee in the Fostering
Transmitters of Ainu Culture Project”
・Commentator 2: Reita Furusawa (Chubu University, Japan)“The Traditional Knowledge Based ESD in a Bioregion”
20 minutes for each presentation + comments
・Discussion (10 minutes)
Day 2: 18 December
10:00- Wrap-up Discussion
12:00
Session Chair: Duong Bich Hanh (UNESCO Bangkok Office)Session Facilitator: Kensaku Kikuchi (Tōbunken)
Report: Tomo Ishimura (Tōbunken)
Report: Wataru Iwamoto (IRCI)
Commentator: Masahisa Sato (Tokyo City University)
Floor Discussion
12:00- Closing Remarks
12:10･ Wataru Iwamoto (Director-General, IRCI)･ Takamasa Saito (Director General, Tōbunken)

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International Researchers Forum: Perspectives of Research for
Intangible Cultural Heritage – towards a Sustainable Society
17-18 December 2019, Tokyo, Japan
Keynote Speaker
Name
Mr Kenji Yoshida
Session Chairs
Session Name
Session 1 Mr Tomo Ishimura
and 2

List of Participants
Title
Director-General, National Museum of Ethnology,
Japan

Title
Head, Audio-Visual Documentation Section,
Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Tokyo
Research Institute of Cultural Properties, Japan
Session 3 Mr Wataru Iwamoto Director-General, IRCI, Japan
Session 4 Ms Duong Bich Hanh Programme Specialist for Culture, UNESCO
Bangkok OfficeSession Presenters
Session 1 Ms Lourdes Zorilla- Chief Language Researcher, Speech and Grammar
Hinampas
Division, Commission on the Filipino Language,
Philippines
Ms Li Fei
Associate Professor, Sichuan University, China
Mr Vicente Miguel
Associate Professor, Department American Indian
Diaz
Studies, University of Minnesota Twin-Cities, USA
Ms Akiko Tashiro
Associate Professor, Graduate School of International
Media, Communication and Tourism Studies,
Hokkaido University, JapanMr Hideki Yoshihara Biratori Town Office, Japan
Session 2 Mr Kai Weise
President, ICOMOS (International Council on
Monuments and Sites) Nepal, Nepal
Ms Norma Absing
Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Art Studies, College
Respicioof Arts and Letters, University of Philippines
Diliman, Philippines
Ms Tomoko Mori
Associate Professor, School of Design, Sapporo City
University, Japan
Session 3 Ms Sandra Lee
Associate Professor, Faculty of Māori & Indigenous
Morrison
Studies, University of Waikato, New ZealandMs Laretna Trisnantari Lecturer, Center for Heritage Conservation,
Adishakti
Department of Architecture and Planning, Gadjah
Mada University, Indonesia
Ms Munirah Binti
Professor, School of Educational Studies, University
Ghazaliof Science-Malaysia, Malaysia
Ms Duong Bich Hanh Programme Specialist for Culture, UNESCO
Bangkok Office
Mr Takanori Nakai
Researcher, Preparatory Office for National Ainu
Museum, Hokkaido, Japan181

Mr Reita Furusawa
Facilitator
Name
Mr Kensaku Kikuchi
Commentator
Mr Masahisa Sato
ObserverMs. Jeslie del Ayre
Ms Ge Yuqing
Mr Liu Guozheng
Mr Shi Xuan
Ms Seo Jin Young

Associate Professor, Chubu Institute of Advanced
Studies, Chubu University, Japan

Title
Visiting Researcher, Tokyo Research Institute of Cultural
Properties, Japan
Professor, Tokyo City University, Japan
Language Researcher, Speech and Grammar Division,Commission on the Filipino Language, Philippines
Director of Training Division, International Training Center
for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region(CRIHAP), China
Training Programme Specialist, CRIHAP, China
Training Programme Specialist, CRIHAP, China
Assistant Programme Specialist, Office of Cooperation and
Networking, International Information and Networking
Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-PacificRegion (ICHCAP), Republic of Korea

Organiser
IRCI
Mr Wataru Iwamoto
Director-General IRCI, Japan
Ms Misako Ohnuki
Deputy Director-General, IRCI, JapanMr Masataka Hokama
Head of General Affairs, IRCI, Japan
Mr Yohei Hayashi
Chief Officer, IRCI, JapanMr Shigeaki Kodama
Associate Fellow, IRCI, Japan
Ms Yuka Miyoshi
Associate Fellow, IRCI, Japan
Ms Yasuyo Umeda
Associate Fellow, IRCI, Japan
Mr Goro Hasegawa
Associate Fellow, IRCI, Japan
Coorganiser
Tokyo Research Institute of Cultural Properties
Mr Takamasa Saito
Director General, Tokyo Research Institute of Cultural
Properties, Japan
Ms Emiko Yamanashi
Deputy Director General, Tokyo Research Institute ofCultural Properties, JapanMr Hiromichi Kubota
Head, Intangible Folk Cultural Properties Section,
Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Tokyo
Research Institute of Cultural Properties, JapanMr Tomo IshimuraHead, Audio-Visual Documentation Section, Department ofIntangible Cultural Heritage, Tokyo Research Institute ofCultural Properties, Japan

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Profiles of the Participants
Kenji Yoshida, Director-General, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
After graduating from in Kyoto University’s Faculty of Letters, he completed the doctoral
program at Osaka University’s Graduate School of Letters in 1989 for his PhD degree.
Following his time as an assistant professor at Osaka University’s School of Letters, hebegan working at the National Museum of Ethnology, Japan, from 1988. He assumed therole of Director-General of the National Museum of Ethnology, Japan in 2017 andbecame President of the Society for Ethno-Arts in 2019. He specializes in anthropologicalresearch on arts and rituals in Africa as well as research on of cultural representation inmuseums. His main publications related to intangible cultural heritage include Preserving
the Cultural Heritage of Africa: Crisis or Renaissance? (Yoshida et al. (eds.), James
Currey and UNISA Press, 2008) and Bunka no Hakken [Discovery of the Culture],(Iwanami Shoten Publishers, 1999, 2014 in Japanese, etc.
Lourdes Z. Hinampas, Commission on Filipino Language, the Philippines
She graduated BA Philippine Studies and MA Filipino (Philippine Literature) from
University of the Philippines-Diliman. She is pursuing her PhD Filipino (Language
Planning) at the same university. Before she became a full-time cultural worker andgovernment employee, she taught in various universities. At present, she is the Chief
Language Researcher of Grammar and Lexicon Division of Commission on the Filipino
Language. Folk narratives, and language endangerment and revitalization are among of
her research interests.
Li Fei, Sichuan University, China
Li Fei is Chinese (Sichuan Province, China). She is an associate professor and doctoral
supervisor of the College of Literature & Journalism at Sichuan University, and she isalso the deputy director of “the Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences ofthe Ministry of Education of China”-Institute for Non-Orthodox Chinese Culture. Herteaching and research fields include ICH Studies, anthropological studies on ethnic
cultures in southwest China and Literary Anthropology. In recent 5 years, she has
published 5 academic works and more than 20 articles in related research realm, forexample, The Veiled Body: Reflections on the Knowledge of Intangible Cultural Heritage(Beijing: The Ethnic Publishing House, 2017), Heritage, Identity and Representation: The
Cross-disciplinary Issues of Literature and Anthropology (Beijing: China Social Sciences
Press, 2016), and gained academic awards of Sichuan Provincial Government (2017) andof Tourism Tribune (2018). She is the vice president and former secretary-general of
Chinese Institute of Literary Anthropology, which aims to promote the interdisciplinary
research between the traditional methods of folklore, folk literature, oral tradition and thenew perspectives of anthropology and ICH Studies in multi-ethnic China.

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Vicente M. Diaz, University of Minnesota Twin-Cities, USA
Vicente M. Diaz is Pohnpeian (Federated States of Micronesia) and Filipino born andraised in Guam. He is on the faculty of the Department of American Indian Studies at the
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where he teaches global and comparative
indigenous studies. He is also the director of the Native Canoe Program, which combines
hands-on and virtual reality technology around traditional indigenous water craft andtraditional ecological knowledge related to water, to build new forms of knowing andbeing at the interphase of academic, STEM and indigenous cultural and politicalrevitalization. Diaz is the author of Repositioning the Missionary: Rewriting the Histories
of Colonialism, Native Catholicism, and Indigeneity in Guam (University of Hawaii Press,
2010), and the Producer and Director of Sacred Vessels: Navigating Tradition and
Identity in Guam (1997, 29 mins). He is the former Director of the Micronesian Seafaring
Society, and a leader in the revitalization of traditional seafaring in Guam and Micronesia.
Diaz is also a founder of a movement for Native Pacific Cultural and Historical Studies,and an active leader in the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA),
the world’s largest professional and academic organization dedicated to global andcomparative indigenous studies.
Akiko Tashiro, Hokkaido University, Japan
Akiko Tashiro is Associate Professor at Graduate School of International Media,
Communication, and Tourism Studies at Hokkaido University, Japan. After graduatingfrom in Kwansei Gakuin University’s Faculty of Policy Studies, she completed thedoctoral program at Sophia University’s Graduate School of Area Studies for Master and
PhD degree. She specializes in heritage studies on monument conservation and local
community in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand. She wasan exchange student to Satya Wacana University in Central Java and an API Fellow to
Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. During her Ph.D. course, she conducted researchat Laymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation in Belgium. Akiko was
Research Fellow at Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties from 2006
to 2010, and Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties from 2010 to 2015.
Her main publications are include “Japanese International Cooperation on Cultural
Heritage in ASEAN: Myanmar and the EWCC Project” (Mamoru Shibayama. (ed.), The
Ancient East-West Corridor of Mainland of Southeast Asia, Geoinfomatics International,2019), “Conservation of Cultural Heritage and Local Identity: A Case in Northeast
Thailand” (Conservation Changing Societies: Heritage and Development, KUL, 2006)
and, etc.
Hideki Yoshihara, Biratori Town Office, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan
Hideki Yoshihara was born in 1958 in Ishikawa Prefecture’s Kanazawa City. After
primarily studying educational history and comparative education at Hokkaido University,
he was mentored by folklorist Shigeru Kayano, from Biratori’s Nibutani district. There,
he caught a glimpse of the depth of Ainu culture while studying its fundamental elements.
Currently, he is serving as the director and curator for the Iwor Development Division of
Biratori Town’s Office for the Promotion of Ainu Measures and Policy (reappointed after
formal retirement). He was the senior curator when the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum
was established with the governing principle of “bringing traditional Ainu culture into

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the present.” Since then, he has been intensely concerned with research and education on
this same theme. He is deeply involved with cultural environments and landscapes,
museums, and the revitalization of Iwor dwellings (traditional Ainu living spaces), etc.
Yoshihara has planned and held exhibitions and symposiums on diverse themes at the
Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum. He has been participating in regional development
measures highlighting Ainu culture for over 30 years through his work constructing theHistorical Museum of the Saru River, selecting the Saru River region as a culturallandscape and national cultural property, and cultural environment conservation projects,
etc. Regarding his research, he has authored works such as “Ainu Prayers, CulturalLandscapes and Environments” (in “Archeological Research”), contributed to “Records
from the Messages of Historical Exhibitions at the National Museum of Japanese History
Symposium” (as a co-author), and more.
Kai Weise, ICOMOS Nepal, Nepal
Kai Weise is a Nepali national of Swiss origin. He completed his Masters in Architecturefrom the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich in 1992 and is presently a doctoral
researcher in the Department of Archaeology, Durham University. He has been working
as a planner and architect in the Himalayan Region and has worked regurly as a UNESCO
consultant. He has facilitated the establishment of management systems for World
Heritage properties of Kathmandu Valley and Lumbini in Nepal, Samarkand in
Uzbekistan, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (not completed) in India and Bagan andpresently Mrauk U in Myanmar. Kai Weise was mentor for the Second Cycle of Periodic
Reporting on the application of the World Heritage Convention of cultural properties inSouth and Central Asia. After the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, Kai Weise was responsible
for coordinating culture sector response. He was also involved in the strategic response
and rehabilitation planning after the 2016 earthquake in Myanmar. Kai Weise is presidentof ICOMOS Nepal. He has lectured in various universities in Nepal, Switzerland, Japan,
India, China and the Republic of Korea. Kai Weise has been contributing to numerous
publications and since 2010 has a weekly column in the Himalayan Times.
Norma A. Respicio, University of the Philippines Diliman
Norma A. Respicio is a researcher and writer of cultural studies – intangible cultural
heritage with focus on textile art. Her book, Journey of a Thousand Shuttles, thePhilippine Weave, was awarded the National Book Award in Art in 2015. It is publishedby the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Manila. A Professor Emeritus, sheteaches Art Studies at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, and at
the University of Santo Tomas, as Professorial Lecturer at the Graduate School, MFA
Program, and at the University of Asia and the Pacific (Asia Pacific Studies-Japan
Studies). She received her degrees in BFA, MA Art History, and PHD Philippine Studies
from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, in Quezon City. She conducted researchand studies in Japanese Art History at Kyoto University under the MONBUSHO Programin 1978-1980 and 1982-1983; then at the REKIHAKU in Chiba, and Okinawa Prefectural
University of Art and Okinawa Archaeological Office for research studies on JapaneseTextile Art in 1999 to 2000 as a Japan Foundation Research Fellow; and research studies
on the Nishijin Textile Art Tradition in 2004-2005, as Research Fellow at the
NICHIBUNKEN in Kyoto, Japan.

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Tomoko Mori, Sapporo City University, Japan
Tomoko MORI is a Japanese registered architect and urban conservation planner with aPh.D. in the field of urban engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2013. She
currently teaches urban planning and design as an associate professor at the School of
Design, Sapporo City University. Her Doctoral thesis was a study on the conservation
method of villages through a case study in Gokayama, a part of “Historic Villages of
Shirakawa-go and Gokayama”, which is one of world cultural heritage sites in Japan. She
clarified the spatial peculiarities and dynamic mechanisms in this region, and proposed
not only conservation methods for villages but also recommended conceptual planning
methods for regional planning. After completing her doctoral study, she has been
exploring ways to conserve historical environments as a living heritage and has beenworking towards identifying methods through which conservation of historic
environment and urban and regional planning can be practically pursued in Lumbini andKathmandu, Nepal.
Sandra L. Morrison, University of Waikato, New Zealand / International Council
for Adult Education
Sandra (Sandy) Morrison is an Associate Professor, Faculty of Māori and Indigenous
Studies, University of Waikato. She is also President of the International Council for
Adult Education, a global NGO that advocates for the rights of adults and young people
to education and learning. She is well known for her work on indigenous models ofdevelopment and the contribution of indigenous knowledge systems to environmental,
economic, social and cultural issues at a national, regional and global level. In 2009, she
was admitted to the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame based at
the University of Oklahoma.
Laretna T. Adishakti, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Laretna T. Adishakti is a Lecturer and Coordinator of the Center for Heritage
Conservation, Department of Architecture & Planning, Faculty of Engineering,
Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Laretna received her Doctorate inEngineering from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan (1997), while her Master ofArchitecture degree is from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA (1988).
Currently, Sita, her nickname, facilitates as Co-founder and Presidium, Indonesian
Heritage Trust; Coordinator, Indonesian National Committee of Blue Shield, and Cofounder of the Jogja Heritage Society. She facilitates for Indonesian Heritage Cities
Program and the International Field School on Imogiri Heritage Saujana. She is also
Director, Natural Indigo Batik Research and Design, Galeri Batik Jawa Indigo Co., Ltd.,Board of Experts, “Sekarjagad” Batik Society, and Board members, Traditional Textile
Arts Society of South-East Asia (TTASSEA). She is a Member of ICOMOS Indonesia;
the Asian Academy for Heritage Management UNESCO-ICCROM; and the Eisenhower
Fellowship. Sita, who is also a painter and flower arranger, was selected as Eisenhower
Fellow in USA (2002), served as Selection Committee for Rolex Award for Enterprises
in Geneva, Switzerland (2006), received Nikkei Asia Prizes 2009 for Culture, in Tokyo,
Japan, and “Practical Award 2015” from Association of Rural Planning, Tokyo, Japan.

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Munirah Ghazali, Universiti Sains Malaysia / RCE Penang, Malaysia
Prof. Munirah currently is the main Contact for the RCE-Penang initiative of the global
network of RCEs (Regional Centres of Expertise for the promotion of ESD, under United
Nations Univeristy/IAS) and the Network – RSEN (Regional Sejahtera ESD Network).
She also serves on the Asia Pacific RCE committee members as well as a member of theInternational Teacher Network under UNESCO Chair for Re-orienting Teacher
Education for Sustainability. RCE Penang was awarded RCE of the Year by The
Sejahtera Project, Tongyeong Korea under her leadership. Dr. Munirah is a Professor of
Mathematics Education at the School of Educational studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Her areas of specialization are: Mathematics education, primary school numeracy andmathematical thinking. Having completed her educational studies at Western Michigan
University, USA (B.Sc Mathematics), Birmingham University, England (M.Ed. Math.
Education) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Ph.D. Math. Education), she has beenworking as a faculty member at USM since 1985. Being an ardent advocate of theimportance of mathematical reasoning in problem solving, she endeavours to promote
such skills from school level, all the way up to higher education. She has lectured,
provided consultancy services and published widely in her areas of expertise. She is therecipient of Malaysia Fulbright Award to Ohio State University, US, Australia Endeavour
Research Award to Australia and also the Commonwealth Association Science
Technology and Mathematics Educators Award (CASTME).
Duong Bich Hanh, Programme Specialist for Culture, UNESCO Bangkok Office
Ms Duong Bich Hanh is an anthropologist with extensive knowledge and experience inSoutheast Asia and international development. Ms. Hanh has a strong commitment togender equality, cultural diversity and human rights, and has been involved in social
research and program management in the areas of heritage preservation and community
development since 1994. In 2009, Ms. Hanh joined UNESCO to manage the Culture
program in the Ha Noi Office. In May 2016 she moved to UNESCO’s Bangkok Office tolead the Culture unit there, covering the Mekong cluster countries and coordinating a
number of regional projects in Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific, and working topromote the ratification and implementation of UNESCO’s six cultural Conventions. Ms
Hanh is especially interested in promoting the role of culture and cultural heritage, bothtangible and intangible, in sustainable development, and in ensuring that local
communities both participate in and benefit from the protection of their own heritage.
Takanori Nakai, Preparatory Office for National Ainu Museum, Hokkaido, Japan
Takanori Nakai was born in 1977 in Hokkaido Prefecture’s Asahikawa City. From 2011
to 2014, he worked as a technical assistant at the Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies
at Hokkaido University. From 2014 to 2017, he studied Ainu language and culture as amember of the third graduating class of trainees in the Fostering Transmitters of Ainu
Culture Project, primarily through training at the Ainu Museum in Shiraoi, Hokkaido. In
2017, as a doctoral research fellow at the Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies at
Hokkaido University, he became a researcher at the office responsible for preparing toopen the Ainu Museum of the Foundation for Ainu Culture. He is now currently engaged
in preparing for the opening of the National Ainu Museum (planned opening in April,2020) in Shiraoi, Hokkaido.

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Reita Furusawa, International ESD/SDGs Center, Chubu University, Japan / RCE
Chubu
Reita Furusawa is an Associate Professor at Chubu University. Graduated from thedoctoral course of the Graduate School of Letters, Nagoya University in 2007. Joined
Chubu Research Institute for Advanced Studies, Chubu University as a researcher in 2007.
Served as a lecturer from 2011 and an Associate Professor at the International ESD Center(Currently, International ESD/SDGs Center), Chubu University since 2014. One offounding members and serving as a Secretary General of RCE Chubu (United Nations
University’s acknowledged Regional Centre of Expertise on ESD) since 2008. Majoringin anthropology, and conducting urban anthropological research in Ghana, West Africa.
Served as a coordinator of an official workshop during the World Conference on ESD
organized by UNESCO in 2014. The major publication is “Challenging Toward
Sustainable Development: Ten Years of RCE Chubu’s UN Decade of ESD” (2019).
Kensaku Kikuchi, Visiting Researcher, Tokyo National Research Institute forCultural Properties, JapanIn 1982, he completed the PhD coursework of the Graduate School of History andAnthropology at the University of Tsukuba and graduated with a Master of Arts degree.
He was then employed at the Ichikawa City History Museum and further the Fukushima
Museum where he was involved in preparing for the opening of the museum. He worked
for the Agency for Cultural Affairs and was engaged in the protection of folk culturalproperties since 1998. During that period, he concurrently served as Senior Specialist at
the Kyushu National Museum and National Ainu Museum and has served as Senior
Cultural Properties Specialist since 2006. He has served as President of the Society for
Mingu of Japan since 2016. He specializes in Japanese folklore and folk culturalproperties and is the main co-author of works on intangible cultural heritage: Japanese
Art 516 Dashi Floats (Gyosei April 2010), Japanese Folklore 9: The Joy of Festivals(Yoshikawa Kobunkan 2009) among others.
Masahisa Sato, Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Tokyo City University,
Japan
Dr. Masahisa Sato is a Professor of Tokyo City University in Japan. He has been worked
in the field of Environmental Education, ESD, Education for Sustainable Consumption in
the Asia-Pacific Region. Before he joined the University, He worked, as a Research
Associate (environmental education and capacity development) at the Institute of Global
Environmental Strategies (IGES), and as a Senior Programme Specialist (international
educational cooperation) at the Asia/Pacific Cultural Center for UNESCO (ACCU). He
has also been involved in various policy processes, capacity building programmes,
educational implementation processes for sustainability at national and Asia-Pacificregional level. Currently, he is also working as a Visiting Professor of UNU-IAS, amember of national ESD round table meeting, an IGES Senior Fellow, and Co-chair of
PN1 (Advancing Policy) of UNESCO ESD-GAP Programme. He holds a B.Sc. / M.Sc.
from the University of Tsukuba, JAPAN, and Ph.D. from the University of Salford, UK.

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Tomo Ishimura, Head of Audio-Visual Documentation Section, Department ofIntangible Cultural Heritage, Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural
Properties, Japan
Born 1976 in Hyogo Prefecture, Tomo Ishimura completed a doctoral course at theGraduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, and earned a Ph.D. as a specialist inarchaeology. He engaged in international cooperation for cultural heritage protection at
Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties from 2006 to 2015. His
cooperation was instrumental in inscribing the Nan Madol site in Micronesia on the World
Heritage List (2016). From 2015, he has engaged in making audio-visual documentationof intangible cultural heritage in Japan, as a member of the Department of Intangible
Cultural Heritage in Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.
Wataru Iwamoto, Director-General of International Research Centre for Intangible
Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI), JapanHe started his professional career in Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan
in 1977. He worked from 2001 to 2009 at UNESCO where he assumed various posts suchas Director of the Division of Secondary, Technical and Vocational Education, andDirector of the Division of Social Science, Research and Policy at the Headquarters. Back
to Japan, he organised at Nagoya in 2014“UNESCO World Conference on Education for
Sustainable Development”as Advisor, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science,
and Technology. Being invited as panelist of the side event organised by French Ministryof Education at the occasion of COP21 in 2015, he reported ESD policy in Japan. He is
also Visiting Professor of Chubu University and a Trustee of Japanese Society of
Education for Sustainable Development.

Participants of the International Researchers Forum “Perspectives of Research for
Intangible Cultural Heritage – towards a Sustainable Society”(Tokyo, Japan on 17-18 December 2019)

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International Researchers Forum: Perspectives of Research for
Intangible Cultural Heritage towards a Sustainable Society
17-18 December 2019, Tokyo Japan

General Information (Excerpt)
Background and Purpose
The concept of “Sustainable Development” was introduced by the World Commission on
Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987, to propose an integrated development
which consists of three pillars; economic, environmental and social. When the WCED
introduced it, culture was not explicitly included. However, an expectation forcontribution of culture to the sustainable development had been gradually growing, as
found in the preamble of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage in 2003 “considering the importance of the intangible cultural heritage as amainspring of cultural diversity and a guarantee of sustainable development.”
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 recognises that “all cultures
can contribute to sustainable development”, and especially in the Goal 4 (quality
education) and 11 (sustainable cities and communities), the roles of culture are explicitly
stated. In response to the recognition, UNESCO shows a considerable interest in thecontribution of culture, namely tangible and intangible cultural heritages, to thesustainable development. In this context, studies for the contribution of intangible cultural
heritage (ICH) to the sustainable development is crucially significant.
Against this backdrop, this “International Researchers Forum: Perspectives of Research
for Intangible Cultural Heritage towards a Sustainable Society” will be held withparticipation of researchers from the Asia-Pacific regions. In the forum, we will discuss
the current status and issues of ICH and its roles to sustainable development from theviewpoints of community development as well as education. Through the examination of
the shared status and issues, we will explore the future direction of the research for the
ICH safeguarding.
Date and Venue
Date and Time: 17 December 2019, 10:00-17:00
18 December 2019, 10:00-12:00
Venue: Seminar Room, Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties
Address: 13-43 Ueno Kōen Taito-ku Tokyo, 110-8713 Japan
Keynote SpeechProf. Dr Kenji Yoshida, Director-General, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Forum Sessions
This forum is composed of four sessions as below:
Session 1. Community development - ICH and community promotion
Session 2. Community development - environment and ICH

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Session 3. Discussions from education perspective
Session 4. Wrap-up discussion
In sessions 1 and 2, participants will discuss community development from two points ofview. In session 3, participants will give feedback to the community development fromthe viewpoint of education. In session 4, participants will summarise discussions in thethree sessions and discuss the future perspective of research for the ICH safeguarding.
Session 1: “Community development - ICH and community promotion”
From the viewpoint of ICH and community promotion, participants will present casestudies on the following topics:
1.
2.
3.

Community promotion through stimulation of traditional industry
Community promotion and ICH safeguarding through sustainable tourism
Community promotion through revitalization of traditional culture

Session 2: “Community development - environment and ICH”
From the viewpoint of ICH and community environment, participants will present casestudies on the following topics:
1.
2.

ICH for disaster risk management
ICH and community environment

Session 3: “Discussions from education perspective”
In this session, from the viewpoint of education and ICH, experts in the field of education
will comment on the themes and topics of session 1 and 2.
In sessions 1 to 3, after the presentations, commentators will present their views based on
their studies for presenters. It will deepen discussion on the session theme to specify
current issues to be investigated.
Session 4: Wrap-up discussion
The facilitator presents comments for the sessions 1 to 3 to introduce discussion. Thenlatent research topics for the contribution of ICH to a sustainable society are investigated.
The topics and methods will be shared among participants for further dissemination to
the researchers and experts on ICH in the Asia-Pacific regions to instigate the research on
the ICH safeguarding.
Expected Outcomes
1. New perspectives of research for the ICH safeguarding will be explored.
2. A forum proceedings of the forum containing participants’ papers will be
published by IRCI by the end of March 2020.

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Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development 1
Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong
learning opportunities for all
4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primaryand secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood
development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primaryeducation
4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality
technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant
skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs andentrepreneurship
4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to alllevels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons withdisabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations
4.6 By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men andwomen, achieve literacy and numeracy
4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed topromote sustainable development, including, among others, through education
for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, genderequality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship andappreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable
development 2
4.a Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitiveand provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
A/70/L.1 18/35 15-15900
4.b By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available todeveloping countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing
States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational
training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering andscientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries.
4.c By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including throughinternational cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especiallyleast developed countries and small island developing States

1

Extracted from United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs at
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html
2
Underline and emphasis are added by the Forum Secretariat.
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Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient andsustainable
11.1 By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic
services and upgrade slums
11.2 By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transportsystems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, withspecial attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children,
persons with disabilities and older persons
11.3 By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity forparticipatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management
in all countries
11.4 Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural
heritage 3
11.5 By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people
affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global grossdomestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus
on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations
11.6 By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including
by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management
11.7 By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green andpublic spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons withdisabilities
11.a Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, periurban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning
11.b By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements
adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource
efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, anddevelop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction 2015-2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels
11.c Support least developed countries, including through financial and technicalassistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials.

3

Underline and emphasis are added by the Forum Secretariat.
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Proceedings of the International Researchers Forum: Perspectives of Research for Intangible Cultural Heritage towards a Sustainable SocietyISBN : 978-4-9909775-1-1

Proceedings ofInternational Researchers Forum:
Perspectives of Research for
Intangible Cultural Heritage towards
a Sustainable Society

17-18 December 2019
Tokyo Japan

Organised byInternational Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI),
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage
Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan
Co-organised by
Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties,
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage

IRCI