Lesson 3: Cultural heritage and respect for diversity

Intagible Cultural Heritage and Communities

For intangible cultural products or expressions to be recognized as heritage there must be a group of individuals that acknowledge them as their common heritage.

Communities may be defined by many different kinds of interests, political, for example, or historical. A cultural community is one that distinguishes itself by culture or cultural design or by a variant of the generic culture. Among other possible extensions, a nation can be a cultural community.

Example: Indigenous Communities
The Kallawaya are itinerant male healers in Bolivia who practice ancestral medical techniques based on a body of related myths, rituals, values and artistic expressions. Their language is crucial for the transmission of this medical and pharmaceutical knowledge through a system of apprenticeship and captures a deep understanding of the local ecosystem. With some 980 species, their botanical pharmacopeia rates as one of the richest in the world.

Source: https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/andean-cosmovision-of-the-kallawaya-00048