Webinar: Living heritage and actions for sustainable development

Various practical examples show that intangible, living cultural heritage connects with the efforts for sustainable development. Examples range from, for example, traditional knowledge on self-sufficiency and growing one’s own foodstuff, to practices that contribute to building and maintaining mutual trust in local communities. The UN Agenda 2030 and its 17 SDGs touch each one of us striving for a habitable planet also in the future. However, the everyday patterns of action are not always that easy to match with the goals for sustainability.

In this webinar, we take a deeper look into sustainable development in the context of living heritage. We will hear viewpoints from the everyday of living heritage safeguarding work with analytical takes on monitoring and indicators and also critical discussion on the roles of culture and cultural heritage in the Agenda 2030 and beyond. For our speakers’ panel discussion, you are welcomed to present questions and share through virtual tools your own viewpoints and experiences.

This webinar is co-organized by the LIVIND project (Finnish Heritage Agency) and the holder of UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development Chiara Bortolotto, CY Cergy Paris Université.

By registering in before-hand, and you will get the event link and also have access to the recording of the webinar with subtitles (in English).

Click here to register!

Webinar Programme 21 November 2023

NB! All times in CET

14.00 Opening and introductions. Chiara Bortolotto, UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development, CY Cergy Paris Université; Leena Marsio, Senior Advisor, and Elisa Kraatari, LIVIND Project Coordinator, Finnish Heritage Agency

14.15 Presentation. Agenda 2030 and the SDGs: Whose sustainability and sustainability of what?
John Crowley, PHGD Group

14.40 Presentation. The SDGs, periodic reporting and the agency of indicators. Chiara Bortolotto, UNESCO chair in Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development, CY Cergy Paris Université and Séverine Cachat, Expert for the Ethnological and Intangible Heritage Committee, French Ministry of Culture.

Introduction:
Global frameworks such as the SDGs or the audit mechanisms established within the ICH Convention build on indicators. Assumed to be neutral, technical and universal, these frameworks are in fact performative, political and cultural. It is through them that SD is to be imagined, managed, deployed and performed globally. They shape the global conception and management of sustainable development, potentially obscuring its essence. Energies and resources that could be creatively devoted to safeguarding taking into account a diversity of understanding of sustainability are instead diverted in the implementation of these normative framework . At the same time, however, they offer opportunities to shift State policies’ focus from a quest for international visibility and prestige granted by listing to more concrete issues. The Livind project is an example of this. Our discussion draws from experiences supporting state and sub-state stakeholders in designing and executing ICH strategies, reporting, and projects.

15.05 Comments to the presentations. Jorijn Neyrinck, Expert of the Intangible heritage workshop, Flanders, Belgium; Katriina Siivonen, University Lecturer, Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC), University of Turku.

15.15 Panel discussion: Living heritage as a resource for local communities and an agent for sustainability transition. John Crowley, Chiara Bortolotto, Séverine Cachat, and Katriina Siivonen.

The Panel discussion moderator: Jorijn Neyrinck

16.00 Webinar ends.

Introductions

Chiara Bortolotto holds the UNESCO chair in Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development, at CY Cergy Paris Université. Her research explores the social life of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage addressing in particular the intersection between heritage and sustainable development. Her work is based on an ethnography of the UNESCO policy world where she explores the performative power of administrative apparatuses and the role of human emotions in the making of global governance.

After obtaining a Phd in social and cultural anthropology, Séverine Cachat directed the French Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage from 2011 to 2021 and the Maison des Cultures du Monde from 2017 to 2021. Today a consultant, she is a member of the global facilitators' network for the 2003 Convention (UNESCO) and an expert for the Ethnological and Intangible Heritage Committee (French Ministry of Culture).

Jorijn Neyrinck is a cultural anthropologist. She’s the coordinator of the NGO Workshop intangible heritage in Belgium, and facilitator for the UNESCO 2003 Convention. Jorijn takes on a cultural broker role in the field among living heritage actors, policy makers, civil society, and academia. Recent commitments: coordinating the work on the webdossier ICH and sustainable tourism, co-organizer for Wiki Loves Living Heritage (2023), vice-chair of the Flemish UNESCO Commission, Steering member of the European Network of Focal Points for the UNESCO 2003 Convention (ENFP), member in the Evaluation Body of the 2003 Convention (2019-2023), and lead partner for the ICH and Museums Project (IMP) in Europe.

Katriina Siivonen is University Lecturer in Futures Studies and Adj. Prof. in Cultural Heritage Studies in University of Turku. She is vice-chair of the Expert Panel for Sustainable Development in Finland and co-chair of Working Group on Sustainable Development in the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils Network (EEAC Network). She has been the chair of the Advisory Board of the implementation of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Finland (2014-2022). She has led numerous participatory futures research projects during last 20 years. Currently she is co-leading three transdisciplinary research projects: the Finnish LAB in the Horizon Europe project IN SITU, the project ECOCRIN funded by Business Finland, and project SISU funded by the Academy of Finland / Strategic Research Council. She is expert in ethnography, participatory methodology in futures studies, identities, intangible cultural heritage, heritage futures and cultural sustainability transformation.