Paper short abstract:

Among an array of folk culture appropriations in contemporary Slovenia the project Slovenia's Living Heritage is a multifaceted example. The project involves global (Unesco) and local agents (the state, research institutions, individual actors), and it is a good case of issues exposed by this panel.

Paper long abstract:

In scholarly and public use nowadays folk culture is largely subsumed in the concept of cultural heritage. In order to illustrate how it is handled within contemporary Slovenia, some examples of its applications/reppresentations will be presented. Most of them display a dynamic configuration of multiple agents, interests, and strategies. They reflect an array of legal, academic, economic, ecological arguments and other concerns, or merely the commodification of "folk" items. By referring to these issues they negotiate with heterogeneous social and cultural meanings, from very different power positions, and convey messages about aspired and often marginal identities.

The project "Slovenia's Living Heritage" will be presented as an example par excellence; namely, this project embodies the engagement and expectations of several agents (politicians, researchers, professional cultural heritage guardians, media, performers, and heterogeneous audiences), that are involved in the network of negotiations on the concept of living cultural heritage. The basic issues highlighted regarding this concept refer to who defines it, what basic notions are used (expert, practical, or common knowledge), on whose behalf, and with what interests. Considering that the project is an outgrowth of the 2003 Unesco Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage and is supported by Slovenian legislation and ethnological research, it is a good example of glocal practice and the issues exposed by this panel.