Living Heritage and Sustainable Development

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How is intangible cultural heritage – or ‘living heritage’ – related to sustainable development? How is it relevant for addressing today’s development challenges in areas such as health, education, gender, natural disasters and conflict? Why is it important to keep this heritage alive? Communities around the world are transmitting their living heritage, which gives meaning to their lives, strengthens resilience, and contributes to their well-being. In this way intangible cultural heritage and sustainable development are closely linked. The international community made a commitment to safeguarding living heritage when it adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003 and it set itself ambitious goals by adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This course helps to understand the connections between the two.

By taking this course students and other interested learners and professionals will gain a better understanding of intangible cultural heritage and its relationships with sustainable development, exploring examples and experiences of communities from around the world.

By joining the course learners are invited to rethink development from a culture perspective!

This course is for:

• Anyone new to the concept of intangible cultural heritage who wants to understand what intangible cultural heritage is, why it is important to people’s wellbeing and what role it plays in the lives of people, including young people;

• Graduate students and advanced undergraduate students interested in the key concepts and practices of sustainability and global issues;

• Key actors engaged in the field of sustainable development at a local, regional or international level , including those who work in corporate sustainability and responsibility and who want to understand the relationship between intangible cultural heritage and sustainable development;

• Practitioners and professionals engaged in living heritage safeguarding , who want to refresh their knowledge on the key concepts of safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and want to learn more about the relationship between living heritage and sustainable development.

Module 1: What is intangible cultural heritage?

Chapter 1: Intangible cultural heritage as living heritage

Chapter 2: Key concepts of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

Chapter 3: The Convention’s Lists and Register

Chapter 4: The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and other related UNESCO conventions

Module 2: Communities and their intangible cultural heritage

Chapter 1: Who are the communities?

Chapter 2: Why are communities at the centre of intangible cultural heritage safeguarding?

Chapter 3: Community participation

Chapter 4: Community-based approaches

Module 3: Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage

Chapter 1: Transmission and safeguarding

Chapter 2: Safeguarding measures

Chapter 3: Inventories and safeguarding plans

Chapter 4: Ethics in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage

Module 4: Intangible cultural heritage and gender

Chapter 1: Intangible cultural heritage shapes gender identities

Chapter 2: Dynamic gender roles - dynamic living heritage

Chapter 3: Gender-responsive approaches to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage

Module 5: Intangible cultural heritage for sustainable livelihoods and inclusive social development

Chapter 1: Intangible cultural heritage and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Chapter 2: Intangible cultural heritage and education

Chapter 3: Intangible cultural heritage and health

Chapter 4: Intangible cultural heritage and income generation

Chapter 5: Intangible cultural heritage, food security and agriculture

Module 6: Intangible cultural heritage for resilience, environmental sustainability and peacebuilding

Chapter 1: Intangible cultural heritage, natural disasters and climate change

Chapter 2: Intangible cultural heritage in conflict-related emergency situations

Chapter 3: Intangible cultural heritage and preventing and solving disputes

Conclusion: Intangible cultural heritage for building a sustainable future for humanity