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Questioning Safeguarding: Heritage and Capabilities at the Jemaa el Fnaa

Beardslee, Thomas Barone
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397570320

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Music.
Is one of the most common approaches to intervention in the realm of culture in recent years – the safeguarding of tradition – the right path to take? In this dissertation, I argue that it is not, and that a different formulation of goals and methods is necessary. Using a case study of Jemaa el Fnaa Square in Marrakech, Morocco, I discuss the flawed concepts contained within the idea of safeguarding, outline their consequences, and put forth an alternative possibility for how things might be done differently. As a focus for criticism of the safeguarding approach, I will discuss UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage program, arguably the most internationally powerful institutional voice in the area of the conserving cultural practices. Since the Declarations of Masterpieces in 2001, 2003, and 2005 and the highly successful 2003 ICH Convention, the UNESCO paradigms of Intangible Cultural Heritage and "safeguarding" have become influential concepts in international, national, and local cultural policy. However, this concept of safeguarding attempts to impose onto the flow of human activity a way of thinking better suited to physical sites: culture as a static edifice with clear boundaries that is under threat of erosion, with safeguarding as a process of "shoring up." This results in an awkward fit of both theory and practice that leads to projects with unattainable goals, poorly-directed resources, and limited benefits for their intended recipients. As an alternative framework for intervention, I will discuss the Capability Approach, initially developed by economist Amartya Sen. The capabilities approach seeks ways of enhancing the possible range of choices and abilities of individuals and communities, privileging it over the prescribing of particular activities as a goal and evaluative space. This approach is well-suited to projects relating to culture, which is a fluid and dynamic process resistant to static, prescriptive notions. I will discuss ways in which using the idea of capabilities as a starting point could better lead to interventions that address the real needs of those they concern, rather than the constructed needs of "heritage." To provide a case study to further explore this topic, I will focus on the performers at a particular place: Jemaa el Fnaa Square in Marrakech, Morocco, which was in many ways the site of the genesis of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage project. The experience of the performers and others who work there serves as an example with which to discuss the effects of safeguarding on a community of performers, as well as ways in which the Capability Approach would lead to more effective evaluation and action. The discussion of the Jemaa el Fnaa is based on fieldwork conducted over the course of a year during 2010-11, an eventful year for the Square, Morocco, and North Africa as a whole.
Udo Will (Advisor)
Danielle Fosler-Lussier (Committee Member)
Dorothy Noyes (Committee Member)
362 p.
African Studies; Cultural Resources Management; Folklore; Middle Eastern Studies; Music; North African Studies
Morocco; Moroccan; Marrakesh; Marrakech; Jema; Jemaa; halqa; Djemaa; Fna; Fnaa; UNESCO; intangible; heritage; capabilities; Amartya Sen; intangible cultural heritage; safeguarding

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Beardslee, T. B. (2014). Questioning Safeguarding: Heritage and Capabilities at the Jemaa el Fnaa [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397570320

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Beardslee, Thomas. Questioning Safeguarding: Heritage and Capabilities at the Jemaa el Fnaa. 2014. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397570320.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Beardslee, Thomas. "Questioning Safeguarding: Heritage and Capabilities at the Jemaa el Fnaa." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397570320

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1397570320
3,256
© 2014, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Questioning Safeguarding: Heritage and Capabilities at the Jemaa el Fnaa by Thomas Barone Beardslee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.