UNESCO CHAIR
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UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy and Law
The UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy and Law was founded in February 2017 once the agreement between the UNESCO and the Latvian Academy of Culture was signed. Since then, the UNESCO Chair has grown to be an integral part of the research and academic activities both in national and international projects of the Latvian Academy of Culture.
UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy and Law was established with the objective of advancing international academic and research partnerships in the study field of the polices and law related to intangible cultural heritage (ICH). The UNESCO Chair aims at developing post-graduate study courses and research projects that explore the implementation of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at the international level, as well as at the domestic level in various countries worldwide. The UNESCO Chair focuses on the analysis of experiences, challenges, and solutions for connecting various fields of policymaking and legislation in relation to ICH.
Research questions that the UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy and Law addresses in its research activities:
- What are the interconnections between ICH safeguarding policies, relevant legislative frameworks, and administrative practices at various levels? How can normative instruments, including human rights protection, be used to enhance the safeguarding of ICH?
- What role do various fields of policymaking and legislation, beyond the cultural sector, play in safeguarding ICH? How to enhance articulation and cooperation between different sectors?
- In what ways are legal sources and practices recognized as ICH? What does such a recognition change for the respective legal systems and their components, including customary law?
The activities of the UNESCO Chair bring together scholars and students from various countries and scholarly disciplines, including cultural studies (cultural anthropology, cultural sociology and cultural policy studies) and legal studies (international law, comparative, legal history and legal theory). The interdisciplinary approach contributes to studying cultural and historical aspects that shape contemporary policies and legislation on ICH. The UNESCO Chair strongly relies on the involvement of both experienced and young scholars and students, assuring their inter-generational exchange of ideas and contributing to a continuity of scholarly work.
For the period 2025–2029 it is planned to advance the work accomplished during the previous periods, and to pursue comparative studies of policy and law related to ICH. In continuity with the former work by the Chair, several thematic areas will be further developed or undertaken anew, related to various dimensions of sustainable development:
- Comparative law and ICH.
- Economic dimensions of ICH: the case of crafts.
- ICH in social wellbeing policies.
- ICH in culture and nature interconnections.
- Rights of Indigenous communities and ICH.
The named list of thematic areas is based on competences and skills already developed at the UNESCO Chair through former programmes of work and projects. The definition of these areas, however, does not exclude a possibility to engage in other ICH, policy and law-related topical areas of research, education and training, such as ICH in emergencies, in the context of climate change, in relation to developing Artificial Intelligence technologies, and other.
Temporary Chairholder:
Baiba Tjarve
Dr.art. Baiba Tjarve
baiba.tjarve@lka.edu.lv
Main Achievements
The following main achievements can be highlighted concerning the work accomplished during the period of 2021–2025.
1. Interdisciplinary approaches to the study of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) policy and law have been strongly developed, innovative research projects carried out and results disseminated widely to international audiences. For example,
a. The international ‘Osmose’ research programme (https://dpc.hypotheses.org/category/the-osmose-program-english-version) on ICH and comparative law (since 2014) led to (i) an open-access report (in English and French) on domestic legislations in 26 countries from various regions of the world, (ii) a presentation of its results at an intergovernmental event at the UNESCO Secretariat (2018), and (iii) a scholarly monograph (Cornu et al., 2020). This close collaboration, based on partnership with researchers in France, has been continued through research seminars and conferences, with an emphasis on the engagement and responsibility of researchers in decision making on ICH (conference ‘Nommer/normer’ in Paris, France in 2020, special edition of the journal ‘Culture Crossroads’ upcoming in 2025), and on law as ICH (including customary law, conference in Bordeaux, France ‘Le droit comme patrimoine’ in 2022 and seminars in Paris, France in 2024, 2025).
b. Within the European research project ‘Tracks4Crafts’, ‘Transforming crafts knowledge for a sustainable, inclusive and economically viable heritage in Europe’ (2023-2027, https://tracks4crafts.eu/) the UNESCO Chair has led a comparative study on traditional crafts-related policies and legal frameworks in Europe, based on primary data collected from national contact points of the UNESCO 2003 Convention, interviews with legal experts, as well as based on the analysis of periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention. The comparative report has been published online at the Academy’s website (https://www.lka.edu.lv/en/research/research-projects/international-research-projects/tracks4crafts/).
2. There has been a continuous contribution to post-graduate studies both within the Academy and beyond, through the form of visiting lectures, online webinars and other, highlighting the significance of legal and ethical aspects of ICH safeguarding, and heritage protection more broadly. A study course on Heritage Law and Ethics has been developed at master level at the Academy and is continued. Several visiting lectures at other universities have been given by the Chairholder, including in cooperation with UNESCO Chairs established at CY Cergy Paris Université and Unitelma Sapienza University of Rome. Student and staff exchanges have been regular in the framework of Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.
3. Awareness has been raised about the role of legal and policy frameworks for ICH safeguarding, in the framework of reaching the contribution of ICH safeguarding to reaching sustainable development goals, especially through the involvement of the UNESCO Chair in the ‘LIVIND’ project – ‘Creative and living cultural heritage as a resource for the Northern Dimension region’ (2021–2024, https://livind.fi/); a presentation at a webinar was given on the cultural rights related to ICH, and research paper published on sustainable development dimensions in ICH policies, and beyond, as reported by participant countries in their reports on the UNESCO 2003 Convention.
4. Cooperation with UNESCO Secretariat has been productive, concretely contributing to the intergovernmental work on the implementation of the 2003 Convention and the work of the Living Heritage, and the Chair has been active in non-formal networking among UNESCO Chairs in the field of ICH. This networking has been decisive in the invitation of the Chair to become a member of the consortium of the aforementioned ‘Tracks4Crafts’ project. Cooperation was developed in regard to the UNESCO Global Report on Cultural Policies where the Chair was selected among 71 Chairs across the world, to provide expertise on the chapter on cultural rights.
In addition to the aforementioned outputs of the Chairs’s activities, and regarding UNESCO’s mission, mandate, priorities and programmes, it can be underlined that the Chair has paid particular attention to bringing forward the importance of inclusivity in sustainable development and especially the rights and interests of Indigenous peoples regarding ICH safeguarding, and this has been done through a post-doctoral research project ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage as Resource for Sustainable Development in Northern Europe: Rights-Based Approach’ (2020-2023, https://lka.edu.lv/en/research/research-projects/post-doctoral-research-aid/intangible-cultural-heritage/) and several publications (Vaivade 2024a, 2024b, and 2024c). Furthermore, community engagement and collaborative research partnerships have been developed especially with the Suiti community in Latvia, in the framework of preparing a periodic report on the safeguarding of Suiti Cultural Space, inscribed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2009.
Partners
International collaboration with research and higher education institutions has been intense and diverse, mostly driven through common research and educational projects and initiatives. Partners to be especially mentioned are University of Tartu (Estonia), University of Antwerp (Belgium), Institute for Political Social Sciences of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (ISP-CNRS, France), among others.
The work of the UNESCO Chair led also to strengthening intersectoral collaboration with research and higher education institutions at the national level, including the University of Latvia, its Faculty of Law as well as Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art and Livonian Institute.
New partnerships have been started in 2024 when the Academy became part of the EU funded European University Alliance ACE²-EU, e.g. with the UNESCO Chair for the Sustainable Management of Conservation Areas at the partner university Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (Austria). Furthermore, cooperation possibilities will also be considered with colleagues at the UNESCO Chair in Learning for Transformation and Planetary Futures at the University of Turku (Finland) and UNESCO Chair in Digital Culture and Arts in Education at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany).
Research projects related to the goals of the UNESCO Chair
In the field of research, the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy and Law Department is based on current international and national research projects implemented by the Latvian Academy of Culture in cooperation with various partner institutions.
Cultural and creative ecosystem of Latvia as a resource of resilience and sustainability / CERS (2023-2026)
Mapping of Heritage NGOs in Central & Eastern Europe (2024)
Landscapes of Identities: History, Culture, and Environment (2021-2024)
Cultural capital as a resource for sustainable development of Latvia/CARD (2020-2022)
LIVIND: Creative and living cultural heritage as a resource for the Northern Dimension region (2021-2024)
Newly discovered hillforts in Latvia 2018-2021: cultural-historical significance (2018-2021)
Community Participation in Cultural Heritage Governance: Practices, Developments and Challenges (2018-2020)
COHERE: Critical Heritages: performing and representing identities in Europe (2016-2019)
A Comparative Research on Intangible Cultural Heritage Law in Europe (2016-2017)
Sustainability of Latvian Cultural Traditions in an Innovative Environment (2014-2017)