Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2019 number

The paper presents and analyzes approaches used by international and Russian researchers to understand the intangible cultural heritage. Intangible cultural heritage is the usual forms, representations and expressions, knowledge and skills, as well as related objects and cultural space recognized by the community as a cultural heritage. This concept follows the idea of relationships of intangible cultural heritage, tangible cultural heritage and natural heritage. One should noted a pronounced ethnic orientation of the term “intangible cultural heritage”. This is confirmed by the foreign researchers of intangible cultural heritage who use the concept of “First Voice” which appeared in the process of uploading the rights of indigenous peoples. “First Voice” is a metaphorical designation of a carrier of traditions, i.e. intangible cultural heritage. The Russian researchers prove it using the concept of ethnocultural heritage. Scholarly works on the problem of studying and preserving intangible cultural heritage are relatively few both in international and Russian historiography. Most of the theoretical developments on this issue are based on the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) and the general theory of heritage studies. While writing the paper, the author found that the directions of studying intangible cultural heritage are diverse both in Russia and abroad. However, in the first case, the preference is given to ontological issues of understanding the intangible cultural heritage and preserving it under natural conditions of living culture as close as possible. Thus, a number of international researchers consider intangible cultural heritage in the focus of relevant topics: supervision, information technology, cultural diversity, cultural identity, commodification of heritage, conservation practices, etc. In the second case, attention is paid to conceptualization of museum and the practice of working with intangible cultural heritage. For example, Russian scientists actively work with practitioners of museumification of intangible cultural heritage in theoretical and practical aspects. A common feature of these two directions is the recognition of the cultural landscape as a complex form of preserving intangible cultural heritage.