[An Deming] Building a community with a shared future for mankind based on community participation
pick
Objective: The proposal of the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind has very important inspiration and guiding significance for deeply understanding and solving various problems currently facing the international community.
This concept is not only highly consistent with the purpose of intangible cultural heritage protection advocated and promoted by UNESCO, but also has more general and general guidance.
The continuous development of the protection of intangible cultural heritage, especially with the continuous popularization of the "community-centered" principle it emphasizes, will in turn promote the cultural diversity of "harmony but diversity" from the perspective of cultural exchanges.
The concept of sex, in turn, promotes the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind and plays a concrete and practical role.
Keywords: a community with a shared future for mankind; protection of intangible cultural heritage; community-centered author profile: An Deming, researcher and director of the Folk Literature Research Office, Institute of Literature, China Academy of Social Sciences, doctoral supervisor of the Graduate School of China Academy of Social Sciences.
The protection of intangible cultural heritage has been comprehensively carried out around the world for more than 20 years [1].
The development of this work has played a positive leading role in the popularization of the concept of cultural diversity and the inheritance and development of diverse cultures.
Over the years, relevant researchers, practitioners and inheritors have promoted the development and improvement of the theory and practice of intangible cultural heritage protection from different angles by constantly summarizing experiences and lessons, and actively interacting with more universal social thoughts.
However, as a rising global social and cultural movement, intangible cultural heritage protection still has many aspects to be discussed, criticized and improved in terms of theory, methods, practical strategies and other aspects.
Therefore, this paper intends to combine the concept of "community with a shared future for mankind" to further explore the importance of community participation in intangible cultural heritage protection.
Building a community with a shared future for mankind is a concept proposed and developed by President Xi Jinping.
It was created in response to the various problems faced by today's world and with the purpose of eliminating various global crises.
It advocates and advocates that the international community should "build the planet where we were born and raised into a harmonious place through various efforts in different aspects.
Big family"[2].
Its main contents include: adhering to dialogue and consultation to build a world of lasting peace; adhering to joint construction and sharing to build a universally safe world; adhering to win-win cooperation to build a world of common prosperity; adhering to exchanges and mutual learning to build an open and inclusive world; adhering to green and low-carbon, and building a clean and beautiful world [3].
These thoughts have important enlightening significance for a deeper understanding of the value of community participation in intangible cultural heritage protection and better promoting the practice of intangible cultural heritage protection.
In turn, the good operation of intangible cultural heritage protection with community participation as an important principle will also play a practical and concrete role in implementing the concept of "building a community with a shared future for mankind" written into the United Nations resolution [4].
1.
Community: Keywords in the protection of intangible cultural heritage
As the protection of intangible cultural heritage continues to advance internationally, the importance of communities in this work has been increasingly emphasized.
Since the adoption of the Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention "), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (hereinafter referred to as" UNESCO ") has successively issued a series of new relevant documents, with the purpose of ensuring the correct implementation of the spirit of the Convention and the correct development of relevant practices on the basis of summarizing experience.
It can be seen from these derivative documents that the frequency of "communities" appearing continues to increase.
For example, in the 2003 Convention,"community" was mentioned in 10 places [5]; in the "Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage" issued by UNESCO in 2014,"community" appeared 61 times [6]; while in the 2016 version of the "Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage","community" was involved in as many as 117 places [7].
At the end of 2016, the 10th ordinary session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage held in Namibia adopted the "Ethical Principles for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage".
Among all 12 principles, 11 mentioned "community" and put it in an important position.
The only thing that does not explicitly mention "community" is Article 8, which states: "The dynamic and lively nature of intangible cultural heritage should always be respected." Authenticity and exclusivity should not constitute problems or obstacles to the protection of intangible cultural heritage." [8]In fact, emphasizing respect for the dynamic and lively nature of intangible cultural heritage means emphasizing respect for the independent rights of inheritors or communities related to intangible cultural heritage.
Therefore, from this article, we can still appreciate the will and rights of the community.
Attention.
It can be said that "community" has become a key word throughout the entire process of intangible cultural heritage protection, and community participation and even community leadership have become one of the most important principles in UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage protection work [9].
As for communities, although formal regulatory documents on intangible cultural heritage protection such as the Convention and the "Business Guidelines" do not provide clear definitions, according to various operational documents successively issued by UNESCO and relevant research results, the current practice of intangible cultural heritage protection has basically formed a consensus in the field of practice and research: in the context of intangible cultural heritage protection, communities refer to those who "directly or indirectly participate in the implementation and inheritance of relevant intangible cultural heritage projects"[10].
In this regard, although on many occasions,"community, group, and sometimes individual" is often used as a fixed phrase related to intangible cultural heritage protection, among which "community","group" and "individual" are regarded as the different states of parallel relationships.
However, in fact, communities still have similar attributes to "group".
In other words, unlike communities with relatively clear boundaries in physical spaces in the context of social management, communities under intangible cultural heritage protection focus more on people who jointly own a certain intangible cultural heritage and form a relatively stable identity.
collection.
It comes in many forms, and the range can be large or small.
The people that make up it may live in a geographical area with clear boundaries such as a village or town, or they may live in areas that span regions or even borders.
It can be as small as a group of more than two people, as large as one nation or one country, or even several nations or several countries.
The basis for judging whether this collective constitutes an intangible cultural heritage related community lies in whether its members jointly own, inherit and cherish an intangible cultural heritage project.
Here,"community" and "intangible cultural heritage" are two concepts that define and complement each other, and they are indispensable.
According to UNESCO regulations, appropriate or qualified intangible cultural heritage protection should always be carried out around the community-centered principle.
More specific operational requirements include the following aspects: First, communities are at the core of the process of identifying intangible cultural heritage; Second, the formulation and implementation of protection measures should ensure community participation and prior knowledge and consent of the community from beginning to end; Third, protection work should enable relevant communities to become beneficiaries [11].
These requirements are mainly due to two reasons: First, UNESCO has determined that "only when the community participates to the greatest extent in the entire process of protection and plays a major role in it can intangible cultural heritage protection be sustainable and effective.
Carry on"[12].
The second is to limit excessive intervention by powerful forces such as the government, highlight the role of intangible cultural heritage groups in a relatively weak position or even at the bottom of society, and protect their rights and interests.
From the perspective of the practice or specific operation of intangible cultural heritage protection, these two reasons are sufficient to fully demonstrate the rationality and importance of adhering to the community-centered principle.
It is true that if the community that owns and practices intangible cultural heritage projects loses the initiative to protect the project or is marginalized in protection activities, then no protection measure is likely to have long-term results; and in the case of intangible cultural heritage protection carried out by UNESCO and relevant national government agencies as important promoters and implementers, communities are particularly vulnerable or marginalized.
Emphasizing the important position of the community in the protection of intangible cultural heritage is to fundamentally avoid or change these situations.
In fact, this has indeed had certain effects-although due to specific environmental limitations, most protection work is still far from truly implementing the "community-centered" principle [13], in many countries or regions In protection practice, from concepts to specific actions, more and more attention is paid to issues such as community participation and community awareness [14][15].
2.
Human care in the "community-centered" principle
The emphasis on community-centered protection of intangible cultural heritage is to avoid many of the problems mentioned above and to better promote protection practices, but will this lead to local or group conservatism? This concern is not unreasonable.
For example, the regional and case-based studies that have prevailed in recent years in anthropology, folklore and other disciplines have provided a large number of outstanding results for understanding and understanding the rich and colorful regional cultures and the complex dynamic relationship between culture and specific communities.
At the same time, it has also raised more and more problems, especially the sorting out, promotion and even strengthening of the "unique" attributes and "special" identities of relevant communities or ethnic groups.
In a sense, they have gradually become the labels attached to the public by the academic community, making the awareness of identity in many regions or groups, which is originally in a state of non-existence, hidden or explicit, increasingly clear and strong, and eventually become a new source of construction and highlighting the particularities and differences of different cultures, different groups and different regions, and thus triggering various contradictions and conflicts.
In the current world, various conflicts between nations, cultures and religions are becoming increasingly fierce.
Of course, this cannot be entirely attributed to the influence of academia, but what role academic research has played in this regard and what adjustments should be made are worthy of our serious reflection.
Fortunately, UNESCO is sufficiently vigilant and preventive against the possible negative effects caused by emphasizing the community-centered principle in intangible cultural heritage protection practice.
If we combine this with the purpose of intangible cultural heritage protection, we will have a clearer understanding.
The objects of intangible cultural heritage protection work are of course the colorful intangible cultural heritage projects of all ethnic groups.
However, in the face of the increasingly complex relationships between countries, regions or nations, and in the face of various contradictions and conflicts that are constantly emerging in today's world, the ultimate goal of UNESCO's social and cultural movement is no longer limited to culture itself.
Instead, it points more to people as the subjects of cultural heritage, or human society-it is to use the protection of intangible cultural heritage as a medium to create a new platform for exchanges and cooperation in human society.
On this point, former UNESCO Director-General Bokova made it very clear: "The world is looking for new paths to promote peace and sustainable development.
At this point, we need cohesive projects that bring different people together.
The Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage is such a platform for dialogue and action.
Every country and every community can claim its rights here, share its vision and unleash the creative power of cultural diversity to consolidate our common values." [16]
It can be seen that emphasizing the importance of the community in the protection of intangible cultural heritage is only a working strategy, or at most a phased task rather than the ultimate goal.
Its ultimate goal is to care for all mankind.
On the premise of ensuring that the wishes and rights of each specific community are fully expressed and valued, we will build easier, smoother and more harmonious communication channels between different communities, so as to ease or resolve conflicts between different ethnic groups and different regions.
Conflict plays a role and can be said to be one of its most important purposes.
This kind of human concern is also reflected in UNESCO's many concepts and specific measures on intangible cultural heritage protection.
Take the review activity of the list of influential representative works hosted by it as an example.
The name of the list is "Representative Works of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity", emphasizing that any intangible cultural heritage project included in it belongs to a culture shared by mankind.
It should not be understood as a patent of a certain applicant.
Because of this, UNESCO pays great attention to correcting the words "unique","outstanding" and "extraordinary" in the application forms submitted by all member states for the "Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity","List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urgent Need of Protection" and "List of Excellent Practices", which are used to describe related projects, because they reflect obvious localism [17].
Another example is Lindell Prot, director of the International Standards Department of the Ministry of Culture of UNESCO, once said when talking about the significance of protecting intangible heritage:"UNESCO's 1998 World Report on Culture focused on protecting cultural diversity, not only out of consideration of the human rights of minorities, but also because it is extremely important to human knowledge and cultural resources, to protect traditional customs, languages and lifestyles that have existed for thousands of years but are now dying out at an alarming rate.
Perhaps one day, these other ways of life on earth will prove crucial to human survival.
Maybe one day, when technological disasters, climate changes, or genetic mutations will revolutionize the planet we live in, we will need to use the various different methods we can find to help humans adapt to the new environment." [18]Among them, the concern for the overall future destiny of mankind can be said to be on the paper.
But unfortunately, this strong concern for the destiny of mankind in UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage protection has not been summarized and refined into a more concise and abstract ideological expression.
3.
Promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind through community-centered intangible cultural heritage protection
It can be seen from the above discussion that the protection of intangible cultural heritage advocated by UNESCO is highly consistent with the goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and can be integrated into the latter as an important organic part.
Understanding and carrying out intangible cultural heritage protection work from the perspective of building a community with a shared future for mankind can make the potential concepts contained in this work clearer and more systematic, and can also make the goals of the work clearer and the beliefs firmer.
It can be seen from the relevant discussions in the first part that the community under intangible cultural heritage protection actually has the same connotation as the "community" ①.
They essentially refer to a collective formed by people around a specific commonly recognized element, with specific cohesion and can transcend geographical and spatial limitations.
An intangible cultural heritage related community is a community formed through a certain intangible cultural heritage project.
The "community with a shared future for mankind" is a collection that needs to be built and strengthened.
It must focus on the high attention and conscious maintenance of each different community (or community)'s basic consistency in its future destiny, and gradually advance and complete through continuous dialogue, exchanges and consultation.
Community-centered intangible cultural heritage protection can not only obtain more solid theoretical and belief support from the goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind, but also contribute concrete and practical strength to the realization of this goal.
The concept of a community with a shared future for mankind was put forward to deal with and solve various problems and crises currently facing human society.
Among these problems and crises, contradictions and conflicts caused by cultural issues account for a large proportion.According to a United Nations statistics, three-quarters of the world's major conflicts are related to cultural aspects [19].
Why did this happen? The large differences between different cultures are one cause of conflict, but this is only a superficial cause.
The deeper reason, in my opinion, is that the differences are not fully understood, recognized and understood between the owners and inheritors of different cultures.
Differences between different cultures are differences between communities or groups that are subjects of relevant cultures.
Taking the intangible cultural heritage community as an example, due to the differences in the intangible cultural heritage project itself, the size of the community is also different.
It may be a small group, a larger ethnic group or even a larger nation-state.
Regardless of its size, once formed, it has stability and cohesion based on a common cultural bond, and therefore reflects a certain degree of exclusivity.
Although there are also heterogeneity characteristics within intangible cultural heritage communities [20], when interacting with a larger range of organizations or groups outside the community on relevant cultural matters, it is easier for community members to agree on their main identities and main demands.
This exclusiveness of communities has different effects in the process of contact and interaction between different communities due to their different degrees of mutual understanding.
In some cases, it only appears as slight differences.
In communities or groups that lack mutual communication and understanding, it may manifest itself as more intense frictions, disputes and even conflicts.
Therefore,"bridging differences between cultures is not only crucial to peace, stability and development, but is also a top priority"[21].
Facts have proved that dialogue and communication are the most effective and important means of bridging cultural differences.
Intangible cultural heritage protection is a mature cultural exchange platform built by the international community through various efforts, and will surely play an important role in the grand goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
This platform is based on the commonly recognized principle of "cultural diversity".
By emphasizing the "community-centered" protection approach, it first provides opportunities for different cultures to fully demonstrate their characteristics and differences between them.
Any cultural project that belongs to "various social practices, conceptual expressions, forms of expression, knowledge, skills and related tools, objects, handicrafts and cultural venues that communities, groups and sometimes individuals regard as part of their cultural heritage" and "conforms to existing international human rights documents, the need for mutual respect among communities, groups and individuals, and conforms to sustainable development"[22], is eligible to declare on this platform.
It can be displayed in different forms such as listing.
Since the projects displayed are presented in a wider range of fields outside the relevant communities on a voluntary basis in accordance with UNESCO requirements, they can accurately and comprehensively reflect the wishes, emotions and the overall characteristics of the community.
At the same time, the intangible cultural heritage projects displayed in this way can be recognized under the basic concept of recognizing and respecting cultural diversity, no matter how unfamiliar or even weird they are to people outside the community.
In this way, with continuous contact and understanding, the cultural phenomena of a specific community or ethnic group that were originally regarded as "exotic customs", as well as the emotions and concepts of the relevant inheritors expressed therein, will no longer be weird for the majority of members outside the community or ethnic group, but will gradually become understandable and acceptable.
This is actually the so-called realm of "harmony but difference" in traditional China thought, or the proverb goes that "different styles are different in a hundred miles, and different customs are different in a thousand miles."
The above can be said to be the first effect that community-based intangible cultural heritage protection can achieve in cultural exchanges, that is, providing a platform for different cultures in different communities to fully display differences and diversity.
The second level of effect is to promote mutual appreciation and mutual respect among different communities and different cultures.
No matter how different cultural traditions are, as long as people have the opportunity to contact each other and perform their traditional cultures with each other, they will definitely create a good start for mutual recognition and mutual acceptance.
Under the influence of the concept that things related to "me" or "we" and things outside "us" are regarded as "culture" or "intangible cultural heritage" equally, the value of "our" culture has been fully demonstrated, and the value of culture outside "us" will also be more and more recognized and understood, and will gradually become content that "we" can recognize, appreciate and enjoy, and then focus on specific intangible cultural heritage projects, Form a new and larger "we" that includes the original small "we" and its related intangible cultural heritage communities.
The third effect is that as exchanges continue to increase and deepen, a high degree of confidence based on a comparative cultural perspective is promoted among various intangible cultural heritage communities.
This self-confidence is reflected in not only a full affirmation of the advantages and values of one's culture, but also a frank criticism and conscious improvement of the shortcomings or shortcomings of one's culture.
On the latter hand, it is particularly significant in the context of multicultural exchanges, comparisons and integration.
It will largely eliminate conservatism that may arise in intangible cultural heritage protection and bring cultural exchanges using intangible cultural heritage protection as a medium to a deeper level, thus laying a solid foundation for further cultural integration and building a shared future for mankind.
Play a more active and effective role in the process of the community.
Of course, it must be admitted that intangible cultural heritage protection cannot solve all problems.
During 2015-2017, the author participated in three consecutive regular meetings of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage as a member of the delegation of the China Folklore Society.
During each meeting, he witnessed two countries with feuds criticizing and even attacking each other on the spot over whether specific projects related to both sides could be included in the list of representative works.
This fully demonstrates that complex conflicts between ethnic groups or countries arising from multiple factors cannot be alleviated through cultural dialogue.
On the contrary, relevant platforms for cultural dialogue will provide new opportunities for the continuation of relevant conflicts and struggles.
Perhaps we can say optimistically that although this dialogue between the two countries is full of gunpowder, the intangible cultural heritage protection platform has also created conditions for mutual contact and exchanges between the two sides.
Over time, it may gradually play a role in promoting mutual understanding and mutual tolerance.
In short, community-centered intangible cultural heritage protection, on the basis of adhering to the concept of cultural diversity and recognizing and respecting cultural differences, can not only fully express more specific and individual demands, but also enable the personalization of relevant cultural traditions.
Characteristics are relatively completely reflected and demonstrated.
This full expression and demonstration creates necessary conditions for mutual understanding, mutual communication and mutual understanding between different communities and groups, and provides an important prerequisite for essentially resolving conflicts between different cultures, thereby promoting a larger community or community.
It can be said that under the situation that building a community with a shared future for mankind has become an important concept of increasing concern in many related fields at home and abroad, community-based protection of intangible cultural heritage is an important way to build a community with a shared future for mankind.
(This article was published in "Northwest Ethnic Studies", No.
2, 2018.
The annotations and references are omitted, and refer to the original text of the publication for details)