Intangible Cultural Heritage Designation in South Korea: Reconstruction and Transmission of Salpuri-dance through Living Cultural Treasure Lee Eun-Joo

The adversity of heritage designation is one of the major topics discussed in the critical heritage discourse. Enlistment can become a competition, establishing a hierarchy for heritage based on evaluation. The system is structured on exclusion, giving indeterminate criteria of values to phenomena to decontextualize its immediate surroundings and recontextualize them in reference to previous listings with the purpose of profit and attention to the notion of safeguarding. Especially in enlisting performative practices as intangible heritage properties, a problem can be seen in recording a fixed, standardized form of the performance in a certain moment in time. Following researchers responsible for providing descriptions in order to enlist properties, emphasis is placed rather on artistic aspects than on tracing original functionality and development. Well-intentioned but restrictive preservation efforts can result in shaping vibrant performative practices into “stale, taxidermized re...Show moreThe adversity of heritage designation is one of the major topics discussed in the critical heritage discourse. Enlistment can become a competition, establishing a hierarchy for heritage based on evaluation. The system is structured on exclusion, giving indeterminate criteria of values to phenomena to decontextualize its immediate surroundings and recontextualize them in reference to previous listings with the purpose of profit and attention to the notion of safeguarding. Especially in enlisting performative practices as intangible heritage properties, a problem can be seen in recording a fixed, standardized form of the performance in a certain moment in time. Following researchers responsible for providing descriptions in order to enlist properties, emphasis is placed rather on artistic aspects than on tracing original functionality and development. Well-intentioned but restrictive preservation efforts can result in shaping vibrant performative practices into “stale, taxidermized re-enactments” or highly staged performances. The repetition of a standard form is established in the process of nomination, fixed in designation, and consolidated and conveyed in transmission. Salpuri-chum, a spiritually functional dance, has been encapsulated in temporal stylistic descriptions and adapted to be performed by highly trained professional dancers for foremost representative and promotional purposes as a distinct display of Korean traditional culture.Show less

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Intangible Cultural Heritage Designation in South Korea: Reconstruction and Transmission of Salpuri-dance through Living Cultural Treasure Lee Eun-Joo