Music, Communities, Sustainability

Music, Communities, Sustainability, edited thoughtfully by Huib Schippers and Anthony Seeger, traces the genesis, implementation, and development of the influential 2003 UNESCO Convention on Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and its impact on music practices around the world. With insights from established and emerging scholars who have been there from the early beginnings to those who work with it in communities today, this book tells a riveting story that celebrates the rise in awareness that approaching music as Intangible Cultural Heritage has brought. At the same time, it critiques the discrepancies between ideologies and realities as they emerged across the globe in its first twenty years, and provides perspectives for sound futures for the planet. Gathering such varied perspectives, this essential volume tells a crucial history and expands our understanding of the possibilities and limitations of interventions in music sustainability on a global scale.

Huib Schippers has a thirty-year history of leadership positions in music performance, community engagement, sustainability, education and training across cultures, including the Amsterdam World Music School (1990-1996); the World Music & Dance Centre in Rotterdam (2001-2006), Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre, Griffith University (2003-2015), and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (2016-2020). His innovative work in culturally diverse music education and music sustainability culminated in dozens of journal articles and major publications with Oxford University Press, including Facing the Music: Shaping Music Education from a Global Perspective (2010); and Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures: An Ecological Perspective (2016). Recently returned to his native Amsterdam, he now divides his time between writing, lecturing, mentoring and consulting with academic and arts organizations.
Anthony Seeger is an anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, audiovisual archivist, record
producer, and musician. He is author of three books on the Kîsêdjê/Suyá Indigenous people in Brazil, four edited volumes, and over 130 shorter publications on ethnomusicology, audiovisual archiving, music ownership, intangible cultural heritage and other topics. He has taught at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro (1975-1982), the Brazilian Conservatory of Music (1980-1982), Indiana University (1982-1988), and UCLA (2000-2012). He served as director of the Indiana University Archives of Traditional Music (1982-1988), was founding curator and director of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (1988-2000), and Distinguished Professor of Ethnomusicology at UCLA (2000-2012).

- Acknowledgements
- Foreword--Jeff Todd Titon
- 1. Introduction: Approaching music as Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)--Anthony Seeger and Huib Schippers
- PART ONE: THE GENESIS OF THE ICH CONVENTION
- 2. Recognizing Intangible Cultural Heritage--Richard Kurin
- 3. Modalities for community participation in implementing the UNESCO ICH Convention--Noriko Aikawa-Fauré
- 4. Definitions related to the safeguarding of living culture: Words matter--Wim van Zanten (summary; full text available on companion website)
- 5. Reclaiming community agency in managing Intangible Cultural Heritage: Paperwork, people, and the potential of the public voice--Naila Ceribaši-
- PART TWO: THE ICH CONVENTION IN ACTION
- 6. The "ICH Movement" in China: The Status of Traditional Musics after ICH Certification--XIAO Mei and YANG Xiao
- 7. UNESCO-based and UNESCO-free: Governmental and Non-Governmental Efforts for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage--Olcay Muslu
- 8. Community Engagement as a Site of Struggle: UNESCO Conventions, Intangible Cultural Heritage, and State Agendas--Tan Sooi Beng
- 9. There Is No Price for That: UNESCO as Translator Between Conflicting Value Systems in Guatemala--Logan Elizabeth Clark
- 10. Sustainability, Agency, and the Ecologies of Music Heritage in Alentejo, Portugal--Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco
- PART THREE: FUTURE PERSPECTIVES
- 11. Reading ICH in Cultural Space: China's National Cultural Ecosystem (Experimental) Conservation Areas--GAO Shu
- 12. Archives, Technology, Communities, and Sustainability: Overcoming the Tragedy of Humpty Dumpty--Anthony Seeger (summary; full text available on companion website)
- 13. Mapping Musical Vitality: A Comparative Approach to Identifying Musical Heritage in Need of Safeguarding--Catherine Grant
- 14. Working Musically Through Crisis: What Will It Take to Push for a Sound(er) Future for Haiti?--Rebecca Dirksen