Resumen de Du Maroc à l’UNESCO: Dynamiques et enjeux du patrimoine culturel immatériel: un essai d’auto-ethnographie
The interest of anthropologists in international organizations goes back a long way. However, the study of international organizations as an ethnographic field is relatively recent. It falls within the framework of broader issues relating to law, international relations and global governance. For more than twenty years, I have had to work with one of these organizations, UNESCO. The accumulated experience deserves to be subjected to the double work of memory and reflection by using the auto-ethnographic method applied to the implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. First, I will relate the arduous preparation of this international normative instrument at the start of the twenty-first century. Then, I will present what is now called the “intangible cultural heritage system.” Thirdly, I study closely the process of evaluating nominations for inscription on the lists of the convention and through which UNESCO grants recognition to local cultural practices. Finally, I will try to draw the lessons that emerge from th is exercise, both for anthropology and the auto-ethnographic approach and implications of world cultural governance in the field of intangible heritage
