UNIverse - Public Research Portal
Project cover

Intangible Cultural Heritage in Switzerland: Whispered Words

Research Project
 | 
01.10.2012
 - 31.03.2015

This application builds directly on Sinergia project n° 100017_137773, "Intangible Cultural Heritage: the Midas Touch?", which has benefited from SNF funding for three years. Our overall goal is to analyze the processes and effects of the implementation of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage ("ICH") in Switzerland. Switzerland ratified this Convention in July of 2008, obliging the federal administration to create an inventory of Swiss ICH. As of this writing, this procedure has been partially completed: the cantons have submitted their inventories to the Federal Office of Culture ("FOC"), which has selected 167 items to figure on a national list. A third step is expected this fall when the Federal Counsel will identify a much smaller number of these for submission to UNESCO. Over the past three years, we have pursued our research goal as planned through six sub-projects, each focusing on a specific aspect of ICH. Sub-project A is an ethnography of the administration of the ICH Convention. We follow the choices that federal and cantonal administrators are confronted with, their interactions with other public agencies and private actors, and the stakes raised by ICH at the international level. Sub-project B studies the revival of story-telling in local dialect, a practice that fits awkwardly within the paradigm for ICH established by UNESCO. This study includes a dialectological aspect, but also looks at the new actors promoting Swiss-French dialects in the cantons of Wallis and Jura, and the " neo-patoisants" who have mobilized to rescue these vanishing languages. Sub-project C set out to investigate forms of cultural expression that were excluded from the national list, despite various attemps to promote them: the practice of hip-hop and theater with migrant populations in the city of Basel. This sub-project allows us to examine the logics of inclusion and exclusion that are a central issue in our research design. By way of contrast, sub-projects D and E focus on two cultural practices that were included in the national lists of Swiss ICH: knowledge of herbal medicine and Swiss watch-making know-how. These two examples allow us to see how cultural practices are itemized, processed and reshaped by their heritigization, and who stands to gain or to lose from such procedures. Finally, sub-project F consists in a triology of museum exhibits at the Neuchâtel Museum of Ethnography ("Bruit", Sept. 2011-June 2012; "Off Screen", Nov. 2012-August 2013; "Secrets" Feb. 2014-Nov.2014). These exhibits allow us to step back and reflect materially on the ICH paradigm and its relation to the discipline. They also allow us to focus data collection on the effects of the selection procedure, its reception by the different audiences concerned and the debates about national identity and the place of tradition that this procedure inevitably provokes.

Collaborations & Cooperations

2016 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Graezer Bideau, Florence, Prof. Dr., EPFL, Research cooperation
2016 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Hertz, Ellen, Prof. Dr., Institut d'ethnologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Research cooperation
2016 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Gonseth, Marc-Olivier, Directeur, Musée d'ethnographie de Neuchâtel, Research cooperation
2015 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Camp, Marc-Antoine, Prof., Hochschule Luzern, Research cooperation
2015 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Eggman, Sabine, Dr., Geschäftsführerin, Schweiz. Gesellschaft für Volkskunde SGV, Research cooperation
2011 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Ullmann, Tina, Science et Cité, Other
2010 - Participation or Organization of Collaborations on a national level
Schneitter, Oliver, Science et Cité, Other

Publications

Leimgruber, Walter (2015) ‘Immaterielles Kulturerbe - Migration - Museum. Ein spannungsgeladenes Dreieck’, in Bundesamt für Kultur,; Verband der Museen der Schweiz,; Museum für Kommunikation,; Alpines Museum der Schweiz, (ed.) Lebendige Traditionen ausstellen. Baden: hier + jetzt (Lebendige Traditionen in der Schweiz), pp. 68–85.

URLs
URLs

Müske, Johannes (2015) ‘Volksmedizin als kulturelles Erbe: Populäres Heilwissen zwischen «Aberglaube» und «lebendiger Tradition» in der Schweiz’, in Uhlig, Mirko; Simon, Michael; Lefeldt, Johanne (ed.) Sinnentwürfe in prekären Lebenslagen: Interdisziplinäre Blicke auf heterodoxe Phänomene des Heilens und ihre Funktionen im Alltag. Mainzer Beiträge zur Kulturanthropologie / Volkskunde. Münster: Waxmann (Mainzer Beiträge zur Kulturanthropologie / Volkskunde), pp. 89–106.

URLs
URLs

Andris, Silke and Eggmann, Sabine (2014) Kulturerbe, Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskunde. Basel: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Volkskunde (Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskunde, 2).

URLs
URLs

Cohn, Miriam (2014) ‘Bewahren von Theaterpraxis in der Region Basel - kein Theater um Kulturerbe’, Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskunde, 110(2), pp. 185–199.

URLs
URLs

Eggmann, Sabine and Müske, Johannes (2014) ‘‘Kulturerbe’ im Dienst gesellschaftlicher Modernisierung und Differenzsetzung. ‘Volksmedizin’ und ‘Volkskultur’ im Archiv der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Volkskunde’, Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskunde, 110(2), pp. 148–165.

URLs
URLs

Cohn, Miriam (2014) ‘Teilnehmende Beobachtung’, in Bischoff, Christine; Oehme-Jüngling, Karoline; Leimgruber, Walter (ed.) Methoden der Kulturanthropologie. Bern: Haupt (UTB. Kulturwissenschaft), p. S. 71–84.

URLs
URLs

Leimgruber, Walter (2014) ‘Esskultur und Migration: Liebe geht durch den Magen’, in Bangerter, Annika; Speiser, Béatrice (ed.) Das Crescenda Modell : Migrantinnen als Unternehmerinnen. Zürich: Rüffer & Rub (Das Crescenda Modell : Migrantinnen als Unternehmerinnen), p. S. 205–208.

URLs
URLs

Leimgruber, Walter (2013) ‘Die Weisse Frau vom Belchentunnel : Traditionen und ihre Innovationen’, in Säen, dröhnen, feiern : lebendige Traditionen heute. Baden: hier + jetzt (Säen, dröhnen, feiern : lebendige Traditionen heute), pp. 205–211.

URLs
URLs

Leimgruber, Walter (2013) ‘Inszenierte Geschichte in kulturhistorischen Museen’, in Wissenschaft als Leidenschaft : Gedenkschrift für Elisabeth Katschnig-Fasch. München: Herbert Utz (Kuckuck. Sonderheft), pp. 59–76.

URLs
URLs

Leimgruber, Walter (2013) ‘Ein Kochbuch als Klassiker, Kult und Kulturerbe’, in Kochbuch / Elisabeth Fülscher. Baden: Hier + Jetzt (Kochbuch / Elisabeth Fülscher), pp. 39–46.

URLs
URLs

Leimgruber, Walter (2012) ‘Liebe geht durch den Magen : Esskultur und Migration’, Essen und Trinken, 2012(20), pp. 12–17.

URLs
URLs

Cohn, Miriam (2012) ‘Schnittstellen von Theater, Gesellschaft und Vermittlung in Migrationskontexten’, in Prinz-Kiesbüye, Myrna-Alice; Schmidt, Yvonne; Strickler, Pia (ed.) Theater und Öffentlichkeit. Theatervermittlung als Problem. Zürich: Chronos (Materialien des ITW Bern), pp. 159–170.

URLs
URLs

Leimgruber, Walter (2012) ‘Von Schweizer Dörfchen und ‘edlen Wilden’ : Kulturelle Identität im Wechselspiel zwischen Innen- und Aussensicht’, in Destination Kultur : die Kultur des Tourismus. Luzern: interact (Destination Kultur : die Kultur des Tourismus), pp. 39–43.

URLs
URLs

Cohn, Miriam and Andris, Silke (2011) ‘Editorial: Sammeln, wertschätzen, vermitteln: Kulturerbe in der Schweiz’, Schweizer Volkskunde, 101, p. 1.

URLs
URLs

Andris, Silke (2010) ‘Im Bilde sein oder nicht im Bilde sein? : Gedanken zur Dokumentation von immateriellen Kulturerbe’, NIKE Bulletin, 25, H. 1-2, pp. 28–30.

URLs
URLs

Andris, Silke (2010) ‘Immaterielles Kulturerbe. Spurensuche einer Konvention’, Museums.ch, 5, pp. 8–12, Ill.

URLs
URLs

Members (6)

MALE avatar

Ellen Hertz

Principal Investigator
Profile Photo

Walter Leimgruber

Co-Investigator
Profile Photo

Sabine Eggmann

Project Member
MALE avatar

Johannes Müske

Project Member
MALE avatar

Miriam Cohn

Project Member
MALE avatar

Silke Andris

Project Member