Harriet Deacon is a Lecturer at the Centre of Excellence for Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Modelling (DAIM) and a Research Associate at the Wilberforce Institute at the University of Hull. Harriet Deacon is a researcher with interests in tangible and intangible heritage, intellectual property law, artificial intelligence ethics, medical history, stigma and discrimination. She has worked at a museum, an archives advocacy NGO and in the policy space. Since 2010, she has been a consultant to UNESCO on the 2003 Intangible Heritage Convention, working on the global capacity building programme, periodic reporting analysis and economic aspects of heritage safeguarding. She was involved in several international research projects exploring the role of intangible heritage in sustainable development in India and Kyrgyzstan (hipams.org) and northern Europe (LIVIND). She is currently a lecturer at the Centre of Excellence for Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Modelling (DAIM) and a Research Associate at the Wilberforce Institute at the University of Hull, UK.
Qualifications
* BA (University of Cape Town)
* PhD / DPhil (University of Cambridge)
* MSc (Queen Mary University of London)
How addressing economic aspects of safeguarding intangible culturalheritage can contribute to sustainability
Abstract
In December 2019, the Committee of the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, requested that the Convention’s UNESCO Secretariat prepare a Guidance Note for communities, and States Parties concerning ‘the safeguarding measures and good practices that address the risk of decontextualization and over-commercialization of elements’ of living heritage. The UNESCO Guidance Note on Economic Dimensions of ICH safeguarding (2023) proposes that any safeguarding actions to maximise benefits and address the risks of economic engagement should be part of a broader heritage-sensitive and rights-based safeguarding approach in which the primary role of communities, groups and individuals concerned would be respected in decisions on economic activity. Any safeguarding approach also has to be flexible, or tailored to specific circumstances, because of the ‘diversity of the intangible cultural heritage, of the communities who are its stewards, custodians or guardians, and of the economic contexts in which it can be used by different stakeholders’. This paper explores the ways in which these diverse safeguarding approaches maximizing cultural and economic sustainability can also contribute to environmental sustainability.