Stored in the Bones by Agnieszka Pawłowska-Mainville

Author:Agnieszka Pawłowska-Mainville [Pawłowska-Mainville, Agnieszka]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781772840483
Publisher: University of Manitoba Press
Published: 2023-09-25T19:41:53+00:00

Special Things

A reader may ask the question, are ICH elements “special things for special people”? The answer is both yes and no. Humans have always celebrated special events like births, successes, faith celebrations, and life endings. Today, the crafts, skills, and languages at risk of disappearing are indeed special features of humanity’s diversity and should be protected. However, as some critical heritage scholars point out, all heritage is at risk, and proclaiming heritage to be “at risk” makes the concept globally and locally discursive. The “at risk” proclamation acts as a rationalizing vehicle for other agendas that go unchecked.111 As Chapter 1 highlighted, the survival and support of some heritage places, elements, and languages is not entirely accidental. Identity politics, political agendas, and historical or ongoing colonial factors all play a role in decisions around cultural heritage. ICH custodians, notably language speakers whose linguistic expressions are diminishing, would benefit immensely from policy and financial support that ensures survivability—this is evident through the abundant nominations UNESCO receives each year to place on its Representative, in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, and Best Practices lists. The question about “special people” accents the sheer fact of rarity and hence makes some ICH holders truly special.

At the same time, effective ICH policy, one that provides consistent and competent transmission, contradicts the notion of specialness. When ICH is thriving, it is not a “special” thing reserved for unique individuals. To illustrate, it is highly doubtful that Canadians are concerned about the state of the English language; with time, many immigrants switch to English as their dominant language, and most countries around the world use English as their language of day-to-day administration. Very few individuals worry about this language disappearing.112

Born of informal social interactions, ICH draws its strength from a coherent body of people whose “habitus” is held in living memory, stories, and relationships. It is an array of experiences and “techniques of the body,”113 sourced from heritage but constantly shaped by history and contrasting circumstances.114 For the akiwenziyag, the symbolic connection between culture and the past is tied to their intellectual traditions, individual experiences, and wisdom in the present. These unique ways must be embedded within the daily life of future generations. One Poplar River Elder, Albert Bittern, shared: “I just do what I was taught [to do]. I was born in 1948. I have lived here for most of my life. I went to residential school for seven years. What the Elders taught us was to respect Nature, that if you take anything, always thank the Creator for giving you that. That’s why I always remember to do that. And we have to make sure our youth do that too.”115 The Elder continued, arguing that cultural knowledge is not “natural” anymore because residential schools disrupted that organic process of learning: “My grandpa taught me that when you cut wood, you just don’t go cutting anywhere and that you don’t hunt every animal you see…. The old ones taught me that. I have a pretty good teaching from my grandpa.

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