Abstract
After describing the institutional framework both internally and in cooperation with the UNESCO Office of Amman to implement and promote the Organization’s conventions and programs in the country, the chapter offers an overview on the activities carried on since the ratification of the 2003 ICH Convention to illustrate the protection mechanisms of the ICH on the national level through policies, capacity building actions and projects, awareness raising and inventorying initiatives. By remarking the stimulus offered by the Convention to think of a legal process based on a philosophical rationale taking into account the human rights laws for ICH, considered an integral part of cultural human rights, the author further analyses three case studies: Madaba as the first community based inventory, the Mansaf, a Jordanian culinary tradition and a stimulus for social cohesion and identity, and the Cultural Space of the Bedu in Petra and Wadi Rum proclaimed as Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity and lately incorporated into the Representative List in 2008.
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Notes
- 1.
Information under this heading are inter alia derived from a UNESCO document (UNESCO 2012). I would like to express my sincere thanks to Ms Valentina Gamba (UNESCO OFFICE—Amman) for drawing my attention to this document.
- 2.
Bedouin is a term used in the modern linguistic usage as an equivalent to “nomadism” and serves the designation of life style of Bedouins and nomads (see Leder 2002, for more details.). Samman (2010) sees that other type “as living in tents, herding goats, riding camels, and living in a nomadic and Bedouin ‘premodern’ lifestyle was part and parcel of placing the Arab into a time narrative that made him or her appear as belonging to an earlier Age of Man.”
- 3.
For details on the background of the project, its objectives and aims, see the project documents under the link: https://ich.unesco.org/en/medliher (accessed December, 15 2018).
- 4.
We have already prepared some Models to survey our local ICH.
- 5.
- 6.
See also https://ich.unesco.org/en/meetings-and-workshops-00232 (accessed December 15, 2018).
- 7.
For a detailed description of the international efforts toward the legal protection of the ICH, see Deacon (2005).
- 8.
While the WIPO took responsibility for considering the feasibility of applying existing intellectual property (IP) laws or principles to the protection of traditional knowledge (TK), UNESCO was tasked with developing a framework for protecting cultural heritage. This bifurcation formalizes a conceptual division that is comfortable for Western legal experts but artificial with respect to indigenous knowledge (see Recht 2009).
- 9.
According to Lixinski (2010, p. 49f.) Sui generis solutions to ICH safeguarding “are solutions tailored specifically to the specific needs of a certain group, and, when dealing with indigenous or minority groups, more sensitive to their customary law, while still attempting to translate it into a mainstream legal format. The clear advantage of this model is that, at least in theory, these tailored solutions will be able to overcome objections against the use of intellectual property. At the same time, they establish a framework that generates erga omnes effects towards third parties who would otherwise meet no legal impediment to misappropriate a given group’s Intangible Heritage. At the same time, however, this type of solution can be rather expensive, to the extent that it requires the creation of implementing/supervisory bodies, in addition to all the studies necessary to ensure that cultural specificities are accounted for, and this works as a disincentive to the implementation of sui generis schemes”.
- 10.
For the influence of tourism on Bedouin society in that particular area, see Chatelard (2005).
- 11.
- 12.
Bille (2008, p. 195f.) has conducted an intensive study with a critical approach on the nomination process in the context of his Ph.D. dissertation, in which he tried to investigate “the process of constructing UNESCO recognition of Bedouin heritage as being shaped by diverse images of the role of the Bedouin and Petra in Jordanian national identity”. He concluded that such “heritage production has as much to do with attempts to offer recompense for past injustice caused by Petra’s heritage protection, constructing alternative identities, and urban nostalgia, as it has to do with preserving Bedouin culture. According to him, dual narrative was dominant among the Bedouin interviewees he met, ”On the one hand they express a longing for a ‘simple’ tent life, and on the other they have a very pragmatic attitude towards their Bedouin heritage. He addressed the issue of how the Bedouin themselves understand and contest their past and contemporary identity.
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Hayajneh, H. (2019). The Legal Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In: Petrillo, P.L. (eds) The Legal Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72983-1_6
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