Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development with a Special Focus on the Performing Arts

This issue focuses on the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and its manifold implications, especially in relation to environmental and sustainable development. We welcome research articles, case studies, and essays from sociology, cultural studies, and performance studies in particular, that examine the aesthetic, cultural policy, and cultural management challenges that can be derived from the UNESCO Convention (2003) for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Contributions are solicited on the following topics:

• What cultural policy challenges are cultural actors and institutions faced with in regard to preservation (‘authenticity’) and ongoing sustainable development of intangible cultural heritage?
• What are the principles and criteria for inclusion in the UNESCO lists of “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” and “Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding”?
• What are the political implications of intangible cultural heritage in terms of heritage and tradition?
• How does intangible cultural heritage change in everyday life and what creative and dynamic implications can be found in dealing with this heritage?
• What influence do social transformation processes have on intangible cultural heritage? How can economic (e.g., touristic) impositions be dealt with?
• What role do updates of intangible cultural heritage play in the context of cultural transfer processes (e.g., in migration societies)?
• What possibilities are there to permanently preserve, disseminate, or even revive intangible cultural heritage?