What ‘Intangible’ May Encompass in The Egyptian Cultural Heritage Context? Legal Provisions, Sustainable Measures and Future Directions

Zakaria, Nevine Nizar

doi:10.21608/ijhms.2019.119038

What ‘Intangible’ May Encompass in The Egyptian Cultural Heritage Context? Legal Provisions, Sustainable Measures and Future Directions

Document Type : Academic peer-reviewed articles

Author

Nevine Nizar Zakaria

10.21608/ijhms.2019.119038

Abstract

Over the past decades, the notion of cultural heritage has been extended to incorporate the non-tangible forms that manifest the living entity of heritage at its both types natural and cultural. Egypt is rich with unique repositories of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) that reflect our diversity and cultural identities such as traditions, lifestyles, social practices, and oral heritage. Nevertheless, most of the national efforts tended to focus only on the promotion and preservation of the tangible heritage. This places the fate of the Egyptian intangible heritage at risk, as there are certain elements of the intangible assets that have disappeared. We need to adopt a set of management and legal measures for identifying, preserving and nurturing the ICH of Egypt with emphasis on integrating the community in the safeguarding process. Hence, the aim of this paper is to examine the recognition and potentials of the Egyptian ICH as a contributor for sustainable development. The paper reviews the existing efforts and legislative provisions of the protection of the ICH within the heritage discourse of Egypt in an attempt to explore to what extent the legal system support a future for the ICH of Egypt.

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