The Inventorization of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Abstract

There is reason to believe that the new UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, already ratified by more that 70 countries and requesting that signing countries draw up inventories, will have a major impact on inventorization and further contribute to the exploration of its potentialities. The advent of digital equipment, computerized data bases and their access via the web has revolutionized the inventorying of intangible cultural heritage. New information technologies have not only facilitated the fabrication, the management, and the accessibility to inventories, they are providing new venues to approach, conceive and practice inventory making itself. The word inventorization, already in use in Québec and Belgium, will be employed here to refer to these new inventive practices. Far from providing a simple archive of intangible cultural heritage, inventorization aims to be a dynamic process of communication and cultural revitalization.