Re-voicing cultural landscapes: narratives, perspectives, and performances of marginalised intangible cultural heritage

European nations are often thought of as culturally homogenous. Yet over 200 national minorities have found recognition through the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, with many more European languages thought by UNESCO to be critically endangered. Clearly the picture is more complicated than meets the eye.

One way that minority cultures express their distinct identities is through intangible cultural heritage (ICH). ICH describes a culture's traditions rather than its monuments: from language to crafts, from dancing to food, it is the 'traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants' (UNESCO). The ICH of national minorities is therefore an important part of this more complex cultural landscape between and within nations. Yet alongside these expressions of minority culture sit majority narratives. Influencing how a minority culture is seen from the outside, these can be powerful in creating imaginative geographies of minority cultures - such as through literature, television, or how tourist destinations are marketed. These may ring true with the minority culture but may also be dissonant, constructed by an external gaze. The dominance and visibility of these narratives across a nation's culture and beyond can mean the minority culture is less visible, less resilient, fragmented, and so marginalised. This marginalisation can mean that the ability of those who identify with a minority culture to feel at home in this national, European, and global context - to meaningfully express their perspectives and identities, and sustainably live their cultural heritage - is threatened. But these narratives and perspectives, too, are complicated, since the people who create and consume these narratives occupy not just a binary either/or of belonging to the minority or majority, but also a spectrum of more fluid identities both within communities and even within individuals.

This project will use archival and desk research, primary data, and creative practice-based research - compared across minority cultures in the UK (Cornwall), Netherlands (Fryslân), Latvia and Estonia (Livonian) - to better understand this complex cultural landscape. Using live cultural events as a focus, taking inter-disciplinary and cross-national perspectives we will ask: How can a better understanding of the interplay between majority and minority narratives, perspectives, and performances of intangible cultural heritage enable us to make marginalised cultural landscapes more visible and resilient?

Findings will inform recommendations for stakeholders from local communities to (inter)national policy-makers. By generating new knowledge about the socio-spatial geographies of existing heritage challenges, we intend that stakeholders will use insights to change policies, practices, or behaviours to make marginalised ICH more visible and resilient. Longer-term, we hope to impact the visibility and resilience of minority cultures within regional, national and global society, economy, and culture.