Performing Arts Curation as a Means of Advocating for Change in Cultural Policy

This article explores the potentials of performing arts curation to challenge current European cultural policies. It opens with a brief comparison of the genealogy of the curator in the visual and performing arts. Suzana Milevska’s concept of “curatorial agency” and contemporary understandings of the “curator as an intermediary” serve to highlight the discrepancies between the socio-political conditions of production and circulation in the two fields. The second part of the article draws on interviews with five performing arts curators from independent organizations active within European project networks to further examine the implications of curating as a mediating cultural-political practice. Finally, in a context where cultural policies increasingly support market-oriented cultural actors, it calls for a stronger accountability of the performing arts curator in the negotiation of values between the artistic community, audiences, and policymakers.

The Role of Place Identity, Local Genius, Orange Economy and Cultural Policies for Sustainability of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Bali

This paper examines the relationship between orange economy activity which is an activity that allow for ideas to be transformed into cultural goods, local genius, place identity, cultural policies, and sustainability intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of Balinese handwoven textiles. A questionnaire survey was administered to 145 respondents. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied to the resultant data using SmartPLS 3.0 software. The result revealed local genius, orange economy activity, and place identity have positive and significant influence on sustainability ICH of Balinese handwoven textiles. A positive and significant direct effect between local genius and place identity to the orange economy activity was also found. The result also proved that the orange economy mediates the relationship between local genius and place identity on sustainability. Moreover, cultural policies moderates the relationship between orange economy and sustainability. Our findings might also be relevant to sustainability Bali’s ICH to strengthening the involvement of cultural industry through orange economy activity, in enhancing their place identity and local genius, in supporting and promoting the sustainability ICH of Balinese handwoven textiles. Furthermore, the role of government through cultural policies might also relevant as moderating effect the relationship between orange economy activity and sustainability of ICH.

Caught Between the Notions of Ethnicity, Citizenship and Diaspora. The Case of the Bosniaks in Turkey

Along with many others, Bosniaks are an ethnic group within the contemporary Turkish nation with immigrant roots dating back to the last quarter of the 19th century. Constituting a significant ethno-demographic part of the Ottoman legacy within the modern Turkish nation, Bosniaks in Turkey have long refrained from identifying themselves with a separate ethnic or cultural identity when confronted with the assimilationist cultural policies of the new nation state. But, while adapting themselves to Turkish culture and identity, Bosniaks have also preserved a collective identity of Bosniakness, mostly owing to the fact that their population in Turkey has been fed by continuous migration waves in different periods. The aim of this study is to analyze the problematic development of a Bosniak identity in Turkey with regards to the cultural assimilation processes and continuous migration waves and other factors on both foreign and domestic scales. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that Bosniaks in Turkey do not yet constitute a Bosniak diaspora, but rather they can be regarded as a diaspora in the making.

The Legal Frameworks of Protecting Archaeology in Africa

Archaeological heritage is fragile and nonrenewable. In Africa, it is vulnerable to developmental projects in construction, mining, and agriculture as well as intentional and unintentional vandalism through everyday use and tourism. Looting, illegal trade of antiquities, and terrorism have also emerged as other significant threats to archaeological heritage in Africa. Looting and vandalism of sites and objects result from lax monitoring mechanisms and a general lack of awareness of archaeological matters among the public. Although most African countries have the legal protection of archaeological heritage, the effectiveness of these has been under question. African heritage legislations have been criticized for the lack of predevelopment assessments that would ensure the protection of recorded and unrecorded archaeological heritage. They have also been censured for protecting just the physical aspects of archaeological heritage, leaving out the intangible aspects that actually give the heritage value, especially among African communities. Another challenge was the exclusion of local communities and customary management systems in the protection of archaeological heritage. Provisions for counteracting looting and illegal trade in antiquities, coming especially from archaeological sites, were also considered weak and requiring improvements. The response to the debate on the effectiveness of the legal protection of heritage has been varied across the continent. Some African countries have responded by writing new laws, amending old ones, or providing other supporting legal provisions such as national cultural policies or regulations. Countries that have instituted new legal provisions include Namibia, Botswana, Kenya, Mali, Egypt, Mauritania, and the Republic of the Congo. Those who reworked their protective mechanisms have attempted to address many of the issues raised. Countries such as Namibia, Botswana, and Mali have included clearly defined provisions for predevelopment assessments. Others such as Liberia included archaeological heritage in their environmental protection laws. Although fewer countries have had legislation to protect intangible aspects, supporting legal provisions such as national cultural policies have helped in this regard. However, very little has been done on the inclusion of customary laws and systems of archaeological protection. Going forward, African nations have to quickly consider emerging issues such as digital manipulation, heritage-based product development, increased need for intervention conservation, and sustainable economic utilization of heritage for the development of individuals, communities, and nations. The legislative process in Africa has to be expedited to quickly and efficiently deal with these issues before they cause harm to the archaeological heritage.

Key Challenges and Recommendations to Provide Europe With a Film-Subtitling Protocol in the Digital Era Through Three Case Studies

By analysing European cultural policies and paradigmatic case studies, this article highlights the close link between the normalisation of minority languages ​​in Europe and film subtitling. Film subtitling is an activity that urgently needs to be protocolised insofar as it guarantees both the preservation of the cultural originality of the audiovisual work and its value as tangible and intangible European cultural heritage. To do so, we will analyse the legal divide between the all-encompassing European Union declarations and their implementation by state and local administrations, which often occur in erratic, random, contingent packages of measures that lead to a systemic absence of results. Finally, we will propose some key challenges and recommendations to provide Europe with a film subtitling protocol to promote cultural diversity and normalise non-hegemonic languages.

Bibliotek för alla?

The Swedish Library Act states that “Library activities shall be available to everyone” and other policy documents in Sweden promote the public library as a place making information and culture accessible to all. The Library Acts of Denmark, Finland and Norway include similar statements, as well as the core values of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. However, the concept of accessibility is seldom defined or discussed. During recent years, the concept of participation is widely used in the context of accessibility in cultural policies, including policies related to public libraries. Even so, this concept also lacks a clear meaning. Accessibility and participation are closely related to democracy; by making information accessible and by enabling participation libraries are considered as promoters of democracy. Thus, when the meaning of accessibility and participation changes, the understanding of democracy is affected. In this article, I explore the meaning of the concepts accessibility and participation in Swedish library policies. Eleven library policies are analyzed utilizing Arnsteins “ladder of participation” and Fraser’s critique of Habermas notion of the public sphere. The article also discusses how the notion of democracy is affected by the different meanings accessibility and participation hold in the respective policies.