Heritage with and without the State

Start date: 1 September 2017
End date: 1 January 2020
Funder: Internally funded
Primary investigator: Dr Tim Thurston

Description

What does it mean to “preserve” or “safeguard” intangible cultural heritage in twenty-first century China? Who decides what traditions get preserved and why? How are governmental and community stakeholders involved in this work, and what training, funding, and infrastructure is in place to support them in these goals? And finally, who decides what traditions get preserved and why? This project seeks to begin answering these questions through conducting interviews with Western China’s cultural heritage workers in ethnically diverse Qinghai and Gansu Provinces.

Publications and outputs

2019 Timothy Thurston. “The Tibetan Gesar Epic Beyond its Bards: An Ecosystem of Genres on the Roof of the World.” Journal of American Folklore. 132(524): 115-136.http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/132882/