Title:
TOWARDS A SAFEGUARDING CONCEPT OF THE INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE IN MAURITIUS

Authors:
Mr Jayganesh DAWOSING

Abstract:
Recently, the word 'Heritage' has become a scholarship field with multiple issues. An integral part of human cultures, heritage interests today both the decision maker, the researcher, the public but also the international organizations. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed the Bhojpuri folk songs from Mauritius known as "Geet Gawai" to the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in December 2016. Within these two years, this Intangible Heritage, deemed worthy of preservation, is often regarded as traditional culture that reflects the identity of a particular nation or group. This paper is aimed at defining the concept of intangible cultural heritage in the context of safeguarding of Bhojpuri folk songs and its evolution after the inscription in the list of the world Intangible Cultural Heritage. Through documentary research on the various ways to preserve heritage and empirical data collected in ethnographic research, both related to the context of the preservation of intangible heritage in Mauritius, we came to findings that reveal certain problems involving the transformation of the performance of the Mauritian Geet Gawai as an alternative to the preservation of local cultural traditions. Furthermore, idealization of certain forms and periods of heritage conflicts with the spirit and principles of the Convention.

Keywords:
Safeguarding, Intangible Cultural Heritage, Bhojpuri, Geet-Gawai, Evolution, Traditions.

DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.37500/IJESSR.2020.30312