The Paradoxes of Cultural Heritage
The author addresses the strained relationships and the dialectic between the institutional definitions and local uses of cultural heritage based on the ethnographic study of the « cultural space of the Yaaral and the Degal », Peul transhumance festivities of the Interior Niger delta in Mali proclaimed « Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity » by UNESCO in 2005 and inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008. It is through a variation of games of scale, a study of paradoxes and power issues that these festivities have been studied. The article begins by presenting the heritage construction of the « cultural space of the Yaaral and the Degal » by the National Direction of Cultural Heritage of Mali (DNPC) with respect to the international definitions of intangible cultural heritage promoted by UNESCO and Malian cultural politics. Next, it proposes an endogenous definition of the development of awareness of cultural heritage and its public presentation in the light of the example of pastoral competitions. These latter illustrate the way in which cultural elements can be found trapped in a double process of heritage creation and transmission of a recreated pastoral ideal. To conclude, the study of a conflict for the position of chief of the cattle-breeders raises the question of heritage management of local pastoral challenges. The heritage interpretation of these festivities thus leads to an analysis of the political field.