Return To Folklore

The present dissertation consists of an introduction,five main chapters and an epilogue.In introduction,the dissertation begins with the Intangible Cultural Heritage,which takes more than ten years that the concept of ICH travels into China from UNESCO and thus the discourse and status of folk culture changes dramatically.Using discourse analysis method and relevant theories of cultural studies,this dissertation will regard the discourse's changes caused by ICH as a cultural phenomenon of social transition with a macroscopic vision and microcosmic perspective and then make an archaeological investigation of the transformation of discourse in a chronological order from the pre-intangible cultural heritage era to the post-intangible cultural heritage era,in order to reflect on the movement of ICH,actively explore the vitality and possibility of peoples' own discursive practice,thus to construct a folk culture theory of transition on the basis of dialogue between scholars and folk.In retrospect,Chapter One“Marginal Discourse Forms of Folk Culture”is mainly about the characteristics of folk cultural field and relationships among its existing discourse forms before ICH came into China.It's just such a moment that coincided with the revival of folk culture and restoration and reconstruction of related disciplines such as folklore and folk literature etc.which were fighting for their voice,when folk culture in social stratification remained marginal and the old concept of heritage derives from cultural revolution still had a profound effect,whereas the rise of “Culture Hot“ and “Cultural Studies Fever” in the area of humanities resulted in folk culture being seen,used and expressed by elite on dibasic relational schema.Therefore,only in different discourse analysis frameworks can the problems of folk culture be identified and located.Chapter Two entitled “New Discourse of Intangible Cultural Heritage and Discourse Conversion of Folk Culture”,focuses on the new discourse brought by ICH into folk culture field,how to break the binary relation model,changing weak position of the latter and promoting its value,thereby rewriting and reconstructing representation of folk culture.So it's critical how to carry out the conceptual cohesion and local conversion on the term of ICH from UNESCO,which include interpretations about concept,attributes,values,rights and shifting attitudes towards folk beliefs,as well as re-decipherment on the “Conversion for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage”.Thus these changes mentioned above were followed by support from not only international discourse about heritage politics and cultural diversity in the context of global modernity but also domestic discourse about the end of cultural revolution and the awaking of cultural consciousness,which constitute the main theme of scholars horizon in this period.The third chapter describes “Articulation and Game of Discourses in Folk Culture Field” with multi-forces synchronically.Firstly,the representation of folk culture was incorporated into both the ICH protection system with list as the core and the cultural reconstruction strategy in the transition period,subsequently into national narrative through implementation of policies and administration by the government.Secondly,folk culture was transformed from heritage resources into cultural capital by the operation of market,furthermore,with cultural industries and heritage tourism flourishing,it will be faced either to be renewed and revitalized or to be mutated and deteriorated.Finally,taking folk culture as research object,multi-disciplines were inevitably integrated and canonization of ICH was increasing by academic elite,what's more,scholars' activities were extending from academy to social public domain,involved in the field of cultural practices.In view of interactive process in folk culture field where different subjects act on their own interests and take what they need,it is necessary to reflect on ICH movement in a course of becoming heritage,capitalization and classicization so as to promote folk people's discourse and practice of heritage towards diversification and democratization.On the base of these three chapters,chapter four turns from discourse to practice of ICH which is concerning “Chrono tope and Cultural Ecology of Daily Practice”.This part mainly discusses the relationship between the ontology of folk culture with temporal and spatial framework and cultural ecology which had been deep influenced by ICH in the expansion of space,time and society.Spatially,the idea of "community participation" from UNESCO run through "Eco-cultural Protection areas","Traditional Villages " and microscopic space where human creativity is embodied in daily practice.In terms of time,such keywords like traditions,festivals,history,memory,constitute a tension between changeable and unchangeable,usual and unusual,historical and non-historical things,hence enrich our experiences about time.Socially,human-oriented is a starting point to observe how people get along with time and space,how scholars work with common people in the process of knowledge production and how daily life and public culture interact with each other.Consequently,attached to a specific time,space and significance for people who lived there,folk culture is upgraded to national and world Intangible Cultural Heritage from local society after screening and registering.As a result,extensive interaction and association between global and local,tradition and modern,self and others is increasing.The fifth chapter is about “Cultural Memory and Body Practice with Inheritance Mechanism” which deals with relationship between cultural root and heritage transmission emphasized by ICH idea.Taking this as the breakthrough point,the purpose of this section is to look for various kinds of representation of memories and creativity of discursive practices in folk society,in order to reflect and resist official mainstream discourse(including ICH discourse),which is rigid,identical,orderly,constrained,thus to keep folk culture with characteristic of chaos,heterogeneous,open,lively,changeable vitality,as well as revolutionary spirit at the edge and free state in daily life.This part gives three case studies: inheritors oral history playing a key role in capturing physical memory and returning the right of discourse to folk people,Tianjin Huang-hui Culture Exhibition activating "re-memorize" mechanism of popular groups,visual ethnography revealing obscured and missing marginal memories compared with propaganda film,to present folk people's cultural consciousness and heritage inheritance through memory mechanism with cultural identity and productivity.In the epilogue,the dissertation claims that “Return to Folklore and Re-recognize Folk Culture”.In summing up previous five chapters,the epilogue penetrates into reflecting on the destiny of folk culture and folklore at "post-intangible cultural heritage era".It's some day when ICH will be over as a movement.Where is the way to go for folk culture becomes the biggest concern of folk scholars.After re-recognizing folk culture with marginality,originality,mobility,chaotic and subjectivity,the dissertation point out the path of “Return to folklore”.