J5: Living Heritage and Community Cohesion
Tracks
5
| Wednesday, December 2, 2026 |
| 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM |
| RHMZ02 |
Overview
Stream: Intangible Cultural Heritage and Living Traditions
Paper / Session Submitter
Dr Primož Pipan
Researcher
ZRC SAZU
Traditional solar salterns: heritage, production, natural habitat
Summary Abstract
The Sečovlje Salterns on Slovenia’s Adriatic coast are the last solar salterns where salt is collected on petola microbial mat entirely by hand. Until recently, the Museum of Salt Making preserved medieval salt-making heritage, including volunteer work held between 1999 and 2014. This effort was recognized with the Europa Nostra Award in 2003.
Today, traditional salt making exists only in the Lera area, but in the 2024 of all the crystallization pools that were in use, only 59% were operational due to a severe shortage of salt workers, caused by physically demanding and poorly paid work. Since 2002, the salterns have been managed primarily as a protected natural area, leading to the neglect of cultural heritage. This contradicts the Ramsar Convention’s principle of sustainable (wise) use, as the abandonment of salt making would likely result in deteriorating the protected Ramsar site of Sečoveljske soline.
Today, traditional salt making exists only in the Lera area, but in the 2024 of all the crystallization pools that were in use, only 59% were operational due to a severe shortage of salt workers, caused by physically demanding and poorly paid work. Since 2002, the salterns have been managed primarily as a protected natural area, leading to the neglect of cultural heritage. This contradicts the Ramsar Convention’s principle of sustainable (wise) use, as the abandonment of salt making would likely result in deteriorating the protected Ramsar site of Sečoveljske soline.
Biographies
Primož Pipan has been a researcher at the ZRC SAZU (Anton Melik Geographical Institute) since 2004. His work focuses on natural disasters, geographical names, and more recently, cultural heritage. He graduated in Geography from the University of Ljubljana in 2004 with a thesis on cross-border cooperation along the Slovenian–Croatian border in Istria, and earned his PhD in 2011 from the University of Primorska, comparing post-earthquake reconstruction in Italy and Slovenia after the Upper Soča Valley and Friuli earthquakes.
He was actively involved in the Ljubljana Geographical Society from 2005 to 2023, serving as president (2014–2019) and later vice president, and has been a member of the executive committee of the Association of Slovenian Geographers since 2023. He also serves on the editorial boards of Geography of Slovenia and Georitem. In 2015, he received a Special Mention from the Europa Nostra Awards for a cultural heritage action plan. He has received multiple professional commendations for his contributions to geography; a commendation from the Association of Slovenian Geographers in 2001, a bronze plaque in 2013, and a silver plaque in 2022.
Mr Chris Mallows
Student
Victoria University of Wellington
Listening, Relationality, and Safeguarding Diasporic Intangible Cultural Heritage
Summary Abstract
This paper opens discussion on observation, relationality, and ethical engagement as foundational elements of talanoa-based approaches in Indigenous and diaspora contexts. It presents early reflections from a doctoral project exploring how intangible cultural heritage is safeguarded within Moana Oceania diaspora communities in Aotearoa/New Zealand, including how knowledge is transmitted, transformed, and protected, and how emerging technologies may support this ethically and sustainably. Drawing on early observation of public cultural events and community gatherings, the paper reflects on what can be learned through presence and listening prior to talanoa with knowledge holders, practitioners, and heritage professionals. Talanoa is understood as a method and an ethical commitment grounded in trust, respect, and accountability. The paper highlights safeguarding as a process shaped by social connection, intergenerational exchange, and evolving relationships with place. The contribution is offered reflexively from a non-Indigenous researcher, engaging critically with issues of positionality, ethics, and responsibility.
Biographies
Chris Mallows is a PhD candidate at the Victoria University of Wellington, researching the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage in Moana Oceania diaspora communities. His work explores relational, talanoa-based approaches, ethical engagement, and how digital and other emerging technologies support the transmission of intangible cultural heritage across generations and places.
Dr Shisachila Imchen
Assistant Professor, Department of History, Jubilee Memorail College, Mokokchung, Nagaland, India
University College London (UCL), London, United Kingdom and Jubilee Memorial College, Mokokchung, Nagaland, India
Sekrenyi of the Angami Naga: Fostering Social Cohesion in the Village
Summary Abstract
Sekrenyi is the most important festival of the Angami Naga tribe from Nagaland, northeast India. The case study for this paper is Khonoma village, where Sekrenyi is celebrated over ten days. The paper investigates how the festival promotes harmonious relationships among different groups in society. It explores how the different age groups interact with one another, and the inter-generational passing down of knowledge and skills through participation in festivities. Thus, the festival fosters inter-generational connection. The paper also looks into how women, who hold a subordinate position to men in society, have a day dedicated to their merrymaking. This merrymaking may involve them even occupying the morungs (bachelors' or men's houses), spaces generally reserved for men, or may include them playfully taunting the men. This socially acceptable way for women to release their frustrations (as regards their social status) in a light-hearted manner helps ease the relationship between the sexes.
Biographies
Shisachila Imchen is a member of the Ao Naga tribe of Nagaland in northeast India. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from University College London (UCL).
Dr Yahao Wang
Lecturer
Northwest University (xi'an, China)
Musealising the living: ICH markets and practitioner agency in Guizhou, China
Summary Abstract
This article examines the musealisation of traditional handicrafts in Qiandongnan, Guizhou, as a lens to interrogate the entanglement of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) discourse, tourism, and practitioner agency. Drawing on comparative ethnographic case studies, it interrogates both officially branded ICH markets framed as performative tourist destinations and traditional handicrafts markets rooted in local livelihoods. While official markets prioritise experiential consumption, vernacular markets offer an alternative heritage-making process grounded in practical use and local value system. The article argues that both heritage environments sustain living craft practices like Miao embroidery and batik. By analysing these divergent spaces, the article foregrounds how practitioners exert curatorial agency to reassert narrative authority. It reveals how ICH practitioners strategically navigate the market to balance economic survival with the negotiation of authenticity, ethnicity, and modernity, ultimately redefining the boundaries of “living” heritage.
Biographies
Yahao Wang has been a lecturer at the School of Cultural Heritage at Northwest University in China since 2022. She obtained her Ph.D. in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester in July 2021. Her research interests encompass museum studies, critical heritage studies, intangible cultural heritage, and specifically the active agency of cultural practitioners over heritage management and museological practices in China.
