This talk with Michelle Bigenho (SOAN/ALST) introduces Heritage Fever: Law and Cultural Politics in a Decolonizing State, a monograph co-authored by Michelle Bigenho and Henry Stobart (Royal Holloway University of London). The book takes lawmaking around intangible cultural heritage as a window into the decentered workings of the Indigenous-focused Plurinational Bolivian State.

The early 21st century brought Bolivia its first Indigenous president, a new constitution (2009), and a profusion of laws—many ratified at the highest levels of government—that recognized individual music and dance expressions as intangible cultural heritage. Addressing the motivations and meanings behind this heritage-making frenzy at this politically transformative moment, this ethnographic work reorients UNESCO-driven heritage debates to a different set of questions—a pivot the authors call “heritage otherwise.”

Lunch will be provided while supplies last.

The next talk in the Division of Social Sciences series is on Oct. 15 with Yang Song (ECON).