Intangible Heritage as a Festival; or, Folklorization Revisited

Looking at examples of cultural practices listed by UNESCO as intangible heritage, this article appropriates the term “folklorization” from authenticity discourses and argues that the current heritagization of social practices is an aspect of the infusion of folkloristic/ethnological knowledge, perspectives, and concepts into the public sphere as part of modernity’s reflexivity. Aptly named “folklorization,” this infusion marks the success of the field in what has always been its ultimate objective: to change the way people look at their own culture, the way they define it, and the way they practice it.