Forschungsschwerpunkte

• Research Group:
  The Constituting of Cultural Property: Actors, Discourses, Contexts, Rules
  (see: http://www.uni-goettingen.de/de/86656.html)


• Processes of Constituting „World Heritage“ and their Meaning in Cambodia
  
  Project Director: Prof. Dr. Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin (Ethnology)
  Research Associate:
  Aditya Eggert, M.A.
  Dr. Keiko Miura (Tokyo), Research Fellow
  Dr. Baromey Neth (Phnom Penh), Research Fellow
  
  Working with examples from Cambodia, this ethnological project focuses on processes that bring or have already brought forth UNESCO world heritage. The temple complex of Angkor was proclaimed an endangered world heritage site by UNESCO already in 1992 is the first case; the temple complex of Preah Vihear on the border of Cambodia and Thailand was nomainted in 2008 and is our second example. The third case concerns a form of intangible culture whicht he Cambodian government is currently considering for nomination.
  
  Angkor, located in the district of Siemreap, was uncovered by French archeologists, This Hindu Buddhist site suffered great losses during the Vietnam War and due to the international art dealings of that era. The project inquires what consequences and meaning this site has for people who now live in this world heritage region which – due to the UNESCO status – has new protective zoning laws. The site has become an internationally attractive tourism destination. We will research the different groups of actors and their differential agency, and their complementary as well as competitive interests and power on the local, regional, national, inter- and transnational level (carried out by research fellows Dr. Keiko Miura, Japan and Dr. Baromey Neth, Cambodia).
  
  Similarly, processes of constituting world heritage and associated rights can be observed in our second example. The nomination of the temple complex of Preah Vihea resulted in heavy border skirmishes between Cambodia and Thailand. There is a long history surrounding this embattled border (drawn by the French colonial power at the beginning of the 20th century), but the nomination reignited memories and the antagonism has reached new dimensions (carried out by Prof. Dr. Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin).
  
  The Cambodian interest to seek a UNESCO nomination for a facet of intangible culture, finally, offers an opportunity to observe different groups of actors engaged in constituting heritage and ethnographically accompany processes of selection, decision making and dossier documentation in statu nascendi (carried out by Aditya Eggert, M.A.).


• Trans-cultural Authorship, Copyright and Film. The Case of Funeral Rituals among the Toraja in Sulawesi, Indonesia
  
  Project Director: Prof. Dr. Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin (Ethnology)
  Co-Project Director: Dr. Beate Engelbrecht
  Research Associate: Dr.des Karin Klenke
  
  The reserach project focuses on the efforts of the Toraja in Sulawesi, Indonesia, to achieve UNESCO world heritage status for their cultural heritage. Known for its traditionally, richly decorated houses, one Toraja village had made an initial attempt to achieve such a certification. The regional UNESCO commission considered this application not sufficiently representative for the Toraja people and suggested instead that ten Toraja villages ought to draft an application for nomination as a cultural landscape as this would likely have bigger chances of success. A UNESCO cultural landscape entails a culturally shaped region including the entire way of life practiced. The form of subsistence (wet rice agriculture), burial practices in the cliffs, architecture and carving as well as rituals all form part of this specific cultural landscape. The research project documents the negotiations arising from this new effort on the local, regional and national level. We focus on different conceptions of property, authorship, inheritance and belonging as well as competing claims associated with such concepts.
  
  The project emphasizes, furthermore, the meaning of film as a medium of representation as well as a method of generating data. We will film processes of discussion and negotation among actors in the villages as well as within national committees, so as to permit a detailed analysis. Film will also be used to investigate which aspects of their culture the Toraja choose themselves to suggest for UNESCO certification. Also of interest is the question how the Toraja seek to represent their culture through film (“indigenous filmmaking” practices). In addition, an ethnographic film will be made, in collaboration with Toraja actors, on aspects of their cultural landscape application for UNESCO (carried out by Dr. Beate Engelbrecht).