01270nas a2200109   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002100001500043245008900058300001100147520100200158       2007                            d1 aF. De Jong00aA Masterpiece of Masquerading: Contradictions of Conservation in Intangible Heritage  a161-843 aThis chapter examines how a masked performance is subjected to a variety of regimes of value that impose contradictory conditions on its performance, and explore show the recontextualisation of ritual as  heritage  affects its performance. One of the aims of the UNESCO policy is to identify, classify, and authorise  intangible heritage  and make a contribution toward its conservation. Nothing is said about the aspects of masquerading that are incompatible with the modern state. Inverting argument about the loss of aura in the age of mechanical reproduction, it shows that recontextualisation through new regimes of value opens up possibilities for re-enchanted performance. The attempts at regulation of the Kankurang performance are to be understood as attempts at conservation of the masked performance. The UNESCO application for Masterpiece status for the Kankurang and Manding initiatory rite clearly negotiates between conservation and commodification, sacralisation and visualisation.