TY - JOUR
KW - Digital archives
KW - India
KW - Intangible cultural heritage
KW - Intellectual property
KW - Stewardship
AU - A. Fish
AB - The so-called Digital Age, many claim, is marked by a shift from a global economy based on material industry to one based on the manipulation of information/ knowledge. Whether or not one agrees with this assessment, the increased realization of information/knowledge as a prime source of market value has led to a consequent growth in the reach of intellectual property (IP) rights and in the diversity of individual and cultural ownership claims considered possible. This expansion has sparked heated debates marked by a broad sense of crisis that the very foundations of culture, creativity, and even humanity, are increasingly subject to privatization. This article explores a key issue in these debates by examining processes of appropriation with respect to intangible heritage and the consequent development of “stewardship” as an authoritative claim over future interpretations of culture-asresource. The discussion focuses on the complexities of fashioning contemporary cultural stewardship claims with respect to South Asian classical medicine, generally, and yoga, specifically. I examine the emergence of a particular understanding of cultural stewardship that enables certain parties, such as the Indian state, to be identified as legitimate guardians of South Asian intangible heritage while others, such as private individuals, come to be labeled cultural pirates.
BT - East Asian Science, Technology and Society
DO - 10.1215/18752160-2800143
LA - English
M1 - 4
N1 - Publisher: Duke University Press
N2 - The so-called Digital Age, many claim, is marked by a shift from a global economy based on material industry to one based on the manipulation of information/ knowledge. Whether or not one agrees with this assessment, the increased realization of information/knowledge as a prime source of market value has led to a consequent growth in the reach of intellectual property (IP) rights and in the diversity of individual and cultural ownership claims considered possible. This expansion has sparked heated debates marked by a broad sense of crisis that the very foundations of culture, creativity, and even humanity, are increasingly subject to privatization. This article explores a key issue in these debates by examining processes of appropriation with respect to intangible heritage and the consequent development of “stewardship” as an authoritative claim over future interpretations of culture-asresource. The discussion focuses on the complexities of fashioning contemporary cultural stewardship claims with respect to South Asian classical medicine, generally, and yoga, specifically. I examine the emergence of a particular understanding of cultural stewardship that enables certain parties, such as the Indian state, to be identified as legitimate guardians of South Asian intangible heritage while others, such as private individuals, come to be labeled cultural pirates.
PY - 2014
SP - 439
EP - 460
T2 - East Asian Science, Technology and Society
TI - Authorizing yoga: The pragmatics of cultural stewardship in the digital era
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84914701267&doi=10.1215%2f18752160-2800143&partnerID=40&md5=206995d0c63533a352bf51016089df10
VL - 8
SN - 18752160 (ISSN)
ER -