TY - JOUR KW - Intangible cultural heritage KW - UNESCO KW - Croatia KW - Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage KW - Heritage production KW - Ethnology and folkloristics AU - Marijana Hamersak AU - Iva Plese AB - The article 1 critically engages with the articulations and manifestations of a UNESCO initiative for the safeguarding of so-called intangible cultural heritage in Croatian context in the first years of the active Croatian implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2009–2013). It presents the intersections of a UNESCO initiative with past and present ethnology and folklore research in Croatia. Though one might get the impression (not entirely unfounded) that the project of protecting or safeguarding intangible heritage within the Croatian context first and foremost constitutes a global, imported product, the notion of protecting or safeguarding intangible cultural heritage can also be traced in the history of Croatian ethnology, folkloristics, art conservation, legislation, and folklore festivals production. A strong tendency to transform culture into a slick product can be seen as the main or only ‘innovative’ aspect of transmitting the old concepts into the contemporary framework of the UNESCO initiative. It seems like this aspect makes it easier for everyone involved – state administration and experts and those to whom a given cultural practice ‘belongs’ – to ignore ‘the side effects’ of the UNESCO initiative and the processes of its implementation that are discussed in the article. These side effects, perhaps not so visibly, concern society as a whole, and more directly local communities, as well as our specific professions and disciplines: ethnology and folkloristics. BT - Folklore-Electronic Journal of Folklore DO - 10.7592/FEJF2018.74.croatia LA - English M1 - 74 N1 - Publisher: FB and Media Group of Estonian Literary Museum N2 - The article 1 critically engages with the articulations and manifestations of a UNESCO initiative for the safeguarding of so-called intangible cultural heritage in Croatian context in the first years of the active Croatian implementation of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2009–2013). It presents the intersections of a UNESCO initiative with past and present ethnology and folklore research in Croatia. Though one might get the impression (not entirely unfounded) that the project of protecting or safeguarding intangible heritage within the Croatian context first and foremost constitutes a global, imported product, the notion of protecting or safeguarding intangible cultural heritage can also be traced in the history of Croatian ethnology, folkloristics, art conservation, legislation, and folklore festivals production. A strong tendency to transform culture into a slick product can be seen as the main or only ‘innovative’ aspect of transmitting the old concepts into the contemporary framework of the UNESCO initiative. It seems like this aspect makes it easier for everyone involved – state administration and experts and those to whom a given cultural practice ‘belongs’ – to ignore ‘the side effects’ of the UNESCO initiative and the processes of its implementation that are discussed in the article. These side effects, perhaps not so visibly, concern society as a whole, and more directly local communities, as well as our specific professions and disciplines: ethnology and folkloristics. PY - 2018 SP - 129 EP - 152 T2 - Folklore-Electronic Journal of Folklore TI - Heritage on Demand: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Initiative in Croatian Context UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85062069650&doi=10.7592%2fFEJF2018.74.croatia&partnerID=40&md5=d74a795ab0e1c0e469d67136e72ab8c8 VL - 74 SN - 14060957 (ISSN) ER -