Património Cultural Imaterial: Proposta de uma Metodologia de Inventariação.

The theme of this master dissertation in Anthropological Sciences addresses the problem of inventorying intangible heritage as set up in the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and explores a number of central issues in anthropology which allow the reflection on how to implement the Convention in the study and inventory of intangible elements in the Portuguese context. The research objectives are supported by two interrelated axes of analysis which rely on conceptual and analytical resources suggested by literature review. First, an attempt is made to know the “context of application”, focusing the attention on intangible cultural heritage and inventory features set up in the Convention and in the Portuguese legislation. This analysis has called for a set of theoretical contributions from anthropology. Secondly, an attempt is made to understand the processes involved in the definition of inventorying methodologies by describing procedures and recommendations that contribute to solve the problem of inventorying intangible cultural heritage, while developing the instruments for collecting ethnographic and inventory data. The proposed methodology and inventorying tools were applied through field research to an element of intangible cultural heritage, the production of inlaid ware in Nisa.