Impact of tourism on intangible cultural heritage: case of Kalbeliyas from Rajasthan, India

Through the case of intangible cultural heritage of Kalbeliya dance and songs of India, this paper argues that tourism can profoundly affect intangible heritage as well as its practitioners or bearers. In-depth interviews and observation were employed to collect data for this paper. Findings show that tourism has led to drastic changes in the aesthetic content of Kalbeliya performances as well as the context in which they are performed due to their increased production in commercial settings leading to their commodification. Kalbeliya performers, who should ideally act as active agents as heritage practitioners, are also marginalized culturally from their own performing traditions. Among positive consequences of tourism, results reveal limited economic benefits for Kalbeliya performers and their improved self-esteem as cultural custodians which has also remained limited to a few popular Kalbeliya performers.