From one Competition to the Other: The Guro People’s Zaouli, The Intangible Heritage of Côte d’Ivoire, and the Political Sphere

Zaouli, a masked dance performed by the Guro people, was inscribed on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list in 2017. This marked the completion of a journey put in motion by the first president of the Ivorian nation, Félix Houphouët-Boigny. This article examines the role of the first deputies who promoted the international trajectory of their territory’s dance troupes, the role of the politicians and their administrations in the “festivalization” and heritage-making processes of this tradition, as well as their consequences. It shows how different versions of this performance have emerged, from the most polysemic to the most simplified or “canonical,” the latter of which has been exhumed by heritage-making processes. Contemporary choreographers have been inspired to incorporate it into their dances. Zaouli’s performances, a figure of alliance and peace, used to come after his ugly sacred ancestor Zàùlì (low tones) had cleansed the space of any danger born of unresolved conflicts. These performances used to take place at two different times, but the young people of one of the villages pretended to forget this. They merged the two figures to form a hybrid version, which has since been validated by the heritage-making processes. Extracting Zaouli from its context obscures the very real conflicts of which it marked the solution. At a time when the nation of peace (of which Zaouli is one of the emblems) seems a utopia that history continues to undermine, this distinction is essential.