Intangible heritage and the right to culture, including museums, regions, communities. Notes from the Savoy Alps

The author presents two cases of ethnographic research associated with processes of capitalisation of oral narratives, and places of emergence of community memory and plural identities, and analyses the difficult relationship between local communities, associations, local authorities and representatives of cultural institutions. She focuses on the use of the paradigm of "intangible cultural heritage of humanity" as a tool for emancipation and leadership claims, in the series of conflicts and negotiations that characterise the relationship between parties competing for management of the cultural heritage. The Alpine borders are important scenarios for studying the relationship between cultures, nations and globalisation processes in the World Heritage era.