TY - JOUR KW - (from the AFS Ethnographic Thesaurus and Library of Congress subject headings) KW - African diaspora KW - Peru KW - Intangible cultural heritage KW - Music KW - participation AU - R. Chocano AB - This article analyzes the grassroots participation politics in the nomination of a set of Afro-Andean musical and dance practices—atajo de negritos and pallitas—to the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. These are performed during the Catholic celebration of Christmas in the Ica region in Peru. I suggest that the participation of grassroots practitioners in this case study featured a behavior pattern I label“strategic skepticism.” This behavior is a critical but passive form of grassroots engagement, alternative to both compliance and resistance, which allows a form of local agency that clashes with the neoliberal logics of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage process. The article, based on fieldwork conducted in the region of Ica in Peru between 2017 and 2018, includes perspectives from grassroots practitioners and state Intangible Cultural Heritage officials. Copyright M1 - 541 N2 - This article analyzes the grassroots participation politics in the nomination of a set of Afro-Andean musical and dance practices—atajo de negritos and pallitas—to the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. These are performed during the Catholic celebration of Christmas in the Ica region in Peru. I suggest that the participation of grassroots practitioners in this case study featured a behavior pattern I label“strategic skepticism.” This behavior is a critical but passive form of grassroots engagement, alternative to both compliance and resistance, which allows a form of local agency that clashes with the neoliberal logics of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage process. The article, based on fieldwork conducted in the region of Ica in Peru between 2017 and 2018, includes perspectives from grassroots practitioners and state Intangible Cultural Heritage officials. Copyright SP - 249 EP - 273 TI - Strategic Skepticism: The Politics of Grassroots Participation in an Afro-Andean Nomination to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative List UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85166255195&partnerID=40&md5=877e2193a31f40f9361f1dc6ae5e8b7c VL - 136 ER -