Research Stream: Social Lives
Author: Eva Sophie Krolla, Research Assistant, Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity in EU Law: Exploring New Paths (DANCING)
On 17th October 2003, exactly 21 years ago, the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (hereinafter: the 2003 Convention). The 2003 Convention represents a milestone in recognising immaterial cultural heritage and complements UNESCO’s efforts under the Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972 with its well-known World Heritage List. In honour of this, the General Conference of UNESCO declared 17 October the ‘International Day of Intangible Cultural Heritage’ at its 20th anniversary in 2023, which will be celebrated for the first time this year. To date, 183 States Parties have acceded to the 2003 Convention including all 27 European Union (EU) Member States, with Malta being the last one to ratify it in 2017.
The significance of the 2003 Convention is two-fold: first, it markedly broadened the scope of what can be considered, recognised and protected as cultural heritage at a global level; second, it is a shift – albeit a constrained one – away from Western, Eurocentric conceptions of cultural heritage and its preservation or safeguarding. This post focuses on the former and discusses the extent to which Braille – a tactile writing system used by persons who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind – might fall within the scope of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ (ICH) under the 2003 Convention and thus be protected as such. In doing so, it aims to highlight the relevance of the 2003 Convention in relation to disability identities and, more broadly, disability rights.
Recalling in its preamble the ‘importance of intangible cultural heritage as a mainspring of cultural diversity’, the 2003 Convention purports to a) safeguard the intangible cultural heritage, b) ensure respect for intangible cultural heritage, c) to raise awareness of the importance of intangible cultural heritage and ensure its mutual appreciation as well as d) provide for international cooperation and assistance to do so (Article 1 2003 Convention). In Article 2, the 2003 Convention further sets out that ICH is to be understood as encompassing ‘practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage’. This alludes to the dimension of self-identification of ICH rather than any externalised, objective criteria that qualify tangible cultural and natural heritage. Moreover, emphasis is given to the transmission of ICH from generation to generation and the constant recreation by communities and groups in reaction to environmental and contextual factors (Article 2 2003 Convention). As Lenzerini elaborates, Article 2 of the 2003 Convention embeds the connection of ICH with the identity of its creators and bearers, authenticity and the relationship between ICH and human rights. Although, as Lenzerini further points out, the 2003 Convention is formulated in rather vague terms and lacks legal consequence, it does constitute a tool to ensure visibility of ICH and support its protection.
The 2003 Convention encourages States Parties to develop national inventories of ICH pursuant to Article 12. This step functions as a pre-requisite in the process of potentially inscribing an item on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which is the equivalent to the World Heritage List for tangible cultural and natural heritage. To facilitate the recognition and safeguarding of ICH, five broad domains are formulated by the 2003 Convention, namely: oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage; performing arts; social practices, rituals and festive events; knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe and traditional craftsmanship.
In 2020, the ‘Use and Transmission of Braille in Germany’ was inscribed into the Nationwide Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the States Party, and the ‘Learning and Using Braille’ was included in the Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in France in 2023.
Braille, as invented by Frenchman Louis Braille, who was blind, in the early 19th century, is a writing system consisting of six dots arranged in a ‘Braille cell’ of a two-column by three-row roster, through which spoken languages become legible for persons who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind. This tactile reading and writing system fulfils a vital function, namely that of enabling persons to become literate. Although audio formats – and many other recent developments in assistive technology – can make information, educational materials as well as cultural and leisure materials accessible to people who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind, they do not allow them (to learn) to read and write. Literacy, however, is an important aspect of human experience and has been shown to allow high levels of education, job attainment and satisfaction as well as emotional well-being.
Braille codes have been developed for at least 133 languages, including many lesser-used languages, allowing people to read and write through their native tongue(s). Besides enabling people to be ‘truly literate’ and thereby to actively participate in the society, Braille codes have been attributed cultural value within the meaning of the 2003 Convention by Germany and France respectively – while Germany is silent on the categorisation, France considers Braille to fall within the categories of ‘performing arts’ and ‘social practices, rituals and festive events’. The entry in France’s national inventory further states that ‘learning and using Braille is … a real living heritage, the vitality of which is likely to meet the challenges of the future’ as it ‘provide[s] access to knowledge and culture in a constantly changing world’. This latter aspect alludes to the transmission and recreation processes in response to the environment as elaborated by the 2003 Convention that characterise ICH. As the German entry emphasises, Braille codes are a writing system developed by its users, i.e. its creators and bearers, and continues to be adapted by users themselves rather than being an external imposition or accessibility feature developed by others. This includes that Braille literacy skills are transmitted from older generations to younger ones through, for instance, associations and clubs. Moreover, the recreation of Braille in response to a changing environment and to meet future challenges can be observed in its adaptations for the digital era with the introduction of Braille displays to read digital and online publications or the current development of eBraille codes as a digital reading format.
The significance of Braille for persons who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind is illustrated by recent initiatives such as ‘livingbraille’ by the European Blind Union that aim to foster the literacy and usage of Braille in all spheres of life and who actively work on future-proofing this unique writing system. Following the inscription of ‘Learning and Using Braille’ on the French inventory, livingbraille have called for the inscription of Braille on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity to gain global recognition of Braille and to safeguard it as intangible cultural heritage.
While this next step of inscription by UNESCO may still lie in the future, the ambition to do so underscores the significance and cultural value of Braille for persons who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind. The visibility and acknowledgement of the cultural dimensions of Braille – going beyond mere accessibility considerations – is a welcome development and one that might even open the door to exploring which other expressions, practices and activities of persons with disabilities could be (re-)considered cultural assets and intangible cultural heritage. The 2003 Convention therefore has the potential to be a gateway to recognising and, importantly, protecting cultural identities and heritage of persons with disabilities.
