It may not be what you think

DOREEN NAWA, Lusaka
AT a time when heritage is at risk of destruction the world over, pressured by factors such as globalisation, climate change, migration, infrastructure development, the search for identity by humanity becomes more challenging.
This is why the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is giving financial assistance from its Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) fund to various countries worldwide to help them document intangible cultural heritage.
UNESCO last week gave the University of Zambia (UNZA) US$340,000 to develop a degree programme to safeguard intangible cultural heritage with the first intake comprising of 20 students.
Immediately after news of the dishing out of the funds came out, a hashtag DegreeInWitchcraft went viral.
Social media users and the public picked on witchcraft, probably one of the topics once the degree programme is designed and approved by the higher learning institution.
The term witchcraft evokes different images for different people and in Zambia, the practice is a crime.
UNZA senior lecturer in the department of Archeology and historical studies Walima Kalusa says the institution of higher learning has no intentions of introducing a degree in witchcraft as suggested on social media.
“We have no intentions what so ever to introduce such a course and at no point was such discussed. What I am aware of is that as a university, we have received funding to commence a degree programme in intangible cultural heritage and we have not designed anything yet. We are right now in a workshop to formulate the course content of the degree programme,” Dr Kalusa says.
According to UNESCO, cultural heritage, among others, includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.
Dr Kalusa says though fragile, intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization.
“An understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of different communities helps with intercultural dialogue, and encourages mutual respect for other ways of life,” Dr Kalusa says.
It is out of this concern the university introduced a degree programme to be centered on culture and people’s identity, beliefs and humanity in diversity.
He says the importance of intangible cultural heritage is not the cultural manifestation itself but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next.
He adds that the social and economic value of this transmission of knowledge is relevant for humanity everywhere.
But just what is intangible cultural heritage?
By UNESCO’s definition, ICH is the traditional, contemporary and life of different people according to their culture.
“Intangible cultural heritage does not only represent inherited traditions from the past but also contemporary rural and urban practices in which diverse cultural groups take part, we may share expressions of intangible cultural heritage that are similar to those practised by others. Culture is what gives us that identity,” former National Arts Council chairperson Mulenga Kapwepwe said.
Ms Kapwepwe feels the misunderstanding circulating on social media will not help but contribute to the diminishing of various culture and beliefs in Zambia.
“You cannot liken ICH to witchcraft, it’s far from it. Intangible cultural heritage does not give rise to questions of whether or not certain practices are specific to a culture. It contributes to social cohesion, encouraging a sense of identity and responsibility which helps individuals to feel part of one or different communities and to feel part of society at large,” Ms Kapwepwe says.
Ms Kapwepwe says intangible cultural heritage is not merely valued as a cultural good, on a comparative basis, for its exclusivity or its exceptional value.
“ICH thrives on its basis in communities and depends on those whose knowledge of traditions, skills and customs are passed on to the rest of the community, from generation to generation, or to other communities,” Ms Kapwepwe says.
Ms Kapwepwe adds, “We need communities to come on board and explain the diversity in their cultures and believes. Intangible cultural heritage can only be heritage when it is recognized as such by the communities, groups or individuals that create, maintain and transmit it – without their recognition, nobody else can decide for them that a given expression or practice is their heritage.”
And Lusaka Museum director Victoria Chitungu says safeguarding intangible cultural heritage is a valuable source of the economy.
“ICH is the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted from one generation to the next ones. Safeguarding ICH must therefore always involve the society, people and, where appropriate, individuals that bear such heritage. It is worrying to see the public associating this to witchcraft. It is far from it,” Mrs Chitungu says.
Besides being the wealth and identity of humanity, the global wealth of traditions is the principal motivation for travel, with tourists seeking to find out about new cultures and to experience the global difference of performing arts, handcrafts, rituals and cuisines.
And Zambia National Commission for UNESCO secretary general Charles Ndakala says his organisation supports peace and humanity and cannot therefore support witchcraft which is a crime in Zambia.
“UNESCO has substantial commitments not only for communities but also at national and international to ensure that culture is preserved documented and transmitted. We will not sit and not support Zambia to preserve, documents and transmit its diverse cultural heritage once called upon,” Dr Ndakala says.
And Professor Dickson Mwansa, who is an authority on cultural matters, says there is nothing strange or new about studying witchcraft.
“Witchcraft in Western Europe is celebrated during Halloween and people have studied deeply the usefulness, the uselessness of witchcraft,” he says.
Some years ago, Prof. Mwansa was part of a team of academicians who were tasked to look at the witchcraft law.
“There is a witchcraft law which was passed a long time ago by the British and we spent some time looking at it trying to change to suit modern times,” he says.
Prof Mwansa says the belief in witchcraft is part of intangible culture.
“We have a lot of belief in witchcraft and so we need to study it.
“Unless you understand their potency and things attributed to them, you can be fearing what is just useless craft,” he says.
He says witchcraft does not necessarily need to be a faculty in the university, but can be fused into other fields such as development studies
“We are a Christian nation but it doesn’t mean that we have to throw away knowledge about what we have.
“There are people who believe in this and you cannot covert them to the new ways of living as Christians if you don’t understand the depth of their own beliefs,” he says.
Decades ago, a group of scholars collected a number of artifacts used by witches for study purposes. Those artefacts are now displayed in the Lusaka Museum.
Heritage preservation has gained increasing attention within African countries including Zambia. Nevertheless, the rich living heritage diversity has to be identified and inventoried, which requires the full involvement of the communities.
Hence, several programmes being undertaken as a first step towards the preservation of the Zambian intangible cultural heritage. PUBLISHED ON JUNE 17, 2018.