Comparative research into intangible cultural heritage between two coastal regions across the Northwest Atlantic

Research project by Anatole Danto (PI, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Léa Pertel and Jules Danto

Funded by Archipel.eu (https://programme-archipel.eu/). Managed by The French Institute and a consortium also including Association des Pays et Territoires d'Outre-Mer (OCTA) and the Agence Atlantique de Promotion de la Culture (APCA)

The project involves comparative research into intangible cultural heritage between two coastal regions across the Northwest Atlantic: the French archipelago of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, south of the Canadian island of Newfoundland, and the Narsaq, Kujalleq region, Greenland. The regions are populated by approximately the same number of inhabitants (6500 / 7500), have a certain eco-systemic proximity (boreal regions), and socio-economic similarities (coastal fishing, small-scale agriculture, targeted tourism, etc.). The two territories are also separated by the Labrador Sea, where they both fish. The project is specifically interested in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage area of "Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe” and will explore knowledge and practices of the two communities in relation to their close marine and coastal environments. The question of ecological knowledge, it's transmission and its preservation (through patrimonialization) will be at the heart of the project.

Research methods will combine ethnography (semi-directive interviews and participant observation, mental maps), history (historiography, research on archives, in particular scientific, state of the bibliography) and digital and environmental humanities, both in the field, during the collection of data (sound and video recordings, photography, digitisation of mental maps), and preservation (ethnographic databases) and their valorisation (virtual exhibition for example). The project has a youth education objective and will involve reflection on the safeguarding of heritage is envisaged at the end of the project (courses of action), in particular by the arts.

The project is part of a broader framework:

- the UNESCO classification of the Archipelago of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon ;

- Can help strengthen the links foreseen in the Interreg SPM/GL project;

- fIs part of a possible additional candidacy in France following the classification of the Nordic traditions of cline boats (UNESCO, 2021);

- Finally, it is part of the pursuit of the heritage of Inuit cultures, with the recent UNESCO classification of the Inuit drum song and dance.