On Thursday, August 27 at 11 AM Eastern Time, I will be offering a Q & A session in connection with a virtual poster as part of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies’ annual conference.

The abstract is as follows:

The time since Israel’s withdrawal from UNESCO has been a time of reflection, resolve, and reevaluation of Israel’s voice and place in the world. It is imperative to preserve the country’s intangible cultural heritage (ICH) assets in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The list for Israel is currently empty, since unfortunately, Israel has never submitted any ICH to UNESCO’s list for inscription. This presentation describes how the shofar, modern Hebrew poetry, Israeli folk dance, Torah reading, and other practices, artifacts, rituals, and elements of Israeli ICH should urgently be considered for inscription by UNESCO. Re-engaging with UNESCO’s ICH mandate to preserve its diverse sociocultural legacy would also improve the convening power of Israeli archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, and historians, and help depoliticize Israel’s ICH preservation process.

Registration is open to ACHS members and ends on August 17.