Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage through higher education in Zambia

To improve Zambia’s ability to safeguard Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), the University of Zambia (UNZA) launched a bachelor's degree programme in Intangible Cultural Heritage (BA ICH) in 2018 with assistance from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). According to UNESCO, ICH is crucial for both sustainable development and cultural diversity. While the goal of BA ICH was to strengthen Zambia’s capacity to safeguard ICH, which may also promote an appreciation of cultural diversity and culture’s contributions to sustainable development as outlined in SDG 4, Target 4.7, it is still unclear how this particular programme, which was informed and funded by UNESCO, provides opportunities for safeguarding ICH. Furthermore, the literature on safeguarding ICH in Zambia has mostly ignored the role of higher education in favour of focusing on particular ICH practices, tourism, and museums, despite the potential of higher education because of its expertise in teaching and research. I used the Capability Approach (CA) as the theoretical framework for the study based on its broad applicability and focus on the expansion of freedoms of individuals in the evaluation of human development. To collect data, I employed document analysis and semi-structured interviews with 28 participants (five students, eight graduates, eight lecturers, four cultural heritage experts and three community representatives) as well as a photovoice project with four students. Through this study, I identify four roles of higher education in safeguarding ICH: (1) Building capacity through its expertise in teaching; (2) Offering the needed technical support in areas such as research and inventorying; (3) Facilitating advocacy and awareness; and (4) Valorising ICH because of improved understanding of ICH. While higher education can play these four roles, communities must be at the centre of ICH safeguarding. Allowing communities to be at the forefront of safeguarding ensures that they are not deprived of choosing their own conception of cultural goods and heritage, which may ultimately diminish their agency. In this study, I identified six capabilities that participants in the BA ICH valued. They include the capability for critical knowledge, the capability for effective community engagement, the capability for professional development, the capability to aspire, the capability for affiliation, and the capability to valorise cultural heritage. While these valued capabilities are independent, I suggest they are elements of a two-dimensional cultural capability, which refers to the freedom and opportunity to practise and contribute to safeguarding ICH. In addition to cultural capability, I explored agency for safeguarding ICH, indicating varied and changing levels of agency among students, graduates, and lecturers. In the case of the BA ICH at UNZA, I contend that agency is not only individual and collective, but institutional. While higher education is a key platform for students, graduates, and lecturers to develop relevant capabilities and agency for safeguarding ICH, major constraining factors such as dependency on external funding, negative perception of ICH embedded in coloniality of knowledge have the potential to constrain cultural capability and agency for safeguarding ICH. The study advances research on CA, safeguarding ICH, and higher education. Regarding the role of higher education in safeguarding ICH, I have presented first-hand experiences and perspectives of students, graduates, lecturers, cultural experts, and community representatives. Theoretically, the application of the CA provides new insights into cultural capability in higher education settings. I have suggested a two-dimensional cultural capability framework for safeguarding ICH, considering institutional agency, and outlined conversion factors associated with the BA ICH and cultural capability and agency for safeguarding ICH.