Strategic Skepticism: The Politics of Grassroots Participation in an Afro-Andean Nomination to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative List

Abstract

Abstract This article analyzes the grassroots participation politics in the nomination of a set of Afro-Andean musical and dance practices—atajo de negritos and pallitas—to the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. These are performed during the Catholic celebration of Christmas in the Ica region in Peru. I suggest that the participation of grassroots practitioners in this case study featured a behavior pattern I label “strategic skepticism.” This behavior is a critical but passive form of grassroots engagement, alternative to both compliance and resistance, which allows a form of local agency that clashes with the neoliberal logics of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage process. The article, based on fieldwork conducted in the region of Ica in Peru between 2017 and 2018, includes perspectives from grassroots practitioners and state Intangible Cultural Heritage officials.