Community Voices: Behind the Scenes of Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding in Palau
Connie Ngirchemat
Island Ark Project, Palau
MEMORIAMEDIA Review 4. Art.6. 2019
photo: Diliaur Tellei
The effects of climate change and globalization are few reasons Pacific Island nations migrate elsewhere and seek better living standards and opportunities. The Island Ark Project understands this issue and despite these detrimental factors affecting the Pacific, IAP aims to use its platform as a way for communities to preserve and safeguard their cultural heritage. The organization’s technical solutions through their digital template is offered a compatible resource for communities to input the ICH as they see significant. However, while conducting the workshop and finding certain technical and social challenges behind the ICH safeguarding process, the Island Ark Project focused on gaining personal insight from community voices around defining what ICH is, how it has changed over the decades from outside influences, how ICH may differ amongst specific communities in the larger island, and potentially seeking solutions that help gain community involvement.
Keywords: Intangible Cultural Heritage, digital technology, Pacific Islands, climate change, out-migration, Palau.