Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage: exploring the synergies in the transmission of indigenous languages, dance and music practices in southern Africa

Abstract

Like other forms of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), Indigenous music and dance cultures have been adversely affected by significant social, economic, technological, and ecological modifications. The resultant transformations in cultural contexts, function, modes of transmission, and performance have endangered the sustainability of several music and dance traditions and their transmission languages. Moreover, efforts to actively support the vitality of jeopardised cultural heritage are being developed and implemented in the emerging fields of applied ethnomusicology, ethnochoreology and linguistics. The area of Indigenous language safeguarding has theoretical, epistemological, and practical models comparable to safeguarding Indigenous music and dance traditions. This similarity is essential to developing interdisciplinary models, policies, and strategies to support the transmission of Indigenous choreomusical and linguistic heritage. Therefore, this article demonstrates how Indigenous music, dance, and language are integral to African cultural heritage and argues for an interdisciplinary community-based model to safeguard them as part of the same cultural ecosystem.