Ottoman Intangible Cultural Heritage as an Instrument of Reconciliation?

Abstract

Intangible cultural heritage – ICH (folk beliefs and knowledge, language, crafts, etc.) is considered as the core of cultural identity around which different local communities and even entire nations often dispute, sometimes violently. It is frequently used in the processes of instrumentalizing tradition in politics, media, education, and science, thus posing a risk to peacebuilding, regional reconciliation, and development. In Southeast Europe especially, and in the Western Balkans in particular, different communities argue over which specific elements belong to whose ICH, occasionally escalating from intellectual debates to bilateral state disputes. In our presentation, we focus particularly on Ottoman ICH, shared between Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks, and Montenegrins. Our goal is to demonstrate that shared/contested heritage can be used as a bridge for reconciliation rather than a source of division in a region where post-conflict stabilization is still incomplete. Paradoxically, the layers of Ottoman ICH can serve as a basis for achieving this goal, precisely because all four nations share them but employ them in different capacities, by disowning or not considering them as intrinsic, original, or native.