Local discourses and representations on the patrimonialisation of flamenco in Andalusia, a multinivel process

Abstract

The consideration of flamenco as a total social fact, not only emphasizes the singularities resulting from a historical process, in which various subaltern groups located in Andalusia take part, but today is related to the hegemonic logics of neoliberalism and mercantilization of the ethnic manifestations transformed into products for the cultural industry. Andalusian cultural heritage policies on flamenco, as well as their inclusion in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (2010), are reconfiguring both expressive forms of sociability, indigenous learning and transmission, as well as their promotion, dissemination and circulation outside their contexts, dynamics and vernacular meanings. In response to these processes, this article analyzes the discourses of local agents to show how flamenco is being built in the modern world as an intangible heritage in the discursive environment, in relation to cultural policies and industries at a local and global level.