Singapore’s vibrant street hawker culture designated as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO

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Daily Current Affairs Article 25th December 2020: Singapore’s most popular attractions, its vibrant street hawker culture, was designated as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO.

It is now part of a list that includes practices such as yoga from India, reggae music from Jamaica, Finland’s sauna culture and Turkey’s endangered whistled language.

Intangible culture is that part of culture which cannot be touched but can only be recorded. It includes performing arts like song, music, drama, skills, crafts etc.

Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted in 2003. India ratified it in 2007.

UNESCO’s list of intangible culture

It is an annual list which focuses on those forms of performing art which are of outstanding value but are vulnerable due to lack of support. The program currently compiles two lists –

• Representative List: It comprises cultural practices and expressions that help to demonstrate the diversity of this heritage and raise awareness about its importance. It is longer.
• Urgent Safeguarding list: It is composed of those cultural elements “whose continuous recreation and transmission” are threatened and are in need of immediate support. It is shorter.