Heritage Fever - Law and Cultural Politics in a Decolonizing State

Heritage Fever charts the frenzy of heritage lawmaking that accompanied Bolivia's pro-Indigenous and explicitly decolonizing government under President Evo Morales (2006-19). Through a series of case studies focused on heritage-making individuals who eagerly pursue framing music and dance expressions in formal legislation, the authors reveal dynamics that go far beyond the influence of UNESCO's 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The book follows the stories of mid-level citizens who engage their state and seek legal legibility for cultural expressions. Heritage-makers' competing claims motivate new knowledge productions and contribute to the country's overall heritage abundance.

About the author

Michelle Bigenho is Charles A. Dana Professor of Anthropology and Africana & Latin American Studies at Colgate University. She is the author of Intimate Distance: Bolivian Music in Japan and Sounding Indigenous: Authenticity in Bolivian Music Performance.

Henry Stobart is Professor of Music and Ethnomusicology at Royal Holloway University of London. He is the author of Music and the Poetics of Production in the Bolivian Andes and the editor of The New (Ethno)musicologies.

Product details

• Authors: Michelle Bigenho, Bigenho Michelle, Henry Stobart, Stobart Henry
• Publisher: Oxford Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 29.09.2025
• EAN: 9780197756041
• ISBN: 978-0-19-775604-1
• Illustrations: 16 b&w photos
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; MUSIC / General, Social & cultural history, HISTORY / Latin America / South America, Social and cultural history