朝向一種想像人類學的遺產研究：檳城案例

Towards an Anthropology of Heritage Imaginaries: Penang Case Study

面對數十年來遺產研究的熱議趨勢，當代人類學的知識生產，可以發揮什麼作用？本文由聯合國教科文組織無形文化遺產（Intangible Cultural Heritage, ICH）公約制定過程的爭點切入，說明人類學者在當代遺產體制變革中的兩種新角色：參與決策制定、觀察中介活動。再以馬來西亞檳城喬治市ICH的實作經驗為例，檢視遺產工作者搶救思維與檔案化的侷限，並重新檢討ICH護衛觀念的困擾，釐清人類學對於ICH「再現」議題的觀點。然後，我將提出一種想像人類學的遺產研究新取向，以遺產中介者為調查對象，觀察想像力在走動式體驗案例中的作用。最後在結論部分，本文將嘗試闡發「遺產想像」的詮釋觀點，具體表述為三個由檳城實作觀察得出的文化遺產理念：復返傳統脈絡的想像工具、打造無形基礎設施的想像工程、訊息交流的想像轉化。

Facing the vogue of the heritage study over decades, what can contemporary anthropology do? This paper aims to propose an approach of heritage imaginaries, based on observations at the World Heritage site George Town, Penang, Malaysia. First, in presenting debates occurred during the elaboration process of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) conventions at UNESCO, I will briefly examine two new roles that anthropologists are playing in the renewal of the contemporary World Heritage regime: participant decision-making and observation of mediation activities. Then, through a case study of the experiences of ICH preservation work carried out in Penang, I highlight the limitations of a rescue mentality and the archiving process, review the difficulties of ICH safeguarding, and clarify the anthropological perspective on ICH as ''representation.'' Finally, in order to explore a new approach for the anthropological study of heritage, I will propose to take the heritage mediators as objects of research, and observe the work of imagination in concrete walking experiences. In my conclusion, I try to elaborate the concept of ''heritage imaginaries'' with three principal ideas crystallised through the Penang case: the return to traditional context as a tool of imagination, the construction of intangible infrastructures as imaginative engineering, and information exchanges as sources of imagination.