Safeguarding Cambodia's Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritages

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Safeguarding Cambodia's Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritages

A Buddhist shrine (sala) in the Angkor area of Cambodia. The majority of Cambodians are Theravada Buddhist. The establishment of Buddhist temples was among the first things Cambodians did after arriving in the United States in 1975 and was one of the reasons so many Cambodians came to Long Beach in the early days.

Author: Christine Su
Grades: 9-10

Suggested Amount of Time: 120 Minutes
Area of Study: Introduction to Cambodian History

Compelling Question

How does learning about Cambodian history promote a greater understanding of Cambodian American experiences?

Lesson Questions
  • What are tangible and intangible cultural heritages, and why should they be protected and preserved?
  • What do Cambodians feel comprises their tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and how does this shape how they see themselves, historically and currently?
Lesson Background

Amidst the destruction and dispiritedness resulting from the Second World War, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was created as a special branch to help contribute to peace and security. Beyond political and economic agreements, the signatories agreed, lasting peace could only be achieved through education, scientific cooperation, and intercultural communication and understanding. Sometimes called the ‘intellectual’ agency of the UN, the preamble to its constitution drafted in 1945 reads, "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed." Its purpose is further delineated in the constitution itself:

to maintain, increase, and diffuse knowledge by ensuring the conservation and protection of the world's heritage of books, works of art, and monuments of history and science; by encouraging cooperation among the nations in all branches of intellectual activity, including the international exchange of persons active in the fields of education, science, and culture and the exchange of publications, objects of artistic and scientific interest, and other materials of information; and by initiating methods of international cooperation calculated to give the people of all countries access to the printed and published materials produced by any of them.

In its earlier years, UNESCO focused its efforts on preservation of tangible heritage; that is, physical and material artifacts, such as archaeological sites, buildings, sculptures, paintings, tools, books, and so forth. They came to recognize, however, that not only tangible heritage warranted protection, but intangible heritage—such as oral traditions, performing arts, rituals—needed to be valued and preserved as well, lest they vanish when those with the knowledge to practice them passed on. For Cambodians, this was underscored by the loss of more than 90% of its artists during the Khmer Rouge Regime.  

In 2003, UNESCO adopted the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Intangible cultural heritage includes “all immaterial elements that are considered by a given community as essential components of its intrinsic identity as well as of its uniqueness and distinctiveness in comparison with all other human groups” (Lezerini, 101).

Since that time, Cambodia has worked diligently to have numerous cultural traditions and practices added to the Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Cambodia, the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. 

Image Citation: Salazar, A., & Salazar, A. (2023d, October 25). Buddhist Shrine - Historical Society of Long Beach. Historical Society of Long Beach - Where History Lives! https://hslb.org/buddhist-shrine/

Readings

  • Chapei Dang Veng 

  • Starting your Podcast 

  • UNESCO World Heritage Convention Cambodia

Handouts

Warm-Up

  • Prompt students to think of the following questions: What is culture? What makes up a culture? (Students may share things such as art, traditional dances, music, food, etc.)
    • Have students pair-share, then have a class discussion.
    • Teachers may want to write ideas on the board.
  • Display this quote to students: 
    • W. Somerset Maugham’s definition of Culture: “Men and women are not only themselves; they are also the region in which they were born, the city apartment or the farm in which they learnt to walk, the games they played as children, the tales they overheard, the food they ate, the schools they attended, the sports they followed, the poets they read and the God they believe in.”
      • Ask students if this quote has changed or confirmed their understanding of what culture is. How has it changed or confirmed their understanding?

  • Teacher will introduce the lesson questions and lesson objectives

     

Building Vocabulary

  • The following vocabulary terms should be defined as a class: culture, heritage, legacy, intangible culture, tangible culture.
  • Students should note the terms and definitions on personal notes or recorded audio. If time permits, allow for opportunities to engage with the vocabulary through activities such as a Frayer Model Vocabulary Matrix. It would be helpful if students include examples of each term in the vocabulary matrix as well. 

 

Interaction with First Source

  • A sample of a heritage piece that has been acknowledged and put on the “List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding” is the chapei dang veng, a Cambodian musical instrument. 
  • Review the text description on the following website: https://ich.unesco.org/en/USL/chapei-dang-veng-01165 

  • As a class, read the passage and identify: who, what, where, when, why, and how. The teacher should model the written or audio notes.

     

Interaction with Second Source

  • Watch the video clip on the following website: https://ich.unesco.org/en/USL/chapei-dang-veng-01165 
  • Encourage students to add to their “who, what, where, when, why, and how” written or audio notes.
  • Using the chapei dang veng as an example, have students discuss the following lesson questions: Why should this be protected and preserved? How does the chapei dang veng shape how Cambodians see themselves, historically and currently?

  • Supplemental Source: UNESCO World Heritage Convention Cambodia https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/kh

     

Assessment Options

  • Students can write a short reflective essay on key takeaways learned during the class, and answering the lesson questions. Students can reflect on how their own culture can be tied into the idea of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
  • Imagine that you have been asked to design and create a two-part podcast (tools: NPR: Podcast Making Guide for Students https://www.npr.org/2018/11/15/662070097/starting-your-podcast-a-guide-for-students, Audacity (Free audio recording service) https://www.audacityteam.org/ on what you believe to be essential examples of: 1) tangible cultural heritage and 2) intangible cultural heritage in your community. This is an opportunity to reflect on your own identity—the things that really matter to who you are as an individual navigating this complex world—and to share your story with others in your classroom community. 
  • Research something that is currently in the beginning stages of the tangible or intangible heritage recognition process (any country/community/culture). Develop a proposal or speech to present your case to UNESCO for that artifact. 

Students can choose from one of the following options: 

  • Students can write a short reflective essay on key takeaways learned during the class, answering the lesson questions. Students can reflect on how their own culture can be tied into the idea of tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
  • Imagine that you have been asked to design and create a two-part podcast (tools: NPR: Podcast Making Guide for Students https://www.npr.org/2018/11/15/662070097/starting-your-podcast-a-guide-for-students, Audacity (Free audio recording service) https://www.audacityteam.org/ on what you believe to be essential examples of: 1) tangible cultural heritage and 2) intangible cultural heritage in your community. This is an opportunity to reflect on your own identity—the things that really matter to who you are as an individual navigating this complex world—and to share your story with others in your classroom community. 
  • Research something that is currently in the beginning stages of the tangible or intangible heritage recognition process (any country/community/culture). Develop a proposal or speech to present your case to UNESCO for that artifact. 

Engagement: Consider the following method to support with lesson engagement:

  • Differentiate the degree of difficulty or complexity within which core activities can be completed 
  • Display the goal in multiple ways 

 

Representation: Consider the following method to support with multiple means of representation:

  • Embed visual, non-linguistic supports for vocabulary clarification (pictures, videos, etc) 
  • Chunk information into smaller elements

 

Action and Expression: Consider the following method to support in presenting their learning in multiple ways:

  • Provide models or examples of the process and product of goal-setting

 

For additional ideas to support your students, check out the UDL Guidelines at CAST (2018)  http://udlguidelines.cast.org.

Emerging: Consider the following method to support with emerging students:

  • Speaking: Assign roles in group work 
    • Students assume specific roles to actively engage in, help lead, and contribute to collaborative discussions. 
    • Students engage in conversation with diverse partners where the class is split into two groups. One group stands and forms an outside circle while the other group forms an inner circle with students in the inner circle facing the students in the outside circle as conversation partners. Inner circle is rotated to switch partners. 
    • Ground rules or guidelines for conversations are used as the basis for constructive academic talk. Teacher provides judicious corrective feedback during student talk. 

 

Expanding: Consider the following method to support with expanding students:

  • Speaking: Require full sentence responses by asking open ended questions 
    • In response to a prompt, the teacher offers a sentence frame orally and/or in writing to support expression of student thinking. Frames are adjusted based upon specific grammatical structure, key vocabulary, content learning, and language proficiency level descriptors, etc. Frames are a temporary scaffold that require modification.

 

Bridging: Consider the following method to support with bridging students:

  • Speaking: Structure conversations requiring various points of view with graphic organizers 
    • In partner and group discussions, students use conversation moves to extend academic talk. Conversation moves help students add to or challenge what a partner says, question, clarify, paraphrase, support thinking with examples, synthesize conversation points, etc.

 

For additional guidance around scaffolding for multilingual learners, please consult the following resources:

  1. Students can research other UNESCO World Heritage sites. 
  2. Students can also write an essay on new sites that should be considered for World Heritage site designation highlighting the criteria for why they should be included.

Britt, K. 2020c, May 11. English learner toolkit of strategies. California County Superintendents. https://cacountysupts.org/english-learner-toolkit-of-strategies/

Billeri, F. 2017. “The Process of Re-Construction and Revival of Musical Heritage in Contemporary Cambodia”. Moussons [Online], 30 | Retrieved on August 08, 2022 http://journals.openedition.org/moussons/3915; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/moussons.3915

California Department of Education & English Learner Support Division. 2012. California English Language Development standards (Electronic Edition) kindergarten through grade 12 (F. Ong & J. McLean, Eds.). California Department of Education. https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/el/er/documents/eldstndspublication14.pdf

California Educators Together. (n.d.). ELA / ELD framework. https://www.caeducatorstogether.org/resources/6537/ela-eld-framework

CAST. 2018 The UDL guidelines. http://udlguidelines.cast.org

Library of Congress. 2016.  Cultural Heritage and Data [Video]. Library of Congress. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-7909/ 

Hall, K. 2019. “Homegrown Plus: Cambodian-American Heritage Dancers with Chum Ngek Ensemble.” Folklife Today blog and podcast series. Library of Congress. https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2019/05/homegrown-plus-cambodian-american-heritage-dancers-with-chum-ngek-ensemble/ 

Lenzerini, F. 2011. “Intangible Cultural Heritage: The Living Culture of Peoples.” The European Journal of International Law, 22(1), 101–120. https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/22/1/101/436591 

Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. 2004. Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Cambodia. UNESCO, Phnom Penh. https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/37696.pdf 

Parliamentary Institute of Cambodia. 2016. “Ensuring Lasting Protection against the Destruction and Deterioration of Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.” Briefing note of the Secretary General of the Senate of Cambodia. https://pcasia.org/pic/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/20160331_Ensuring-Lasting-Protection-against-the-Destruction-and-Deterioration_EN.pdf 

Ruggles, D.F., & Silverman, H. 2009. “From Tangible to Intangible Heritage.” In D.F. Ruggles & H. Silverman (Eds.), Intangible Heritage Embodied (pp. 1–14). Springer. http://orcp.hustoj.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2009-From-Tangible-to-Intangible-Heritage.pdf  

San Diego County Office of Education. (n.d.). Providing appropriate scaffolding. https://www.sdcoe.net/educators/multilingual-education-and-global-achievement/oracy-toolkit/providing-appropriate-scaffolding#scaffolding

Tulare County Office of Education. (n.d.). Strategies for ELD. https://commoncore.tcoe.org/Content/Public/doc/Alpha-CollectionofELDStrategies.pdf 

UNESCO. (n.d.). What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?. UNESCO. : https://ich.unesco.org/en/what-is-intangible-heritage-00003

Wulf, C. 2004. “Crucial Points in the Transmission and Learning of Intangible Heritage.” SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3728670 or https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3728670  

Supplementary Sources

Geisler, P. 2020. “Cambodian Court Dance after Genocide: Embodied Heritage and the Limits of Critique.” Forum Transregionale Studien, 6. https://doi.org/10.25360/01-2020-00008  

ICCROM. 2020. “Cambodia. ICCROM.” https://www.iccrom.org/cprofiles/doku.php?id=countries:khm

Sam, S.A. 2010. “Preserving a Cultural Tradition: Ten Years After the Khmer Rouge.” Cultural Survival Quarterly, 14–3 Cambodia. https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/preserving-cultural-tradition-ten-years-after-khmer-rouge 

UNESCO. (n.d.). Angkor. UNESCO. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/668/

Wikipedia. (n.d.) "List of World Heritage Sites in Cambodia.” In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 22, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_Cambodia 

Model Curriculum

Cambodian American Studies

Standard(s)

RI.9-10.4 W.9-10.4

Grade(s)

Grade 9 Grade 10