Rules of engagement at intangible cultural heritage events

As intangible cultural heritage ecosystems become increasingly pluralised it is important to consider the behavioural and social norms, cues, and considerations that govern their interactions in order to maintain good social relations and to ensure desired opportunities for greater participation are not lost. In this chapter, the authors analyse how outsiders navigate their behaviour and the nature of their participation (or not) in the case study events. While having much in common with any intercultural interaction, the illusion of normativity – of shared habitus intersecting with an unfamiliar one – makes the need to navigate at all less clear-cut. For an ‘outsider’ entering a space that is not theirs, there is a balancing act in identifying which behaviours they should adopt and which they should not, to avoid cultural appropriation, getting in the way, or acting inappropriately. While the stakes of each micro-encounter may be low, there are potentially larger implications for good social relations given the impact of negative or positive intergroup contact on social cohesion. Behavioural norms are locally contingent and often non-transferable between even seemingly similar events, and the outsider wishing to navigate appropriately must be aware of their positionality and ready to act accordingly.