National Museums: Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage

National Museums: Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage Role of Bangladesh National Museum to Safeguard Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Review Bangladesh National Museum Abstract This paper aims to investigate the role of Bangladesh National Museum to safeguard intangible cultural heritage which is considered as the fundamental of tangible culture. Unfortunately, for the contentious impact of modernization, our intangible cultural heritages are under serious threat to its existence which is very alarming for us because if we fail to preserve our intangible cultural heritage, we will lose our entity as a distinctive nation in the map of the world. National Museum as a pioneer organization of the government play effective role to safeguard intangible cultural heritage in many ways. Introduction: The cultural heritage of Bangladesh is very rich and historically highly regarded by the world community as it has uniqueness and specialities which are very distinct in character. This heritage includes both tangible and intangible cultures. From the primitive age to the present day Bangladesh is an arable soil of intangible cultural heritage like song, rituals, tradition, dance, performing art, festive, games, cuisine, folktales and architecture.etc and these intangible heritages have significant influence on the way of life of the people which makes Bangladeshi people distinct from other nations. It should be mentioned that the tangible culture of Bangladesh is very uniquely unique like craft, different type of objects and all antiquities. Bangladesh National Museum has started its journey in 1913 as Dhaka Museum. Dhaka Museum was located at Nimtoli Baro Duari area of Dhaka with two rooms. Eventually, Dhaka Museum transformed upgraded as Bangladesh National Museum in 1983 and shifted to present building at Shahbag. Bangladesh National Museum has a collection of near 86 thousand antiquities. As a wing of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Namtional Museum is playing vaital role to preserve tangible and intangible heritage of the country and portraying rich, positive and bright image in front of the world community. On August 7, 2013 Bangladesh National Museum celebrated its 100 years of establishment. In its long journey, it has taken many milestone initiatives to safeguard intangible cultural heritages. 1.1 Methodology Both primary and secondary data have been used to prepare this paper. Primary data were collected from the interview and discussion of the Bangladesh National Museum staffs. And secondary data were collected from different books, journals and articles. What is Intangible Cultural Heritage? When sociologists talk about culture, they are more interested about the features of society which are learnt rather than inherited and these features help members of the society to co-operate and communicate with each other which facilitate them to create common platform to survive in a society. Culture consists of both intangible aspects and tangible aspects. Intangible aspects include belief, ideas, values and tangible aspect includes the objects, symbols and technologies which correspond to that aspect (Giddens, 2001). Culture comes from the Latin word ‘colere’ means ‘to cultivate’ to ‘to till the soil’. Smelse (1993) defined culture as ‘a set of values, views of reality, and codes of behavior, held in common people who share a distinctive way of life’. Schaefer (2006) identified culture as ‘ totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior’. Giddens (2001) has given a bro ader view about culture .He says that culture refers to the ways of life of the members of the society, or of groups within a society. Ways of life of the members of the society or group consist of tangible and intangible culture. Intangible culture can not be touched which is opposite to the tangible. Intangible culture includes song, music, drama, skills, and others. Basic Texts of the 2003 convention for the safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage defined Intangible Cultural Heritage in page page-5 as ‘†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills-as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts, and cultural spaces associated therewith-that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly related by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.’ ‘†¦..the intangible Cultural Heritage, as defined above, is manifested inter alia the following domains: Oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangiable cultural heritage; Performing arts; Social practices, rituals and festive events; Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; Traditional craftsmanship†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..’ Why should Intangible Culture be safeguarded? Basic Texts of the 2003 convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage defined ‘Safeguarding’ in page page-6 as ‘†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..‘Safeguarding’ means measures aimed at ensuring the viability of the intangible cultural heritage, including the identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, transmission, particularly through formal and informal education, as well as the revitalization of the various aspect of such heritage†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..’ It is indeed very important to safeguard intangible cultural heritage like tangible cultural heritage. In fact, intangible cultural heritage is treated as the foundation of tangible cultural heritage. If we do not take appropriate measure to safeguard intangible cultural heritage, it will be very difficult for us to preserve and cherish our culture. Westernization, Americanization, Indianization, Urbanization, industrialization and above all because of the impact of the globalization our norms, values and rituals are changing and many of our folkways, morse and folk culture are disappearing and some are losing distinctiveness. Because of the information technology and media, foreign culture is becoming a part of our culture and influencing our life in many ways. To exist as an ethnic group and as a nation it is really essential to safeguard our intangible which is considered as the manufacturing element of tangible culture. To safeguard intangible cultural heritage public awareness, collective endeavors of local community and government organization and appropriate laws are needed. Some specific steps should be taken;; Identification of intangible cultural heritage, preparation of inventory and introduction of awareness programme (UNESCO, 2012). Role of Bangladesh National Museum in Preserving Cultural Heritage 4.1 The Oral History of Bangladesh Bangladesh is a land of poets, novelists, intellectuals, politicians, artists and journalist who immensely contributed and, in fact, are contributing to the socio-cultural development of the country and without this contribution society cannot be progressive or as a nation we could not be able to identify as an enlightened nation. Henceforth, in 1985 Bangladesh national Museum has taken a landmark initiative to interview eminent personalities of different fields in audio format and US Ford Foundation was kind enough to finance the project considering the importance and need which eventually helped enrich the collection of Bangladesh National Museum and opened an opportunity for the new generation to know about their distinguished predecessors and their views and philosophy of life and the society as a whole. The project title was ‘The Oral History of Bangladesh’. Under this project, Bangladesh National Museum was able to interview 100 eminent personalities including Abu Jafar Shamsuddin, Justice Abdus Sattar, journalist Md. Nasir Uddin, Poet Sufia Kamal, writer Monsur Uddin, Mokhlesur Rahman (shidhu mia), Basonti Guha Thakurota, Doc. Ahashanul Haque, with two different views firstly, to preserve the biography of those persons and secondly, to bring out socio-cultural, political and economic condition of the country of that time through their interviews. It was expected that this audio archive would able to work as a store house of knowledge for many research and references in future. Understanding the reality and significance, Bangladesh National Museum has taken further initiative to publish a book converting the audios named ‘A Hand Book of Oral History’ in English which is stored in the library of the museum and accessible for the people in large(Bangladesh National Museum, 1992). Keeping that success in mind and realizing the importance, national museum authority has initiated second phase of the project from 2012 where another 100 persons are enlisted to be interviewed and it would be recorded in video format and a book will be published in due course. This project is running successfully and ten interviews are already recoded. Professor Shordar Fajlul Karim, Mostofa Nurul Islam, Professor Shalauddin and Nurjahan Begum remarkable are among them. 4.2 Cultural Heritage of Districts Another notable step in respect of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage taken by Bangladesh national Museum was the making of video documentary of few districts which have historical heritage and are famous for rich culture. The districts are Rajbari, Mymensingh, Panchagor, Dinajpur, Rajshahi, Thakurgaon, Naogaon, Cumilla, Chittagong, Kushtia, Bhola, Pirojpur, Coxes Bazar, Bandorbon, Netrokona, Tangail, Jinaidaha and Bhola. The initiative was made in the year 1993. Three different steps were taken to complete the package. Firstly, all the historical places were recorded in video format and narration was added later on, secondly, with the help of the District Commissioner office a fair was organized and recorded accordingly to demonstrate the festive mode of Bangladeshi culture and its inner artifacts and folk song, Ghetu gan, lati khela, palagan, putulnach, snake-charming were included in the fair as well, thirdly, interview of the local eminent persons were recorded as witness statements to bring our the history, culture and tradition more authentically. It should be mentioned here that many historical places were comprehensively covered under this project like pirojpur kumar para, sundorbon, Monpura in Bhola district (Floating area), kantojirmondir in Dinajpur, Kusumba mosque in Naogaon, laloner mazar in Kustia, moynamoti in Comilla, paharpur bihar in Rajshahi including local famous mosques and temples. 4.3 Gramophone Record of famous Singers Bangladesh National Museum as a catalyst to preserve national history and heritage owns 123 gramophone record of many famous singers of Bangladesh which is not only significant in the history of Bangladeshi music but also reference source for future research. The records include the song of Abbasuddin, Kanon Devi, Komoldas Gupto, Shochin Dev Bormon, Baul Song etc. 4.4 Documentary on Liberation War In the year 1996 December, seven days long Reminiscence Programme on Liberation War was organized by Bangladesh National Museum. Seven different groups of people shared their memories of Liberation War and it was recorded in video format and the groups were constituted with Civil Freedom Fighter, Politicians, Cultural Personalities, Journalists and Artists, Administrative Officer of the Mujib Nagar Government, representative of Military, Para- Military and Police, family members of the Intellectual Martyrs and members of the Shadin Bangla Beter Kandro. The video documentary is preserved in Bangladesh National Museum as one of the valued documents of Liberation War with versatile information. 4.5 Documentary on Shitol Pati and Rickshaw Painting Documentary on Shitol Pati and Rickshaw Painting was made in the year 1999. A team from Bangladesh National Museum went to Balagonj of Sylhet district which is famous for Shitol Pati and made a documentary on that. All the steps of Shitol pati fabrication was recorded, starting from cane collection to weaving. National Museum officials also went to Rayer Bazar of Dhaka which is a famous place for Rickshaw Painting to record the technique of Rickshaw Painting which is considered as colorful folk paint. 4.6 Celebration of Bangla New Year Bangladesh National Museum takes initiative to celebrate Bangla New Year every year and fair and cultural programme performed by folk artist are organized as part of the celebration. In New Year fair different stalls are positioned with Pittha, handicrafts, pottery, dolls, local home decor, local musical instruments and others. Performers and singers from all over the country are invited in the New Year cultural fair. Concerned department of Bangladesh National Museum gives profound efforts to bring the artists from different parts of the country targeting those types of artists who have unique ability to perform folk song which are under serious threat of the influence of so called modern song. Our indigenous songs like Baul, Lalon, Vatiary, Jari, Sari and Pala are performed by the artist which create the interest among the spectators and give them opportunity to reiterate their love to the indigenous song. This initiative of Bangladesh National Museum should be considered as a perf ect inventiveness to transmit and promote indigenous song in a turbulent cultural atmosphere. 4.7. Exhibition of Traditional folk craft: Every year Bangladesh National Museum arranges an exhibition on our traditional craft. Here they exhibit the process of craft, like jamdani weaving, Shitol pati weaving, pottery making , tribal cloth weaving, Shola crafts, metal crafts etc. Every year Bangladesh National Museum arranges this exhibition to encourage the folk artists and also speared out this knowledge our new generation. Conclusion From the above discussion it is clearly understood that a leading organization of Bangladesh Government, National Museum is taking numerous steps to safeguard intangible cultural heritage through research, identification, documentation, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, transmission, particularly through formal and informal approach, as well as the revitalization of the various aspect of such heritage. For some predicaments like insufficient budget, bureaucracy, training and other requirements Museum is unable to extend the limit of its operation in regards to safeguard intangible cultural heritage. If these problems are solved, and if, it can work to its desired level, in future, she could play a very effective role to safeguard intangible cultural heritage which she is doing with lots of pride in the case of tangible cultural heritage. References Bangladesh National Museum (19912) A Hand Book of Oral History. Dhaka: Director General, Bangladesh National Museum Ginnens, Anthony (1997) Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press Smelser, Neil J. (1993) Sociology. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Schaefer, Richard T. (2006) Sociology. New York: McGraw Hill UNESCO (2012) Basic Texts of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. France

Cargo Ship

Unitized Cargo Ship The concept of utilization is not a new one; it was used by the USA army in the second world army war to provide its forces fighting in Europe with weapons and ammunition. Unitization since that time has been used and developed to comprise all modes of maritime transport, as well as air and land transport modes. Definition: Utilization is a grouping together of two or more (Usually of a homogeneous nature) and securing with banding, glue, shrink-wrap, slings or permanent (e. g. lover leaf), to form a unit which, together with a Base (skids, pallets, etc. ) Or a permanent sling allows Mechanical handling equipment (e. g. tynes of a fork Life truck) to lift and transport the unit. In addition, Unitized cargo can aslo be defined as the grouped cargo that is carried aboard a ship in pallets, containers, wheeled vehicles, and barges or lighters. In other words, unitization of cargo is the process of grouping products and loading them onto a pallet once the products are properly packed.In other words, the whole process starts with packaging of products into individual packages before being put into an outer pack before they’re shrinking wrapped and loaded onto a pallet. Advantages of unitization: * Ease of tallying. * Reduced breakage. * Reduced pilferage * Faster speed of working between ship and shore (and on ship or shore). * Reduced labour requirements when handling between interfaces. * May make more effective use of vertical storage space in sheds and holds by stacking 4,5 or 6 units high.Disadvantage of unitization: * Loss of spaces below decks where the ship of the vessel is compatible with the space of the unit. * Loss of spaces caused by the shape of the package beginning unitized, e. g. drums on pallets. * Collapsed or crushed units requires labour intensive efforts to rectify, handle and store. * An element of extra cost involved in the pallet, slings , skids, shrink-wrap, strapping , etc.

Lululemon

Luncheon is poised and well positioned to move to another level in the luxury sports apparel marketplace. While our challenges over the last 18 months have been Impacting, we have maintained profitability and have not lost significant market share. In response, our leadership team conducted environmental and organizational scans over the last 30 days. From these scans, we have identified some future strategic opportunities and challenges that when addressed, will set us up to become the #1 sports luxury apparel brand in the world.We will continue our innovation by Introducing new products lines; there is a great opportunity for us to expand Into a children's line. Another opportunity for Luncheon Is to Investigate new channel strategies In diversification of sales revenues. In tandem with these opportunities, we urgently need to address several threats inclusive of diversifying our supply chain and improving public relations to resonate our core values and brand.Our environmental sca n included a macro trends report, examination of our industry/ competition, and a comprehensive review of our stakeholders' needs and expectations. Significant macro trends worth noting Include: sustained popularity of yoga fitness for the near term, continued growth in online sales, and sustained usage of social media (with women representing a disproportionately large amount of users engaging our brand). Due to the use of petroleum and cotton products, material and labor costs for Luncheon can sometimes be unpredictable based on fluctuations in these commodity markets.Our Industry analysis Indicates that the sports apparel brand Is a $106 billion dollar Industry with the two biggest players only owning 14 recent of the market share, [See Financial Analysis Slide]. We are the top ranked premium sports apparel organization and the 5th highest ranking organization overall. Our suppliers are more than suppliers; they are partners, [See Industry/ Competitive Analysis Slide]. Our collab orative relationship with our suppliers helps us create some of the most innovative products in the market.Supplier issues with materials and manufacturing have posed an ongoing issue due to various recalls creating a drop In company stock price, which In turn, has raised concerns with dockworkers, [See stakeholder Analysis slide]. These problems have caused Luncheon to face intense scrutiny in the market and media, which eventually resulted in negative Public Relations related issues. The inability for the Public Relations department to thwart such incidents has impacted the overall product brand within the market place.With that said, the financial health of the company Is good. Net revenue for the fiscal year 2013 Increased 16% to $1. 6 billion from $1. 4 billion In fiscal 2012. The company ended with $698,649,000 cash on hand, enough to fund its operating activities. Our operational support reveals Luncheon customer satisfaction remains high despite recent and ongoing manufactur ing issues, [See Stakeholder Analysis Slide]. We possess a loyal customer base and have recently moved all of our stores from the franchise model to being ran internally to maximize on our culture.From this environmental scan, we were able to conduct a comprehensive and In-depth Internal analysis to determine how well prepared we included an operational health report, a financial report, and a review of our culture. The current organization is structured so that there is an opportunity for open immunization throughout the business, while wellness programs create high employee satisfaction. Since our inception, our culture has been about creating components for people to live long, healthy, and fun lives.This culture permeates through our employees, our in-store experience, and of course our customer base. We believe in support of the communities in which we are a part by creating various festivals, retreats and continually focusing on sustainability. Overall, our internal report sho ws we are poised for growth and have the tools to take advantage of our opportunities while meeting our challenges head on. Luncheon is the leader in luxury sports apparel. In order for us to stay the premier luxury sports apparel provider, we have to make sure we keep our core competencies aligned.Our core competencies are defined as follows: 1 . Developing innovative luxury designs, 2. Grass roots marketing, 3. Creating a motivated workforce, 4. Creating a second to none positive customer experience. Our four recommendations outlined in the beginning of the memo align perfectly with these core competencies, and our reports show we have the ability to achieve success in each area. Developing new product lines, especially focusing on a line for the youth, will assure we stay diversified.In developing these lines we can start to diversify our suppliers by finding other markets in which to partner. Currently our depth in suppliers is large, however, the diversity is nominal. Our suppl iers are primarily concentrated in one region, Asia-Pacific, leaving us susceptible to natural disasters, border wars, and other issues that can affect production, [See Stakeholder Analysis Slide]. Creating additional channels of sales will work to enhance our second to none customer experience.Working with luxury hotels and other recognizable high end partners known for great customer service will also help with our grass roots marketing along with increasing our positive public relations presence. Also, by controlling our public relations and placing an increased emphasis on it, we will be able to better position our image and brand for lasting resonance in the marketplace. We are excited for Luncheon and look forward to partnering with you on implementing these four strategic objectives that will propel our great organization to another level.

The Study of Archaeology Essay examples - 1056 Words

According to The Society for American Archaeology, the definition of Archaeology is, â€Å"to obtain a chronology of the past, a sequence of events and dates that, in a sense, is a backward extension of history.† The study of ancient civilizations and archaeology is rather ambiguous due to the primitive nature of the time period. With little imagery and even less textual evidence, professionals in the field must work diligently when studying their subjects. Naturally, archaeologists cannot see or communicate with those whom they are studying, so they must be extraordinarily meticulous when analyzing past cultures. This relates to all aspects of the ancient world including; foods, raw materials, artifacts, agriculture, art work and pottery. All†¦show more content†¦For example, if weather patterns change this leads to the scarcity of plants or wildlife essential for larger species which may in turn lead to the migration or death of humans and other animals. We are actu ally seeing this domino effect now in our current environment as global warming escalates. Future archaeologists will see the ramifications of this current dramatic climate change A pivotal example of the effect of a severe climate change is evidenced by the collapse of the ancient Mycenaeans. Most known in the late 1960s as an archaeologist and art historian, Rhys Carpenter determined that the environment was a likely culprit in the fall of this lost civilization. Carpenter believed one of the biggest hurdles the Mycenaean civilization faced was drought. Based on his findings Carpenter concluded that drought resulted in crop failure, disease, revolution, as well as migration. Philosophers Plato and Aristotle also made significant contributions to the discussion on environment. Both writers make note of changes in forestation and water. Aristotle noted changes in fertile soil as well as hydrology and fertility. 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