Local Responses to Climate Change Impact on Intangible Cultural Heritage in Poland

Abstract

Tradition and intangible cultural heritage help local communities cope with the uncertainty through familiar and repetitive actions. What if it all depends on variable and unstable factors? This paper presents an anthropological approach to the impact of climate change on local practices towards intangible cultural heritage based on human-environment interactions. The author presents early results of an ongoing research project. By drawing on ethnographic data, this article explores the implications of declining snow resources, alterations in the vegetation cycle and hydrological drought on the traditions of winter horse-drawn carriage races, Corpus Christi flower carpets and wickerwork. Based on the notions of ethnoclimatology and anthropology of weather, the text draws attention to local perceptions of climate change and potential methods of safeguarding tradition in times of uncertainty. It serves as an outline of a possible way of thinking about the relationship between climate change and intangible cultural heritage.

Keywords

• Ethnoclimatology
• climate ethnography
• anthropology of weather
• intangible cultural heritage