Berlin techno goes intangible cultural heritage: Modern music, the cultural appropriation debate, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

Abstract

This paper argues that cultural appropriation can – but does not always – constitute a human rights incompatibility precluding a classification as intangible cultural heritage (ICH) pursuant to Art. 2(1) Sentence 3 of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (CSICH). To set up this argument, the paper first addresses whether and in how far the human rights compatibility test is exercised in the realm of the CSICH. Subsequently, it seeks to analyse whether cultural appropriation violates that test. To this end, the paper first develops an understanding of cultural appropriation informed by insights ranging from philosophy to anthropology. It then raises the question in how far cultural appropriation and protection therefrom is covered by the IHRL canon, most importantly the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Using Berlin Techno as an example, the aim of this contribution is to reveal the limits of cultural appropriation in the legal field and to initiate a legally sound discussion on the relationship between culture, appropriation, and human rights that has thus far been absent.