Inventories and participation

This article aims to comparatively analyze the protection of intangible cultural heritage in France and Italy. It focuses on national public policies and legal frameworks in the field of inventories and participation of groups, communities and individuals. It seeks to demonstrate that the sectoral fragmentation of inventories, as occurs in Italy, undermines the effective guarantee of a broad community-based participation, taking direct effect in its governance. The article is grounded on the field of comparative public law, falling within a functional-structural perspective, and is divided into three parts: I – The UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of ICH; II – Inventory and participation: between text and context; III – Two models of inventories, two models of participation: comparing the experiences of Italy and France in safeguarding ICH.