Author(s)

Ashlynn Wang ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ School of Media and Communications, Cultural Management, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China

Corresponding Author

Ashlynn Wang

ABSTRACT

This paper utilizes Toronto's West Queen West shopping strip as a case study to uncover the importance of a seemingly mundane area to the local community and why local shopping streets should be considered grounds for intangible cultural heritage production. Building upon previous research done on intangible cultural heritage of local shopping streets, this paper uses personal interviews, observations, and data collection to analyze three ways in which local shopping streets shape local intangible cultural heritage: 1) aesthetics, 2) collective memory, and 3) the urban village model. This paper suggests the three proposed ways exclude the necessary element of transmission of intangible culture; thus, the element of transmission through the concept of "safeguarding, without freezing" should be included as the fourth way local shopping streets develop and shape intangible cultural heritage. The combination of these four elements not only secure local shopping streets as producers of intangible cultural heritage but also serves as criteria to determine whether a local shopping street is one that requires protection.

KEYWORDS

Intangible Cultural Heritage, Toronto, Local Identity, Safeguarding, UNESCO

CITE THIS PAPER

Ashlynn Wang, Intangible Cultural Heritage in Local Shopping Streets: Toronto's West Queen West. Journal of Sociology and Ethnology (2024) Vol. 6: 1-11. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/jsoce.2024.060101.

REFERENCES

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