New publication by Alisa Santikarn: Cultural wisdom: lateral universalism and the untranslatability of ‘intangible cultural heritage’ in Thailand

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new research article by our colleague Alisa Santikarn, titled “Cultural wisdom: lateral universalism and the untranslatability of ‘intangible cultural heritage’ in Thailand”, published online in the International Journal of Heritage Studies.

In this article, Santikarn engages critically with the concept of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) as defined by the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. She examines how the term continues to be contested, particularly in relation to questions of translation, equivalence, and cultural specificity.

Focusing on Thailand as a case study, the article explores the country’s adoption of two parallel translations of ICH – one aligned with UNESCO discourse and another embedded in national cultural frameworks. This dual usage reveals how translation practices shape not only terminology, but also the conceptualisation of heritage itself.

Drawing on the concepts of untranslatability and universalism, Santikarn argues that UNESCO’s framework tends toward a singular and reductive form of universalism. In contrast, she proposes “lateral universalism” as an alternative approach – one that acknowledges multiple, situated understandings of heritage without reducing them to a single global definition.

The article ultimately highlights how translation can reveal the multiplicity of meanings embedded in ICH, and calls for approaches that better account for cultural and epistemological diversity.

📄 Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2026.2654852