The purpose of this communication is to consider upon the role of the
tangible/intangible heritage consisted by the sacred Houses, rituals and oral
narrations in the contention of the identity of a community in the context of a
post-conflict situation and the way this heritage and practices are articulated
with the new State/Nation of East Timor
Focusing on the last three decades of Timorese history, this analysis will
have as a starting point of discussion a Bunak community whose social
organization is simultaneously an organization for ritual (Traube, 1986). The
role of the sacred Houses will be purposeful targeted because of the challenge
it places concerning the limits of the concept of tangible/intangible heritage, given its double dimension as physical entity and social category, as well as
for its capacity for promoting the social continuity (Friedberg, 1980, Fox,
1993, Waterson, 1990).
The communication is based on ethnographic fieldwork developed during 13
months in the mountains of Bobonaro among a Bunak community, one of the
ethnolinguistics groups of East Timor , throughout the participation in rituals
and the collection of mythological narrations.
The results allow to evaluate critically the notion of tangible/intangible
heritage that prevails towards East Timor and to launch proposals of
approach to this subject centred in the role its main protagonists, its own
inhabitants, must have in the decisions concerning the future of their
cultural/social heritage in the new State/Nation.