“Cultural Diversity” at UNESCO: A Trajectory

Abstract

This chapter combines the experience of the lead author, Galia Saouma, who writes as a practitioner, and the more academic perspectives of the second author, Yudhishthir Isar, who has had a foot in both camps. The first served as the Secretary of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity, from its entry into force in 2007 until the end of 2011, after a long professional career as an international civil servant in the cultural department of UNESCO. The second author was also a cultural official of that organization for almost three decades, but has been an academic analyst and independent cultural policy advisor since 2002. Both authors draw upon their previous praxis yet also stand back from it analytically, as they trace the itinerary of the term “cultural diversity” in UNESCO.