Algeria and Morocco continue to dispute the authorship of culinary dishes, traditional costumes, jewelry, architectural ornaments, as well as musical genres. An organization which recently saw the light of day stands as a bulwark against the appropriation of Algerian heritage.
“Protect Algerian heritage” (PHD). This is the name of a new organization created in Algeria which aims to be the protector of Algerian heritage. “Our mission is to safeguard and promote the rich Algerian culture through innovative and captivating initiatives,” write the authors of the initiative, on the website of this organization. These defenders of Algerian culture intend to “stimulate creativity and consolidate intergenerational links”, celebrate Algerian heritage so that it becomes a “Source of inspiration on a global scale”. PHD aspires “to a world where every person recognizes and celebrates the diversity and richness of our heritage”, while working to “weave robust intercultural links”, in order to promote “mutual understanding” and “respect” between communities .
Read: Zellige at UNESCO: Algeria tries to bypass Morocco
This year, Algeria decided to include zellige on the list of its intangible heritage at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). “This month of April, we submitted the file “Art of architectural ornamentation in zellige: knowledge and skills”, for its registration in the name of Algeria on the representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity with Unesco”, announced in Béjaia Soraya Mouloudji, Minister of Culture and Arts, at the opening of heritage month (April 18-May 18), recalling that her country has “11 intangible elements on the lists of cultural heritage World Heritage” and that a file was submitted in March 2023 for the “classification of traditional dress from eastern Algeria” in the UNESCO list. The “common Arab file relating to henna” which was submitted to the UN organization will be “examined in December 2024”, she specified.
To read: Morocco and Algeria dispute the authorship of the haik
After the attempted Algerian appropriation of the Ntaâ caftan from Fez, Morocco decided in August 2023 to protect its intangible heritage composed of numerous ancestral know-how. “In order to avoid the politicization of certain files relating (heritage registration at UNESCO, Editor’s note) to Moroccan culture, we will put in place internationally recognized legal measures to protect our intangible heritage composed of numerous know-how ancestral,” had explained to Medias24 Mehdi Bensaïd, Minister of Culture, assuring that the safeguards currently being developed are a brake on possible foreign attempts to partially appropriate Moroccan know-how.
