The Preservation and Transmission of Intangible Cultural Heritage"Mamu"in Liangshan through the Lens of Social Memory
Generally speaking,the protection and transmission of intangible cultural heritage em-phasize the concept of"living,"particularly con-cerning the integration of such heritage into con-temporary social life.In this context,"Mamu,"a traditional oral type of literature of the Yi people in Liangshan,was recognized as part of the fourth batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2014.Despite this official designation,this study finds that the protection and inheritance of"Mamu"are still facing a lot of challenges since its inclusion on the heritage list.Originating over a millennium ago,"Mamu,"often referred to as the"Three-character scripture,"has been serving as a comprehensive narrative of the Yi people's social history,hierarchical relations,ideological beliefs,ethics,customs,and traditions,passed down oral-ly from generation to generation.What is more,field investigations reveal that"Mamu"has the at-tribute of social memory,suggesting a brand-new framework for discussing the protection and inherit-ance of intangible cultural heritage from the per-spective of social memory.This article thus indi-cates that the protection and transmission of"Mamu"can be carried out in two dimensions:Embodied practice and the practice of writing.The embodied practice of"Mamu"apparently manifests itself in the traditional and ceremonial lives of the Yi people,while the written practice mainly en-compasses various versions of"Mamu".In the Yi people's daily life embodied prac-tices,"Mamu"seems to incorporate memory ele-ments,such as age,agricultural and pastoral pro-duction,kinship,marriage,geography,social sta-tus,and hierarchy.These different memory ele-ments,moreover,evidently correspond to different memory fields,where numerous memory memes coalesce to form cohesive memory components maintained within their respective domains.Re-sults further demonstrate that the transmission of"Mamu"occurs through three primary modes:The first is vertical transmission from parents to chil-dren within families;the second kind is lateral transmission among relatives,such as uncles and nephews within family branches;the third kind is horizontal transmission across peer groups,encom-passing entire family branches or broader social networks of the Yi.In the embodied practice of rit-ual life,the maintenance and transmission of"Mamu"are predominantly expressed through marriage and mediation ceremonies,where narra-tives are conveyed compellingly through indigenous"rap"performances,enhancing emotional reso-nance and comprehension.This meme transmission of ritual life mainly involves one-to-many and man-y-to-many models;the practice of writing of"Mamu",however,is primarily done through woodcuts,manuscripts,inscriptions,Yi-Chinese bilingual editions,and Yi-Chinese-English bilin-gual editions.To sum up,the embodied practice of"Mamu"ostensibly has been expressing and trans-mitting information through daily and ritual life,while the written practice of"Mamu"has been capturing and preserving this information through various documentation methods.This dual process of keeping and transferring the memes of"Mamu"in the field of social memory has demonstrated to be an effective way of protecting and passing on the"Mamu".To foster a"living"preservation and transmission of intangible cultural heritage,it is essential to engage deeply with communities to gather valuable firsthand information,thereby ex-ploring more research perspectives to open a living way of safeguarding such intangible cultural herit-age.
intangible cultural heritagepro-tection and inheritancesocial memory"Mamu"of the Yi in Liangshan
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