LE CARNAVAL D’ALOST (BELGIQUE) : Anthropologie d’une régression patrimoniale

The article examines the decision taken by the UNESCO to withdraw the Aalst Carnival (Belgium) from the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity due to antisemitism. By combining the consultation of administrative documentation, the study of online comments in the form of a “netnography”, and the analysis of classical anthropological sources concerning traditional carnivals, the article focuses on the interdependent problems of political correctness and popular sovereignty. By explaining the ways the UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage works, the article critically questions some current issues around cultural heritage, between institutionalization and populism.