ABSTRACT
The Festival du Djennéry held in February 2005 presented itself as an opportunity to work with a small group of people on the preparation and execution of a cultural festival in Djenné. I had previously come across many of the organisers in relation to other parts of my research, many of whom I had identified as belonging to the “heritage elite.” They joined others whom I had not previously met, who worked for the Mairie and were consequently part of the political elite of Djenné. I was particularly interested in becoming involved, because this festival was to be the first one to be held in Djenné (apart from a small-scale event organised by Djenné Patrimoine in 2002 to celebrate the new year 1 ). It gave me an opportunity to see how the festival was being conceptualised and executed from beginning to end. It also allowed me to measure the impact on the local community, note participation, and examine networks of communication about cultural heritage. And it was most interesting that the festival brought together all the different factions within Djenné's heritage landscape, described in the previous chapters. Additionally, the festival provided me with a case study of the kind of intangible heritage of increasing interest to UNESCO (“festivals” is one of the subcategories within the Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage).
