Lowthorp, LeahTravers, Benjamin2022-10-042022-10-042022-10-04https://hdl.handle.net/1794/27611In this work I chart the past forty years of efforts towards developing international policy for the protection of cultural property. I do so by firstly examining the 1982 Model Provisions on National Laws for the Protection of Expressions of Folklore Against Illicit Exploitation and Other Prejudicial Actions, and then, secondly, I consider the current state of negotiations within the Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). I also give significant attention the Eurocentric disposition of the global intellectual property regime and argue that the international IP regulatory system is a colonial apparatus and a potent modernizing technology of the West. I propose that there has been little meaningful progress in international forums to develop protective mechanisms over the past forty years and that, in light of this failure, resources and collective efforts must be reallocated accordingly towards alternative means of safeguarding cultural production and recognizing non-Western modalities of authorship and property.en-USAll Rights Reserved.DecolonizationFolkloreHeritagePropertyUNESCOWIPOElectronic Thesis or Dissertation