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Contested Space & Clashing Ideas. TRMT 396 Lecture #2. Dan McDonald. A sea of theory ^^^^^^^^^^^^. Mediated Encounters. Tourists seek authenticity amidst anomie (Durkheim) Dialectic created on the production of ‘locality’
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Contested Space & Clashing Ideas TRMT 396 Lecture #2 Dan McDonald
Mediated Encounters • Tourists seek authenticity amidst anomie (Durkheim) • Dialectic created on the production of ‘locality’ • “Double framing’ occurs to separate /protect local lifeways (misinformation, satire, psychological distancing) • Tourists aware of this ‘backstage’ and desire it • Irony …↑ secrecy = ↑ attraction Harkin, 2003
Means of Mediation • Construction of a “Performance Space” • Retain integrity but meet demand • Museums & Cultural Centres • Strategic shaping of the message – using cultural symbols for contemporary political arguments • Stereotype & received history corrective Harkin, 2003
Why Museums? Historically, museums have defined what is “Aboriginal Art” what is “Artifact:” and what is “Traditional” Anderson, 2009
Hegemony in play • Power of the Tourist culture can allow for a hegemonic construction of the host • Tourist channeled to dichotomize into Self and ‘Other’ (Foucault) • Indigenous needs only visible in the exchange based on tourist needs for authenticity • Tourists destinations as places for viewing rather than interaction • Conforming to Expectation Tourists? Wearing & Darcy, 2011
Hybridity • There is no unity or fixity to host cultures (Bhahba) • Signs can be appropriated, translated, re-historicized, and read anew • Difference without inferiorization and identity fixity • Implies a two-way flow of cultural material & ideas • Creation of a ‘Third Space’
The Importance of Stories • Connerton (1989) • Collective Memories of a people • Experience of the present depends of the knowledge of the past • Stories legitimate a social order • Said (1994) • “nations are stories” • The power to narrate is central to a culture • Control of Stories and memories= Power
Pushing out a bounded space • “Incanismo” in Peru (Hill, 2007) • Land claims and modern treaty environment in Canada • Treaty of Waitangi reassertion • “La Ruta Maya” and the rise of nationalism • Successful economic transformation (e.g. tourism) based on sovereignty (The Harvard Project)
Questioning the Aboriginal in Aboriginal Tourism? • Identity a contested space • World Council of Indigenous Peoples (1974-1996) • Descendants of inhabitants at time of colonization • Non-dominant in society • Residents of the 4th World (Manuel) • UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (to present) • Historical continuity • Butler & Hinch • Self-identify & others see as distinct • Different linguistic identity • Traditions distinct & desire to remain so • Traditional systems of production • Unique ties to territory & resources
Delimiting Aboriginal Tourism • Smith’s 4 H’s • Habitat • Heritage • History • Handicrafts • Majority Aboriginal owned and controlled plus sufficient cultural content that is culturally appropriate and recognized by the originators of that culture (ATBC) pre absent Butler & Hinch, 2007
Concluding Thoughts • Expectation can lead to ‘Cultural Triage’ • Are dichotomy & differentiation necessary in tourism? • What is the relationship between hybridity, globalization and differentiation? • Shifting story can create space • What is sufficient cultural content?
Additional Sources • Anderson, A. (2009). Reclaiming our Vision: Aboriginal People in the Performing Arts. [Powerpoint slides] October 26th lecture. • Connerton, . (1989). How Societies Remember. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. • Michael D. Hill (2007): Contesting Patrimony: Cusco's Mystical Tourist Industry and the Politics of Incanismo , Ethnos, 72:4, 433-460 • Said, E. (1994). Culture and Imperialism. New York, NY: Vintage Books. • The Harvard Project. Retrieved from http://hpaied.org/