From revolutionary heroism to cultural heritage: museums,memory and representation in Laos

ABSTRACT. Museum exhibitions in Laos represent two main strands of Lao national identity discourse. First, they glorify the ‘liberation struggle’ of the so‐called ‘Lao multiethnic people’ under the leadership of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, and therefore serve as important ideological tools for the current regime's self‐legitimisation. Second, they display the history and cultural heritage of the Lao nation, providing the postcolonial state with a narrative of historical continuity and civilisation that is focused mostly on the dominant ethnic Lao culture. This article explores the contradictions within official images of the Lao nation‐state and how these opposing strands of national identity compete or interact. Museums as key arenas of ideological tensions constitute illuminating fields of research on discourses of national identity in Laos.     

Mediterranean heritage: ancient marvel,modern millstone

ABSTRACT. The wealth, variety and seaborne accessibility of Mediterranean societies since late prehistory have made the region's cultural heritage the world's most widely acclaimed. But since the fall of the Roman Empire the Mediterranean has been increasingly disadvantaged, its history compromised, its legacy beleaguered. Two millennia of invasion and rapine, religious vendetta, foreign conquest, imperial dominion and colonial subjugation have left Mediterranean peoples with fewer resources and weaker infrastructures than those of transalpine and transatlantic nation‐states. The consequences for the care and control of Mediterranean heritage are parlous. That heritage is both the region's self‐defining pride and its economic mainstay, yet a crippling burden to protect and maintain, let alone to interpret and celebrate. It is everywhere beset by natural and human attrition. Weathering and erosion, illicit excavation and pillage, tomb robbery and the international antiquities market exact tolls that legal codes and police forces are all but impotent to stem. Recent social and political trends suggest potential remedies for some of these dilemmas.     

Confronting Caribbean heritage in an archipelago of diversity: Politics,stakeholders, climate change,natural disasters,tourism, and development

Abstract

The Caribbean archipelago is a series of independent island nations and overseas departments, territories, colonies, or commonwealths of developed countries. About 250 generations of human occupation in the Caribbean have produced a blend of traditions sometimes called a “cultural kaleidoscope.” Eight thousand years of shifting cultural identities are recorded in archaeological, architectural, documentary, and ecological records, and in memories and oral traditions known as “heritagescapes.” Caribbean heritagescapes are increasingly threatened by a combination of socioeconomic needs of modern society, ineffective governmental oversight, profit-driven multinational corporations, looters, and natural environmental processes. Balancing the needs of society against the protection and management of heritage requires careful thought and measured dialogue among competing stakeholders. Here we review the status of heritage in the Caribbean and offer a way forward in managing a diminishing supply of heritage resources in the face of current socioeconomic demands, and the unique legislative environments of independent island nations and overseas possessions of developed countries.     

Tourism geography research in China: institutional perspectives on community tourism development

The explosive growth of tourism in China since the 1980s has generated attendant interest in tourism research in the country, among researchers both in the mainland and outside. The dialogue between the two communities (domestic and international researchers) is also growing, but is as yet still limited, with insufficient contributions from Chinese mainland tourism researchers to the international academic world. China provides a rich field for examining the cultural, social and institutional context in which tourism develops. Recent studies of village-based community tourism development in China, with an emphasis on institutional perspectives, provide some insight on the dynamic and complex changes of rural communities along with tourism development. In general, these papers show that village participation in decision making is growing, although examples of disempowerment are as rife as those of growing empowerment. Contested resources are one of the most influential factors in this struggle, along with the rapid growth of tourism that the country has experienced since the 1980s. The papers in this special collection also demonstrate the distinct character of domestic tourism research in China, which engages the rich body of literature published in Chinese, but is generally less connected to broader international debates in the predominantly Anglo-American English publishing realm.     

态度与价值:遗产旅游体验模式探析——以苏州平江历史文化街区为例

"遗产资本化"(Heritagization)是遗产被用于实现特定目标的社会进程,是遗产旅游的核心,遗产旅游开发是遗产资本化的当代形式,遗产旅游开发的直接目标即向公众提供真实性的遗产体验。本文结合苏州平江历史文化街区的旅游产品开发案例,根据对社交媒体(Social Media)中旅游博客(Blog)原创文本的内容分析(Content Analysis,CA)和语义网络分析(Semantic Network Analysis,SNA),挖掘旅游者对案例遗产旅游地的个人态度和价值认知情况,进而提出一个由旅游者对遗产的个人态度及其遗产价值认知所构成的遗产旅游体验开发框架,勾勒出文化遗产旅游开发的战略导向。     

Post-colonial heritage conservation in Africa: perspectives from drystone wall restorations at Khami World Heritage site,Zimbabwe

Abstract

Before colonialism, heritage sites such as Khami were considered resting places for ancestors, valued more for the spirit of place than their monumentality. In this context, local custodians hardly intervened with the fabric of the site. With the introduction of modern conservation principles, which persist to this day, vegetation control and wall restorations became part of routine conservation measures. This paper discusses drystone wall restorations carried out at Khami between 2000 and 2015 focusing on the disjuncture between indigenous and local concepts of heritage, concerned with access and preserving the spirit of ancestors, and ‘western’ principles of restoration. It argues that while ignoring the structural disintegration of Khami would have resulted in possible delisting from the World Heritage List, the ‘neglect’ which Khami experienced was in tandem with its local social context; being a resting place for ancestors. While the reconstructions interfered with an acceptable physical context of local beliefs, restorations maintained the integrity of the site as a tourist destination with positive local economic benefits. Although compromises are by their nature unsatisfactory, modern heritage conservation in Africa must adapt and improvise to achieve a mix of local and international practices to reflect changed and changing realities.     

Preservation between empire,nation and nationalisms: the problem of history and heritage in India

This article looks at the problematic questions of heritage and history in a postcolonial nation‐state such as India. It looks at the colonial past of the preservation of historical buildings and relates this to the postcolonial history of the use of heritage and history for both nation‐building and also to assert the claims and counterclaims of postcolonial identity politics. The article shows how the state and its bureaucracy historically acquired the right to be the custodian of culture, history and heritage, and it also argues that the state nevertheless was and remains circumscribed by subnational and communitarian claims to heritage and the past.     

我国遗产旅游开发的问题、误区及对策研究 --关于"世遗门票上涨"的思考

超载开发与资金匮乏是困扰我国遗产旅游开发的两大主要问题,也是保护与发展所争论的焦点。北京六大世遗门票上涨事件引发了全国各遗产景区的连锁反应,凸显了我国遗产旅游市场的非理性运作,也揭示了部分开发者对资源与产品的认识误区。本文以此为切入点,从经济学的角度分析了单一的票价调控机制在调节人流和增收资金两方面的局限性,并建议从提高认识、多渠道融资、多手段调节及深化公众参与制度等四方面来探索遗产旅游开发问题的解决之道。     

Valuing an Ancient Palaestra in the Centre of Athens: The Public,the Experts,and Aristotle

Abstract

This paper investigates the values assigned to the archaeological site widely known as ‘Lykeion’ of Aristotle’ — the famous ancient Greek philosopher — by experts and non-experts. The paper revolves around the premise that values should be holistically conceived as both the ‘what’ is valued and the ‘whys’ that drive the ‘whats’. Based on semi-structured interviews and quantitative questionnaires, the diverse values attributed by professionals, such as architects, archaeologists, or conservators, and the wider public will be unveiled. It will be demonstrated that values vary fundamentally not only between experts and non-experts but also within groups of experts. Furthermore, it will be argued that the conduct of in-depth research aimed at exploring experts’ and non-experts’ values and meanings, prior to interventions for the enhancement of any archaeological site, is vital for managing potential tensions and for offering an integrated interpretation strategy.     

Reading,tourism, and geography consumption in literary places

Literature and geography are closely related in the worlds of consumption and mobility, and literature is often used as a resource for the tourism industry. The reading and consumption of literature, therefore, are related to visitation of a real place, and the roles of readers and tourists merge. The case of one literary tourism site, the San Mao Teahouse in the ancient town of Zhouzhuang in China, is selected to explain the complexity of reading and geography consumption in literary tourism. Observations and in-depth interviews were used to collect the data, and then the thematic analysis method was used. The study finds that tourists can also actively participate in the construction of literary places at destinations where relevant texts do not exist. In this kind of literary place, consumption occurs in multiple spaces as a result of tourists’ reading combined with geographical consumption. This study proposes a conceptual framework to analyze the geography consumption of literature in tourist destinations. The results show that the main geography consumption is reflected in three aspects, namely text, reality, and imagination. Based on their previous reading experiences, readers explore both the literary text and the reality. In this process, their imaginations always have an effect. Two distinguishing features have been found: first, through actively reading and decoding literary geography, the readers recreate a new fictionalized reality based on their imaginations. Second, the readers pursue the imaginative process from the real Zhouzhuang back to an imagined place that San Mao wrote about. The study contributes to the current literary geography research field, especially from the perspective of consumption. The study also provides a new perspective on literature in the modern world and practical implications for the design of literary tourist products and literary heritage conservation.     

西方社区旅游概念:误读与反思

本文对西方社区旅游概念在中国的4种误读进行了梳理,包括社区尺度模糊导致参与范围的变形、社区旅游是产品还是理念、参与的目的是否局限于经济利益、受益方应该主要是社区成员还是地方政府.如果中国学者要在社区旅游的理论发展和实践应用方面做出更大的贡献,既要排除以上种种误读的负面影响,也要清醒地认识到西方社区旅游本身在实施过程、适用范围、评价指标等方面存在的局限性.     

Governance and cooperation in Euroregions: border tourism between Spain and Portugal

There are several obstacles to establish tourism governance policies in a border area and to improve the conceptualization of tourism in border territories transcending the transnational level, using territorial delimitation at Euroregional level. At borders, tourism usually works as a strategic policy tool to strengthen the regional image, shape common identity narratives and facilitate interactions, becoming these regions, nowadays, challenges for the actors of the territory, representing a priority area for the application of territorial development strategies at local level and at the level of the European Union itself. A qualitative analysis was based on performed semistructured interviews with key tourism stakeholders. From the interviewee? perspective, cooperation should be achieved through cooperation agreements between the business sector and economic agents to develop natural, cultural and heritage resources.     

Generations,Mobility and Community: Geographies of Three Generations of Greek and Italian Ancestry in Sydney

Geographies of three generations of Greek and Italian ancestry in Sydney totalling 245 000 people in 2001 are identified. A model of community sequences is developed within a conceptual framework of intergenerational spatial, occupational and social absorption. Considerable intra‐ and inter‐generational occupational mobility took place and the third generations showed higher proportions as managers, professionals and associate professionals than persons of Australian ancestry. Second and third generations had occupational profiles which were much closer to the host society than the first generations. Despite occupational mobility, employment, residential and social trends associated with the first generations affected the adult second generations and to an extent the third. Several thousand members of three generations re‐grouped into successive local communities, patronised facilities in core communities, and maintained place identities.     

The Green Frog and Desalination: A Nyungar Metaphor for the (Mis‐)Management of Water Resources,Swan Coastal Plain,Western Australia

ABSTRACT In common with Aboriginal groups around Australia, the indigenous people, or Nyungars, of Perth adopt a holistic attitude towards groundwater resources. Of cultural significance are lakes, springs, soaks and watercourses that feature in Dreamtime creation narratives. Perth is experiencing major water shortages and many Nyungars feel that the degradation of the freshwater supply is a result of mismanagement and unsustainable development by non‐Aboriginal people. Proposals for dealing with the issue are seen as equally out of balance with the natural order of things. Water regulators have much to learn from indigenous Australians about water and environmental management. Although water continues to be central to Nyungar identity, the study on which this article is based found evidence of attenuated knowledge about the Dreaming, with discontinuities evident in the way significance is increasingly being read in everyplace rather than in specific ‘story places’.     

Laser scanning for conservation and research of African cultural heritage sites: the case study of Wonderwerk Cave,South Africa

The ‘African Cultural Heritage and Landscape Database’ project, initiated and directed by the senior author and administered by Aluka (www.aluka.org), is aimed at the creation of a digital library of spatial and non-spatial materials relating to cultural heritage sites in Africa. The archaeological site of Wonderwerk Cave (South Africa) is one of the 19 sites documented to date using laser scanning, conventional survey, digital photogrammetry and 3D modelling. To date, it is one of the few archaeological caves worldwide to be fully scanned. This paper explores the different uses to which the spatial data derived from this cave have been, or will be, put – for historical and educational purposes, scientific research and site conservation and development.     

Vulnerability,resilience, and the adaptive cycle in a crisis-prone tourism community

In light of the growing impact of natural disasters around the globe, the development of sustainable, community-based tourism today requires an understanding of the vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity of communities to manage sudden change. These theories have developed differently over time, and each offers distinct insights and limitations. An analysis of the implications of these three perspectives provides an integrated framework of the time process, structure-agency, and essential meaning that enables an understanding of how communities respond to disasters through three dimensions: (1) sensitivity--stability, (2) maladaptive capacity-recovery, and (3) transformation. In addition, using the theories of vulnerability and resilience along with the adaptive cycle model of change over time, we can reinterpret the four phases of growth, conservation, release, and reorganization as a more logical way of thinking through fluctuation and comprehensiveness. The Shanmei community in Taiwan, following Typhoon Morakot in 2009, provides a case in point. We conducted qualitative research and employed literature reviews, an environmental investigation, observations, and in-depth interviews to gather data and information. The findings indicate that the perspective of exposure in the theory of vulnerability should consider the multiple spatial scale and distinguish socio-economic stability, recovery through social networks, and transformation as sustainable elements of this community-based tourism using the integrated framework of vulnerability and resilience. In the adaptive cycle model, the integration of vulnerability and resilience theory shows that in a tourism landscape in a mountainous area, the cycle between destruction and reproduction becomes more rapid.     

古村落旅游社区居民生活满意度及社区建设研究——以世界文化遗产皖南古村落为例

在市场需求与政府战略双重导向的推动下,古村落正日益发展成为国内重要的旅游地类型。本文以世界文化遗产皖南古村落为案例,通过对调查所得数据采用均值分析、相关分析和矩阵分析等方法,分析了古村落居民的社区生活满意度及其影响因素,提出了未来古村落旅游社区建设的重点和方向。分析结果表明：（1）住房条件、经济收入水平、学校教育、村民参与事务管理状况、社会福利和社会保障等是古村落社区建设与发展中急需改进的因素,也是未来工作中的重点建设方向;（2）村容村貌、道路交通、村内环境卫生、自然环境、基础设施、消防设施、医疗服务等是需要重点维护和完善的因素;（3）物价水平、休闲娱乐设施、就业机会、当地政府工作、公共休闲空间、文体设施等是可以逐步解决的因素;（4）与其他村民的关系处理、购物方便程度、社会治安等是需要不断维护的方面。     

Oaks,tree-rings and wooden cultural heritage: a review of the main characteristics and applications of oak dendrochronology in Europe

We overview the recent development of oak dendrochronology in Europe related to archaeology and art-history. Tree-ring series of European oaks (Quercus robur and Q. petraea) have provided a reliable framework for chronometric dating and reconstruction of past climate and environment. To date, long oak chronologies cover almost the entire Holocene, up to 8480 BC and the network over the entire area in which the two oaks grow is being improved. We present the main characteristics of oak ring series and discuss the latest methodological advances in defining the calendar year in which the tree-rings were formed and in interpreting such dating in terms of the age of a wooden object. Dendrochronology has established itself as a standard dating tool and has been applied in a wide variety of (pre-)historical studies. Archaeological wood, historical buildings, works of art (such as panel paintings and sculptures) have been successfully investigated. Recent advances in dendro-provenancing have helped to obtain more information on the timber trade in the past. Information on past forest structures, silviculture and timber use have become available through scrutinizing historical and contemporary ring-width patterns.     

Going for the win‐win: including the public in underwater cultural heritage management through citizen science in Australia and New Zealand

UCH managers are increasingly aware of the limitations of excluding public participation in heritage management both in terms of their own limited resources and need for wide public political support. This article assesses a pilot project in South Australia to train citizen scientists to record and monitor underwater cultural heritage sites. The results reinforced the need to ensure the data collected is robust and meaningful, and that citizen scientists know their contribution is valid; the need to help citizen scientists interpret data and foster peer‐to‐peer learning, and highlighted the importance of open source data for site conditions.