Heritage And Cultural Tourism Management

P 1.2 Having read the two case studies, discuss potential conflicts in the conservation of heritage and cultural resources – What are the conflicts about? What are the reasons for conflicts? What solutions have been proposed? Did they work? What is your opinion on this? CASE STUDY1: CentralJordan, where local and more institutionalised understandings of heritage havediverged, presents an illustrative case study in the issues discussed above. Officially, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan separates heritage, turath, from history, tarikh, chronologically; all customs, foods, and buildings after 1700 CE are designated turath, while the same before this date are consigned to tarikh. However, these official definitions are often obscured in practice; that is, Turath quickly overlaps with and subsumes tarikh. At the same time, a national Jordanian turath is undergoing commodification aimed at domestic and foreign tourists alike. Arabic and English-language newspapers avidly promote a consumption-driven attitude that equates the terms turath and heritage. At these intersections, particular products, places, and ideas both reflect and signify each other. Rugs, furniture, paintings, and jewellery are advertised as part of a national heritage that one owns and displays in one’s house. Moreover, the Roman theatres of Amman, Jerash, and Umm Qais annually host European classical as well as Arabic pop musical performances, where audiences suffer the uncomfortable stone seating to be entertained ‘like Romans’. One can spend the weekend at the Mövenpick Resort on the Dead Sea where an Ottoman village comes to life, this time with an abundance of water, flowers, sumptuous ice cream, and Shiatsu massage. ‘Perfect’ participation in this exciting, sophisticated turathinvolves purchasing objects and attending events, i.e. owning heritage; more often than not, it is restricted to Jordan’s privileged, professional class. Ultimately, as international tourism revenue is highly volatile, the Kingdom is turning to its own as well as the neighbouring countries’ wealthy elites to participate in an emerging heritage tourism that celebrates a pan-Arab and pan-Islamic identity. Accommodation at the Mövenpick Dead Sea Resort permits guests to experiencethe Ottoman-period village, albeit cleaner with a spa and pool. Quite contrastingly, a greater level of discernment between turathand tarikhis occurring in the rural communities of Central Jordan. There is tacit agreement within local society that a genealogical relationship exists between the 18th- and 19th-century residents of the area and themselves. This period weighs heavily on the historical memory of modern Jordanians and, not surprisingly, many ideas about heritage are drawn from this era. The late 19th century is celebrated as a time of resistance against foreign Ottoman occupation followed by a period of self-determination under the Hashemite monarchy. Today, Jordan’s Ottoman period is remembered for independent and noble tribesmen who offered hospitality to strangers while raiding the flocks of their neighbours and eluding imperial tax collectors. Locals today say they continue with the same traditions—the hospitality of offering tea to strangers, and the displaying of heirloom rugs, coffee pots and weapons in modern houses. Jordan depends greatly on revenue from its tourism industry and the Kingdom’s Ministry of Tourism and Department of Antiquities continue to work hard to transform the Kingdom’s ancient resources into revenue generators. Upon tourist development in the region, public access to sites is reduced, separating communities from the surrounding landscape through fences, guards, parking lots, and ticket booths. Local meanings circulating around the site encounter highly formalised narratives, constructed through interplay between archaeological research and tourist development—tourist development that is heavily promoted by the Hashemite royals in the international media. Where children once heard stories about antiquity sites and the past from an older generation, they now encounter the past, and their place in that past, from national, institutionalised narratives in schools, textbooks, art exhibitions, and popular media. The differences described here between local and national heritage discourses are emerging slowly and what effects one will bear on the other are still unknown. Will national and regional definitions subsume local ones? Will the two remain compatible, each operating at different scales and with different audiences, one more formal than the other? Will local communities resist these official narratives if they are not incorporated into the tourist infrastructure of guiding and hospitality management? A PIA framework is guiding this investigation of turathandtarikhin the development of one particular site in central Jordan, Tall Dhiban. Starting in the summer of 2004, with the permission of Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, a joint University of Pennsylvania, University of Liverpool, and Stanford University team began excavations and development of ancient Dhiban, a prominent tall situated next to the modern town bearing the same name. Ancient Tall Dhiban with modern Dhiban in the background, looking south. Earlier excavations at the site revealed an occupational history of 5,000 years spanning the Bronze, Iron, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic Ages. The project promises to be a multi-faceted endeavour where scholars work collaboratively with the local community, national authorities, and foreign granting agencies to explore new ways of fostering sustainable economies while conducting sound archaeological research. Compared to Madaba, a neighbouring community with an expanding tourist economy, Dhiban is less wealthy, with few economic opportunities besides seasonal agrarian labour. The Jordanian government has often taken the lead in developing archaeological sites for tourism, leaving the community to develop a service economy (e.g. hotels, kiosks) with limited assistance. As an alternative, the team is working with the Dhiban community to identify and foster community-based initiatives that will lead to sustainable employment opportunities. The primary goal is to establish a space at Dhiban where domestic and international visitors can experience both a fair representation of local heritage as well as partake in a dialogue concerning the region and Kingdom’s history. Issues of use value versus conventional ideas of preservation and development are in competition at Dhiban. The community currently uses the site as a pasture, picnic spot, playground, garbage dump, quarry, and meeting site. Tourism development will potentially alter these types of activities, as fences, guards, tourists, and signs come to dictate its use. Are community members willing to exchange this unhindered access for a source of income—income that Jordanians have come to see as unreliable in the wake of recent unprofitable tourist seasons? The challenge here is to shape a collaborative atmosphere that will create a space that is an economically viable resource, while at the same time allowing these activities to continue either in this space or in other locations. We are also learning that traditions of hierarchy already structure discussions of Dhiban’s future. A second challenge is ensuring inclusive participation by all segments of the community, women and children included, in the site’s public representation and development. Their opinions need to be considered alongside the traditional power- brokers of development—foreign funding agencies, government representatives, and archaeologists. The team has initiated an interview project in collaboration with community members to record the meanings that circulate around the site. Accommodating these multiple standards will be possible through town meetings, school involvement, participation in the excavation, and interpretation of excavated evidence. In particular, town meetings have proved useful in other development projects in Jordan and will potentially foster the necessary cooperation of the various stakeholders in order to fairly distribute the benefits brought about by development Case study 2 The Giant’s Causeway: tourism conflicts Follow the link below to watch short video and analyse the case study