Cultural Tourism

The subject of this article is about traditional Russian embroidery and, in particular, some figures  that  are  interpreted  as  archaic  female  deities.  Initially  studied  by  Tsarist  and  Soviet  archaeologists and ethnographers, it found a renewed interest among American scholars linked to the feminist world. Embroidery, however, distinct from the archaeological material, for many centuries  after  the  fall  of  paganism  in  Russia,  has  remained  a  component  of  the  life  of  the  people  and,  therefore,  underwent  important  changes.  The  particular  political  coloring  of  the  works on traditional Russian embroidery has influenced the interpretations of their origin and development, precisely during a period that saw the disappearance, even violent, of the rural way of life that had produced the embroidered fabrics collected by intellectuals, aristocrats, as well  as  Soviet  officials,  who  transformed  a  family  product  into  a  commodity  and  then  into  a  museum  object  detached  from  its  context  and  transformed  into  a  symbol  of  the  ‘authentic’  Russian soul.
L'argomento di questo articolo riguarda il ricamo tradizionale russo e, in particolare, alcune figure interpretate come divinità femminili arcaiche. Inizialmente studiato da archeologi ed etnografi zaristi e sovietici, trovò un rinnovato interesse tra le studiose americane legate al mondo femminista. Il ricamo, tuttavia, distinto dal materiale archeologico, per molti secoli dopo la caduta del paganesimo in Russia, è rimasto un componente della vita delle persone e, pertanto, ha subito importanti cambiamenti. La particolare colorazione politica delle opere sul ricamo tradizionale russo ha influenzato le interpretazioni della loro origine e sviluppo, proprio durante un periodo che ha visto la scomparsa, anche violenta, dello stile di vita rurale che aveva prodotto i tessuti ricamati raccolti da intellettuali, aristocratici e funzionari sovietici, che trasformarono un prodotto per la famiglia in una merce e poi in un oggetto museale distaccato dal suo contesto e trasformato in un simbolo dell '"autentica" anima russa.
Russian embroidery, peasant women, Tzarist pro-slavist writers, marxist orthodoxy, religion of the Goddess, memory and counter-memory.

Although archaeological studies focusing on 19th-century sealing have been performed over the past 30 years, its history and sites have traditionally had low visibility in Antarctic narratives and the Antarctic Treaty System policymaking on heritage. Researchers face the challenge of increasing the visibility of sealers' history and public awareness of the importance of conserving the oldest sites of Antarctica. In this paper, we propose that identifying patterns of tourism activity in the South Shetland Islands, specifically in their temporal and spatial dimensions, could help protect these sites and engage visitors with the early history of Antarctica. Data collected by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators were used to calculate landing point usage trends over time and the frequency of passenger landings from 2003-2004 to 2015-2016. We defined six different visitation patterns with temporal tendencies of passenger landings that varied from increasing, constant, or decreasing trends over time, differing in the magnitude and intensity of visitation. This information was used to assess the situation of particular sites located in the vicinity of tourism landing points. We set priorities for their conservation and management decisions and highlighted their relative potential to engage visitors with the stories of 19th-century sealing in Antarctica.

The First World War left many wounds that affected generations of people, nations, and landscapes. The patrimony left behind by World War I is diverse and scattered throughout the world represented by: trenches, mausoleums, cemeteries and monuments, war graves, some of them true architectural and artistic masterpieces. However, many of these monuments have fallen into oblivion or are scarcely capitalized on cultural, historical or tourism routes. In our research we have brought arguments on the importance of capitalizing on World War I heritage through cultural routes and tourism and we have identified the steps to be taken to develop such a route in Romania.

Abstract

Battlefield sites are important cultural heritage attractions and serve to enhance local, regional and national tourism resources. They are able to stimulate powerful emotional responses in some visitors and have deep, if contentious, personal and collective meanings. This paper investigates a particular type of feeling that is thought to exist when visitors experience the past. The phenomenon of numinosity is defined as a deeply transcendental and connective experience which is stimulated by an engagement with the past. Applying this concept to battlefield sites this paper explores the extent to which this experience is present amongst visitors. Beginning with an assessment of the place of battlefields as dark sites the paper proceeds by discussing the theory of numinosity and how there has been some empirical analysis of the concept at battlefield sites. This is then developed by presenting the results of a study into numinosity at battle sites in Britain. The paper concludes by showing how numinosity is a rare phenomenon and suggests that we should adopt a more nuanced understanding of it. Instead of maintaining a homogenous interpretation of the phenomenon the paper concludes that, when present, there might be a number of different gradations of the numen. 

Keywords: Battlefields; numen; numinosity; dark tourism

The tremendous impact of the small screen (television) as a vibrant medium of mass communication cannot be underestimated. More so, a well-packaged product such as docu-soap, soap opera or even a serial that is put together to edutain or project the culture of a people through the small screen is capable of engendering a positive chain of effect. However, it is regrettable to note that in spite of the avalanche of celebrated cultural festivals in Nigeria, little or no serious attempt has been made at packaging or docu-dramatizing on screen their dramatic content for national and international viewership. It pierces the heart, even more, when viewed against the backdrop of the people the average Nigerian tend to emulate – the Americans, the Japanese, the Europeans and others who have articulated and packaged their local experiences to reflect their cultural heritage and identifies. And, of course, the small screen is and would continue to be central to the success story of these peoples. The numerous cultural shows organized by the British, the French, the Japanese, the German embassies in Nigeria point to this fact. It is in this context that this paper uses the analytical approach to advocate the packaging (in the form of docu-soap) and dissemination through the small screen, the dramatic contents of Igue festival, with a view to reaching national and international audience outside the Benin precincts and engendering cultural re-orientation of Nigerians. Ultimately, this will contribute to the cultural development of Nigeria and indeed Black Africa. Towards this end, the gamut of histrionics inherent in Igue and the possible benefits accruable to the Benins in particular and Nigerians, in general, are examined.

The Mexican state of Oaxaca is a tapestry of human diversity with varied traditions of language, belief, socioeconomic interaction, food, music, dance, subsistence, and ways of being. Census information records the state's impressive statistics for the over one million native language speakers. Among these sixteen officially recognized languages, numerous dialects, sometimes mutually unintelligible, add to the diversity. When this multiplicity is considered alongside that of Oaxaca's ancient past, the information offered to the student of humanity astounds the mind. It is therefore unfortunate that the archaeology and ethnography of Oaxaca have tended to focus on just a few of the region's many groups and geographical areas. The resulting literature might lead a casual reader to imagine that Oaxaca's cultural diversity is not so great, or that smaller ethnolinguistic groups outside regions of prime farmland played no significant role in its prehispanic history. A scholarly preoccupation with the Valley of Oaxaca, with the Mixteca Alta, and with sometimes conquest-minded complex polities seem to imply that only Zapotecs and Mixtecs ever tread in ancient Oaxaca. Economic implications of heritage-based tourism, including the annual Guelaguetza celebration and the endless stream of visitors to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Monte Albán, exacerbate this situation and leave some native peoples disadvantaged politically, economically, and in terms of cultural capital, sometimes to the very ethnic groups who colonized their communities in the ancient past. In such a context, what about the Mixe or the Chinantec of the mountains beyond the Valley? What about the Chatinos or the Chontales of the coast? My purpose here is not to produce a list of scholars or institutions who have "done wrong" by Oaxacans. Instead, I hope to draw from the literature on cultural heritage, as well as from my own travels and studies in Oaxaca, to explore the ways in which we all might benefit, indigenous communities and national and international visitors alike, from a more democratic approach to cultural diversity. Scholarship and heritage development dedicated to Oaxaca have been impressive but too narrow in their focus. Ironically, the resulting "cultural abridgment" undermines the very thing that has drawn so many to visit and to stay in Oaxaca, both physically and intellectually: its great mosaic of human variety.

El estado de Oaxaca es un mosaico humano con diferentes tipos de lenguaje, creencias, e interacciones socioeconómicas. Destaca también por la riqueza de su música, gastronomía, danza y formas de ser. Los censos dan cuenta de más de un millón de hablantes de lenguas indígenas en el estado. A estas 16 lenguas oficiales se suman algunos dialectos, muchos de los cuales resultan inclusive ininteligibles entre sí. Cuando esta multiplicidad se considera a la luz del pasado prehispánico de Oaxaca, la información ofrecida al investigador causa asombro. Por esta razón es lamentable que la arqueología y la etnografía de Oaxaca se hayan enfocado solamente en pocos de los muchos grupos y áreas geográficas de la región. La literatura resultante puede llevar a un lector principiante a imaginar que la diversidad cultural de Oaxaca no es tan grande, o que los grupos etnolingüísticos más pequeños, localizados fuera de las regiones centrales, no jugaron un papel significativo en la historia prehispánica del estado. La preocupación académica enfocada en el Valle de Oaxaca, en la Mixteca Alta y en los complejos políticos a veces de conquista parece implicar que solo los zapotecos y mixtecos pisaron alguna vez el suelo de la antigua Oaxaca. Las implicaciones económicas del turismo basado en el patrimonio, incluida la celebración anual de Guelaguetza y el flujo interminable de visitantes al sitio de Monte Albán, declarado Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la UNESCO, exacerban esta situación y llevan a algunos pueblos indígenas a estar en situación de desventaja política, económica y en términos de capital cultural. Muchas veces frente a los mismos grupos étnicos que colonizaron sus comunidades en el pasado antiguo. En tal contexto, ¿Qué pasa con el mixe o el chinanteco de las montañas más allá del Valle de Oaxaca? ¿Qué pasa con los chatinos o los chontales de la costa? Mi propósito aquí no es producir una lista de académicos o instituciones que han “hecho las cosas mal” en Oaxaca. En cambio, espero aprovechar la literatura sobre el patrimonio cultural, así como mis propias investigaciones y viajes en Oaxaca, para explorar las formas en que comunidades indígenas, habitantes locales y visitantes nacionales e internacionales podemos beneficiarnos por igual, a partir de un enfoque más democrático de la diversidad cultural. El financiamiento y el desarrollo del patrimonio dedicado (Scholarship and heritage) a Oaxaca han sido impresionantes, pero con un enfoque muy limitado. Irónicamente, la "abreviación cultural" resultante socava lo que ha atraído a muchos a visitar y quedarse en Oaxaca, tanto física como intelectualmente: su gran mosaico de variedades humanas.

Purpose
To review the development of the relationship between culture and tourism over the past 75 years, and to outline some future developments over the coming 75 years. Design/methodology/approach A review of previous major work on cultural tourism.
Findings
Tourism and culture have been drawn inexorably closer over the years as culture has become one of the major content providers for tourism experiences, and tourism has become one of the most important income streams for cultural institutions. In the future this is likely to change, as cultural institutions find it increasingly difficult to maintain their authority as the dominant producers of local, regional and national culture, and as tourism becomes increasingly integrated into the everyday culture of the destination.
Practical implications
Cultural institutions will need to change their relationship with tourism as flows of tourists become more prevalent and fragmented. Social Implications The authority of high cultural institutions will be eroded as tourists increasingly seek authenticity in the culture of everyday life and the 'local'.
Originality/value
A first attempt to sketch the long term future of cultural tourism.

RESUMEN El siguiente texto tiene como propósito reflexionar acerca de la planificación turística en aras de reconocer y aprovechar los territorios rurales como representación del entorno habitado por comunidades campesinas, indígenas y otros tantos que parten de la catalogación minoritaria. Se 2003), donde se parte de una idea general de la planificación que necesita ajustes de acuerdo al contexto a trabajar. Cada uno de los autores proponen algunos modelos, donde es necesario revisar y evidenciar cuál de estos se ajusta a los contextos rurales, siendo el lugar de estudio de dicho documento, donde las necesidades propias de la comunidad y del territorio reflejan la penuria de establecer actividades económicas alternativas a las tradicionales, buscando visibilizar la riqueza cultural que construye el tejido social, la identidad territorial que nace de las labores del campo y los símbolos territoriales que se ajustan a la protección y apropiación del campo.

Cada una de estas premisas se reconocen como valores insertos de representatividad laboral del campesinado, que representan las complejidades que se deben de reconocer en la trazabilidad de la planificación turística. Desde el modelo convencional hasta la innovación como estandarte de la planificación, se reflexiona sobre los modelos y enfoques que a su vez son representados en los esquemas de planificación turística que propone el viceministerio de turismo según rangos de desarrollo y estado actual de los destinos.
ISBN: 978-9942-35-969-8

Archelogy is still today recognized as an important factor in defining the identity of individuals and social groups. This makes it a scientific
discipline highly manipulable for ideological and merely commercial purposes but, at the same time, of great importance also in the
strategies of social cohesion. The current situation shows that the drift towards incorrect uses of cultural heritage is more damaging for
citizens without those cognitive tools, that can create defensive barriers to the reception of forced stories. Instead, it is important to support
awareness of the right we all have to enjoy and grow intellectually through cultural heritage.