HERITAGE THROUGH FICTION Dracula Tourism in Romania

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HERITAGE THROUGH FICTION Dracula Tourism in Romania HERITAGE THROUGH FICTION Dracula Tourism in Romania HERITAGE THROUGH FICTION Dracula Tourism in Romania Tuomas Hovi TURUN YLIOPISTON JULKAISUJa – ANNALES UNIVERSITATIS TURKUENSIS Sarja - ser. B osa - tom. 387 | Humaniora | Turku 2014 University of Turku Faculty of Humanities School of History, Culture and Arts Studies Department of Folkloristics Doctoral Programme Juno / The Finnish Doctoral Programme for Russian and East European Studies Supervised by P rofessor Pekka Hakamies, University of Turku Professor Seppo Knuuttila, University of Eastern Finland Reviewed by Professor, Dr Regina F. Bendix, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Dr Jari Kupiainen, Karelia University of Applied Sciences Opponent Professor, Dr. Regina F. Bendix, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen The originality of this thesis has been checked in accordance with the University of Turku quality assurance system using the Turnitin OriginalityCheck service. ISBN 978-951-29-5764-4 (PRINT) ISBN 978-951-29-5765-1 (PDF) ISSN 0082-6987 Painosalama Oy - Turku, Finland 2014 UNIVERSITY OF TURKU Faculty of Humanities School of History, Culture and Arts Studies Department of Folkloristics HOVI, TUOMAS: Heritage through Fiction: Dracula Tourism in Romania Doctoral dissertation, 224 pages Doctoral Programme Juno / The Finnish Doctoral Programme for Russian and European Studies August 2014 Heritage and tourism have become inextricably linked. This link can be seen as pro- ducing inauthentic and falsified tradition, and it can therefore be seen as a threat to cultural heritage. On the other hand the link can be seen as a positive thing, as some- thing which helps to preserve heritage, culture and folklore in a changing and global- ising world. This dissertation investigates heritage in the context of Dracula Tourism in Romania. Dracula tourism is tourism where tourists visit places connected with either the fictional vampire Dracula or the historical Dracula, a Romanian historical ruler Vlad the Impaler. The main research question of this study is how can Romanian heritage and cul- ture be shown and promoted through a seemingly superficial Dracula tourism which is based on Western popular culture? And is it possible to find Romanian heritage through popular fiction in Dracula tourism? The main sources for this work are based on the fieldwork done by the author in 2010 and 2011 and the web pages of ten Romanian travel agencies that offer Dracula tourism. The stories and images found on the web pages and used by the tour guides form the bulk of the research material. The emphasis and perspective of this research is folkloristic. Critical discourse analy- sis and multimodal discourse analysis form the main theoretical approach of this dissertation. In addition the research material is approached through intertextuality, folklore process, hybridisation, authenticity and social constructionism. This dissertation aims to offer new perspectives on the research literature concerning tourism and heritage and to offer a folkloristic view of tourism research. It also aims to offer new perspectives to folkloristics in terms of the research on the use of folklore and tradition and offer new perspectives on the use and definition of the concept of authenticity. Although the research subject of this thesis is Dracula tourism in Roma- nia, the findings can be utilised and applied in a larger context and field of research. The key research findings show that heritage can be found within Dracula Tour- ism in three forms: as defined from above (UNESCO World Heritage Sites), as local heritage and as a form of opposition. The Romanian travel agencies researched in this dissertation use Dracula tourism as a gateway into Romanian history, culture, tradition and heritage. Keywords: heritage, tourism, Romania, Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, authenticity, trad­ ition, hybridisation 5 TURUN YLIOPISTO Humanistinen tiedekunta Historian, kulttuurin ja taiteiden tutkimuksen laitos Folkloristiikka HOVI, TUOMAS: Heritage through Fiction: Dracula Tourism in Romania Väitöskirja, 224 sivua Tohtoriohjelma Juno / Valtakunnallinen Venäjän ja Itä-Euroopan tutkimuksen tohtoriohjelma Elokuu 2014 Kulttuuriperintö ja turismi yhdistyvät toisiinsa erottamattomasti. Toisaalta tämän yhteyden on nähty tuottavan epäautenttista ja väärennettyä perinnettä, ja tällöin sen on koettu muodostavan uhan kulttuuriperinnölle. Toisaalta yhteys on mielletty myös positiivisena asiana, sillä sen on nähty toimivan globalisoituvassa maailmassa kulttuuriperintöä, kulttuuria ja kansanperinnettä säilyttävänä tekijänä. Väitöskirjassa tutkitaan sitä, miten kulttuuriperintö ilmenee Dracula-turismissa Romaniassa. Dra- cula-turismi on turismia, joka liittyy joko fiktiiviseen vampyyrikreivi Draculaan tai historiallisena Draculana tunnettuun romanialaiseen hallitsijaan Vlad Seivästäjään. Väitöskirjan päätutkimuskysymyksenä on, miten romanialaista kulttuuriperin- töä ja kulttuuria voidaan tuoda esiin näennäisesti pinnallisen ja länsimaiseen popu- laarikulttuuriin pohjautuvan Dracula-turismin kautta. Työn päälähteet pohjautuvat tutkijan vuosina 2010 ja 2011 tekemiin kenttätöihin sekä kymmenen Dracula-turis- mia tarjoavan romanialaisen matkatoimiston WWW-sivustoihin. Internet-sivuilta löytyvät tarinat ja kuvat sekä matkaoppaiden käyttämät tarinat muodostavat tutki- muksen tutkimusaineiston. Tutkimuksen painotus ja näkökulma ovat folkloristisia. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys muodostuu kriittisestä diskurssianalyysistä sekä multimodaalisesta diskurssianalyysistä. Näiden lisäksi tutkimusaineistoa ana- lysoidaan intertekstuaalisuuden, folkloreprosessin, hybridisaation, autenttisuuden ja sosiaalisen konstruktion käsitteiden avulla. Väitöskirjatutkimus tarjoaa uusia näkökulmia turismia ja kulttuuriperintöä käsit- televään tutkimukseen sekä tarjoaa matkailun tutkimukseen folkloristisen lisänäkö- kulman. Folkloristisen tutkimuksen näkökulmasta työn keskiössä ovat perinteen ja folkloren hyödyntäminen sekä autenttisuuden käsitteen määrittely ja käyttö, joihin työssä otetaan kantaa. Vaikka tutkimus käsittelee Dracula-turismia Romaniassa, ovat tutkimustulokset käytettävissä ja sovellettavissa myös laajemmin. Työn keskeiset tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että kulttuuriperintö ilmenee Dracula- turismissa kolmella eri tavalla: ylätasolla kuten esimerkiksi UNESCO:n kohteissa, alatasolla paikallisten ihmisten tai ihmisryhmien määrittelemänä sekä vastustuksen muotona. Väitöskirjassa tutkitut matkatoimistot käyttävät Dracula- turismia ikään kuin porttina romanialaiseen historiaan, kulttuuriin, perinteeseen ja kulttuuriperinteeseen. Avainsanat: kulttuuriperintö, turismi, Romania, Dracula, Vlad Seivästäjä, autenttisuus, perinne, hybridisaatio 6 Table of contents Acknowledgements . 11 Map of Romania . 14 1. INTRODUCTION . 15 Why Dracula tourism? . 16 The main research questions and key concepts . 18 Authenticity . 20 Invented traditions . 23 Heritage . 24 Popular culture . 26 Hybridisation . 28 Methodology and research material . 29 Ethical questions and research position . 34 The outline of the study . 35 2. DRACULA . 37 Vlad the Impaler . 37 The tradition of Vlad the Impaler . 42 The German stories . 43 The Russian stories . 46 The Romanian stories . 49 The modern fame of Vlad the Impaler . 53 The fictitious Dracula by Bram Stoker . 58 The connection between the two Draculas . 60 The vampire tradition in Romania . 63 3. DRACULA TOURISM . 71 Defining Dracula tourism . 72 History . 76 Dracula tours . 81 Places . 82 7 Stereotypes and discourses used in the websites . 89 The Romanian National Tourist Office website . 91 The websites of Romanian travel agencies . 92 Imagery . 94 Discourses . 99 Socially constructed discourses and images . 108 4. THE USE OF TRADITION IN DRACULA TOURISM . 110 Invented traditions . 111 Intertextuality . 113 Narrative spaces and place narratives . 117 Sites connected with Vlad . 118 Sites connected with the fictitious Dracula . 134 Other sites . 138 Narrative spaces . 143 Vampire tradition . 144 Medievalism . 145 Other tradition . 146 Constructed tradition . 148 5. THE HYBRIDISATION OF CULTURE . 149 Cultural conflicts between tradition and fiction . 149 Hybridisation . 153 Halloween . 155 Souvenirs . 157 Dracula tourism as hybrid culture . 159 Vlad the Impaler as Count Dracula . 161 Dracula tourism as Romanian culture . 162 6. AUTHENTICITY AND HERITAGE . 165 Dracula tourism and authenticity . 167 Dracula tradition and the folklore process . 178 Dracula tourism and heritage . 185 UNESCO . 186 Local heritage . 188 Forms of opposition . 193 Constructed authenticity and heritage . 196 8 7. DRACULA TOURISM AS HERITAGE . 198 Travel agency websites.
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