BETWEEN PALMS AND POSTCOLONIALISM
Heritage Communication and Tourism in an Intercultural Field at the UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) of Goa
DISSERTATION zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades Dr.phil an der Kultur- und Gesellschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg Fachbereich: Kommunikationswissenschaft Gutachter/in: Ao. Univ. Prof. Dr. Kurt Luger
eingereicht von MIHIR IGNATIUS NAYAK 01069138
Salzburg, Dezember 2017
Preface
From Palms to Postcolonialism not only represents the journey that the reader will take when he or she reads this dissertation but my own personal journey with the subject matter as well.
Goa, though India’s smallest state, has made a name for itself that belies its small size. Known for its palm trees and beautiful beaches the world over, it’s love affair with tourism began with the hippies in the 1970s. My tryst with Goa began much later, in the 1990s, when I was 8 years old and my sister nearly 2. The highlight of the year for me was our annual holiday to the Taj Holiday Village, a 5* beach resort in North Goa. 7 days of sun filled bliss each year with no school or homework to worry about was one of my favourite childhood experiences and the reason why my career choice in the tourism industry was a no-brainer when the time came. However, sequestered in a ‘golden cage’, I got to see little of the ‘real’ Goa. Like most tourists, my interaction with Goa’s heritage was limited to a quick visit to the Basilica of Bom Jesus at the World Heritage Site (WHS) of Old Goa to pay respects to St. Francis Xavier, Goa’s patron saint, before heading off to the beach.
It was only years later, after I had converted my mother’s ancestral home in the Conservation Zone of Fontainhas into a small Heritage Homestay that I truly began to discover the wide range of (post)colonial heritage that Goa had to offer. Ever since then, I have always felt that Goa’s potential as a heritage destination was not being fully utilized. Most tourists perceive Goa as a beach destination, remaining blissfully unaware of Goa’s rich cultural heritage. Today, with increased competition from other (cheaper) beach destinations in an increasingly globalized world, Goa must establish itself as a heritage destination to not only survive, but thrive. In addition to my efforts to promote Goa’s heritage through my Heritage Homestay, the following PhD dissertation is my scientific contribution to the land of my ancestors.
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 2
Acknowledgements
This PhD Dissertation would not have been possible without the help and guidance of a number of people, whom I would like to thank below:
Ao. Univ. Prof. Dr. Kurt Luger, UNESCO Chair of Cultural Heritage and my PhD Supervisor at the University of Salzburg, without whose help, advice and guidance, this PhD would never have been written. Prof Luger was full of helpful suggestions and ideas whenever I needed them, yet allowing me to pursue my own thought process. I am extremely grateful to Prof Luger for accepting me as a Doctoral Student, for agreeing to be my Supervisor and allowing me to write my PhD in my mother tongue of English, which enabled me to write a better Dissertation.
FH-Prof. Mag. Dr. Markus Pausch, FH-Prof at the FH Salzburg and my Second Supervisor, for his extremely useful insights throughout the process of writing the PhD, in particular in the field of politics and the political, dissonant nature of heritage (communication). I am especially grateful to FH-Prof Pausch for reading through the entire First Draft of my PhD and providing me with valuable suggestions which I believe has led to a much-improved final version.
Jack (Joaquim D’Souza), the manager of my Heritage Homestay, whose tireless efforts in coordinating the expert interviews and collecting the supplementary data, made it at all possible to complete the Dissertation.
Maanika Nayak, my Sister, to whom I went to when I was in doubt, and who always had a reassuring word and practical suggestions to the issues that cropped up during my PhD.
Last but not least, Lalit and Dr Laura Nayak, my Parents, for financing my education prior to and at the University of Salzburg as well as for their continued love, support and encouragement not just during the course of this Dissertation but ever since the moment I was born.
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Abstract
The case study of the UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) of Goa is the focus of this dissertation, following the research philosophy of phenomenology. This case was chosen for two reasons. Little to none research had been conducted in the field of heritage communication at the WHS of Goa so far. Furthermore, Goa also provided a unique opportunity to analyse heritage communication in a postcolonial, intercultural field. Unlike most WHS, the WHS of Goa is a (dissonant) symbol of postcolonialism that represents not the majority of the local population, but instead only a small minority. The aim was to gain insight into the specific concepts related to (dissonant) heritage communication in Goa.
A combination of secondary and primary research methods for this dissertation was used. Secondary research was undertaken by conducting a review of the existing literature on general communication theories (postcolonialism, symbolic interactionism), intercultural theories (critical theory, cultural theory of R Williams, cultural identity theory), heritage communication and intercultural theory in order to provide a theoretical basis. The context of the Dissertation - the case of the Goa WHS - included a description of the WHS as well as its dissonant, postcolonial and communal aspects.
The UNESCO ‘Benchmarking World Heritage & Tourism’ study formed the basis of the primary research. Through a combination of quantitative (Benchmarking) and qualitative (‘Benchlearning’) methods, the aim was to provide the WHS management at Goa with a comparative quality assessment of the WHS, while also encouraging the exchange of ‘Practices’ or learning by comparison from other WHS. As part of the empirical research, expert interviews were conducted with experts from the WH Management in Goa (officials from the Archaeological Survey of India - Goa Chapter and the Catholic Church), responsible persons in the regional Goa Tourism administration as well as tourism stakeholders and tourists in Goa. The surveys were carried out according to the principle of cross-checking where every question
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 4 had to be answered by at least two experts. It was the task of the case study leader to assess the facts summarily and submit a final opinion in the form of a ‘Composed Answer’. Together, these answers formed a ‘Composed interview’, which was entered into an online ‘Monitoring and Benchmarking Tool’ that was divided into six Dimensions: Condition & Preservation, General Management, Tourism Management, Involvement & Support Communication & Awareness and Regional Development. As a graphical representation of the results, spider diagrams were developed by the tool for both the Goa WHS & the other WHS with the six outer corners forming the best possible rating.
The ‘Churches and Convents of Goa’ (as the UNESCO WHS of Goa is officially known) performs reasonably well in most areas when compared to the average of the other WHS. In the field of Condition & Preservation, it even exceeds the overall average while it is not too far behind the overall average in most other areas. However, Goa’s performance is extremely weak in the fields of Tourism Management and Communication & Awareness, major foci of this dissertation. Learnings for the Goa WHS management included the need for a Management Plan (with methods for the involvement & participation of the local communities as well as stakeholder conflict resolution/prevention), implementation of a Visitor Management System (to prevent overtourism and damage to the WHS) as well as a Communication & Educational concept (that educates both visitors and locals about the values/meanings/importance of the WHS of Goa). Conflicting/dissonant interpretations of the symbolic meaning of the WHS need not be avoided but should instead be discussed in an open, participatory framework. The findings, although focussing mainly on the WHS of Goa also claim to have a certain degree of generalisability at other postcolonial heritage sites, given the similarities of the postcolonial experience.
Keywords: heritage communication, heritage tourism, world heritage sites, intercultural communication, world heritage site of Goa, participatory culture, postcolonialism, dissonant heritage,
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Zusammenfassung
Die Fallstudie der UNESCO-Welterbestätte (WHS) von Goa steht im Mittelpunkt dieser Dissertation und folgt der Forschungsphilosophie der Phänomenologie. Dieser Fall wurde aus zwei Gründen ausgewählt. Wenig bis gar keine Forschung wurde bisher auf dem Gebiet der Kulturerbe-Kommunikation an der WHS von Goa durchgeführt. Darüber hinaus bot Goa eine einmalige Gelegenheit, die Kulturerbe-Kommunikation in einem postkolonialen, interkulturellen Bereich zu analysieren. Anders als die meisten WHS ist das WHS von Goa ein (dissonantes) Symbol des Postkolonialismus, das nicht die Mehrheit der lokalen Bevölkerung repräsentiert, sondern nur eine kleine Minderheit. Ziel war es, Einblicke in die spezifischen Konzepte der (dissonanten) Kulturerbe-Kommunikation in Goa zu gewinnen.
Für diese Dissertation wurde eine Kombination von sekundären und primären Forschungsmethoden verwendet. Sekundärforschung wurde durchgeführt, indem eine Überprüfung der vorhandenen Literatur über allgemeine Kommunikationstheorien (Postkolonialismus, symbolischer Interaktionismus), interkulturelle Theorien (kritische Theorie, Kulturtheorie von R Williams, kulturelle Identitätstheorie) und interkulturelle Kulturerbe- Kommunikation Theorie durchgeführt wurde. Der Kontext der Dissertation - der Fall der Goa - enthielt eine Beschreibung der WHS sowie ihre dissonanten, postkolonialen Aspekte.
Die UNESCO-Studie "Benchmarking Welterbe & Tourismus" bildete die Grundlage für die Primärforschung. Durch eine Kombination von quantitativen (Benchmarking) und qualitativen ("Benchlearning") Methoden war es das Ziel, dem WHS Management in Goa eine vergleichende Qualitätsbewertung des WHS zur Verfügung zu stellen und gleichzeitig den Austausch von 'Practices' mit den anderen WHS zu fördern. Im Rahmen der empirischen Forschung wurden Experteninterviews mit Experten des WH-Managements (Beamte des Archaeological Survey of India und der Katholischen Kirche), Verantwortlichen in der regionalen Tourismusverwaltung sowie Tourismusakteuren und -vertretern und Touristen in Goa durchgeführt. Die Erhebungen
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 6 wurden nach dem Prinzip der Gegenprüfung durchgeführt, wobei jede Frage von mindestens zwei Experten, beantwortet werden musste. Es war die Aufgabe des Fallstudienleiters, die Fakten summarisch zu bewerten und eine endgültige Stellungnahme in Form einer "Composed Answer" abzugeben. Zusammen bildeten diese Antworten ein "Composed Interview", das in ein Online- "Monitoring- und Benchmarking-Tool" eingegeben wurde, welches in 6 Dimensionen unterteilt wurde: Zustand & Erhaltung, General Management, Tourismusmanagement, Mitworkung, Kommunikation und Regionale Entwicklung. Als grafische Darstellung der Ergebnisse wurden Spidendiagramme für das Goa WHS und andere WHS entwickelt, wobei die sechs äußeren Ecken die bestmögliche Bewertung bilden.
Die "Kirchen und Klöster von Goa" (wie die UNESCO WHS von Goa offiziell genannt wird) erzielt in den meisten Gebieten im Vergleich zum Durchschnitt einigermaßen gute Leistungen. Im Bereich Zustand & Erhaltung übertrifft sie sogar den Gesamtdurchschnitt, während er in den meisten anderen Dimensionen nicht allzu weit hinter dem Gesamtdurchschnitt liegt. Allerdings ist Goas Leistung in den Bereichen Tourismusmanagement und Kommunikation, Schwerpunkte dieser Dissertation, äußerst schwach. Zu den Erkenntnissen für das Goa WHS-Management gehörte die Notwendigkeit eines Managementplans (mit Methoden zur Mitwirkung der lokalen Bevölkerung sowie Konfliktlösung/Prävention), Implementierung eines Besucherverwaltungssystems (zur Verhinderung von Massentourismus und Schäden am WHS) sowie ein Kommunikationskonzept (das Besucher als auch Einheimische über die Bedeutungen des WHS aufklärt). Widersprüchliche/dissonante Interpretationen der symbolischen Bedeutung des WHS müssen nicht vermieden werden, sondern sollten offen in einem partizipativen Rahmen diskutiert werden. Die Ergebnisse, obwohl sie sich hauptsächlich auf die WHS von Goa konzentrieren, behaupten auch, aufgrund der Ähnlichkeiten der postkolonialen Erfahrung, eine gewisse Generalisierbarkeit in anderen postkolonialen Kulturstätten zu haben.
Schlüsselbegriffe: Kulturerbekommunikation, Kulturerbe, Welterbestätten, interkulturelle Kommunikation, Weltkulturerbe Goa, partizipative Kultur, Postkolonialismus, dissonantes Erbe
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Contents
List of Abbreviations ...... 11
List of Figures...... 12
1. Introduction ...... 13
2. Theoretical Framework ...... 21
a. General Communication Theories ...... 21
2.1 Postcolonial Theory ...... 21
2.1.1 Definitions, Meaning and History ...... 21
2.1.2 Postcolonialism and the Other ...... 31
2.1.3 Postcolonialism and the Subaltern...... 35
2.1.4 Postcolonialism and Christianity ...... 41
2.1.5 Postcolonialism and Decolonization ...... 48
2.1.6 Postcolonialism and the Metropolis ...... 56
2.1.7 Postcolonialism and Neo-colonialism...... 59
2.1.8 Postcolonialism and Tourism ...... 62
2.2 Symbolic Interactionism ...... 65
b. Intercultural Theories ...... 72
2.3 Critical Theory ...... 72
2.4 Cultural Theory of R Williams ...... 73
2.5 Cultural Identity Theory ...... 74
3. Heritage Communication ...... 83
a. Compilation of Existing Literature on Cultural Heritage Communication ...... 83
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3.1 Heritage: Definitions ...... 83
3.2 Heritagefication ...... 84
b. Dissonant Heritage and Communication ...... 91
3.3 Heritage Interpretation at the Destination...... 98
3.3.1 Participatory Culture and Heritage Interpretation ...... 120
3.3.2 Stakeholder Participation and Heritage ...... 131
3.4 Heritage and the Sacred ...... 143
3.5 Heritage and Peace ...... 144
c. UNESCO World Heritage and Intercultural Communication ...... 147
3.6 Heritage Communication and Tourism ...... 152
3.6.1 Destination Communication and Tourism ...... 154
3.6.2 New Media and Tourism ...... 164
3.6.3 UNESCO Heritage and Tourism ...... 167
3.6.4 Cultural Tourism ...... 172
3.6.5 Cultural Heritage Tourists ...... 181
3.6.6 Heritage and Sustainable Tourism ...... 188
3.6.7 Cooperation in Heritage Tourism Communication ...... 211
4. Context: Case Study Analysis of the UNESCO WHS of Goa...... 213
4.1 Introduction ...... 213
4.2 History ...... 214
4.3 UNESCO WHS of Goa ...... 216
4.4 Dissonant (Colonial) Heritage of Goa ...... 223
4.5 Postcolonialism and Goa ...... 235
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4.6 Communal (dis)harmony in Goa ...... 239
5. Research Methodology ...... 244
5.1 Research Philosophy ...... 244
5.2 Research Strategy ...... 246
5.3 Research Methods ...... 247
5.4 Research Quality Criteria ...... 258
6. Data Analysis and Interpretation ...... 260
6.1 Results ...... 261
6.2 Data Analysis and Interpretation ...... 299
6.2.1 Condition & Preservation ...... 299
6.2.2 General Management ...... 300
6.2.3 Tourism Management ...... 304
6.2.4 Involvement & Support ...... 307
6.2.5 Communication & Awareness...... 311
6.2.6 Regional Development ...... 317
7. Conclusion ...... 321
7.1 Limitations ...... 326
7.2 Recommendations for Further Research ...... 329
8. References ...... 331
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List of Abbreviations
ASI Archaeological Society of India CBHT Community-based Heritage Tourism
CBO Community-based Organisations COMPACT Community Management of Protected Areas Conservation Programme CSL Case Study Leader
DMO Destination Management Organization
GOI Government of India
ICCROM International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property ICOMOS International Council on Monuments and Sites ICT Information and Communication Technology
IVE Immersive Virtual Environments MBT Monitoring & Benchlearning Tool MPDF Mekong Private Sector Development Facility NGO Non-governmental Organization
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OUV Outstanding Universal Values PAHSMA Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority PR Public Relations
SIM Strategic Image Management TANAPA Tanzania National Parks UGC User-generated Content UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
UNWTO United Nations World Tourism Organization USP Unique Selling Proposition VHP Vishwa Hindu Parishad
WH World Heritage WHC World Heritage Committee WHS World Heritage Sites
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Destination Communication Model
Figure 2: Model for the typology of cultural tourists
Figure 3: Port Arthur Conservation Plan Derived Plan
Figure 4: Spider diagram/ radar chart of the UNESCO WHS of Goa compared to the average of all case studies (Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
Figure 5: Condition & Preservation (Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
Figure 6: General Management (Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
Figure 7: Tourism Management (Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
Figure 8: Involvement & Support (Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
Figure 9: Communication & Awareness (Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
Figure 10: Regional Development (Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
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1. Introduction
Ever since the mid-1990s, postcolonialism has been one of the most rapidly growing fields in academic study with the study of colonialism and its effects seeing a resurgence of scholarly interest and attracting a great amount of valuable research across an increasingly wide range of disciplines (Prakash, 1995; Schwarz and Ray, 2008; Sarkowsky and Schulze-Engler, 2012; Amar 2015; Soldatic, 2015; Schilling, 2016). Although there was no such academic specialization as ‘postcolonial studies’ prior to the 1970s (Lazarus 2004, p.1), today the field of postcolonial studies is ensconced in a position of prestige and legitimacy, not just at Universities in the former colonies but within First World academy as well.
However, King (1995, p.544) questions why it took so long for postcolonial critique to establish itself, proposing that it had to wait until there were enough postcolonial intellectuals in the audience in Western academy. When Shohat (n.d. in Dirlik 1997, p.501) asks the question “When exactly…does the ‘postcolonial’ begin?”, Dirlik chooses to misread the question on purpose, responding only partly in jest: “When Third World intellectuals have arrived in First World academe” (ibid). The reason behind his answer, he explains, is that the term ‘postcolonial’ has gained such great popularity in the past few decades only thanks to the increased visibility of academics from the Third World in First World academy. He goes on to criticize those postcolonial authors and intellectuals who, by virtue of their First World institutional location, occupy positions of power both in comparison to their Third World colleagues ‘back home’ as well as their First World neighbours. He claims that even his First World neighbours of Virginia cannot match the power of these highly paid and highly respected postcolonial academics at famous American Universities such as Columbia, Duke or Princeton. Dirlik even goes as far as alleging that “some of them might even be willing to swap positions with the latter and take the anguish that comes with hybridity so long as it brings with it the power and the prestige it seems to command” (ibid, 513), thus questioning whether it is actually possible for Third World academics with their privileged position in the First World academe, to produce a thorough
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 13 criticism of as well as practice resistance against a system of which they are, in many ways, a product.
Although the term ‘postcolonial’ sometimes appeared in academy pre-1990s, it had a different meaning from what it now means in the field of ‘postcolonial studies’. For example, when Alavi and Saul (in Lazarus 2004, p.2) wrote about ‘postcolonial’ societies in the late 1970s, they utilised the term in a precise historical and politically delimited manner to classify the period of time immediately after decolonization. This was a time when the local elites, including various local leaderships/parties/governments, seized control of the apparatuses of the former colonial powers during independence. These local elites tried to transform the apparatuses that had once served the colonial dictatorship into instruments that would serve their own political and social interests. While Lazarus (2004, p.2) claims that the term ‘postcolonial’ in these usages from the 1970s was a “periodizing term, a historical and not an ideological concept. It bespoke no political desire or aspiration…Erstwhile colonial territories that had been decolonized were ‘postcolonial’ states. It was simple as that”, the manner in which the local elite seized control of the apparatuses of the former colonial power to make them serve their own social and political interests and the effect that it had on the postcolonial country suggest that it was not quite as ‘simple as that’
Today, the term postcolonial studies “involves collecting and disseminating information, formulating arguments, or explaining concepts with the end of achieving emancipation for minority, marginal or formerly colonized peoples” (Brennan 2004, p.132). In order to achieve this emancipation, it is important for postcolonial studies to question value i.e. to try and reorient cultural values and hierarchies by understanding and appreciating the cultural achievements of non-European, formerly colonized societies.
In order to do so, postcolonial studies need to be of an interdisciplinary nature, include a wide range of subjects and have a strong focus on cultural and literary studies (Moore-Gilbert et al. 1997, pp.1-2). Schools of thought such as the ‘colonial discourse analysis’ insist upon the need
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 14 to study postcolonialism through a combination of literature, history, politics and sociology rather than in isolation, believing that such a multi-disciplinary approach is far more helpful in understanding the phenomenon of colonialism and postcolonialism (ibid, p.8). Janmohamed and Lloyd (1997, p.242) concur, stating that a study into postcolonialism and minority/colonized cultures is not possible without including the fields of sociology, political theory, economics and history. However, there are those who question the interdisciplinary ambitions of postcolonial critics: “As they move out from traditional literature into political economy, sociology, history and anthropology, do the postcolonial theorists master these fields or just poke about? Are they serious students of colonial history and culture or do they just pepper their writings with references to Gramsci and hegemony?” (Jacoby 1995, p.32). Hall (1996) on the other hand feels that the current predicament of the field of postcolonialism is largely due to the failure of its researchers to be interdisciplinary enough. Instead of focusing merely on literary concerns, the author suggests that researchers must broaden the scope of postcolonial studies by engaging with disciplines that address the material aspects and the cultural consequences of globalization.
One discipline that is affected by both the material aspects as well as the cultural consequences of globalization is heritage tourism. Many destinations worldwide boast of a rich cultural heritage and UNESCO, with its list of World Heritage Sites (WHS), plays a vital role in highlighting this cultural heritage by acting as a seal of quality for cultural tourists and first- time visitors. As the number of UNESCO WHS has crossed the 1000 mark, they are becoming increasingly attractive for tourism. However, the existing database of information on these WHS is highly fragmented (Clivaz et al., 2013). According to the authors, there are hardly any studies that look at tourism and WHS in a comprehensive and holistic manner. WH management authorities often only assess WHS on a local level and although studies and data from UNESCO's own reporting do exist, this data is rarely directly comparable and thus does not allow for the generation of a coherent evaluation in terms of the relationship between conservation and development. The lack of comparable data and knowledge exchange hinders
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 15 both mutual learning as well as the replication of good practices. Considering the rapid growth in the number of WHS, this situation is far from ideal. Furthermore, the available studies suffer from the following limitations (ibid): ▪ Single case studies, epistemological inconsistency and lack of comparability: The majority of the studies available look at a very limited number of sites, often only 1 specific site. Since each of the studies follows a different research approach, the epistemological consistency is lacking and comparability is severely limited. ▪ Lack of comprehensiveness: Most of the existing studies address only individual sectors such as the economic effects of world heritage listing while not e.g. taking into account the impact of inscription on conservation, society, or regional development. To fully understand the interrelation between WHS listing, tourism and regional development and to propose effective policies, comprehensive approaches are required. ▪ Influence of WHS site listing in terms of tourism and regional development: Although there are numerous advantages for the region related to site listing including increased tourism profile/marketing, increased awareness building & education and possibilities for increased networking, participation & collaboration, it is important to remember that the effectiveness of WH status is dependent on how well the WHS and their management takes advantage of these benefits. In cases where this status has been fully leveraged, it has led to improved cooperation, additional funding, new development and improved conservation whereas the benefits have been far more limited where these opportunities have not yet been utilised to the fullest. According to the authors (ibid), there still exists a large gap in knowledge about how to use WH status to its full effect, especially with regards to finding the right balance between usage and conservation.
Heritage is a fragile, non-renewable resource that requires protection to retain its exceptional character for future generations. (Uncontrolled) tourism development is thus seen as a major threat to the fragile nature of heritage. The fundamental conflict between heritage and tourism lies in the way they both function as systems. Heritage as a system is controlled by the underlying principle of ‘preserving and handing down of what is passed on from generation to
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 16 generation’ while tourism as a system has the underlying principle of ‘usage or consumption of landscape and resources’, following post-modern concepts of mobile leisure, personal gratification and experience-oriented consumption. In order to reconcile this conflict of goals, a concerted sustainability tourism policy is needed that places heritage at its centre. Such a tourism policy is an essential contribution to the sustainable development of both the WHS and the WH region. While the direct effects of the WHS label on the region are contentious, the label (if used correctly) represents an opportunity for the WH Region to promote a process of sustainable regional development and to integrate sustainable forms of tourism, thus contributing to the protection of these WHS (Clivaz et al., 2013). However, it is not sufficient to merely protect these WHS physically. Vital to both the survival of WHS as well their place in the world is the communication of what they mean and symbolise to both the local/regional society as well as national/international (tourist) visitors. Despite the recent efforts of UNESCO to focus on sustainable tourism, however, it is heritage conservation rather than heritage tourism that remains the primary focus of both heritage site managers and researchers alike. As a result, there is a lack of sufficient heritage tourism communication theory.
The lack of indigenous tourism theory in general can be traced back to the absence of a strong academic tradition in the field of tourism studies according to Weaver and Lawton (2010, pp.6- 7). Before specialized schools and departments of tourism were created, tourism researchers were often scattered amongst a number of traditional disciplines, usually in social sciences such as geography, anthropology, economics or sociology. Being cut off from their tourism colleagues in other departments, tourism researchers were unable to collaborate easily and generate the necessary synergies and the critical mass needed in order to stimulate academic progress. Even in cases where tourism researchers are brought together in schools or departments of tourism, they continue to pursue research from the perspective of the disciplines that they received their education in, rather than from a holistic ‘tourism studies’ perspective. For example, tourism geographers focus on geographical models while tourism economists prefer to focus on econometric theories instead. Although this multidisciplinary approach contributes to the advancement of tourism knowledge as tourism researchers come
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 17 together in a single department, it also hinders the development of an indigenous tourism theory. Weaver and Lawton believe that this multidisciplinary approach is slowly being replaced with an interdisciplinary approach wherein the different perspectives of the various disciplines are combined/ synthesized into a unique, new ‘tourism’ perspective. This interdisciplinary approach has a greater chance of generating “indigenous theories and methodologies that will eventually warrant the description of tourism studies as an academic discipline in its own right” (ibid).
According to Elias (1986, p.20 in Veal 2006, p.2), the main aim of research is to “make known something previously unknown to human beings. It is to advance human knowledge”. The originality of this research lies in the fact that there exists little to none research that combines the fields of postcolonialism, heritage tourism and intercultural communication. Goa as a former Portuguese colony and the UNESCO WHS of Goa as one of the few postcolonial WH monuments provides a unique case study that highlights both the challenges faced in the field of postcolonialism as well as heritage tourism & intercultural communication at WHS. In addition to being built monuments, WHS also have an intangible component that includes memories and conflicts from the past. What makes this intangible aspect at the WHS of Goa even more complicated is the presence of multiple cultures and religions in Goa, not just among the locals but also among the (tourist) visitors as well. While the UNESCO WHS of Goa is a prime example of conflict laden heritage, other (postcolonial) UNESCO WHS face similar challenges with regards to dissonant heritage communication. These conflicting memories cannot and must not be ignored during the process of heritage communication and this forms one of the major challenges of intercultural communication at UNESCO WHS globally. This Dissertation thus aims to add to the body of knowledge in the fields of tourism and postcolonial heritage communication as well as provide a theoretical framework for future research.
Furthermore, by firmly situating the primary research of this PhD Dissertation within the Benchmarking WH and Tourism Study by Swiss and Austrian UNESCO researchers as well as
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 18 by utilising the ‘Monitoring and Benchlearning’ tool to gather and interpret the data, the aim was to overcome the limitations of the single case studies mentioned above by providing a comprehensive and holistic view of the WHS of Goa. By providing the Goa WHS management with an opportunity to compare their results with the other WHS through the use of both quantitative Benchmarking and qualitative ‘Benchlearning’, this Dissertation aims to help not only Goa but other (postcolonial) heritage tourist destinations fully benefit from their WHS status by communicating their (postcolonial) heritage to an intercultural audience.
Research Question:
How can heritage communication be facilitated between cultures at UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS)? A Case Study of the UNESCO WHS of Goa
Aim:
To facilitate heritage communication between cultures at UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS) by analysing the case of the WHS of Goa
Objectives:
• To critically analyze the fields of postcolonialism, intercultural communication and heritage tourism • To highlight the political challenges of communicating heritage in an intercultural field, especially with regards to dissonant, postcolonial heritage • To identify how heritage communication can be facilitated between cultures at UNESCO WHS; in particular, the dissonant, postcolonial heritage of the WHS of Goa India • To consolidate and enrich the ‘body of knowledge’ in (postcolonial) heritage communication and tourism
This dissertation is divided into a number of chapters, each with a different focus.
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 19
Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to the topic, including an explanation of the reasons for the choice of theoretical focus as well as the originality of research, aims and objectives.
Chapter 2 consists of the Theoretical Framework. It begins with general communication theories in Part a) such as the postcolonial theory and its varied aspects and relations, followed by symbolic interactionism and its relation to intercultural communication. Part b) focuses on the intercultural theories such as the critical theory, cultural theory of R Williams and the cultural identity theory. This chapter forms the theoretical basis for the following chapters.
Chapter 3 focuses on Heritage Communication in particular and is divided into three parts. Part a) is a compilation of the existing literature including the definitions of heritage, culture and heritagefication. Part b) focuses on the key aspect of dissonant heritage and the challenges it poses as well as heritage interpretation at the destination including the participatory nature of heritage, the communication challenges at sacred heritage sites and the importance of heritage for peace. Part c) then focuses on UNESCO WH and Communication including destination communication, UNESCO Heritage, cultural tourism and sustainability.
Chapter 4 highlights the context of the Dissertation: the case study of the UNESCO WHS of Goa including an introduction to the case, a description of the WHS as well as dissonant, postcolonial and communal aspects of the WHS.
Chapter 5 provides an explanation of the research methodology as well as a detailed description of the (primary) research methods. Chapter 6 is where the benchmarking results of the case study of the UNESCO WHS of Goa are presented, analysed and interpreted in detail by comparing the results of the primary research with the Theoretical Framework.
Finally, Chapter 7 concludes this Dissertation, summing up the most important points, providing recommendations for further research as well as limitations. Chapter 8 provides the references.
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2. Theoretical Framework a. General Communication Theories
2.1 Postcolonial Theory
2.1.1 Definitions, Meaning and History
“…The conquest of the earth, which mostly means taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look at it too much” (Conrad 1982, p.10). Although the sentiments from Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ describe Belgian colonial rule, they are suggestive of all colonial enterprises, which have resulted in great global suffering (ibid).
The Latin word colonia came from colonus which meant cultivator or farmer, and later settler in a new or uncultivated country. Colonia was originally used to refer to a ‘farm’, ‘landed estate’ or ‘settlement’ (which is often used in modern day Spanish). With the expansion of the Roman Empire, the term included the settlement of Roman citizens, especially Roman soldiers in a “hostile or newly conquered country”, where they received lands that were to be used as a military stronghold (Alva 1995, p.264). Venn (2006, p.178) defines colonialism as the “conquest, territorial occupation and subjugation of a population”. Furthermore, the author states that the process of colonialism has occurred throughout history, involving most countries either as colonizers or colonized. In certain cases, colonialism has been organized in the form of an empire that spread across several countries and was relatively lasting. Colonialism was the “deployment of European political (rather than ethno-racial) control over non-Europeans” (Alva 1995, p.260). It was based on the idea of maintaining divisions by creating differences, propagating exclusion as well as exercising cultural controls.
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Indeed, colonial discourse was built on the base of differences between people, languages, religions, economies, and political organizations in the colonies (Mignolo and Tlostanova 2008, p.110). In order to exploit the colonies, argue the authors, it was necessary to dominate and in order to dominate, it was necessary to create a particular discourse and belief system among the colonized subjects. This belief system was meant to propagate an image of the colonial power as a correct and unavoidable march of history while the colonies were classified as wrong, inferior, weak, barbarian, primitive etc. Thus, the colonial powers created a hierarchical order of cultural differences by building what the authors refer to as ‘colonial’ differences, justified by a superior racial and cultural configuration of the citizens of the colonial power as well as their language, religion, economy and social structure.
Brennan (2004, p.134) believes that the key concept behind colonialism is that the citizens of the conquering colonial power are ‘civilizationally superior’ to those in the colonized countries. According to the author, this dominance can come about by race (i.e. the superiority of the racial identity of the colonial power), by nationality (i.e. as a citizen of the conquering colonial power) or by cultural identity. Thus, although colonialism was mainly an economic phenomenon, in order to control the production of wealth, it also controlled the production of culture in the colonies. Ashcroft et al. (1989, p.79) state that a critical factor of colonial dictatorship lay in controlling the means of communication, instead of the property or the lives of the colonized subjects.
While it depended upon a mix of military conquest and political dictatorship to preserve economic control over the colonies, according to Gallagher (1994, p.7), the most important sphere of dominance was thus the “mental universe of the colonised, the control, through culture, of how people perceived themselves and their relationship to the world” or what Meetz (2010, p.101) calls “mental colonisation” (gedankliche Kolonalisierung). Colonialism successfully marginalized the cultures of the colonized by either denying the existence of indigenous cultures or by belittling its value. By comparing the colonized culture negatively to that of the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 22 dominant colonial culture, the colonized subjects were made to feel less civilized, less advanced and even less human.
Colonialism, according to Fanon (cited in Gallagher 1994, p.7), was based on this unequal relationship of oppressor and oppressed. In this relationship, the colonial oppressor dominated the colonized not only through physical and economical means but also through cultural and moral means as well. Since it was the colonizers who had the power to (re)write history, they wilfully positioned the precolonial past of the colonized as barbaric and refused to acknowledge any significant local achievements in the precolonial past. Fanon refers to this world of colonialism as a ‘Manichean world’ wherein the settler refuses to recognize/acknowledge the achievements of the local culture. According to him, this ‘Manichean dichotomy’ enables the colonial power to “assume moral superiority and implicitly justifies the political, economic and cultural domination” (Gallagher 1994, p.7). By imposing its own cultural values with such violence, colonialism not only displaces local culture and traditions but also “distorts the very relations that the colonized maintains with his own culture” which under other/different circumstances would be in a continuously dialogic relationship with itself and with other cultures (Fanon 1965, p.130).
Shohat (1997a, p.44) too believes that a key strategy of the colonial powers was to distort and deny the history of the colonized. Thus, the colonized “East came to view itself through the [colonizing] West’s distorting mirror…the white man’s worst crime was to make the black man hate himself” (ibid, p.59). This strategy was used by the colonial powers to retain their power and control. For the colonial people, suffering was two-fold (Ribeiro 1968 cited in Mignolo 2000, p.13). Not only were they dispossessed of their possessions and fruits of their labour under the colonial power, they were also forced to suffer the degradation of believing that the correct image was a reflection of the Western colonial view of the world, one that considered colonial people racially inferior (because they were e.g. black, brown, American Indians, or ‘mestizos’). This suffering was not only limited to the subaltern class, but was also experienced by the indigenous elite. This local elite too became used to viewing themselves and their
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 23 cultures as a form of sub-humanity whose destiny was to occupy a secondary position since their culture was inferior to the European population. Mignolo (2000, p. 16) refers to this phenomenon as ‘coloniality of power’. According to the author’s understanding of the term, the subjugation of the colonized subjects was justified by the alleged existence of a cultural difference of superiority and inferiority.
Western colonial civilization was deemed to be superior since it had its roots in ancient Greece and Rome and its pinnacle in the colonial power that was displayed in the 19th and 20th century, resulting in “an arrogant cultural formation which denied that there was anything of interest or worth in the other cultures encountered in the process of colonial expansion” (Moore-Gilbert et al. 1997, p.9). It was often felt by the European colonial powers that the conquering of these 'inferior races’ was both a necessity as well as a duty. It was the duty, or burden even, of the ‘civilized races’ (i.e. of the colonizing powers) to educate and lead the ‘uncivilized’ colonized subjects. Thus, through the discourse of ‘race’, colonialism became not only justifiable but indeed morally important (Childs and Williams 1997, pp.190-191). Moore-Gilbert (1997, p.86) refers to this as the concept of the ‘noble savage’ who must be ‘redeemed’.
According to the colonialists, it was the order of things for humanity that a ‘regeneration’ of the ‘inferior’ or ‘degenerate’ races be conducted by the ‘superior’ races. Cesaire (1997, p.78) claims that in his speech to the students at the Ecole Coloniale, the former governor-general of Indochina M. Albert Sarraut stated that if the European colonial venture did not seize the land/resources of the colonized people, this would result in their underutilization by the ‘incompetent’ locals while Reverend Barde believed that if the goods/possessions of the earth remained divided up between the different colonized cultures, then that would neither be in accordance with the will of God nor the requirements of humanity. A fellow Christian preacher, Reverend Muller, declared furthermore that humanity could not & must not allow the “incompetence, negligence, and laziness of the uncivilized peoples to leave idle indefinitely the wealth which God has confided to them, charging them to make it serve the good of all” (ibid).
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According to the colonial logic, the locals/natives needed to be either kept down by the use of power/force or willingly acknowledge that the colonial rulers were “more wise, more just, more humane, and more anxious to improve their condition that any other rulers they could possibly have” (Vishwanathan 1997, p.113). “They dazzle me with the tonnage of cotton or cocoa that has been exported, the acreage that has been planted with olive trees or grapevines. I am talking about natural economies that have been disrupted…food crops destroyed, malnutrition permanently introduced, agricultural development oriented solely toward the benefit of the metropolitan countries, about the looting of products, the looting of raw materials” (Cesaire 1997, pp.80-83).
While some colonial/postcolonial critiques try and argue the benefits of colonialism (such as the roads laid, the development of the railway etc.), Cesaire (ibid, p.74) claims that these ‘alleged’ benefits of colonization are nothing in comparison to the destruction that colonialism has caused to the non-European civilization and culture, leading to what the author refers to as “societies drained of their essence”. “They talk to me about progress, about ‘achievements’, diseases cured, improved standards of living. I am talking about societies drained of their essence, cultures trampled underfoot, institutions undermined, lands confiscated, religions smashed, magnificent artistic creations destroyed, extraordinary possibilities wiped out. They throw facts at my head, statistics, mileages of roads, canals, and railroad tracks…I am talking about thousands of men sacrificed…I am talking about millions of men torn from their gods, their land, their habits, their life – from life, from the dance, from wisdom. I am talking about millions of men in whom fear has been cunningly instilled, who have been taught to have an inferiority complex, to tremble, kneel, despair, and behave like flunkeys” (ibid, pp.80-83). Cesaire also believes that the claims made by the colonialists in trying to defend their colonizing activity by using the progress achieved in certain areas are incorrect, since nobody really knows what kind of progress would have been achieved if the colonial powers had not intervened.
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Spivak (1999, p.371) calls colonialism an “enabling violation – a rape that produces a healthy child, whose existence cannot be advanced as a justification for the rape” and feels that colonialism can never be “justified by the fact that India has railways and I speak English well”.
The term postcolonial was first used in the beginning 1970s in political theory to characterize the predicament of countries such as India that had thrown off the yoke of the European colonial empires after World War II (Ahmad, 1995). Then, the term was used to describe “all the culture affected by the [European] imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present day” (Ashcroft et al. 1989, p.2). However, Bhabha (1991, p. 63) asserts that the use of the term ‘postcolonial’ has changed, being increasingly utilised to refer to a form of social critique that focuses on this unequal/uneven “processes of representation by which the historical experience of the once-colonized Third World comes to be framed in the West”. Ashcroft et al. (1989, p.2) instead uses a rather broad definition of the term ‘postcolonial’, one that covers “all the culture affected by the…[colonial] process from the moment of colonization to the present day”. The authors argue that this is necessary since they see a continuation of the historical process of colonial aggression by European powers even today, a topic that will be further dealt with later.
However, either despite the fact or particularly since it has inspired some of the most challenging academic work in recent years (Moore-Gilbert et al. 1997, pp.1-2), postcolonialism continues to be an elusive and contested term: “It designates at one and the same time a chronological moment, a political movement, and an intellectual activity, and it is this multiple status that makes exact definition difficult…Precisely what postcolonialism is remains a fraught question, and it may be more profitable [to ask] …not what, but when, where, who, and why…When is the ‘postcolonial’? Does ‘post’ mean ‘after’, ‘semi’, ‘late’, ‘ex’ or ‘neo’?” According to the authors, the ‘post’ in postcolonial can mean an end (actual or imminent), and hints at withdrawal/liberation/reunification, warning however that it is both a slow and uneven process.
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Over 100 nations have gained independence since the collapse of the European empires in the aftermath of WWII. Thus, a past that has been shaped by colonialism is shared by the vast majority of people in the world. In order to better understand the impact of colonialism on world history, the following figures might be considered. In the year 1914, European colonial powers controlled a major part of the globe, either in the form of colonies, protectorates, dependencies, dominions or commonwealths. During the interwar period of 1914 to 1939, colonial rule was at the height of its power with ca. 85% of the globe either colonized or under neo-Western control (Alva 1995, p.267). “No other set of colonies in history was as large, none so totally dominated, none so unequal in power to the Western metropolis” (Said 1993, p.6). Although colonialism has shaped the lives of a majority of the people in the world today, (Ashcroft et al. 1989, p.1), the effects, after-effects and counter-effects of colonialism have only recently begun to be analysed (Childs and Williams 1997, p.218). This leads Goodison (n.d. in Davies 1994, p.15) to question wearily: “When is postcoloniality going to end? How long does the postcolonial continue?”. While it is easier to see the importance of colonialism in the political and economic spheres, its influence on the perceptual frameworks of contemporary people is often less clear.
According to Childs and Williams (1997, p.1), one of the obvious implications of using the term postcolonial is that it refers to a period after the end of colonialism. When taken at face level, the era of the European colonial empires is over and that, by itself, can be considered to be a fact of major significance. The process of dismantling the structures of colonial power, that begun in the 1950s and reaching its zenith in the 1960s, comprised an important moment in history, as country after country begun to gain independence from their European colonizing powers. The authors feel that the use of the term postcolonial can be justified by the fact that so many millions of formerly colonized peoples now live in a ‘decolonized’ world.
While the term ‘post’, according to Shohat (1992 in Hall 1996, p.243), means past, terminated, finished, or closed, Dirlik (1994 in Hall 1996, p.243) finds such a reading of the term too
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‘celebratory’ of the so-called end of colonialism. In addition, this temporal focus on the term postcolonialism “effects a re-centring of global history around the single rubric of European time. Colonialism returns at the moment of its disappearance” (McClintock 1995, p.11). Childs and Williams (1997, p.218) therefore argue that “in the insistence in postcolonialism on the displacement and repudiation of a pervasive colonial ideology, the centrality of colonialist perspectives, and of colonialism as the pivotal historical event for scores of diverse countries, is confirmed not replaced”. Ahmed is another critic who finds the temporal aspect of the term postcolonialism problematic, arguing that by periodizing history “…in the triadic terms of pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial, the conceptual apparatus of ‘postcolonial’ criticism privileges as primary the role of colonialism…so that all that came before colonisation becomes its own prehistory and whatever comes after can only be lived as infinite aftermath” (Ahmad 1995, pp.6-7).
Along with the difficulties related to the temporality of the term postcolonialism, questions also arise as to its spatial location. Apart from a so called ‘obvious’ geography of postcolonialism i.e. the areas formerly under the control of the European colonialist powers (Childs and Williams 1997, p.10), there are also other areas that are not clearly defined as being postcolonial. Hall (1996, pp.245-246) also questions whether the concept of ‘postcolonialism’ is being over- universalised. Is Britain ‘postcolonial’ in the same sense that the United States is? Can the United States be thought of as being ‘postcolonial’ at all? Can the term be commonly applied to white settler colonies such as Australia and countries like India? Are countries such as Britain or Canada, Nigeria or Jamaica equally postcolonial? Hall argues that not all cultures are ‘postcolonial’ in the same manner e.g. Australia/Canada and Nigeria/India/Jamaica are definitely not ‘postcolonial’ in the same manner. However, this also does not mean that countries such as Australia/Canada are not ‘postcolonial’ at all. Some authors deny the use of the term to white settler colonies, choosing to reserve it exclusively for non-western colonized cultures. Other authors refuse to allow the usage of the term to the colonizing cultures of the metropolis, thus only preserving it for the colonies of the periphery. Hall believes that these methods of discriminating between uses of the term are not at all helpful.
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Colonization itself, according to O’Callaghan (1995, p.22), was not a straightforward phenomenon. It not only differed over periods, but also in the different ways in which it operated as well as the process of how political independence was achieved or granted. The term postcoloniality now covers so many contrasting locations (including the former colonial metropoles) and time periods that practically anyone, anywhere and at any time is able to lay claim to being postcolonial (Sprinkler 1995, p.5). It is thus “problematic to speak about colonialism as ever meaning one thing” (Alva 1995, p.254), since the terms colonization, colonialism, colonize, and colony have all been ascribed with different meanings over the years as well as being simultaneously referred to with regards to a variety of cultural practices and events. The term ‘colonialism’ has been applied in different ways at different times to a number of different experiences. Thus, the term can signify something totally different, depending on whether the term is used with reference to 16th century Latin-America, 18th century Caribbean, 19th century India or 20th century Africa.
Alva (1995, p.242) criticizes the use of a common term to designate such a wide range of experiences, especially since the historical circumstances of each of these areas are very different. According to the author, there are two main motivations for this. The first motivator is mainly intellectual i.e. the classification of the exploitation of one culture by another (as was the case in each of these regions) as a form of behaviour by mainly nonlocal forces. The second motivation for the common use of the term is mainly political. The term ‘colonialism’, especially in the past decades and centuries, carries with it great political and moral weight. For many people, researchers as well as lay people alike, it creates images of unjust social states and persecution, which call for reactionary acts of resistance, claims for justice and struggles of liberation by the (post)colonized peoples. As a moral construct, colonialism is automatically characterized as unjust, thus demanding a reaction from the (post)colonized peoples mentioned above. Unsurprisingly, according to Alva (ibid), the labels of ‘colonial’ and ‘postcolonial’ have been “adopted by many subalterns and their supporters, however imprecise the term may be to the formers’ historical antecedents and present political circumstances”.
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Mudimbe (1988, p.2) believes that colonial rule was established and consolidated using a combination of three strategies: dominating the physical area, reforming the locals’ minds and last, but not least, integrating local histories into a Western cultural perspective. Together, these three strategies form what the author refers to the ‘colonizing structure’, that covers the “physical, human and spiritual aspects of the colonizing experience” (ibid). The culture of colonialism is not a thing of the past since there are still significant remains (culturally, economically, politically) that exist from its legacy in the continuing ideological influence exercised by the former colonial powers in their erstwhile colonies (Sprinkler 1995, p.5). Dirlik (1994, p.339) thinks of the postcolonial as a different, and more disturbing, form of amnesia. The author focuses not on the entire postcolonial period, but instead only on that period after colonialism when a “forgetting of its effects has begun to set in”.
Alva (1995, p.245) thus believes that ‘postcoloniality’ need not necessarily follow the occurrence of an ‘actual’ colonial condition but suggests that the term focus more on becoming a “form of contestatory/oppositional consciousness, emerging from either pre-existing imperial, colonial, or ongoing subaltern conditions, which fosters processes aimed at revising the norms and practices of antecedent or still vital forms of domination” . Said (1993) agrees, stating that because the ideological legitimation of colonialism was based on the on the derogation and suppression of the local cultures and local voices, the (postcolonial) response to colonialism must necessarily include a central ideological dimension, wherein the derogatory colonial representations are contested by reclaiming the validity/importance of the local cultures. As part of his critique of the psychological effects of colonialism, Fanon (1994, pp.81-83) says that colonialism is not so much a “type of individual relations but the conquest of a national territory and the oppression of a people…[It] is the organization of the domination of a nation after military conquest”.
Ashcroft et al. (1989, pp.6-7) claims that although they have achieved (political) independence, postcolonial societies need to continue to engage with the issue of coloniality and the colonial
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 30 experience, with the question of why the empire needs to write back to a centre, even though the colonial structure itself has been dismantled being important politically. According to Venn (2006, p.4), the purpose of the prefix post in the term postcoloniality is not to signal the end of the colonial period but rather signifies an emancipatory project with a goal (the dismantling of political, economic and social structures/values/attitudes/ideas synonymous with European colonialism) that is yet to be realized.
2.1.2 Postcolonialism and the Other
In colonial discourse, the concept of the Other is characterized by an idee fix that is usually negative (e.g. despot, heathen, barbarian, chaos, violence). In a racist colonial culture, since the black person, or more generally the colonized subject, is racialized and categorized as the racial Other, he or she is positioned as being naturally inferior and unable to be properly civilized or cultured because of this presumed intrinsic inferiority. Thus, he or she is forever considered as the ‘not-quite’ subject (Bhabha 1994).
According to Said (1978, p.1), not only is the Orient located next to Europe, it is also the source of “Europe’s greatest and richest and oldest colonies…and one of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other”. The challenge to Orientalism, and the colonial era with which it was intimately linked, was the muteness imposed by the colonizing power upon the Orient as an object (Said 1997, p.131). Rather than being Europe’s interlocutor, the Orient was its silent Other. As mentioned in a previous section, the (colonial) West constructs the Orient as its Other, as a depository of all those characteristics that are considered to be non-Western and therefore automatically negative (Childs and Williams 1997, p.100). In Said’s view (cited in Moore-Gilbert 1997, p. 39), Orientalism (or at least in the manner that Said uses the term) helps support the West’s hegemony over the East mainly by (re)producing the East discursively as the West’s inferior ‘Other’. This automatically both creates and strengthens the West’s superior self-image. It does this through a process of first distinguishing and then essentializing the identities of the
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West and the East through a system of stereotyping, with the goal of rigidifying the purported differences between the European and Asiatic cultures. The East is characterized in Orientalist discourse with perceived negative stereotypical features and traits such as voiceless, sensual, female, despotic, irrational or backward. Contrastingly, the West is represented as being masculine, moral, dynamic, democratic, rational, and progressive.
Said (1978, p.207) claims that together with those who were regarded as backward and degenerate, the Oriental colonized citizens were viewed in a framework based on biological determinism and moral-political admonition. The colonized subjects were rarely seen or looked at as citizens, or even people, but rather as problems that needed to be either solved or ‘taken over’, as the European colonial powers openly coveted their land. According to Venn (2006, p.67-68), when it comes to examining the process and phenomenon of colonial power, it is important to remember that the main aim of that power was to take possession of and accumulate the land of the colonizer and to use both the people and the resources to work for the European power. For this, it was vital to establish the authority/rights of the new ‘owners’.
European colonialism was characterised by certain distinct characteristics including an appropriation-as-dispossession along with the reduction of the colonized to the status of a lesser being – the Other. This Other was created according to the epistemological and ontological discourses that were based on the supposition that the culture, beliefs, knowledge and way of life of the colonizer were automatically superior, thus fixing the colonized in a position of inherent inferiority. Attempts by the European colonizers to ‘civilize’ the colonized (a process which included Christianization) were done using assimilation, integration of the subject as well as ‘subalternization’ that aimed to induct the colonized Other into the apparatus of the colonial empire (Venn 2006, p.178).
As mentioned above, Venn (ibid, p.11) believes that the European model of colonialism tries to situate the colonized as the ‘Other’, not merely as a stranger or simply different to the colonizer, but as beings that are fundamentally and ontologically inferior and therefore need to be
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 32 brought under the tutelage or the ban of the superior West. An inherent characteristic of this form of colonialism was violence. The European model of colonialism was a combination of physical violence (common to all colonizers), epistemic violence (denying the authority and validity of indigenous knowledge), ontological violence (refusing to accept the colonized subject as being human) and last but not least, symbolic and psychic violence (silencing of the colonized voice, thus denying him/her the opportunity to tell his story). This symbolic/psychic violence is a theme that Spivak (1988) goes into greater detail in her writings.
Furthermore, the lack of a contractual obligation undertaken on behalf of the locals – who, in a democratic system of governance, would be represented and thus be the source of legitimate power – signify that the colonial government was not primarily concerned with the needs and wants of the local population but instead aimed to create a segmenting of the population for its own ends (Venn 2006, p.67-68). Thus, colonial power remained external to the social body of the local population. Depending on the pragmatic and strategic calculations of political forces, it targeted different groups differently. For example, it often had a tacit understanding with existing elites, as in the case of India in the 19th century. Friendly locals were used to form an administrative and military cadre, albeit one whose access to the machinery of power would be limited to only a subaltern role.
This creation of a network of Anglicized Indian administrators (or ‘babus’ as they were referred to), through which the power lines of the colonial empire ran, intended to appropriate the Other. With regards to mimicry, Baron Macaulay spoke of a “class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect” (Spivak 1999, p.276). Through this discourse of mimicry, there occurred a fixing of the colonial subject. However, there was at all times a difference to be maintained between the mimicry of the colonial subject and the ‘real thing’, as it were. To be Anglicized was emphatically not to be English. Mimicry was considered by authors such as Childs and Williams (1997, p.132) to be another ambivalent (re)assertion of similarities and differences with mimicry repeating the “colonial presence at the place of authority where resemblance is denied in a process of recognition (the colonized are
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 33 almost the same as the colonizer) and disavowal (but not quite)”. Mimicry was an imitation of the Other while carefully persevering the differences of liberty, status and rights. It was vital for the colonial powers at that time that the imitation must always be clearly distinguishable from the ‘original’. Said (1984 in Ashcroft et al. 1989, p.3) refers to this as ‘filiation’: “a mimicry of the centre proceeding from a desire not only to be accepted but to be adopted and absorbed. It caused those from the periphery to immerse themselves in the imported culture, denying their origins in an attempt to become ‘more English than the English’”.
According to Bhabha (1994, p.86), mimicry is a form of control exercised by the ruling colonial power. The colonizer forces the colonized subject to follow the outward forms and internalize the values and norms of the culture of the colonial power. In this manner, mimicry is part of the ‘epic’ project of the civilizing mission of transforming the colonized culture by making the colonized subjects copy the colonial culture. Its existence in an ideological sphere, when compared to other policies of domination that are based on brute force, makes mimicry, according to Bhabha, one of the most effective yet elusive strategies of colonial power. Its elusiveness was due to the existence of a weak spot in the colonial strategy i.e. the consequence of the crucial differentiation which the strategy of mimicry requires e.g. the difference between being English and ‘Anglicized’. The difference between the former and the latter terms maintains the distinction between the colonizing and colonized subjects. It is on this distinction that colonial power and control depends. Thus, one part of the colonial discourse focuses on the colonized subject’s potential for reformation and gradual nearing to the superior state of the colonizer’s culture. This can take place under the guidance of the benevolent power. At the same time, another part works against and contradicts this approach with the necessity of an ontological difference (and inferiority) of the colonized subject. Thus, at its heart, mimicry becomes an “ironic compromise…the desire for a reformed recognizable Other, as a subject of a difference that is almost the same, but not quite” (Bhabha 1994, p.86). This process of mimicry creates subjects whose ‘not-quite sameness’ functions as a ‘distorting mirror’, which results in the fracturing of the identity of the colonizing subject” (Moore-Gilbert 1997, pp. 120-121).
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With regards to the French colonial policy in Africa, the term often used in conjunction with mimicry is assimilation. Moore-Gilbert et al. (1997, p.7) claims that the main aim/mission of French colonial activity in Africa was to ‘civilize’ the Africans. This was defined as acculturating and ‘Frenchifying’ the African colonial subjects in order to make them into Frenchmen by means of education. For an African to become French, however, it was necessary for the African self to be abandoned. To achieve this, numerous African students were dispatched to France under the sponsorship of the French authorities, in order to accelerate their assimilation into a ‘modern’ (i.e. French colonial) society. As a result of this acculturation process by the French colonial powers, “We [the African colonial subjects] did not know what Africa was, Europeans despised everything about Africa, and in France people spoke of a civilized world and a barbarian world. The barbarian world was Africa, and the civilized world was Europe. Therefore the best one could do with an African was to assimilate him: the ideal was to turn him into a Frenchman with a black skin” (Cesaire 1972, p.72). As a result, certain movements (such as negritude) were started as an opposition to the values and cultural codes of the European civilization as found within the colonial context.
2.1.3 Postcolonialism and the Subaltern
According to Trinh (1989 cited in Venn 2006, p.26), the conceptualization of the colonized subject as the ‘Other’ leads to questions being asked about the types of othering that form the basis of all forms of systematic exploitation. This, alongwith a continued period of what Spivak (1988) refers to as subalternization has resulted in long-lasting effects on the psyche and the identity of the colonized Other, especially the subaltern colonized Other.
In most postcolonial cultures, the process of decolonization did not result in giving power to the revolutionary leaders. Instead, it was the national bourgeoisie that moved into the vacant
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 35 positions within the colonial structure. In nation after nation, the local elites took over colonial state structures (structures that were established by the colonial powers and, importantly, predated nationalist sentiment and activity), consolidated their power and wealth and donned what Arief Dofman refers to as the ‘Empire’s Old Clothes’” (Sivanandan 2004, p.56). Many authors that analyse postcolonial cultures therefore agree that the indigenous elites who assumed power after independence should be held responsible for their present problems (Ahmad 1992 cited in Sivanandan 2004, p.56) while Spivak (1995) attributes the failure of decolonization to the ignoring of the subaltern.
The term ‘subaltern’ was made popular in the 1980s by a community of South Asian scholars called the Subaltern Studies Group. It is used as a “name for the general attributes of subordination in…society whether this is expressed in terms of class, caste, age, gender and office or in any other way…[All the while recognizing] that subordination cannot be understood except as one of the constitutive terms in a binary relationship of which the other is dominance, for subaltern groups are always subject to the activity of ruling groups” (Guha and Spivak 1988, p.35). The term itself is derived by the historiographers from the prison diaries of Antonio Gramsci, where he used the term to describe rural labourers as well as the proletariat. In Guha and Spivak (1988), the authors and their colleagues modified the term to also include the non-elite sections of Indian society, mainly focusing on rural subjects.
The Subaltern Studies Group focused its attention in particular on the historical agency of the Indian peasantry who, they believed, were under-represented in history with the term ‘subaltern’ used to refer to these people and their hidden histories. According to Childs and Williams (1997), subaltern studies was one of many endeavours to analyse these ‘suppressed histories’. Lazarus (2004, p.9) claims that there is a need to recover/uncover both contents as well as “forms of consciousness of ‘the people’ - those that are spoken both of and for in elite representations but never given a public sanctioned space to speak of and for themselves”.
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According to Lazarus, the subaltern is usually the object of discourse, yet never the subject, thus creating a clear division separating the social elites from the non-elite. “Within the elite spheres, the subaltern cannot speak” (ibid).
The problem faced by the Subaltern Studies Group was an important one for postcolonial theory. Since nearly all existing documents and accounts were authored either by the colonizers themselves or an indigenous elite whose Weltanschauung was similar to the colonizers, how does the historiographer provide a voice/agency to those subaltern sections of the colonized who were unable to speak and yet played a crucial role in the anti-colonial resistance? The Subaltern Studies Group accept that they, for a large part, are unable to ascertain the subalterns’ view directly. Instead the group tries to study official reports and histories of e.g. the 1857 ‘Mutiny’ to get access to the consciousness of peasant insurgents so that, in this manner, the “silenced voice of colonized resistance can be rewritten into history” (Childs and Williams 1997, p.162).
Spivak (1988) tries to address the problem of representation and unrepresentability in what is arguably one of her most influential essays, ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’ She concludes in the negative, since the subaltern as a subject is only the result of inscriptions found in colonial historiography. There is no subaltern voice that can be recovered or made to speak. Instead, there only exists the texts by the ruling colonial power that portrays the subaltern as peasant resisters and ‘criminals’ or ‘mutineers’. One of the most common examples of the silenced subaltern, according to Spivak, is related to the discourse surrounding sati12.
1 Sati, wrongly translated as the ritual of widow sacrifice on a husband’s funeral pyre in pre-colonial India, in fact referred to the widow (or the ‘good wife’) in the local language (ibid).
2 In 1829, this practice was outlawed by the colonial British rulers, who had, till date, always upheld Hindu law as a matter of policy. Cultural groups exposed to the colonial culture felt a pressure to show to both others as well as themselves that their cultural purity and their allegiance to their traditional high culture was still intact. For many of these groups in India, the process of ‘sati’ was a critical proof of conformity to older cultural norms when these norms were growing increasingly shaky within (Spivak, 2010). Spivak (1988) argues that the figure of the subaltern sati or the ”good wife” disappears between the two positions constructed for her by others – on the one hand, the colonial British rulers who ban the practice,
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Guha argues that the Indian nationalism’s entire historiography has been monopolized by elitism – first colonialist elitism and then bourgeois-nationalist elitism, after independence (Spivak, 2010). Ahmad (1995a, p.26) sees a historic shift that takes place during the process of postcolonization when there is a transition of power from the colonial rulers to the local elite of the newly independent nation. The aim instead should be to refocus the attention on the most disenfranchised sections of a culture or society, which typically form a large majority of the local population (Lazarus 2004, p.8). The reclamation of tradition as well as the reconstruction of national culture after colonialism requires the regaining of popular consciousness from all of its citizens, focusing in particular on new approaches in political economy and generating ‘histories from below’.
Spivak (1999, p.310) sees this as an effective extension of her own concept of subaltern speech into the collective arena. Accessing the civil society by voting (or having the right to vote) is an important and symbolic step of the “mobilizing of subalternity into hegemony” (ibid). However, it would be naïve to assume that merely by being able to vote, the subaltern has unfettered
claiming to speak for the victims of a cruel and revolting torture while, on the other hand, the indigenous colonial elite in favour of sati also claimed to speak for the victim, romanticising the purity, strength and love of these selfless ‘good women’. Spivak (in Moore-Gilbert 1997, p.87) contends the British colonial power usurped the prerogative to speak for the oppressed local woman in the discourse surrounding the prohibition of sati in colonial India of the 19th century. The British colonial power used this construct of the oppressed Indian woman as means of justifying the imposition of the progressive, modernizing and liberating colonial regime. This also successfully fortified colonial Britain’s self-image as being civilizationally superior to the degraded native woman as well as her local oppressors. Key to this procedure in the discourse surrounding sati was the attribution of a voice – supposedly representing free will and agency – to the subaltern woman. The British colonial power claimed to have heard this voice calling out to them for liberation. The native Indian male patriarchs, on the other hand, claimed to hear the same voice as assenting voluntarily to the practice of sati. In the discourse surrounding the sati, Spivak sees the position of a gendered subaltern. Between the colonialists on the one hand, who Spivak (ibid) refers to as “White men saving brown women from brown men”, and the patriarchal Indian male on the other hand, who claimed that ‘The women wanted to die’, the subaltern position is in fact repeatedly rewritten by others with the subaltern/‘good wife’ herself absent. Thus, neither version, according to the author, can be considered as representing the ‘true’ voice of the female subaltern, since she herself was not allowed to speak.
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 38 access to power. Spivak affirms that even after communication lines have been established between members of subaltern groups and institutionality, the subaltern has merely been inserted into what she calls “the long road to hegemony” (ibid).
Postcolonial self-representation thus becomes one way of reclaiming cultural power for subaltern groups (Childs and Williams 1997, p.106). According to Spivak (2010), the aim is not to represent (vertreten) them but instead to enable them to re-present themselves (darstellen). The “most important postcolonial form [is] the self-representation of (formerly) colonized peoples” (Childs and Williams 1997, p.105). Spivak (2010) thus deems it necessary to further extend the reach of the term in essays like ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’ by including other groups ‘further down’ the social scale who are, as a consequence, even less visible to colonial and Third World national-bourgeois historiographers. She especially focuses on groups such as unorganized peasant labourers, subsistence farmers, tribals and communities of itinerant and daily wage workers in urban areas or in the countryside.
Spivak (1987, p.253) believes that it is the subaltern groups themselves who must participate in the production of knowledge about their suppressed histories. If a postcolonial subaltern subject is able to escape the muteness of his/her voice, then he/she automatically ceases being a subaltern, a desirable result according to the author. “[If] the subaltern can speak then, thank God, the subaltern is not a subaltern any more” (Spivak 1990, p.158). Although Spivak (1999, p.310) clarifies that it is insufficient to simply be postcolonial or a member of an ethnic minority to be classified as ‘subaltern’, instead stating that the term be reserved for the heterogeneity of the decolonized space, Moore-Gilbert (1997, pp. 107-108) criticizes her, claiming that she is not willing to recognize that there might be a: “number of intermediate positions between ‘full’ subalternity and hegemony. In this respect, Spivak’s characteristic hostility to ‘culturalist’ Marxism means that she is deaf to the powerful argument made by Raymond Williams about ‘emergent’ and ‘residual’ social forms and communities, a theory itself in part derived from Gramsci’s conception of the possibility of transition between subalternity and hegemony”.
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It is extremely important to realise that not all subalterns are the same and neither are the subaltern’s experience of colonialism. This directly influences the position of the subaltern on his/her road to hegemony. Moore-Gilbert (1997, p.192) criticizes the fact that the term ‘subaltern’ is too homogenizing. The author highlights what he sees as differences too large to be negotiated within this single term, citing the examples of the ‘tribal’, the urban homeworker and the unorganized rural peasant. Fanon (cited in Moore-Gilbert 1997, p.145) agrees that it would be wrong to equate the colonial experiences of the middle-class black doctor with that of the dock labourer. These different conceptions of identity of the different kinds of subaltern continue throughout postcolonial cultural history. The authors believe that the most influential model is one that stressed the plurality and differentiality of the identities of the subalterns. Coronil (2000, p.44) concurs with this multiple positionality of the subaltern, proposing a: “view [of] the subaltern neither as a sovereign-subject that actively occupies a bounded place nor as a vassal subject that results from the dispersed effects of multiple external determinations, but as an agent of identity construction that participates, under determinate conditions within a field of power relations, in the organization of its multiple positionality and subjectivity”. Subalternity thus becomes less of an identity and more a predicament, “the structured place from which the capacity to access power is radically obstructed” (Morris 2010, p.8).
According to Coronil (2000, p.44), it is important to remember that the concept of subalternity is both relational and relative. At certain times, people might appear on the ‘social stage’ as subaltern actors while at other times or situations, they embody dominant power roles. Furthermore, a subject might be subaltern with regards to one person, yet dominant with regards to a second subject at any given time/place. In addition, there might be contexts/situations where such categorizations are simply irrelevant. Thus, “Dominance and subalternity are not inherent, but relational characterizations. Subalternity defines not the being of a subject, but a subjected state of being” (ibid).
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Further, Moore-Gilbert (ibid, p.108) argues that even if the subaltern is finally able to speak, the West still has the choice whether (or not) not to hear what the subaltern is saying. Morris (2010, p.16) concurs, stating that the question of “How can we learn to listen?” (if and when the subaltern can and does start to speak) still remains unanswered. Considering the harsh and oppressive realities of colonialism, for true dialogue to take place it is vital for “Western readers be willing…to listen seriously and respectfully to postcolonial voices” (Gallagher 1994, p.20).
2.1.4 Postcolonialism and Christianity
“Ever since Pope Alexander XI officially sanctioned colonialism in 1494 at Tordesillas by dividing the world into two missionary acres to be plowed by his champions, the kings of Portugal and Spain” (Prakash 1995, p.5), the affiliation between the Christian mission and the colonial powers has been a controversial topic in the (Catholic) church. “Upon landing in India, a member of Vasco da Gama’s crew is said to have responded to the question ‘What brought you here?’ with the following reply: ‘We seek Christians and Spices’” (Sprinkler 1995, p.2). Authors such as Sprinkler strongly believe that proselytizing and mercantile expansion have gone hand in hand as part of colonialism. Others disagree with this view. Questioning what colonization really is, Cesaire (1997, p.75) focuses instead on what it is not i.e. “neither evangelization, nor a philanthropic enterprise, nor a desire to push back the frontiers of ignorance, disease, and tyranny, nor a project undertaken for the greater glory of God, nor at attempt to extend the rule of law”. Blusse (1995, pp.155-156) also talks of “an inner incompatibility between colonial conquest and the idea of Christian conversion”.
Venn (2006, p.48) however cites the conquest of the Caribbean an example of how colonialism has linked itself to Christianity. The Spanish conquistadors’ first act on landing in the Caribbean was to plant the royal standard of the King and Queen of Spain and claim the land in the name of Christianity and Spain. This gesture aimed to bind sovereignty of the land with conquest and a monotheist missionary project. Right from the start, the colonialists categorized the people
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 41 whose land and wealth they were appropriating and whose lives they were about to destroy as ‘primitive’. Without language or religion (as defined by the colonizers), the colonized other was only fit to work as servants, since they were deemed to be a lesser breed. In this example of the Spanish conquistadors, it can be clearly seen how a superiority of, followed by the forced conversion of the locals to Christianity went hand in hand with the forced transfer of ownership and possession of the land.
Parekh (1997, pp. 174-175) claims that loot was always at the top of the minds of the colonizers. This process of othering the Other not only casts the other out of humanity (as well as casting the humanity of the Other) and demonizes him/her. It also reconstructs the identity of Europeans as superior beings, ordained with a divine right to ‘covet’ their neighbour’s (i.e. non- Christian others, although it is doubtful whether they even considered them to be their neighbours) lands and goods. Columbus’ gesture clearly marks the European model of colonization as a procedure of looting that begins under the cover of a mission, aimed at firstly Christianizing, later ‘civilizing’ the ‘uncivilized’ Other. Bhabha (1994, p.96) refers to this as a combination of the “colonial practices of muscular Christianity and the civilizing mission”. Considered the ‘white man’s burden’, the civilizing mission of the West affected the entire fabric of the culture of non-Western populations (Dallmayr 1996, p.13).
Parekh (1997, pp. 174-175) provides an interesting account of the process of how this ‘evangelizing’ and ‘civilizing mission of colonialism’ came about. The Spanish colonial power, nearly all of whom were devout Catholics, needed to come to a decision about how to treat the local Indian colonized people of South America. Their treatment of the local colonized people depended on how the locals were viewed. Being Christians, they firmly believed that since all human beings were made in the image of God, they were all sacred and thus eligible for equal treatment. However, a decision needed to be made whether or not the locals qualified as human beings in the first place. The Spanish colonial power decided that although the locals had “a human ‘shape’, they had the ‘nature’ of beasts and were really ‘savages’, a term widely used at the time to refer to human beings displaying such an ambiguous
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identity… [they] could not be said to have been made ‘in the image of God’. There were not human beings in the full sense of the term, did not belong to the same species as the Spaniards and the rest of civilized mankind…There is a great difference between them [and us] as there is between savagery and forbearance, between violence and moderation almost – I am inclined to say – as between monkeys and men” (ibid).
Being devout Catholics, the Spanish colonial masters requested a clarification from the Catholic Church in Rome. In a Papal Bull in 1537, Paul III deemed the locals to be ‘true men’ and ruled that “must not be deprived of their freedom and the ownership of their property” (ibid). As Christians, the colonial powers believed that the salvation of the locals was of utmost importance. If the locals had not been deemed to be human beings, then their salvation would not have mattered. But since they were, it mattered greatly. What was clear to the colonial powers was that salvation could only be achieved by embracing Christianity (ibid). If the locals, who were deemed human, were to be saved, they had to become Christians. This was to be achieved ideally by convincing them, but coercion could also be used if required. Since the Spanish colonisation was a required precondition of missionary activity, the missionaries did not oppose colonisation per se but instead only its inhumanity and excesses. They only wanted the colonial rulers to be God-fearing persons possessing a good conscience and prudence. Later, Pope Paul III softened his stance, urging that conversion to Christianity should be of the free will of the locals. By accepting their humanity and sparing their bodies but claiming their souls, he never relented on the importance of colonisation and conversion (ibid).
Although the link between colonialism and Christianity is synonymous for many, Gallagher (1994, pp.20-22) believes it is important to make certain distinctions between the two. Gallagher agrees that both the agents and agencies of Christianity were responsible for aiding and abetting some of the worst instances of colonial oppression. Devout Christian colonizers, acting on behalf of both their home country as well as Christianity, saw their activities as a way of carrying out God’s purpose. Throughout history, what Kipling called the ‘White Man’s Burden’,
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 43 was understood by the colonizers as a certain moral and ethical responsibility to transform local economies, societies and cultures. Often, this ideology either masked or endorsed the political and cultural domination that was required to support the Manichean dichotomy of Fanon (Gallagher 1994, pp.20-22). Interestingly, not all colonial powers were interested in converting the local population. In stark contrast to the christianizing Portuguese in Goa, the British government believed that teaching Christianity in India would be too contentious and inflammatory for the local population. Thus, in British India, education had to be secular (Childs and Williams 1997, p.197).
While civil administrators were possibly motivated by a Christian belief of moral responsibility, another vital aspect of colonization included the influx of Christian missionaries into the colonies. The history of missionary activity has always accompanied the history of political colonization. This started when the Catholic church sent missionaries to the New World and continued when the growth of evangelism in the 18th and 19th centuries involved American/British missionary societies to evangelize the African and Asian continents (Gallagher 1994, pp.20-22). The missionaries spoke of the love of the Lord, saying “Greater Love hath no man than this…that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Cary 1994, p.176). However, the very same missionaries that preached universal love also served the cause of colonialism, which was based on the racial/cultural superiority of one culture over another. “Christian missionary activity often was a crucial element of colonization, transforming cultures and societies as well as religions” (Gallagher 1994, pp.21). Thus, the Christian missionaries aimed to convert the locals not only to Christianity but also to a Western way of life.
According to Cary (1994, pp.170-171), the concept of ‘Othering’ comes into being when the Other’s cultural discourse is considered to be empty/valueless/inferior to one’s own. This rationalization facilitates a projection of one’s own culture/values onto those of the Other. The agents of what the author refers to as ‘Western Christianity’ personified this process by believing and teaching that since their religion originated from the Biblical Word of God, they were communicating the only possibility of salvation. The local religions were considered
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 44 idolatrous/demonic in comparison or, in the best case, as merely preparing the subjects to receiving the superior revelation of the Christian religious teachings. Therefore, it is not surprising to Cary that the Europeans colonizers as well as the early converts to Christianity suppressed and marginalized the ‘heathenish’ local religions which were seen as inferior alternatives to their revelation and authority. According to the author, it was the European missionaries that thus helped in the creation of Others. The proselytizing effort meant a rejection of the values/rituals of the locals, instead forcing them to adopt what was, in effect, European lifestyle and culture. “The European missionary had attacked the primitive rights of our people, had condemned our beautiful African dances, the images of our Gods, recoiling from their suggestion of satanic sensuality. The African convert did the same, often with even greater zeal, for he had to prove how Christian he was through the rejection of his past and his roots” (Ngugi cited in Cary 1994, p.176).
However, it wasn’t in all cases that the locals rejected their past history/culture/religion with the same zeal. The Dominicans, who started with the proselytization of the Mixteca region (a region in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico) in the 16th century, demonized the Mixtec representations of the divine as idols or demons and devils. They also destroyed many of the idols and pursued their worship as idolatry (Spores 1984, Frizzi 1996 and Chavez 1997 cited in Kollewe, 2007). As a result, the Mixtecs were forced to remove their idols from public places and bring them to their homes, caves etc. for safekeeping. Thus, even though Catholic altars were built in the centres of villages and the Mixtec religion was severely damaged by Catholicism, many Mixtec continued to conduct fertility rituals and sacrifices in hiding. Thus, the old religion was practiced in many places under a Catholic surface and both belief systems began to blend with one another (Frizzi 1996 cited in Kollewe, 2007).
Although Gallagher (1994) acknowledges the cultural intolerance of the missionaries toward the local cultures, they also played a significant role in the advancement of the local culture. Since they needed to be able to speak the local language for their evangelical work, missionary
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 45 societies often devoted themselves to systematically studying the local language, literature and culture. This systematic study often resulted in translations of important cultural works from the local language to the language of the colonizer, such as English, Portuguese or French. This enabled these important cultural works to have a far greater readership than they would have had without the missionaries.
Although undoubtedly a part of colonialist expansion as an ally of the colonial powers, Christian missionaries often opposed the colonial government and its abuses of power as well as excesses of their own religions agencies, thus offering a “countercultural voice in opposition to the hegemony of colonialism” (Gallagher 1994, p.22). Christian missionaries often fought against oppression in the colonies. They mediated in domestic warfare, protested against unfair labour policies of the colonial powers, dealt with social problems due to alcoholism and refugees as well as provided medical care and basic education to the local people. Education and the creation of mission or convent schools was of great importance. Despite a cultural bias towards the colonizers culture, it was missionary education that formed the local leaders that would eventually take over power from the colonizers after independence.
Some authors like F.G. Wood strongly argue that Christianity is inherently racist and oppressive in ideology/organization/practice. However, this inherent belief of moral superiority, though cloaked in a religious rhetoric, was not always based on Christian teachings. Others (including both members of colonizing nations as well as the victims of colonization) firmly believe that Christianity and its biblical text exemplify a concept of justice that is fundamentally opposed to oppression (Gallagher 1994, p.23). The Bible includes a number of calls for justice and righteousness. Gallagher gives the example of the Exodus story that follows the Israelites out of slavery and oppression and into the freedom of the Promised Land, “thus providing a mythology and rhetoric for oppressed people across the globe” (ibid, p.23). Other examples that the author cites are that of how Isaiah (10:1-2) speaks strongly against oppression oppressors or how, in the New Testament, Jesus embraces the ‘Others of the Hebrew world’ (women, fishermen, lepers and the Samaritans) (ibid).
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Thus, those who believe that Christianity and its biblical text exemplify a concept of justice that is fundamentally opposed to oppression insist that a critical distinction must be made between the Christianity of the West and the Christianity of Christ. Fanon (cited in ibid) concurs, stating “The Church in the colonies is the white people’s Church, the foreigners Church. She does not call the native to God’s ways but to the ways of the white man, of the master, of the oppressor”. However, Gallagher questions whether, given the cultural context of understanding, it is even possible to understand the ‘Christianity of Christ’? “Can Christianity be comprehended outside of the Western cultural tradition of which it is so crucial a part?” (ibid), he asks.
It can, according to other, newer perspectives on Christianity that have emerged in the past 20 to 30 years as part of the growth of a ‘Third World’, or liberation theology. These liberation theologies try and find new means to “understand the Bible, to practice Christianity, to be the church” (Gallagher 1994, p.24), not just the church of the colonizers but also of the colonized. These movements often originated within communities of oppressed or postcolonial people and hence share a common commitment to social justice. Members of these communities try and focus on the contextual nature of theological understanding, calling for a new perspective to be expressed ‘from the underside’, “from the perspective of the oppressed” (ibid). Thus, Gallagher (1994, p.26) calls on both readers and postcolonial critics to differentiate between what he calls the “Christianity of the Bible” & the “Christianity of Europe”.
According to Hawley (1994, pp.125-126), the nature of Christianity is changing and the speed of that change is increasing as well. Soon, it will be the postcolonial and Third World countries (what Buehlmann terms as the ‘Third Church’) that will set the agenda for the Church in the coming century. While the number of Christians in the West (Europe, North America) were 392 million in 1900, there were only 67 million Christians in the developing nations of Asia, Africa and South America. This amounted to a division of 85% of Christians in the First/Second Church and only 15% in the so called ‘Third Church’. By 1965, however there were 637 million Christians in the West while the number of Christians in the developing nations had increased to 370
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 47 million (thus changing the division to 63% in the First/Second Church and 37% in the Third). According to current estimates, in 2000 there were around 796 million Christians in the West as opposed to 1.1 billion in the developing nations (thus changing the division to 42% in the First/ Second Church and 58% in the Third). In the Roman Catholic Church, the author estimated that in 2000 over 70% of its members reside in developing nations (Hawley 1994, pp.125-126). This begs the question, then as to ‘Whose Church’ it really is. As the makeup of the (Catholic) church changes, there is a new acceptance that the (Catholic) Church should be separated from the political intentions of (Catholic/Christian) colonizers (Hawley 1994, pp.125-126). During a visit to Brazil in 1991, the head of the (Catholic) Church Pope John Paul II also publicly asked forgiveness for the “weakness and defects of some missionaries during centuries of evangelism” (ibid).
2.1.5 Postcolonialism and Decolonization
Decolonization is defined by Venn (2006, p.178) as the “active process of dismantling it [colonialism] through oppositional strategies and liberation struggles”. According to Alva (1995, p.267), after World War II decolonization quickly increased, with Indian independence being the “first large-scale negotiated decolonization” (Spivak 1999, p.413). The term ‘decolonization’ often refers to a precise event i.e. the end of colonial rule and the creation of independent nation-states. After 1945, the collapse of the European colonial empires resulted in the creation of new countries/new states. These new countries tried to distance themselves, both in substance and symbolically, from their colonial past (Olins and Hildreth, 2011). However, decolonization remains incomplete unless it involves what O’Callaghan (1995, p.22) refers to as ‘attitude change’.
Grosfoguel (2008, p.94). thus, questions what he calls the ‘common sense’ assumption that the world has been ‘decolonized’. Slemon (1991, p.3) agrees, arguing that most present definitions of ‘postcolonial’ are incorrect. Although these definitions vary widely, Slemon believes that the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 48 concept is erroneously used synonymously with a period of history following independence in nations that were once-colonised. Instead, the author suggests that it is much better to focus on how the colonizing power has inscribed itself onto the body and space of its Others and start the postcolonial decolonizing in that part of the local culture.
According to Fanon (1997, p.94), the colonial powers were not satisfied by merely imposing their rule on the colonized country. He claims that colonial domination strived to convince the indigenous people that colonialism was there to “lighten their darkness” (ibid). A conscious effect was also made by the colonizers to convince the locals of the idea that if the colonial powers were to leave, the result would be an automatic return by the colonized to ‘barbarism, degradation and bestiality’. Furthermore, colonialism has planted the idea deep in the minds of the locals that before the arrival of the colonial powers, their [pre-colonial] history was full of barbarism. Ashcroft et al. (1989, p.9) also talk about the destruction of the local culture by the process of ‘cultural denigration’, the “conscious and unconscious oppression of the indigenous personality and culture by a supposedly superior racial or cultural model”, which resulted in a crisis of self-image among the local population. “By a kind of perverted logic, it turns to the past of oppressed people, and distorts, disfigures and destroys it” (Fanon 1961 cited in Williams and Chrisman 1994, p.393). Fanon thus argues that any process of decolonization must begin with the recovery of lost histories and the reclamation of a past silenced under colonialism.
According to Hall (1996a, p.69), Fanon has been critical to understanding the “internal traumas of identity which are associated with colonisation and enslavement”. Hall believes that colonization was never merely about the external processes of colonial exploitation but more about the manner in which the colonised subjects “internally collude with the objectification of the self produced by the coloniser” (ibid). Venn (2006, p.80) agrees, stating that the process of devaluing pre-colonial history must be taken into account during the process of [mental] decolonization. Thus, apart from the physical aspect of colonization, he also highlights the importance of focusing on ‘the colonization and decolonization of minds’ with the goal of combining physical decolonization with the ‘decolonization of the mind’ (ibid). Tomlinson (1991
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 49 cited in Venn 2006, pp.63-64) believes that this ‘decolonization of the mind’ must take place in order to undo what he refers to as the effects of cultural imperialism, which include the “damaged psyche of the colonized people” (Rajan and Mohanram 1995, p.2). If this ‘decolonization of the mind’ is to successfully take place, a process of historical reconstruction is required that highlights the pervading effects of colonialism on the psyche of the colonized Other.
According to then president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal defense and Education Fund, Antonia Hernandez, Latinos should not be “so proud of our Spanish roots without really looking into what our Spanish roots did to our other half” (Hispanic 1990 cited in Alva 1995, p.253). If a (postcolonial) culture is to be successfully decolonized, it is critical to focus on the restoration of cultural practices that are subjected to ‘institutional forgetting’, one of the most serious threats that these cultures face. “Archival work, as a form of counter- memory, therefore is essential to the critical articulation of minority discourse” (Janmohamed and Lloyd 1997, p.239).
“Since the West has a deplorable record of simultaneously denying the existence of any worthwhile history in areas it colonized…and destroying the cultures which embodied that history, an important dimension of postcolonial work has been the recovery or revaluing of indigenous histories [mental decolonization] … people making their own history, rather than being passive participants in history made by others” (Childs and Williams 1997, p.8). Thus, the authors conclude that any national struggle for liberty needs to be accompanied by a cultural process where the locals are reminded of their pre-colonial history as a “reply to the lies told by the occupying power” (Fanon 1997, pp.95-96). During the period of decolonization, the newly created nation states need to concern themselves with not only trying to build a state but with also trying to “decolonize the minds, souls, and practices of the indigenous communities” (Alva 1995, p.253).
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According to Childs and Williams (1997, pp.3-4), it is therefore essential not to focus so much on the chronologically subsequent – i.e. the coming after [colonialism] aspect – but instead concentrate on conceptually transcending the term. According to this perspective, postcolonial texts can be called thus since they reject the basic premises of colonialist intervention i.e. the civilizing mission, the advancement of ‘backward’ stagnant cultures, thus breaking free of the shackles of colonialism to critique or counter-attack its ideologies. The formerly colonized margin can only begin to represent themselves by recovering their own hidden past, requiring them to retell their narrative from the bottom up, rather than from the top down. “The world begins to be decolonized at that moment” (Hall 1997, p.184). This talking back to the centre is an essential part of the decolonizing process: “But do not misunderstand me. I am not talking about some ideal free space in which everybody says, ‘Come on in. Tell us what you think. I’m glad to hear from you.’ The dominant culture did not say that, but in the last twenty years it has been impossible to silence…the discourses from the margins” (ibid). One of the first discourses was ‘negritude’, a philosophy of an authentic African otherness and humanity that the previously colonized African peoples could be proud of. This philosophy was proposed in the 1930s and supported by a number of African authors/poets such as Leopold Senghor and Aime Cesaire, although Nigerian playwright/poet Wole Soyinka ridicules the concept, comparing it to ‘tigritude’: “I don’t think a tiger has to go around proclaiming his tigritude” (Jan 1968 cited in Pieterse and Parekh 1995, p.8).
Although postcolonial discourses might take place differently in different countries, it is postcoloniality that serves as a link between them all, the connector “that can bring the diversity of local histories into a universal project” (Mignolo 2000, p.92). Ashcroft et al. (1989, p.2) also believe that although postcolonial cultures have certain distinctive regional characteristics, the fact that they all emerged in their current state as a result of the colonial experience and managed to assert themselves against the colonial powers by focusing on their distinctness from the colonial centre, make them uniquely postcolonial.
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All cultures labelled as postcolonial share certain common experiences as a result of their shared antagonistic relationship to the dominant culture, which aimed to marginalize them. The authors Janmohamed and Lloyd (1997, p.242) focus on the similarities of the repressions and struggles that all the colonized cultures experience. Although these experiences are different from one another, the repressions and struggles are experienced because all these cultures were colonized at one point or another. Despite the differences that exist between the various colonized cultures, it is crucial to keep in mind that they all have shared oppressed and ‘inferior’ political/economic/cultural/material subject-positions in relation to Western hegemony. The fight against colonialism thus becomes a global effort of emancipation with Cesaire (1970, p.161) claiming that “by fighting for the dignity of our peoples, for their truth, and their recognition, we are by definition fighting for the entire world, to free it from tyranny, hate, and fanaticism”. By bringing these contrasting voices together in one forum, it is possible to jointly examine the nature of their common marginalization in order to evolve strategies for their re- empowerment. It is vital that these colonized and suppressed cultures learn from each other’s history of oppression under colonialism and there is a dire need for forums for the comparative studies of such cultures as well as the definition of a common political agenda (Janmohamed and Lloyd, ibid).
According to Moore-Gilbert et al. (1997, p.10), one possible way for these postcolonial societies to correct the non-recognition of their cultures during colonialism is to give substance and shape to local cultural forms that have either been ignored or even belittled and maligned by the colonial powers of West. Fanon calls the search by postcolonial people for a precolonial, national culture as a “crucial part of psychological liberation, a means by which they assert their complex humanity in the face of the destruction of that culture and history by Western forces” (Gallagher 1994, p.16). Although many other critics also stress the importance of a return to pre-colonial languages and cultures (Ashcroft et al. 1989, pp.29-30), it is much easier to attack foreign colonial powers than to identify exactly which cultural values/institutions/identities are a residual part of the colonial legacy and which are not (Pieterse and Parekh 1995, pp. 3-4). Even if it is possible to distinguish some of them, they are often too deeply intertwined with the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 52 local culture to be easily separable. Thus, there is no use in isolating and trying to remove these cultural values and identities since the postcolonial peoples are often so deeply shaped and moulded by them that to reject these values would be similar to rejecting parts of themselves. Even if one agreed that colonialism involved the imposition of something entirely new and foreign, the process of decolonization could not involve the restoration of a “historically continuous and allegedly pure precolonial heritage” since such a thing no longer exists (ibid).
Ashcroft et al. (1989, p.195) argue that postcolonialism is frequently characterised by demands “for an entirely new or wholly recovered pre-colonial ‘reality’. Such a demand, given the nature of the relationship between colonizer and colonized, its social brutality and cultural denigration, is perfectly comprehensible. But…it cannot be achieved” The authors argue that since postcolonial culture is inevitably a hybridized phenomenon, it is impossible to return to a ‘pre-colonial cultural purity’. Nor is it possible to construct national or even regional cultures, completely free from the historical implications of the colonial enterprise. Hall (1990 cited in Williams and Chrisman 1994, p.399) claims that this ‘original’ past cannot be recovered since it has undergone a transformation and thus no longer exists in its original form. The past is “in that sense, irreversible…it cannot in any simple sense be merely recovered” (ibid). By trying to recover it, one ends up “freezing it into some timeless zone of the primitive, unchanging past” (ibid). Appiah (1997, p.439) argues that as “we are all already contaminated by one another, that there is no longer a fully autochthonous, pure-African culture awaiting salvage” (Appiah 1997, p.439).
Other critics, however, argue that not only is it impossible to recover an unchanged pre-colonial past and that cultural syncreticity is an “inescapable and characteristic feature of all postcolonial societies and indeed is the source of their peculiar strength” (Williams 1969 cited in Ashcroft et al. 1989, p.30). According to Pieterse and Parekh (1995), syncretism is a form of synthesis between the European and the local cultures. “Within the syncretic reality of a postcolonial society it is impossible to return to an idealized pure pre-colonial cultural condition” (Ashcroft et al. 1989, p.109). Thus, it is important not to “confuse decolonization with the reconstitution
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 53 of pre-colonial reality” (Ashcroft et al. 1989, p.30). Sivanandan (2004, p.63) agrees, arguing that a continuation of the progress of decolonization requires that the liberation movements supported an independent and progressive culture that combines the best of the different local cultures as well as other cultures. She believes that including the latter is crucial, especially considering the relapse by a number of post-independence states into different forms of “nativism, ethnicism or fundamentalism based on some distorted ‘return to the source’ of their precolonial history”. For as part of the resistance against colonialism’s racist cultural discourse which had repressed the original history and cultures of colonized peoples through assertion of their inferiority or non-existence, some intellectuals and leaders valorized and sought to re-inscribe notions of ‘pure’ precolonial cultures at the centre of liberation struggles” (ibid).
Munoz (1989 cited in Alva 1995, p.253) clarifies that although it is important to remember from where the “vast majority of us came, in terms of our indigenous racial and cultural origins”, it is both impossible and wrong to deny that “Spanish culture and language are part of us”. Spivak (1990) agrees, pointing out that denying the fact that the consciousness of postcolonial people has been formed as colonial subjects is to deny their history. In their search for an untouched pre-colonial culture, Huggan (cited in Gallagher 1994, p.17) criticises the habit of some extreme nationalists to try and “wish away the existence of a European cultural heritage, however distorting and/or debilitating that heritage may have been…[While the] sins of the past cannot simply be undone or wished away…The historical reality of colonialism, with its massive impact on colonized societies, cultures, and people, cannot be denied [either]”.
Bhatnagar (1986, p.5) warns that a mythologizing of the pre-colonial past together with the negation/destruction of the heritage of other cultures can be dangerous since it might unwantedly serve the reactionary right-wing forces. “[The] destruction of heritage is tantamount to destruction of identity, and destruction of identity gives the new rulers the scope they need to firmly establish their own ideologies,
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undisturbed by the experiences of the past that create identity…the act of destroying them [heritage] is an intentional act based on striving for power” (Albert 2002, p. 21). According to Bhatnagar (ibid), nowhere is this danger greater than in postcolonial India where a return to the roots for the source of pre-colonial identity poses a grave challenge to the contemporary plural/secular identity of Indian culture.
Said too argues strongly against such nativisms. According to him, focussing too much on essences such as negritude, Irishness etc. has the power to turn humans against one another (Said 1993, pp.228-229). Spivak (1990, p.93) is also extremely critical of those looking for their ‘roots’ in a pre-colonial culture stating that “If there’s one thing I distrust, in fact more than distrust, despise and have contempt for, it is people looking for roots. Because anyone who can conceive of looking for roots, should already, you know, be growing rutabagas [turnips]”. Mongia (1996, p.11) refers to this search as a “hopeless attempt to locate and revive pristine pre-colonial cultures” while Bordello (2007 cited in Kirchengast 2010, p.303) states that there were "never any good old days”. Furthermore, it is clear from the writings of authors such as Cabral or Fanon that, although they acknowledged the need to rediscover/reassert the inherent value of the local cultures, they were not proposing a “reductive vision of culture which would trap it in some utopian and mummified version of a traditional past. They were aware that if their societies were to survive, they needed to continue to develop” (Sivanandan 2004, p.63).
Unless the process of decolonization is fully complete i.e. both mental and physical decolonization have occurred, postcolonialism cannot be thought of as a fully achieved state. Thus, some authors criticize the use of the term as ‘prematurely celebratory’, claiming that there is a “form of perverseness in taking the label ‘post‘ for a state which is not yet fully present, and linking it to something which has not fully disappeared” (Childs and Williams 1997, p.7).
Despite the fact that pessimism comes easily in a postcolonial world, Dirlik (1997, p.513) feels that the real message of postcolonialism is the celebration of the end of colonialism. Citing the example of the African continent, Davidson (1992, p.196) believes that irrespective of whatever
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 55 has happened in these cultures since they gained independence, “not even the worst news has been able to cancel out the tremendous central gain of anticolonial independence, perhaps the only gain at the end of the day…the reaffirmation of Africa’s humanity”. Writing while still under colonial rule, Salih (1969, pp.49-50) took solace in the fact that “Sooner or later they will leave our country, just as many people throughout history left …The railways, ships, hospitals, factories, and schools will be ours and we’ll speak their language without either a sense of guilt or a sense of gratitude. Once again we shall be as we were – ordinary people – and if we are lies we shall be lies of our own making”.
2.1.6 Postcolonialism and the Metropolis
According to Pieterse and Parekh (1995, pp. 3-4), a successful decolonization process must involve not only the colonized but also the colonizers as well. The decolonization of the imagination of the European colonial powers and their culture requires the review of European history with regards to the collusion of their forefathers with empire and colonialism. In addition, the current asymmetrical nature of global power must be taken into account. Thus, decolonization is used in a historical as well as a much wider metaphorical sense. In its historical sense, the term refers to the power and speed of political decolonization, a process that the authors consider to be largely completed with the transfer of political power to the locals. The process of intellectual and cultural decolonization, however has only been recognized as a concern in recent years. According to Mehrez (1991, p.258), the process of decolonization can be compared to an act of exorcism for both colonizer as well as colonized. For both these cultural groups, “it must be a process of liberation: from dependency, in the case of the colonized, and from imperialist, racist perceptions, representations, and institutions…in the case of the colonizer” (ibid). Hall (1996, pp.246-247) agrees, stating that the postcolonial “refers to a general process of decolonisation which, like colonisation itself, has marked the colonising societies as powerfully as it has the colonised (in different ways)”. The author reminds us that
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 56 colonization was never “external to the societies of the…metropolis. It was always inscribed within them – as it became indelibly inscribed in the cultures of the colonised” (ibid).
The persistent infliction of suffering by one group of humans (the colonizers) upon another group, who are also human (the colonized), requires a certain estrangement in the minds of the former, banishing the latter from their sphere of responsibility and concern. In the case of European colonization, this Othering took place via a combination of the superiority of monotheism as a concept in combination with a rationalization of exploitation as a means of justifying the brutal and harsh methods of colonialism. This morphed into a belief of ontological difference resulting in a continuous and systematic denigration of the colonized Other in colonial discourse.
According to Cesaire (1997, p.76), it is therefore important to firstly study the manner in which colonization ‘decivilizes’ the colonizer, brutalizing and degrading him, awakening him to base instincts of covetousness, violence, racial hatred and moral indifference. Every time an injustice is committed in a colony (e.g. each time a person is beheaded or tortured in a colony) and the colonizer accepts the fact, the culture and civilization of the colonizer acquires another burden. The result is a decay that sets in and slowly begins to spread. In the end, after “all these treaties that have been violated, all these lies that have been propagated, all these punitive expeditions that have been tolerated, all these prisoners who have been tied up and ‘interrogated’, all these patriots who have been tortured, at the end of all the racial pride that has been encouraged, all the boastfulness that has been displayed, a poison has been instilled into the veins of Europe and, slowly but surely, the continent proceeds toward savagery” (Cesaire 1997, p.76). Cesaire (1997, p.77) further claims since these atrocities were not (initially) inflicted on the colonial society, they “absolved it, shut their eyes to it, legitimized it, because, until then, it had been applied only to non-European peoples”. But colonization also affected the colonizing society that continued to justify it. A “nation which colonizes…a civilization which justifies colonization – and therefore force – is already a sick civilization, a civilization that is morally
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 57 diseased” (ibid, p.79). He believes that the practice of colonization is capable of dehumanizing even the most civilized of men. As colonial conquest is based on a contempt for the indigenous other and his/her culture as well as a rationalization of that contempt, the process of colonization inevitably tends to change the culture of the men that engage in it. This results in what the author refers to as the boomerang effect: Thus, the colonizer “who in order to ease his conscience gets into the habit of seeing the other man as an animal, accustoms himself to treating him like an animal, and tends objectively to transform himself into an animal” (ibid, p.80).
In addition to the effects of colonialism on the coloniser and colonised, “Both colonisers and colonised are linked through their histories, histories which are forgotten in the desire to throw off the embarrassing reminders of Empire, to focus instead on the…future” (Hall 1996a, p.67). However, the economic, psychological and cultural forces have both shaped and been shaped by each other during as well as beyond the colonial period (Sangari, 1987).“One way of rethinking the Empire in a postcolonial frame might be to focus on the inter-connections between the histories of ‘metropolis’ and ‘peripheries’ and refuse the simple binary of coloniser and colonised” (Hall 1996a, p.70). According to Hall, it is important to start remembering colonial empires differently by acknowledging the inter-connection and inter-dependence of the cultures of colonizer and colonized. Fanon challenged the metropolis to rethink its history alongwith with the history of its colonies that were slowly but surely awakening from the immobility of colonial domination (Said, 1989).
As the colonial metropolitan centre began to weaken, the peripheries began to pull away and distance themselves from the centre. This resulted in an important moment of the empowering of difference and diversity (Hall 1997, p.185). However, Prakash (1997, p.493) argues that there is a continuing colonialism/neo-colonialism between the centre and periphery. The majority of the body of knowledge on postcolonialism is being written in the First World academy, thus continuing to “play a vital role in projecting the First World as the radiating centre around which others are arranged”. According to Dirlik (1997, p.501), therefore, the aim must be to abolish all
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 58 kinds of distinctions between metropolitan center & periphery in addition to all other ‘binarisms’ that are a result of colonialist ways of thinking.
A number of critics suggest a process of mutual exchange and interaction as a solution. Such interaction can take place without having to use binary oppositions: instead of using the colonial metaphor of the colonial power as the tree trunk and the colonized peoples as the branches, authors propose a model of cross-cultural interaction that resembles a plan where numerous shoots criss-cross each other. Instead of an exclusively binary opposition between colonial and postcolonial culture, they suggest envisioning “a mutual dialogue between the two in which each has contributions to make, confessions to proffer, and forgiveness to grant” (Gallagher 1994, p.18). Appiah (cited in Gallagher 1994, pp.19-20) concurs, stating that since it is too late to “escape each other…we might instead seek to turn to our advantage the mutual interdependencies history has thrust upon us”. Pratt (2008) refers to these contact zones as points of intercultural meeting between the formerly colonized and the former colonizers as well as among formerly colonized themselves. Furthermore, such criss-crossing would result in the ‘contact zone’ of political and cultural exchange (previously situated between the European colonial centre and its periphery) now being positioned between the peripheries, thus lessening the importance of the centre.
2.1.7 Postcolonialism and Neo-colonialism
According to Venn (2006, p.66) the European model of colonization based on the ideology of a so-called European ‘civilizing mission’ continues to exist even after colonialism has ended, in a postcolonial scenario. The question that arises is how far the laws, institutions, knowledges, values, attitudes that have been established as part of the colonial government continue to operate in post-independence and postcolonial times. During the colonial era, strategies of power reconstituted colonized populations in terms of segments that function differently with regard to the exercise of power. For example, the colonized Other was categorized either as a
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 59 strategic ally (as was the case with the local elites amenable to the colonizer), a potential source of labour that needed to be domesticated or as adversaries to be eliminated. This use of reconstitution or division of the locals has important and important consequences for the analysis of conditions in a country in the postcolonial era. It is important to remember, though that even though these nations are no longer directly under a colonial power, there is still a sphere of influence and power in modern neo-colonialist international relations. While most authors agree that the era of formal colonialism has come to an end, they also acknowledge that the long term consequences of the colonial powers’ economic and political domination continue to effect contemporary postcolonial countries (Sprinkler 1995, p.2). This leads to what Boyd (2013, p.46) refers to as “twentieth-century neocolonial politics”.
Some authors, such as Childs and Williams (1997, p.5) believe that the power and sphere of influence of the colonizing powers continued long after they physically left the colonized areas. Chinweizu (1975, p.309) sees a continuation of the colonial era in the post or neo-colonial era through what he calls an attempt to impose “so called timeless, universal values which, more often than not, are nothing but the European cultural imperialists’ salesmanese for Western values”. In the period after colonization, the newly independent nations began to realise that even though the colonial armies and bureaucracies were no longer present in their countries, European colonizing powers were still determined to try and maintain as much control over their erstwhile colonies as possible. The process and phenomenon of retaining their sphere of power and influence, via a mix of political, cultural and above all economic methods, began to be referred to as neo-colonialism” with Spivak (1990, p.166) claiming that “We live in a postcolonial neo-colonized world”.
Possibly one of the most damaging criticisms of postcolonial theory is that, instead of being a liberatory or radical form of cultural practice, it instead is fully complicit in the propagation of the present, neo-colonial world order. This argument is based on the following reasons. Firstly, postcolonial theory’s institutional location is cited as proof of its role in helping to fortify, rather than combat, current forms of Western hegemony. Postcolonial theory is also often criticized
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 60 for misappropriating the cultural produce of the Third World and then offering it to the Western/metropolitan elite for consumption, while allowing for a certain amount to trickle back for the national-bourgeois elites of the non-Western, postcolonial world. According to this perspective, the researchers of postcolonial theory are often considered as intermediaries between the West and the non-West that are guilty of fostering the acculturation of the postcolonial society to the cultural norms and values of the dominant Western order. Although this contention is usually associated with Ahmad’s ‘In Theory’, portions of his critique have been supported and repeated by critics such as Arif Dirlik and other authors currently active in Commonwealth literary studies (Moore-Gilbert 1997, pp.153-154).
However, the classifying of the institutional location of postcolonial theory does include some ambiguities. Said, for example, is uncertain whether or not the Western university (as the institutional location of postcolonial theory) can be considered as being conducive to genuine oppositional critique. While Bhabha remains, to a large extent, silent about his institutional affiliations, Spivak chooses to highlight the contradictions inherent in working within an academic system which is complicit, to a certain extent, in the creating neo-colonial forms of knowledge. However, Ahmad claims that in certain parts of Orientalism, Said seems to put forth the view that Western authors are not capable of anything but a distorted, reductive or oppressive view of the non-Western, colonial subject (Moore-Gilbert 1997, pp.153-154).
Said’s (in Moore-Gilbert 1997, p.63) vision of future history in his seminal work ‘Orientalism’ essentially deals with relations between the West and the East that continue to be characterized by a pervasive division and conflict as the inevitable and continuing consequence of as well as the response to the violence caused by the historical effects of colonialism. In a later volume, Said forecasts the economies, histories and cultures of the formerly dominant colonizing and formerly subordinate colonized nations as being increasingly and systematically interdependent and overlapping. According to the author, this is a result of an ever-increasing integrated global economy. This is merely another testimony as to the continuing ascendancy
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 61 of Western (formerly colonial powers) over the ‘free’ non-Western world, making the so-called successes of historical and cultural forms of decolonization in the post-war era questionable.
In his later work, Said’s optimism about the possibility of the West and non-West reconciling based on mutual recognition and respect, grows. In order for this to take place, however, the author argues that it is essential for the West to face up to the truth of its past histories of involvement overseas. At the same time, the East must shun the ‘politics of blame’, which he sees as characterizing many of the discourses accompanying the process of decolonization. Indeed, Said in Culture and Imperialism comes up with one of his most radical suggestions when he predicts that the contemporary world is now approaching a ‘common culture’, which is deeply rooted and based in this shared experience of the effects of colonialism (Moore- Gilbert 1997, p.63).
2.1.8 Postcolonialism and Tourism
(Post)colonialism and tourism have always been closely linked. According to Turner and Ash (1975, p.58), tourism became a tool of consolidation of the Empire when package tourism extended beyond Europe from the 19th century onwards while Jaakson (2004, p.173) believes that the rise of modern mass tourism in the 1950s “coincided roughly with the beginning of decolonisation and, staring in the 1960s, with postcolonialism”. Carrigan (2011, p.18) too sees a clear link between these phenomena, especially since he believes that the tourism industry’s “meteoric rise to prominence in the post-war decolonization period was connected politically to the complex and persistent influence of colonial tourism policy…post- independence governments’ freedom to implement tourism development strategies was undermined…by tourism policies…legacies left by departing colonial administrations”.
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Governments, heritage bodies and tourism promotion agencies in former colonial countries also face the dilemma/challenge of promoting the ‘colonial experience’ to the visitors as well as to its own citizens. The heritage of colonialism is a “controversial topic in many parts of the world which some countries have long chosen to ignore. While colonialism resulted in a few positive outcomes, in most regions it created exploitative and dependent relationships” (Timothy 2011, p. 130). One of the most offensive aspects of colonialism from a cultural/heritage perspective was the wilful suppression of indigenous cultures/traditions by the European colonial powers. The assimilationist approaches of these European colonial powers resulted in the replacement of aspects of the local culture with European cultural norms (ibid, p. 217). As a result, when it came to postcolonial heritage communication/interpretation, a number of Caribbean countries chose to hide their colonial past and heritage and focus on the sun, sea and sand offering instead. “While the colonial architecture and remnants of the patrimony…has significant tourism potential, most of the islands have not focused on heritage because most physical remnants of the past are colonial in nature, and the colonial period is not remembered with any degree of affection” (ibid, p. 131). However, the author observes that some of the Caribbean countries are slowly beginning to realise the tourist potential of their colonial heritage and are gradually adding (postcolonial) cultural heritage to their sun and sand offerings. Harrison (2005a) questions this strategy, asking that if colonialism had such a negative effect on the colonized country (as is often claimed), then why should colonial architecture, relics and tangible heritage be celebrated and glorified to the tourist visitor? He argues that the designation of colonial architecture/monuments as heritage is merely a ploy to attract international tourists.
Since the end of WWII, tourism has become the world’s largest industry and international tourist numbers are predicted to continue increasing substantially from 922 million in 2008 to 1.6 billion by 2020 (Carrigan 2011, p.xi). However, this increase in international tourism and travel “frequently exploit uneven distribution of wealth, remapping colonial travel patterns as increasing numbers of citizens from rich nations choose to visit much poorer states” (ibid). This
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 63 rapid increase in tourism also has an effect on topics and issues that are key to postcolonial studies in globalized era. Tourism drives both environmental change as well as cultural commoditization in those ‘postcolonial’ countries that are still “grappling with the legacies of western colonialism” (ibid). Simultaneously, international tourist visitors are welcomed at postcolonial destinations as a crucial source of foreign exchange and jobs, despite being characterised by openly unequal power relations.
In this context, Carrigan (2011, p.2) questions whether international tourism to postcolonial countries can be interpreted as neo-colonial? “The coloniser returns as a tourist, you see. And he is mad for difference. That is the luxury commodity we now supply, as we once kept him in cinnamon and sapphires” (Kretser 2004, p.294). One example of this is the Angkor Wat WHS. For many Westerners, the temples at Angkor Wat WHS represent symbols of a past age of colonial exploration/adventure/discovery, resulting in the experience being packaged by heritage managers according to this perspective (Winter 2006 cited in Makela and O’Reilly 2008, p.380). While Edwards (1999 cited in ibid) alleges that the restoration of Angkor Wat by the previous colonial regime was largely based on imperial rivalry and ideological imperatives, Makela and O’Reilly (ibid) claim that restoration and development projects are motivated as much by strategic, political concerns as they are by a genuine concern for the preservation of the monuments, as former colonial powers nations try to expand their sphere of influence in Southeast Asia.
Turner and Ash (1975, p.15) warn the newly decolonized ‘Third World countries’ not to be blinded by the economic lure of mass tourism. If not, a propagation of neo-colonialism will be the result, since the postcolonial countries are “welcoming back their old masters with open arms”. According to an UNWTO prediction, by the year 2020 tourists will have “conquered every part of the globe” (Cooper and Hall 2008, p.351). Carrigan (2011, p.204) suggests that this relentless expansion by the global tourism industry will create “further colonially inflected conflicts”. Although it is recognized that international tourism “both reinforces and is embedded in postcolonial relationships” (Hall and Tucker 2004, p.2), Carrigan (2011, p.xv)
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 64 believes that ‘postcolonial tourism’ can also be a political phenomenon that strives for a more equitable world. Unfortunately, little to none research has been undertaken on the relationship between tourism and postcolonial theory (ibid) with the author calling for further research in the fields of postcolonialism and tourism studies.
Postcolonial tourist destinations can also become what Ahmad (1996, p.278) calls ‘postcolonial spaces’ where space is read as a “neutral grid upon which history, cultural differences are inscribed” (Rajan and Mohanram 1995, p.9). Pratt (2008) focuses on the interactions that take place in these spaces, where the indigenous, formerly colonized population comes into contact with travellers from the former metropolis. Pratt uses the term ‘contact zones’ when referring to these spaces of postcolonial encounter where people and cultures, that were previously separated from one another people often antagonistically and unequally (as was usually the case of colonizers and colonized cultures), enter into and establish relations with one another. By purposely using the term ‘contact’, Pratt aims to replace a narrative replete with conquest and domination with one of co-presence, shared practice and interactions. Levi-Strauss (2005 in Bendix, 2007) hopes that these interactions result in a better understanding and mutual respect of cultural differences, thus contributing to the ambitious goal of UNESCO to build peace in the minds of men.
2.2 Symbolic Interactionism
According to Moore-Gilbert (1997, p.138), the “postcolonial ‘sign’ is ‘tied’ to the monumental ‘symbol’ of the dominant social authority” (i.e. the colonizers/colonial powers). Despite the fact that these ‘postcolonial’ nations are now independent and the colonial powers are no longer present in these nations, monumental symbols such as UNESCO WHS, “a construct of European colonialists” (Boyd 2013, p.45), continue to be a stark reminder of colonialisms’ dissonant past.
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WHS are “powerfully evocative symbols of national identity, universally recognized” (Smith 2003, p. 111). Luger (2008) agrees that that there is a political dimension of the topic of WH, since historical monuments and sites are of great symbolic significance for cultural and national identity-building processes. In many cases, WHS have a high symbolic value for the local population and are, therefore, an important component of collective identity. Thus, the UNESCO WHS (especially those created by the colonial powers during their colonial reign) represent what (Boyd 2013, p.54) calls “a remnant” and “a relic of…[the] colonial past” (ibid, p.77) or a “forgotten legacy from the former…colonial days” (ibid, p.103). However, far from forgotten, these postcolonial signs can also play a key role in creating and fortifying the concept of ‘national identity’ in the newly independent states.
One of the few studies conducted on the relationship between the postcolonial symbol and WH was Long’s (2008) study on the WHS of Old Havana that was inscribed in 1982 and possibly the biggest, largely intact Spanish colonial city anywhere in the world. According to the author, the restoration of the Spanish colonial heritage in Old Havana was not driven by tourism (which had low priority at the time), but instead by a desire to foster a sense of (revolutionary) Cuban national identity. As a direct aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, it was important for those in power to create a new national identity free of colonialism and American cultural influence. Long believes that this situation was not unique to Cuba or other socialist states but a common challenge for all post-colonial nations: at some stage they are “forced to confront their colonial legacy and somehow assimilate it into the national story” (ibid, p.426).
In Cuba, the strategy of those in power was to take the different elements of their cultural heritage (indigenous/Spanish/African) and make them distinctly Cuban (Long, 2008). As part of this strategy, the Spanish influence on Cuban culture was downplayed while simultaneously elevating the importance of African culture. Although this strategy mirrors the general attempt of the Cuban revolution to focus more on the poor (black) population at the expense of the ruling class (who were nearly exclusively of Spanish descent), the final goal was not to privilege one culture (Afro-Cuban) over another (Spanish-Cuban) but instead to create one unified
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 66 revolutionary Cuban culture. Long considers the incorporation of the colonial heritage of Old Havana into the modern Cuban identity to have been quite successful. Revolutionary focus on the symbols of colonial heritage was part of an effort to reclaim that heritage as part of the national identity of the newly independent country. The symbols of colonial heritage were thus incorporated into the new sense of national identity or ‘Cubanness’. Cuba’s colonial heritage was thus transformed from Spanish heritage into Cuban heritage with Old Havana becoming a symbol of the depth of Cuban culture and the historic processes that resulted in this distinctive Cuban identity, rather than merely being a symbol of Spanish colonial conquest.
Symbols and the concept of ‘symbolic interactionism’ are key to understanding human social life and human behavior (Blumer, 1973), especially in a postcolonial context. George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer have, more than any other scholars, laid the foundations of the symbolic-interactionist approach which is based on three basic premises: The first premise states that people act with regards to ‘things’ based on the meanings that they have for them. By "things", the author refers to everything a discerns in their world including physical objects such as plants/tables or material objects such as WH monuments/buildings. The second premise states that the importance of such things is derived/produced from the social interaction that a person enters into with his fellow humans while the third premise declares that these meanings are formed in an interpretive process that the person uses in his/her interactions with the things he/she encounters. In symbolic interactionism, the inherent meaning that these objects or ‘things’ have for people are accorded a great significance (ibid).
As mentioned above, symbolic interactionism differs from other approaches in that it believes that the meaning of an object results from the interaction process between different people. Put differently, the meaning of an object/thing for a person arises from the manner in which others act in relation to this thing/object, with the actions of other people serving to define the meaning of the thing for this individual. According to symbolic interactionism, therefore, meanings are social products – created as a result of the behaviour/activities of individuals interacting with one another (Blumer, 1973). Taken in a postcolonial context, postcolonial
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 67 symbols gain their meaning through the manner in which different individuals/groups of individuals perceive or ascribe meaning to the given symbol3.
One of the basic principles of symbolic interactionism is that human society is composed of individuals who participate in actions. Irrespective of whether culture is considered as a tradition/norm/value/custom/rule, Blumer (ibid) believes that it is derived from what people do. Living together in groups necessarily implies interaction between group members; or, in other words: a society consists of individuals who interact with each other and whose activities are in reaction or relation to one another. Symbolic interactionism does not merely formally recognise social interaction but instead gives it a central importance of its own. This importance lies in the fact that social interaction is a process that shapes human behavior. Simply put, people who interact with each other, must pay careful attention to what the other does or wants to do. Mead differentiates between two forms or levels of social interaction in human society i.e. non- symbolic interaction and symbolic interaction or ‘the usage of significant symbols’ (ibid).
As can be seen above, the central position and the importance of symbols and symbolic interaction in a nation’s society and behavior is clear. However, critical to symbolic interactionism is the fact that an object can have different meanings for different individuals4. Similarly, the symbol of a postcolonial WHS building can have different meanings for individual members of a nation’s society, depending on whether they received preferential treatment under colonial rule or were treated unfairly/tortured/suffered great personal loss during the colonial period. The importance of objects for a person arises mainly from the nature and manner in which the object is defined when compared to the meaning of the object according to other individuals with whom they interact. Through a mutual process of signalling, an object
3 This creation/ascription of meaning involves a two stage process of interpretation. Firstly, the actor must decide, through an interaction with him/herself in an internal, reflexive communication process, which objects he wishes to give meaning to. Based on the results of this communication process, the second stage involves managing the meanings of the object in question. Thus, Blumer (ibid) affirms that the process of interpretation is not a purely automatic application of existing meaning, but instead, a formative process of meaning creation. This then becomes the basis for (further) human action with the meaning, created through the interaction process of individuals with themselves, representing a significant part of the action. 4 a tree will be a different object for a botanist, a lumberjack, a poet and an amateur gardener.
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 68 gains a common meaning for a particular group of people. These objects are then viewed by the group in a similar manner (Blumer, ibid) but possibly in a different manner by another group.
Several notable conclusions emerge from the discussion above. Firstly, symbolic interactionism offers a new notion of the social environment. According to this viewpoint, the environment consists of objects as they are perceived by respective groups. Thus individuals/groups, despite occupying the same spatial location, can live in very different environments, depending on the meanings that they attach to the objects in that particular environment. It is thus possible for people to live side by side and yet in different ‘worlds’. If one wants to understand the actions of people, it is first necessary to understand their environments according to the objects and their meanings within their world. Secondly, according to symbolic interactionism, an object needs to be viewed as a social construct – created through a process of interpretation that is shaped by the human interactions. Objects thus do not have an intrinsic meaning, unless ascribed by an individual/group. Similarly, objects can also undergo changes in meaning. From a symbolic interactionism standpoint, objects can have their meaning created/confirmed/transformed or even discarded. The life and actions of people themselves also change with the changes taking place in the objects of ‘their’ world. In symbolic interactionism, man too can be an object. Like other objects, the ‘self-object’ is developed from a process of social/symbolic interaction with other objects and can contribute to shaping self- image (ibid). There also exists a link between postcolonial symbols and a person’s self-image.
It is possible to apply this view of human (inter)action equally to common or collective action, wherein a group of individuals is involved. Common or collective action can be seen, for example, in the behavior of groups/institutions/organizations/social classes and it is both appropriate/possible to consider such behavior in its common and collective character, instead of merely studying it in its individual components. Such common behavior does not lose its character, originated in a process of interpretation, when it encounters situations where the group must act as a whole. The interpretation process takes place when the participants
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 69 mutually ascribe meaning to objects, rather than individually. Common or collective action is a result of such a process of interpretive interaction (ibid).
The vast majority of collective social action takes place in a repetitive form and most sociological perspectives are based on the belief that a human society exists in the form of a fixed order of life, a result of norms/rules/values that dictate exactly how people must act in different situations. However, Blumer (ibid) believes that this fixed order is challenged by new situations that constantly arise within the range of human coexistence and result in the existing rules becoming inadequate. Although he claims that he has never heard of a society whose members did not enter into discussions to work out a course of action, some societies (such as the Goan society at the WHS of Goa) choose not to rake up issues of dissonant objects/heritage, preferring to push them ‘under the carpet’ instead.
What is important to note is that every case of collective action by a group of society, irrespective of whether it is newly developed or has existed for an extended period of time, is necessarily based on the participants’ past. A new type of collective action is never created independent of such a background. The participants involved in the formation of a new collective action automatically bring their old ‘world’ of objects and their related meanings. Thus, every new form of collective action always emerges from a context of previous meaning and cannot be understood independently of it. In certain situations, people can be made to change their existing behaviour or develop new forms of common behaviour (which differs significantly from previous behaviour). However, even in such cases, there is always a continuity with the past (ibid). Especially postcolonial reconditioning or reconciliation cannot take place without keeping in mind this continuity. Collective action is therefore not just a horizontal linking of participants’ activities, but also a vertical linking with the (colonial) past.
In previous sections, it was discussed about how some postcolonial critics seek, through their works, to “offer ways of dismantling colonialism’s signifying system” (Ashcroft et al. 1989, p.177). For Bhabha it is vital to privilege those forms of postcolonial discourse that
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“‘answer back’ to the centre. Those modes of critical and artistic activity which do not engage in this subversive dialogue with the symbols, texts and narratives of the centre are implicitly downgraded or ignored (usually on the grounds that they are ‘culturally nationalist’)” (Moore-Gilbert 1997, p.138). However, Chakrabarty (1992, p.2) criticizes this, stating that such a perspective of world historiography is extremely one sided as it is fine for Western critics to ignore non Western symbols, texts and narratives but the moment an attempt is made by non-Western postcolonial historians to do the same, authors such as Bhabha call them ‘old fashioned’ or ‘outdated’”.
(Postcolonial) symbols also play a key role in intercultural communication. Communication takes place medially, i.e. by using language, non-verbal signs, gestures, etc and human communication is thus also referred to as symbolically mediated interaction. Communication is successful only if the participants in the interaction are able to interpret the symbols of the conversation partner in the correct manner. Meanings are therefore ‘negotiated’ in communication, where subjective experiences and cultural references also play a role. As a result, the more diverse the individual/cultural background, the more difficult communication becomes, leading to a greater the risk of misunderstandings. Signs and symbols, the basis of systems of meaning as well as means of communication, are deeply culturally anchored. Thus, the more alien the culture of the other is, the greater the effort required to realize communication, since norms/values/beliefs/myths i.e. the models for ‘correct’ behavior, differ greatly between cultures (Herdin and Luger, 2001).
If communication is a reciprocal process of mediating meaning, then the knowledge of the symbolic system i.e. culture of the other must have high priority. Communication can only be thought of as a mediated process if there is an intermediary/medium between the actors. A medium is a means of transport that carries meanings back and forth e.g. language, non- verbal/ technical means of expression etc. There is no such thing as unmediated communication with communication taking place between two living creatures and representing a specific type of social interaction (Burkart 1995 cited in Herdin and Luger 2008, p.170). This interaction can
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 71 only be called communication if two objectives are pursued: i. a general goal of understanding and ii. a more concrete goal of realizing certain interests. In the case of intercultural communication, the bar is set even higher since it involves the understanding of the foreign culture as a basic prerequisite. According to Geertz (1993 cited in ibid), this does not require the development of a universal Esperanto sort of culture nor the creation of a new technique. All that is required is an increase in the possibilities of a comprehensible discourse between people who differ from one another in their interests and opinions and yet live in a world where it is becoming increasingly difficult to completely ignore the other. b. Intercultural Theories
2.3 Critical Theory
Said (1978 cited in Williams and Chrisman 1994, p.134) states that the Italian Marxist thinker and scholar Antonio Gramsci distinguishes between civil and political society. According to Gramsci, civil society consists of voluntary (or at least noncoercive) ties and affiliations such as families, schools, or unions whereas political society consists of state institutions (administration, army or police) who play a role of direct domination.
Culture, according to Gramsci, is found in the former, where ideas are communicated and influenced by consent rather than domination. In most cultures (apart from totalitarian societies), certain cultural forms naturally prevail over others while some ideas are more influential than others. He refers to this type of cultural leadership as ‘hegemony’, which is a key part of understanding cultural life in industrial colonial European societies. Said (ibid) believes that it is this concept of hegemony that results in the idea of ‘Europe’, which crystalizes itself in the form of collective identification of ‘us’ Europeans versus ‘those’ non-Europeans. He argues that cultural hegemony is and was a major component of European culture and formed the basis for colonialism: the concept of a “common European identity as a superior one in comparison with all the non-European peoples and cultures” (ibid).
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2.4 Cultural Theory of R Williams
The works of the Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci, made connections between culture and state/civil institutions. Based on Gramsci’s works, British ‘cultural materialism’ chose to define culture not in terms of a metaphor of a superstructure ‘reflecting’ an underlying base, but instead itself as a set of social practices/a specifically coded process of struggle and negotiation wherein subjectivity/cognition/consciousness are made/remade under definite historical and political conditions (Williams, 1985).
Particularly significant in this regard was Raymond William’s use of the Gramscian concept of hegemony to indicate the resources deployed to gain the consent of the majority of the population to the intellectual/moral direction imposed on social life by dominant groups and powers. Williams also highlighted the volatility and open nature of social interactions (class or otherwise) that include both the hegemonic force as well as the aspect of resistance, since the maintenance of domination depends on continuous processes of adjustment and reinterpretation that take place in relation to alternative, oppositional, residual and emergent social/cultural/ideological formations (Williams, 1985). According to DeHay (1994, pp. 57-58), Raymond Williams (in his seminal work Marxism and Literature) defines three contrasting aspects of culture that cause ‘internal dynamic relations’ within a society: the dominant (or hegemonic) is the most obvious and identifiable aspect while the ‘residual’ and the ‘emergent’ also function as a vital part of the “dynamic process that is culture” (ibid).
The ‘residual’, according to Williams (1985, p.122) has been “effectively formed in the past, but it is still active in the cultural process, not only and often not at all as an element of the past but as an effective element of the present. Thus, certain experiences, meanings, and values which cannot be expressed or substantially verified in terms of the dominant culture, are nevertheless lived and
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practiced on the basis of the residue – cultural as well as social – of some previous social and cultural institution or formation” The author differentiates between the residual that has already been incorporated into the dominant or hegemonic aspect and the residual which represents an alternative or opposition to the hegemonic aspect of culture. Williams uses the example of religion to explain this difference, stating that organized religion, although inherently residual, has been effectively incorporated into the hegemonic aspect of culture. However, at the same time, there are oppositional elements that continue to remain active (DeHay 1994, pp. 57-58), e.g. liberation theology in relation to the traditional (and hegemonic) theology of the Catholic Church.
The emergent aspects of culture, on the other hand, are “new meanings and values, new practices, new relationships and kinds of relationships” which are continuously being created (Williams 1985, p.123). True to his Marxist roots, Williams cites the development of the working class that accompanied the Industrial Revolution in 19th century England as an example of the ‘emergent’. This new class was incorporated (at the time) by the hegemony into the dominant ideology and reinterpreted in terms of the hegemonic values and social patterns.
2.5 Cultural Identity Theory
We often tend to think of “our identities, whether ethnic or national or of any other form, as pre-given and stable facts of our lives” (Smith 2004, p.248). Hall (1990 cited in Williams and Chrisman 1994, p.393) believes that the concept of ‘cultural identity’ can be viewed in terms of a single/common/shared culture, “a sort of collective ‘one true self’, hiding inside the many other, more superficial or artificially imposed ‘selves’, which people with a shared history and ancestry hold in common”. Accordingly, cultural identity reflects mutual historical experiences and ‘cultural codes’ that provide its members with “stable, unchanging and continuous frames of reference and meaning” (Smith, ibid) for both the current day as well as the future.
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According to Assmann (2014), this future is created by the preserving and passing on of this cultural memory. Thus, culture can be considered to be the "non-hereditary memory of the collective" (ibid, p.20). Since culture cannot be genetically inherited, cultural norms and codes must be handed down from one generation to the next. Cultural memory also helps in comprehending the concept of cultural heritage. Under the term ‘memory', new approaches to history and heritage have opened up since the 1990s. In Assmann's (2003 cited in Saretzki 2010, p.244) memory theory, functional memory is that which is connected to the local community and passed on from generation to generation, building a bridge between the past, present and the future by selectively remembering and forgetting, thus creating identity.
The sociologist Maurice Halbwachs (1985 cited in ibid) was the first scientist to speak of a collective memory, pointing out that memories arise not only in, but above all between individuals. Collective memory is formed by the commemorative practices of the various actors within a collective, placing individual and collective memory in a dialectical relationship (Saretzki, 2010). Luhmann (1997 cited in ibid, p.238) speaks of a third level/perspective of memory i.e. social memory that is the result of communication/communicative operations which he describes as ‘culture’. According to this perspective, culture is the memory of a society understood in the context of a filter of forgetting/remembrance as well as the usage of the past to determine the future. Assmann (1988 cited in ibid, p.238), on the other hand, clearly distinguishes between communicative and cultural memory. While communicative memory is short-term, cultural memory is more long-term. A community can thus strengthen its existence through collective memory (function of legitimation) as well as distinguishing itself from other communities (function of distinction).
Friedman (1992 in Kuutma 2007, p.181) refers to identity constitution as an complex process of the definition of political/social/cultural identities in relation to others or to the outside world. According to Kuutma, the identification and mapping of cultural phenomena involves a complex process of focussing on individual communities and their heritage, creating representative descriptions of cultural identity on a national/local scale and finally, negotiating
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 75 these manifestations of identity. Kuutma (ibid) believes that these cultural strategies of self- determination and self maintenance reflect an interaction between local and global processes. Cultural identities, irrespective of whether they are national/region/local, are created based on different allegiances and loyalties, political and economic interests as well as historically specific relations that are both locally experienced yet at the same time translocally or even globally constituted (Anttonen 2005, p.123).
Cultural identity is thus not merely something that already exists, transcending history/culture/ place/time. Authors such as Moore-Gilbert et al. (1997, p.41) believe that national/ethnic cultural identity is more of a work in progress rather than a fixed, bounded unit with specified content that remains unchanged. Contemporary society utilises the past in a variety of ways, including controlling, confirming or confronting beliefs, especially with regards to national identity (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.78). Thus, although cultural identities have pasts, they also undergo continuous transformation. Instead of being eternally fixed in an essentialised past, cultural identity is affected constantly by history, culture and power. Cultural identity is thus a matter of ‘becoming’/ ‘being’, with members of modern societies free to choose which traditions they deem to be outdated and which they consider to be important enough to pass on as cultural heritage (Luger 2010b).
Cultural heritage not only connects a host community with its past/present but if shared in a serious manner with tourists, enables the tourist visitors to gain a deeper insight into the life- world correlations of the host community and acquire a knowledge that facilitates a completely new form of access to the destination (Assmann, 2004). Although tourism played a key role in the social transformation process after WWII (Luger, 2010b), it also holds great potential for the preservation of regional culture and the reinforcement of regional identity (Bachleitner 2005 and Steinecke 2007 cited in Oberreiter 2010, p.355). It is only through the encounter with other languages/customs etc. that man is able to comprehend the peculiarities of his culture, considered by other members of his culture as ‘normal’. Each tourist region has its own historical peculiarity, which is also critical for the identity of the host community. Thus, both the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 76 traveler and the travelled are strengthened in their identity by these perceived differences (Schroll-Machl 1998 cited in ibid).
Members of a society are thus constantly forming/modifying their lifestyles, both at an individual as well as group/community level. Culture, made up of symbols, beliefs, values, judgments of taste, standards, lifestyles etc., serves both the preservation and reproduction of society while at the same time bringing about its transformation. Cultural manifestations such as customs, belief systems and lifestyles are also changing under the influence of new medial staging. In Western industrialized countries, the mass media adds a dynamic element to culture leading some to believe that whoever controls the media, controls the shape of the program, the ‘software’ of society and determines both social development and the rate of social change (Giddens 2000 cited in Luger 2010b, p.19). Acharya (2002 cited in ibid) describes how the mass media contributed to social/cultural transformation in Nepal, including the lifestyles, values and norms, ‘traditional landmarks and reference points’ of its national culture. This leads Luger (1999) to conclude that culture is less a fixed and more of a flexible model of behavior. Bhabha (1994, p.59) concurs, arguing that since cultures are essentially represented by iteration and translation processes, this automatically removes any claims that might be made for the “inherent authenticity or purity of cultures” (ibid). Thus, rather than trying to recover a past that is simply “waiting to be found, and which when found, will secure our sense of ourselves into eternity, identities are the names we give to the different ways we are positioned by, and position ourselves within, the narratives of the past” (Hall 1990 cited in ibid).
Narratives from the past also enable people to construct their identity, offering answers to the questions of who they are and where they came from (Hall 1996a, p.66). This is particularly true for postcolonial subjects with During (1987, p.34) claiming that the “postcolonial desire is the desire of decolonized communities for an identity”. In postcolonial societies, the process of ‘rediscovering’ their identities through these past narratives is driven by a desire to discover “beyond the misery of today, beyond self-contempt, resignation…[a] beautiful and splendid era whose existence rehabilitates” the colonized people (Williams and Chrisman 1994, p.393).
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However, Hall (1990 cited in ibid) questions whether this is merely a question of unearthing what the colonial powers once tried to bury, thus bringing to light the hidden past that was suppressed or whether it involves a different re-telling of the past, based on an attempt to create an identity that suits those in power. The process of postcolonial identity creation is further complicated due to what Loomba and Kaul (1994, p.13) refer to as “fissured identities…experienced by colonial people”. Shohat (1997, p.89) agrees, stating that the way the formerly colonial countries “especially in the wake of colonial partitions, have tried to impose a common sense of national identity precisely despite a fragile cultural and geographical belonging is not always simple and unequivocal”.
Said (1995, p.29) believes that “no identity can ever exist by itself and without an array of opposites, negatives, oppositions”. Ashcroft et al. (1989, p.167), agree, stating that postcolonial societies tend to define their identity more in terms of distinctness from the metropolis instead of in terms of essence. This could be due to the fact that the colonizers constructed the identity of the colonized Other (who now form the postcolonial societies) against the backdrop of the identity of the metropolitan centre, thus forcing the postcolonial populace to respond in a similar manner. Citing the example of colonial Britain, Hall (1997, p.174) claims that the colonized subjects were placed in their otherness by the English identity. ”English identity is strongly centred, knowing where it is, what it is, it places everything else” (ibid).
According to Smith (2004), Bhabha is less interested in the existence of dialectical pairs such as colonialist/colonized or local/immigrant that seem to confirm each other in distinct, separate identities. Bhabha argues that such pairs are mere attempts of the powerful and the elite to try and create unequal structures of power. Alva (1995, p.246) agrees, defining identities more as “effects of power, rather than fixed entities or imagined communities bounded by supposed sets of common traits, sentiments, and practices”. However, Bhabha believes that these effects of power and supposed hierarchies are threatened if one were to look closely “at the borderline between communities, at the threshold of what we call ‘cultural difference’ and realise how implicated different identities are in and with each other” (Smith 2004, p.248). According to
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Ahmad (1996, p.286), this exchange or ‘traffic’ between modern cultures at these thresholds and the resulting cross-fertilization of cultures as well as the cultural exchange between/across (national and cultural) boundaries is now so fast that it is difficult to talk about “discrete national cultures that are not fundamentally transformed by that traffic”.
“Cultural identities are produced in a wider discourse of political rights” (Friedman 1994 in Kuutma 2007, p.182). On the one hand, the traditional perspective of nation building posits that the intellectuals (on behalf of the ruling elites) construct ideas of national identity, resulting in the disenfranchisement of the people. Bhabha’s (2000 cited in Wagner 2008, p.78) process of nation building on the other hand supposes that it is the people, as the real national subjects, who 'performatively' construct their own identity together, thus democratizing the process. This, however, does not necessarily mean that the intellectuals are no longer relevant. Citing the examples of the people of Algeria who fought against French colonial policy and the British miner women who fought against the neoliberal policies of PM Margaret Thatcher, Bhabha demonstrates in principle that any person can engage in the creation of national identity. Minorities are particularly important for Bhabha as they need to shape the construction of national identity by criticizing/contradicting the dominant national narrative and confronting it with their own notions. Such an articulation is necessary, since subaltern/minority viewpoints, that form the Other, make it possible to break through the self-reflective circle of national identity. These minority articulations intermingle with the dominant national narrative and create a new, hybrid national narrative/identity (ibid).
Indeed, one can understand Bhabha’s concept of negotiation as a model for identity creation. For Bhabha, it is the people that are the vital construct of a nation. He thus follows in the steps of constructivism (prevalent in the cultural and social sciences since the 1980s) that does not consider the nation as an entity whose integration takes place by itself through predetermined cultural and ethnic factors. Instead, it assumes that a nation is the product of mostly intellectuals who first identify the features which should be common to the people of a nation and then try to present this idea of national identity to the people. However, Bhabha
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 79 criticises this perspective since it fails to consider the imbalance of power that are manifest in such nation building processes. He claims that this process creates two opposing parties. As seen above, on the one hand there are the elites, on whose behalf intellectuals design this conceptualisation of national identity design that is then proposed to the public. On the other hand, the people attempt to formulate a national ‘counter-identity’ or ‘counter-history’ by means of open discourse (Bhabha 2000 cited in Wagner 2008, p.75). This results in a gap between the elitist-constructed image of the people and their own self-image which Bhabha aims to reduce via the Third Space.
Indeed, Wagner (2008) believes that the cultural and social sciences are unable to describe the identity formation process of a nation and that the only concept able to do so is Bhabha's concept of Third Space (Bhabha 1990, Bhabha 2000 and Wagner 2006 cited in ibid). Bhabha accuses the cultural and social sciences of trying to describe the construction of national identity from a 19th century perspective, as the ruling elites tried to develop national identity according to their own fixed ideas. In Bhabha’s opinion, such a perspective disregards the current situation in which existing power relations are permanently called into question. According to Bhabha, national identity is only conceivable as a result of the transaction that takes place in a third space between the (old) elites and the people. Unless the cultural and social sciences let go of their old view of nation building, they end up legitimizing the old structure and old imbalances of power (ibid). Bhabha's theory is of great relevance for the social & cultural sciences, as his concept of negotiations need not necessarily only relate to a nation, but can be used with regards to other collectives as well.
Every collective that wants to survive in the long term must create an identity. According to Assmann (2000, p.18), this happens not only by differentiating it from other collectives but also by the development of a ‘culture of remembrance’. Citing the example of the WHS of Palmerar, Saretzki (2010, p.245) describes how its cultural heritage has been ‘filtered out’ of the functional memory, thus no longer acting in its traditional function of identity creation. Instead, it remains ‘largely forgotten’, being only stored in the ‘storage memory’ of the city. Hoffmann (2008) also
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 80 cites the example of the WHS of Salzburg as another example of heritage being relegated to storage memory. Apart from its function in the tourism industry, it is home to a mere 3.5% of the total population. This, he claims, results in the WHS shaping the identity of the city (thus fulfilling its essential social and cultural identity formation function) to a far lesser extent than one would expect given its worldwide fame. Storage memory is, according to Assmann (2003 cited in ibid) an uninhabited form of memory that includes heritage which is ascribed with a historic value making it valuable enough to archive, yet not important enough for much attention to be paid to it in everyday life. In order for cultural heritage to regain its identity- giving characteristics, it must be transformed from storage memory into what Saretzki (ibid, p.240) refers to as "living heritage".
According to Friedman (1994 in Kuutma 2007, p.182), identity politics play a key role in a community’s self representation. The discursive process of the negotiation/constitution of the past and present takes place under the conditions of political/cultural marginalization where a community feels endangered and thus begins to delineate its cultural boundaries as a form of ‘self defense’. Cultural heritage is also closely related to issues of identity politics and local pride. Objects and elements from the past are converted into heritage. These heritage elements are then decontextualized and then recontextualized in a new form/situation of representation, thus converting them into cultural symbols in the process. The creation and management of local cultural identities are negotiated in the discursive context of oppositions/interrelations and reflect the power play developments of the local region (ibid). Kirschenblatt-Gimblett (1998 cited in ibid) describes this in greater detail in her discourse on heritage construction. For Assmann (2014), there is no doubt that cultural heritage is closely linked to prestige/self- confidence. Cultural heritage becomes an identificatory reference that is accompanied by a close bond to one’s own history/region, thus supporting regional identity.
While the population at a WHS attempt to participate in the determination of their identity at a local level, the global identity discourse is controlled by institutional elite such as UNESCO. The UNESCO WH List, a legacy of a relatively small yet extremely powerful global elite (Wagner,
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2008), consists of WHS of which over 50% are located in the West while the rest is split between Asia, Latin America and Africa (with only 10%). In other words, the spatial distribution of WHS reflects a landscape that is still marked by colonial centres & peripheries (Probst 2006 cited in ibid, p.74). In Bhabha's understanding of the conventional construction of national identity, the intellectual elite imagine a self-image of their nation, which is in fact a mirror image, since it relates to the imaginary self-image of their forefathers. Wagner (ibid) claims that UNESCO is copying this design logic at the global level through the provision of a cultural memory of mankind. By retaining the existing traditions, it ensures that the universalist tradition of the West remains the most powerful, thus perpetuating the hegemony of the elite.
Nevertheless, UNESCO WHS do have a great potential to help contribute to identity building (Noelle, 2010). According to ICOMOS (1993), UNESCO WHS are able to put tourist visitors in direct contact with a past that would otherwise be invisible. Visiting a WHS can help the tourist gain an understanding of a past culture as well as help recognise the link between its past, present and future. UNESCO (2004, p.108) concurs stating that one of the main reasons for WH inscription is to “ensure that people continue to have the opportunity to learn about the past from these places”, thus making them better equipped to face the future. WHS are thus not merely witnesses of history, but understanding them can help visitors find their way in the present. Fairclough (2012, pp.xv-xvi) sees heritage as a dialogue between the past and the future. The process of recording/archiving the past is based on people’s “desire to pass on our legacy to the generations to come and through the present’s appropriation of memories from the past. Heritage itself is a form of memory” (ibid). Giaccardi (2012, p.1) concurs, stating that heritage today goes beyond artefacts/monuments and their preservation and is far more about “making sense of our memories and developing a sense of identity through shared and repeated interactions with the tangible remains and lived traces of a common past” (ibid). In other words, it is upto people to socially create heritage within the framework of their own lives such that they are able to interact meaningfully with the past, thus shaping their vision of the future (Thomas 2004, Lowenthal 2005).
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3. Heritage Communication a. Compilation of Existing Literature on Cultural Heritage Communication
3.1 Heritage: Definitions
The concept of heritage is a highly debated one that includes a variety of definitions including “anything simply inherited from the past…an incorporation of the natural and the built environment” (Duffy, 1994:77 cited in Kelly, 2006, p.36), “a commodified product using a selection of resources from the past for the products of modern demands…a specific use of history, not a synonym for it” (Ashworth and Larkham, 1994:47 cited in Kelly, 2006, p.36) as well as a “contemporary product shaped from history” (Tunbridge and Ashworth (1996, p. 20).
The Natural Heritage Conference in the UK has chosen to define heritage as “that which a past generation has preserved and handed on to the present and which a significant group of the population wishes to hand on to the future” (Hewison 1989, p.16). However, as Harrison (2005) argues, it is difficult to ascertain from this definition why this heritage was deemed to be worth handing on and who this significant group consists of.
According to Misiura (2006, p. 9), heritage can be simply defined as “that which is inherited from the past”. However, Ashworth and Howard (1999 cited in ibid) go beyond that simple definition, believing heritage to be a process through which tangible/intangible resources “come into the self-conscious arena when someone wants to conserve/collect them. So anything (or even nothing) can become heritage, but not everything is”. Lowenthal (n.d. cited in ibid, p. 10) continues further, calling heritage a “celebration of the past”. However, according to this definition, if heritage is a ‘celebration of the past’, then this also involves avoiding and
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 83 suppressing issues that are inappropriate/do not fit in with this positive nature of heritage. The viewing of heritage in this manner has been the cause for great criticism (Misiura, 2006).
Macleod (2010) believes that the concept of heritage has undergone many changes in the recent past. Timothy and Boyd (2003, p. 5) concur, stating that an expansion of the term has taken place in the recent past and has come to apply to not only the build environment but also to intangible dimensions of cultural values and identities. Furthermore, Viken (2006) divides cultural heritage into material/tangible heritage and immaterial/intangible heritage. Examples of material heritage include cultural monuments and buildings such as castles, churches, convents and museums while examples of immaterial heritage include traditions, oral history, legends, customs and myths. Despite these changes, however, Timothy (2011, p. 3) claims that “heritage scholars agree on one basic concept that defines heritage – it is what we inherit from the past and use in the present day”.
3.2 Heritagefication
Not everyone agrees, however. According to Smith (2006, p.11), "there is, really, no such thing as heritage" while Bendix et al. (2007, p.8) concur, stating that “cultural heritage is not, it is made”. When Smith and Bendix et al. argue that there is no such ‘thing’ as (cultural) heritage, they allude to the fact that heritage is not something passed on from ‘our fathers’/God/a higher power. Instead, heritage and the Weltanschauung/philosophies of life behind it are products of a discursive negotiation process, subject to a continuous process of change. According to this viewpoint, heritage is understood as a discourse (Kirchengast, 2010) or as a “system of interactions” (Tschofen 2007, p.26).
Bendix (2002) believes that a historic or heritage site is inscribed with knowledge, and reacts whenever a visitor comes into contact or encounters the site. Thus, it becomes clear that although it exhibits materiality through the monuments/artefacts within it, the cultural heritage
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 84 space is a symbolically constituted space, i.e. through ideas, memories and meaning. "Cultural heritage is not simply there, monolithic, but we tell it, hear it told. It is expressed in codes and symbols, which are coupled to patterns of interpretation” (Zehringer 2000 p.11) and then communicated to visitors. Knoblauch (1995) refers to this as the ‘communicative construction’ of heritage sites.
Heritage – as per the definition of Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett (1998, p.149) - is a re- evaluation of the obsolete, the vulnerable, the retired and the extinct. Through this process of re-evaluation as well as forms of staging, things/places/practices are given a second life. The specific processes that take place as part of such a re-evaluation are known as ‘Heritagefication’ (Wöhler, 2008). Before things, places or practices can be considered as cultural heritage, they must be ‘made’ or ‘heritagefied’ (Kirchengast 2010, p.305) – by the civil society, social institutions such as UNESCO and/or science. On closer scrutiny, Kirchengast sees heritage as a desperate attempt to freeze specific spatio-temporal constellations in order to preserve them. He claims that this concept or its ‘proponents’ try and convince us that firstly, it is not a concept but instead an essence of human culture, and secondly, it is permanent and always been there. Heritage is therefore a process that denies its own processuality, indeed must deny, in order to be logical to itself. However, the re-evaluation/reinterpretation of things, places and practices to cultural heritage is not necessarily a solidification/fixation thereof but can also trigger certain processes as a result. For example, if a region is declared a UNESCO WHS, this can lead to a surge in visitor numbers, planned developments or projects must be modified, new debates can be kindled, and the impact on the local collective identity, on self-perceptions and the perceptions of foreigners are often very considerable. Ironically, in some cases, such developments - especially the intensification of tourist activities - can cause a heritagefied place to lose its raison d'être as heritage (Kirchengast, 2010).
Referring to WHS as ‘constructed spaces’, Wöhler (1999 cited in Herdin and Luger, 2001) believes that they do not have meaning per se but instead depend on the importance that the tourist attributes to the space as he perceives/defines/interprets it. The interculturality of the
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WH space is characterized by interdependencies, interferences and the interpenetration of boundaries. Hitchcock (2002) suggests that heritage sites can be turned into abstract areas of intercultural exchange where the mutual exchange of culture and the intermingling of different cultural influences would result in the creation of something new, thus contrasting the negative notion of heritage sites being ‘empty meeting grounds’ (MacCannell, 1992).
This place-making as the creation of ‘meaningful places’ (as alluded to by Hitchcock above) refers to a collective process of spatial configurations within the framework of an active examination of the space, in order to socio-emotionally ‘appropriate’ the space and furnish it with values (Fürst et al. 2008 cited in Saretzki and May, 2012). Successful place-making results in the formation of a geospatial community that is bound to the site, identifies with it and assumes responsibility for it. Cultural heritage ‘belongs’ to collectives (Wöhler, 2008), who continuously envision it memorially. If all stakeholders are involved and actively take part in the process, placemaking at WHS becomes an intercultural process, turning the WH space into an intercultural medium (Saretzki and May, 2012).
Cultural heritage represents an order of another world or reality. Participation in this order beyond everyday life abolishes the difference between the past and the present. Cultural heritage contrasts with the distinction past/present by preserving past traditions, thus giving continuity to the present. The question with regards to cultural heritage is thus: How does the past manifest itself in the present? (Wöhler, 2008). Cultural heritage is perceived as something extraordinary, interdisciplinary, possessing a power that lies outside of human influence, thus revealing the existence of something enduring in the face of everyday disorder and uncertainty (Berger 1998 cited in Wöhler 2008, p.47). To this extent, the entire cultural experience is sacramental, as it gives the impression of being part of a larger whole, bringing people into contact with a timeless order. According to this perspective and based on the concept that cultural heritage is a social system, heritage spaces create territorialized reference points for the creation of personal and collective identities.
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According to Wöhler (2008), there is an apparent spatial organization of cultural heritage that involves its separation from the profane. The cultural heritage space is considered to be a sacred space, when regulated by characters/symbols and protected. The space then begins to represent significant ‘things’ such as identity/sorrow/tangible & intangible interpretations of the world etc. According to the author, it is these ‘things’ that bless and sanctify the cultural heritage space. The associated symbolism of a cultural heritage space places it firmly in the centre of a region/nation/even the world. This space that is placed firmly in the centre radiates sacredness and represents a symbol of permanence. There is also a clear demarcation between cultural heritage space and everyday space. In everyday space, the world is fleeting and amorphous when compared to the cultural heritage space where the world is clearly shaped by fixed structures. Thus, the cultural heritage space appears as a sacred space, surrounded by a formless and impermanent world.
The separation of the sacred from the profane at WHS is done e.g. by controlling the access on foot so that the visitor approaches the encounter with the cultural heritage gradually. Step by step, it is made symbolically visible that here exists a world-order that is different from everyday life. This procession can end with an outstanding architectural symbol (e.g. the castle in the case of the Old Town of Salzburg WHS or the Basilica of Bom Jesus in the case of the Goa WHS) as the highlight of the encounter with this order. This scripted encounter that ends with the ‘highlight’, gives the impression that in this space: everything has its order, is designed according to fixed rules and forms a well thought out whole. Thus, the transition into the heritage space becomes a borderline experience, part demarcation and part sacralisation. Wöhler believes that this isolation/segregation of cultural heritage from the profane is to protect the former from the ‘terrible’ daily realities of the latter. In addition, the protected space of the cultural heritage facilitates the transcending of time i.e. the original time of the cultural heritage is brought into the present, thus ensuring its timelessness. This segregation also enables the realisation of the present state of cultural heritage in a stable space, shielded from outside events (Wöhler, 2008).
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According to Spielmann et al. (2008), the increasing simultaneity, information density and the acceleration in most areas of society increase the complexity of daily life. WHS, on the other hand, are associated with stability. They act, in their very special way, as spiritual spaces in a secularized world, thus becoming a crucial part of identity formation. Through this transformation of spaces into symbols of meaning, the raw material for conservation and WH originates. It is this return to lasting values and the saleability of this experience that bring WH and tourism together. However, it is precisely this relationship that is so difficult. Although both work with the recourse to myths and ideas, promising deeper meaning and thus compensating for the deficiencies of everyday life, their objectives separate them. How important is it for tourism to create an experience as opposed to communicating the importance of conservation? How can the tourism experience evoke an understanding for the importance of sustainable development? These and other questions must be answered by WH and tourism together. In cultural tourism, the interests of tourism overlap with those of the WH. Also common to tourism and WH is the tendency to ‘freeze’ the monuments and protected areas. In this state, WHS portray the image of having values of eternal character.
The process of heritagefication also gives rise to institutions and thus a new class of intellectual elites (Wöhler, 2008). These institutions include UNESCO and the various national/ regional/local organizations whose purpose is the preservation and protection of cultural heritage as well as those who organize and manage the encounter at the WHS. Spielman et al. (2008), however, criticize any attempt by these institutional elite to stabilize the values of the WHS without involving the local population. It is the local population that create and alter these values based on their relationship with the monuments, of which they are the true custodians. Any tendency to stabilize the identity-creating value constructs of the WH results in what the authors refer to as ‘dead landscapes’, landscapes whose cultural coding is not allowed to change. Without such dynamics, landscapes become museal constructs. The solution to this dilemma lies in the participation of all stakeholders, not only political leaders but social forces that are responsible for shaping the values and ideas of the WH including residents, guests and tourists who project their notions/ideas/wishes onto the cultural heritage, thus participating in
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 88 their construction and shaping. Such a participation must go beyond heritage conservation and include participation in fundamental discussions regarding the WH such as ‘What values and images do we want to assign to the WH and in what form do we want to pass them on to future generations? Thus, the responsibility towards the WH is not merely to preserve and conserve; instead, it is of a formative nature (ibid).
Spaces codified by culture are rarely free from conflicts and interests with Wöhler (2008) highlighting the highly political nature of heritage creation/selection or heritagefication. Heritagefication brings the ‘stream of tradition’ of cultural heritage to a standstill, by being interpreted in a fixed manner (Assmann 2000 cited in ibid, p.51). The decision is made that certain cultural heritage texts (as the cultural heritage space is referred to) must be read and understood in a particular manner in order to preserve it. The process of Heritagefication involves choosing from a wide variety of cultural artefacts and declaring certain cultural artefacts as memorable, thus forming cultural memory that is to be communicated (Hahn 1987 cited in Wöhler 2008, p.52). Instead, manifestations of the past are constructed in a binding pattern e.g. ‘baroque’ in the case of the Old Town of Salzburg WHS which helps coordinate the remembering of the past (memory).
Cultural memory is always directed at fixed points in the past, that become symbols to which memories can be attached. These fixed points, based on Pierre Nora's concept ‘lieux de mémoire’, can be referred to as ‘places of memory’ wherein the term ‘places’ is to be understood as a metaphor (Saretzki, 2008). Places of memory can be both material or immaterial, whereby it is not their concreteness that is important but their symbolic function (Francois and Schulze 2001 cited in ibid). These places of memory are a sign of values, meanings and contexts that keep the past present. As such they are always bound in the current social, cultural and political framework. Places of memory, and thus cultural heritage, are therefore to be regarded semantically and are, accordingly, open to interpretation. As a contextualization of the past that is remembered and managed, heritage is not an objective fact, but instead a situational and social construct (ibid).
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According to Wöhler (2008), there are two critical phases in the process of heritagefication. The definition phase is the formation of the aforementioned binding pattern. This definition phase often leads to conflicts of memory, since the past can be interpreted in many different ways. If accepted politically/socio-economically and culturally and referred to by political administrations/locals/’cultural workers’/publishers/tourism managers, the pattern acquires continuity and commitment making it impossible to model a different pattern. He cites the example of the pattern of ‘baroque’ in the Old Town of Salzburg WHS that is so strongly fixated that it becomes impossible to add or modify the pattern. In the second phase, what is remembered in a space is thus now dictated by the pattern/model (canon). Heritage is thus less a mere representation of the past and more a (canonical) recording of the past in the contexts of the present (ibid). Thus, heritagefication stabilizes the internal and external images of a particular space. Although cultural artefacts cannot be barred from a space/region/nation, they can however be excluded the moment the space is canonized, thus setting certain requirements that cultural artefacts need to fulfil, should they wish to belong.
However, the answer to the question as to who decides what deserves to belong (and thus be preserved) and what doesn’t is unclear. The space often becomes a cause for social disputes, since the exact ownership of the cultural heritage is indeterminate and open to interpretation. Which parts of the past should be memorialized so that people can deal with their present is, in consequence, doubly contingent: people recall different things in different ways and draw different conclusions from them (Luhmann 1985 cited in Wöhler 2008, p.46). The fact that cultural heritage and thus WH is imagined/perceived/remembered differently, is not due to the cultural heritage itself but instead due to its social embeddedness. In this regard, cultural heritage is always made and subject to the present, which recalls the past. Rather than an objective representation of past perceptions or even past reality (Saretzki, 2008), the recalling of the past is a highly subjective and situational reconstruction of the past since forgetting, suppressing and distorting are all part of cultural memory (Schacter 1999 cited in ibid, p.59).
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Furthermore, the communication of the cultural heritage becomes a problem due to this double contingency (each one differentiates and understands cultural heritage differently). In Northern Ireland, for example, the memory of conflicting past events, which, among other things, is objectivized through monuments and places of remembrance, leads to a nearly perpetual conflict of memories between Protestants and Catholics (Burke 2005 in ibid). Consensual recollection/communication of the past thus becomes problematic, despite common notions such as ‘national identity’ (ibid). What is worthy of being remembered largely depends on social, political and hegemonic processes and Tunbridge and Ashworth (1996) speak in this context of ‘dissonant heritage’.
b. Dissonant Heritage and Communication
"What a self-defined group or a nation seeks to preserve, and to represent to others, allows us to understand something of what a particular imagined community' thinks it is" (Gruffudd 1995 cited in Bohnert and Jekel 2008, p.94). Heritage is capable of fostering affiliation towards a particular place/group, thus creating identity in the process. However, it also has the potential to be “interpreted differently within any one culture at any one time, as well as between cultures and through time. Heritage fulfils several inherently opposing uses & carries conflicting meanings simultaneously” (Graham et al. 2000, p.3). According to Tunbridge and Ashworth (1996), heritage is inherently dissonant with the dissonant/contested aspects of its nature ranging from disputes about what heritage “means or what it entails, including diverging views about what is or should be marked as heritage and hostilities over whose heritage belongs to whom. Heritage dissonance refers to dissenting views of the past” (Timothy 2011, p. 132).
According to Smith and Waterton (2009, p. 295), heritage is unavoidably linked to a “complex and interacting web of conflicting and multiple meanings and values”. Despite the fact that this contested nature of heritage is well documented, there remains a reluctance amongst heritage
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 91 scholars to actively incorporate this concept of dissonance into their definitions of heritage, preferring instead to keep the ‘difficult and problematic notions of heritage’ from complicating the idea of heritage that is inherently good. However, this dissonant character is core to understanding the nature of heritage since heritage involves regulating and negotiating multiple meanings of the past in relation to identity, belonging and exclusion. Heritage also harbours great potential for conflict since it involves interactions/disputes regarding which past(s) is/are deemed to be worth preserving (Luger, 2010b). Thus, (UNESCO) heritage sites with often conflicting recollections of the past become ‘lieux de memoire’ (Radstone and Hodgkin, 2003) or spaces/places of memory.
Although spaces cannot have a memory in the strict sense of the word5, it is precisely this social constructionist perspective that enables one to speak of ‘memory of places’. Spaces receive their memory from humans, as they link memory and space by storing their memories there. This takes place, for example, when man builds a monument representing a memory and when the monument becomes a symbol of this (sometimes controversial) bygone era (Saretzki, 2010). Postcolonial WHS such as the WHS of Goa India contain such monuments/symbols. As discussed previously, colonial models of cross-cultural interaction were characterized by “conditions of coercion, radical inequality and intractable conflict” (Pratt 2008, p.6) and the formerly colonized people, continue to remain “…victims, to some extent, of a form of continued mental colonization” (Carrigan 2011, p.87). While revisiting the (colonial) past might be too painful to recollect (for both ex-colonizer and ex-colonized), it is critical that this is recovered through so called ’re-memory’ if a society ever wants to come to terms with its own history. “If such memories are not ‘re-membered then they will haunt the social imagination and disrupt the present” (Morrison 1988 cited in Hall 1996a, p.66). Bhabha (1994, p. 63) refers to this as a “painful re-membering, a putting together of the dismembered past to make sense of the trauma of the present”.
5 i.e. they cannot think or remember; rather they are ‘made’. In the social constructivist sense, they are human productions that are formed from a complex interplay of physical conditions, symbolic meanings and social experiences (Healey 2001 in Saretzki, 2010).
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“Divergent memories have been the source of many conflicts throughout history. The different forms of institutional memory preservation and transmission (state archives, museums, media, school textbooks) tend to embody alternative views of the past, each with its own logic, protocols and perspectives” (UNESCO 2009, p.49) Thus, a crucial focus of dissonant heritage communication should be the creation of a common memory base that is acknowledged by all the stakeholders involved. Taking part in such a process may even require parties to admit mistakes, openly discuss dissonant memories as well as make compromises with the aim of facilitating reconciliation and social harmony. “At a time when memory conflicts in numerous multicultural environments undermine social cohesion, there is an urgent need to place divergent histories in perspective” (ibid).
In some cases, however, (dissonant) heritage communication at WHS might also lead to ethnic strife, especially where the local populace is made up of different cultures and religions. Timothy (2011, p. 279) cautions that communicating “the past is a delicate matter that must be done in a way that is not offensive to any one group” since heritage is a highly emotional concept. The challenge is even greater when the local population consists of different cultural as well as religious backgrounds (Lewis, 1999). However, both Mitchell (2001) and Pretes (2003) believe that it is indeed possible to create a common national identity among a multi-ethnic local population by using a combination of the nation’s historical and heritage sites. Indeed, both Singapore and Belize are best case examples of multi-cultural, multi-ethnic destinations that have successfully managed to incorporate dissonant aspects of their heritage into a common identity.
In Singapore, both the Singapore Tourist Board and the National Heritage Board work together to promote and communicate Singapore’s heritage to international tourists. It acknowledges its multi-ethnic heritage by celebrating Chinese, Malay and Indian religious holidays and festivals, representing all its major cultures in its museums and creating dedicated heritage centres for each cultural group. Instead of trying to create a single destination image/identity by suppressing its cultural diversity, Singapore makes it a point to celebrates its diverse ethnic
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 93 and cultural roots as part of its heritage communication efforts (Saunders, 2005). Belize is another example of a nation that proudly emphasizes its cultural/ethnic diversity (Holmes, 2010). Recognizing the crucial role that tour guides play in the tourism communication process, the Belize Tourism Board created a special Training Programme to enable the guides to better promote Belize’s heterogeneous cultural identity to its foreign visitors (Christ and Palacio 2001 cited in ibid) by first making them aware of their own cultural/ethnic diversity. Locals are also encouraged to visit special ‘Houses of Culture’ that are home to the cultural heritage and collective memory of the various ethnic regions of Belize (ibid).
According to Assmann (2000 cited in Wagner 2008, p.76), collective memory has two dimensions. Memories communicated orally are referred to as ‘communicative memory’, which remains for a maximum of three generations. If memories are communicated by symbols, however, this is referred to as ‘cultural memory’ and is able to survive beyond an entire sequence of generations. In the past, it was necessary to convey messages over long distances and in order to not to have to rely on the memory of the messenger, symbols were created. The fixed nature of these symbols enabled not only the receiver to read and re-read the message, but also made the message available to others, sometimes even centuries later. In this manner, it is possible to symbolize memories with not only text, but also monuments and cultural artefacts becoming symbols of memory (ibid).
A nation state has both communicative as well as a cultural memory e.g. it is possible to listen to stories of the elders as well as read history books/visit museums and heritage sites. According to Assmann (ibid), cultural memory is more important for the continuity of a nation since it enables the construction of a collective identity that will last over generations. For this purpose, the ruling elite choose symbols suitable symbols of the past which can then be integrated into a foundational story to be conveyed to the people. Hobsbawm (1983 cited in ibid) speaks, in this regard, of invented traditions wherein the elite aim to establish the continuity of national identity through means of a suitable historic past. These invented stories/traditions are meant to create the belief in the ‘sanctity’/immutability and thus
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 94 legitimacy of an always existent order and force (Weber 1982 in ibid), thus fortifying the positions of those in power. In the case of postcolonial nations, the resultant myths of the national narrative tend to reflect colonial notions of order and power since the elites of these countries have received their education at the Western universities and are thus moulded with the same Western standards of politics and culture. Postcolonial theorist Bhabha (2000 cited in Wagner 2008, p.82) offers an alternative that breaks with the traditional, continual and accumulative timeliness of the national narrative i.e. the Third Space. Instead of viewing national narratives as a sacrosanct continuation of the past in the present day, Bhabha prefers to view them as opportunities for a ‘moment of transition’ to something new that acknowledges the heterogeneous nature of the present society. By acknowledging the fact that all cultural statements/systems are created in this contradictory and ambivalent Third space, any claims to an inherent cultural ‘originality/'purity’ will become indefensible. This leads Goodey (2002) to conclude that if (heritage) destinations do not possess a single identity, then neither can a single heritage concept i.e. heritage for a single society by means of a single story continue to exist.
Indeed, historic places such as WHS have not just one but a “multiplicity of stories to tell” (ibid). According to Du Cros and McKercher (2015), the reality is that multiple, contested histories often share the same physical space (i.e. the WHS) and the question of whose story to communicate becomes a key political element of heritage communication at WHS. Histories also tend to be written with political overtones, making the task of heritage interpretation even more challenging. Timothy (2011, p.132) also sees a close connection between politics and heritage when it comes to deciding which of these stories to tell. The dissonant/contested nature of heritage thus forms one of its most important political aspects as “as the account depends on who is telling the story, who is in a position of power to influence the past…and therefore which stories or versions of those stories are told” (ibid). Not all aspects of the past can be interpreted and communicated to tourists and locals and, as a result, a choice has to be made as to what aspects of the past will or will not be interpreted and communicated.
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“One of the most pervasive political manifestations of heritage and heritage tourism is the intentional disregard (or societal amnesia) of certain elements of the past. All heritage relics and products for tourism must be selected from a wide range of heritage resources, which inherently means that some elements and features of the past will not be selected – instead they will be ignored or written out of official history together. Thus, some segments of society become ‘disinherited’ in the process. This happens because a society and its leaders are uncomfortable with certain aspects of patrimony or they are embarrassed by it” (ibid, p. 128). In addition, the process of applying for heritage designation also represents a highly politicised procedure with Du Cros and McKercher (2015, p.53) calling the decision of “whether minority or indigenous cultural heritage is deemed worthy of conserving” an “innately political process”.
Kuutma (2007, p.177) speaks of the “politics of contested representation” acknowledging the political dimension of heritage. Public presentation of heritage creates and implements knowledge that emerges from and reflections relationships of power (Foucault, 1980 in ibid). Kuutma (ibid) calls heritage a “project of ideology” and claims that the terms ‘to preserve’, ‘to protect’ or ‘to safeguard’ cultural heritage are value laden within an uncritical, celebrative context for political gain. He calls, instead, for a problematization of heritage, culture, history, tradition and ‘heritagification’ (i.e. how heritage is ‘made’) rather than the mere transfer of these concepts mechanically from one generation to the next.
Tilden (1977) believes that it should be the goal of heritage interpretation to present a complete version of the story, rather than restricting itself to a particular part. Details of a conflict-laden history need not be avoided during the process of interpretation and Rodrian (2011) believes that tourists need not be limited to a nostalgic perspective, but instead might be interested in a constructive yet critical dialogue on the more controversial aspects of the destination’s history. In the case of controversial or contested heritage, visitors can even be provided with more than one historical narrative of historical events and then asked to decide for themselves. According to Du Cros and McKercher (2015, p.231),
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“Visitors often want to understand why such awful things have happened the way they have, and information should be provided in a form that allows them to construct a meaning from the experience that will resolve this question for them in some way”.
Not only is a critical interaction and discourse between tourists and heritage/history essential but this critical discourse should take place alongwith the inclusion of a variety of cultures and perspectives. Merkel (2002, p. 148) believes that a great amount of our heritage is “uncomfortable to one person or the other, for one reason or another”. However, he sees dissonant heritage interpretation as a great opportunity to deal with conflict by trying to locate common ground and claims that “coming to terms with uncomfortable heritage dimensions can be a beautiful learning challenge”. Dann and Seaton (2001, pp. 20-21) concur, stating that “community healing [only] occurs by keeping alive dissonant issues [instead of] …sweeping them under the carpet”. Thus, interpretation at WHS, according to Hitchcock (2005, p. 185) “should place less emphasis on coherent narratives where the rough edges of real inter- communal relations are smoothed over and should encourage a more dynamic and perhaps unfinished, even messier, version of historical events…[the WHS] should be a scene of dialogue rather than conflict, where attempts to continue to include and resolve differences rather than to police or exclude those who challenge official narratives”.
That said, some cultural heritage sites or attractions may have a dark side that relates to the history of a cultural group of which the visitor is a part. It is important to remember that most tourist visitors “are on holiday and are looking from a break from their normal stressful, hectic lives. Most do not want to be challenged, and if confronted, are not receptive to accept such a message” (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, pp.116-117). While this does not necessarily mean that cultural heritage sites cannot or should not be interpreted in a challenging way (sometimes, this may even be necessary, if a WHS has a dissonant history), heritage interpretation will fail if it blames the tourist visitor as being the root cause of the problem. Thus, while heritage interpretation may be emotionally demanding, it should avoid doing so in a manner that is intimidating or accusatory towards the tourist visitor to the destination (ibid).
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3.3 Heritage Interpretation at the Destination
While a destination is defined as a “geographical region which is understood by its visitors as a unique entity” (Buhalis 2000, p. 98), there are a number of definitions for interpretation. Timothy (2011, pp. 228-229) defines interpretation as the “act of revealing the significant of a place, person, artefact or event [trying to educate] …people with the ultimate goal of creating awareness of the need to conserve”. Interpretation can also be defined as a “form of communication in which information flows between the parties involved” (Puczko, 2006, p.228) or as a “communication process designed to reveal meanings and relationships of our cultural and natural heritage to the visitors through first hand experiences” (Veverka 1994 cited in ibid, p.229) with the material and immaterial aspects of the local culture.
Cultures are not only made up of material aspects i.e. the cultural goods of a nation such as WHS, but also immaterial aspects including social and mental aspects. Therefore, in order to explore a culture, it is necessary to examine social and mental phenomena (Nünning 2003 cited in Luger 2010b, p.16). Cultural heritage also consists of both tangible as well as intangible aspects. Although Weigelt (2007) claims that previous categorizations of 'brick and stone' monuments are being increasingly replaced by newer perspectives of heritage that place greater importance on intangible characteristics, Gujadhur and Rogers (2008) argue that the concept of heritage is still closely related to the tangible/built environment. Even though locals are proud of their history/culture, it is the tangible manifestations of the past that continue to define their perception of heritage. Although protection and conservation of the tangible aspects of a WHS are vital (without them, the attraction for tourists disappears), these efforts should be accompanied by attempts to focus on the intangible elements of a WHS. Citing the example of the WHS of Angkor Wat, Makela and O’Reilly (2008) lament the fact that little is known of the culture that created the temples of Angkor, since most efforts till date have focused more on the restoration/maintenance of the tangible elements of the WHS, instead of
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 98 its intangible aspects. McKercher et al (2005) also criticize this conservation of the physical fabric of heritage monuments at the expense of the associated intangible heritage.
Kirschenblatt-Gimblett (2004, p.58), goes further, arguing that it is impossible to differentiate between tangible and intangible heritage, as it is the intangible which truly gives meaning to the tangible. “Tangible heritage, without intangible heritage, is a mere husk or inert matter” (ibid). There is a growing acknowledgement of this interdependence between tangible & intangible heritage (Høivik, 2008) as well as the fact that to fully understand heritage, it is important to first understand the intangible aspects of its evolutionary past. To comprehend cultural heritage in its entirety, one must know what drove its creators to build/create the WHS and what they wanted to achieve by it. Tangible cultural heritage can only be understood by first understanding the intangible. As the author rightly questions, is it not intangible cultural heritage that gives tangible WHS their real meaning? What one admires at a WHS such as St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna is really the intangible value that its makers attempted to create. One must therefore always consider the relationship that intangible heritage has with UNESCO WHS. It is also crucial to keep in mind that unlike tangible cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage that is neglected/forgotten can no longer be ‘restored’ (Knöbl, 2010).
Good heritage management, according to Millar (1995), involves focusing on both the interpretation of (intangible) heritage as well as its conservation, such that they complement each other. A WHS requires a special form of communication and interpretation that is worthy of the high symbolic value of the monuments and architecture (Misiura 2006 cited in Luger, 2014). A quick passage on a standard route, comparable to a ‘street of ants’ (Keul and Kühberger 1996 cited in ibid, p.30), in connection with a fleeting consumption of the sights neither does justice to the abovementioned value, nor does it generate a satisfactory emotional, experiential or identificatory experience (Hoffmann 2008 cited in ibid). Based on the assumption that most tourist visitors to a heritage destination are first time visitors, the immediate aim of heritage interpretation should be the establishment of a positive first impression in the minds of the visitors, followed by strategies for visitor orientation and direction (Orbasli, 2000).
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If not explained properly, WHS can “overwhelm the visitor with their insignificance” (Curtis and Pajaczkowska 1994, p. 206). Heritage management must therefore aim to improve the visitor experience at the site using heritage communication and interpretation, thus developing a strong and memorable destination image in the minds of the visitors (Orbasli, 2000). Heritage interpretation is thus seen as a “tool to enhance the visitor experience” at the heritage site (Timothy 2011, p. 231). Citing the example of WHS in Thailand, Lerkplien et al (2013) note that a number of monuments open to tourists have little interpretation and/or on-site management. This results in the WHS being presented in a simple manner that encourages a mere superficial consumption, rather taking this opportunity to educate the tourist visitor. Shackley (1998), however, argues that the majority of tourist visitors to a heritage site might not have any (prior) knowledge about the site and hence the provision of sufficient information and interpretation at the destination is of critical importance.
For the purpose of communication, interpretation and education at the destination, ICOMOS (1993) suggests classifying visitors according to the following categories: • The Scholar Visitors – These visitors come well prepared and already familiar with the history of the site prior to arrival. They are interested in buying specialized publications and are knowledgeable, sometimes even critical, of the public interpretation offerings. If they do employ a guide, they expect a high degree of expertise from him/her. • The General Visitors – These visitors visit a site because they have heard about it or read about it in a tour/guide book. Apart from that, they have little prior knowledge. They are looking for a comprehensive interpretation and presentation of the site including the reason behind its significance. • The Reluctant Visitors – These visitors are a growing segment who are brought to the site as part of a package tour. While tours include heritage monuments, they are often limited to the iconic attractions. Also, the stops at each attraction are only brief, preventing the reluctant visitors from being able to do much apart from quickly look around, take some photographs, quench their thirst and/or use the toilets. Furthermore,
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“many visitors to such destinations are…uninterested in so-called ‘authenticity’…most only want to take photographs or buy souvenirs, without bothering to learn anything about the place and its people” (Unakul 2010, p.392). However, it is not always the fault of the (reluctant) tourist. As mentioned previously, many WHS are presented without making the visitor aware of their historical context and meaning. Although they come with little knowledge of the site and are often there only as part of the tour, the reluctant tourists can still be a significant target group. Although more interested in the amenities rather than the site itself, they can be encouraged to learn more about the site through the effective use of heritage and interpretation methods.
There are various means of heritage communication and interpretation at the site including publications (information-brochures, leaflets, newsletters and other publications on WH in general and the WHS in particular), online communication (unique multilingual web presence/Internet portal for the WHS or incorporation of WH-relevant information on existing destination websites with a special link to the WHS), WH Education (cooperation with schools, especially UNESCO-associated schools and other educational institutions in the area), a PR strategy that ensures that developments/activities at the WHS are reported regularly in the media, exhibitions (relating to the WHS) as well as signage (Ringbeck, 2009). Both Rodrian (2011) and Williams (2005) criticize the lack of signage at WHS. A lack of signage often hinders the grasp of a site’s significance by non-expert visitors. It is also important to keep in mind the origin of the visitors, especially foreign visitors who will require signage in their own language.
According to ICOMOS (1993), well-designed and strategically-placed signage can play a critical role in a site’s interpretation program. It suggests that a specific logo for the site in conjunction with the WH logo be used on all signage. Furthermore, signage should be a key part of any interpretation plan. It is important to not only have sign boards on the highway leading to the site with clear directions for drivers and the distance to the WHS & clear signage guiding the tourist visitor as they approach the WHS but within the WHS as well. These sign boards must also be checked regularly to see that they are well maintained. At the WHS, directional signage
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 101 must guide the tourist visitor on specifically designed ‘visitor circulation paths’. In addition, signage at important interpretative sights should provide the visitor with detailed background information about the sights. Here, a combination of text/graphics/objects/models and even audio-visual elements can be used to add to the visitor’s understanding of the sight. However, since all the existing information cannot be fitted into the sign, the challenge is to limit the interpretative information to the most significant and interesting points. Digital signage and online interpretative efforts do not suffer from this limitation. However, heritage interpretation is often a “delicate balance among providing sufficient guidance, not oversimplifying the experience and allowing the visitor to be free to discover the complexity of an urban environment. Often there is scope to be more imaginative than simply depending on signposting and designated trails, ensuring that the visitor feels there is more to discover while not being overwhelmed by the place” (Orbasli 2000, p. 169).
Heritage interpretation can have a number of aims. According to Knudson et al. (1995 cited in Puczko, 2006, p.230), these include increasing the tourist’s understanding, awareness and appreciation of the WHS, affecting visitor attitudes towards the (preservation of) cultural heritage and improving understanding and support for the WHS’ role/goals/policies. Tilden (1977 cited in ibid, pp.230-231) believes that objectives of interpretation should be easily relatable to the tourist, involve more than merely providing information as well as attempting to ‘present the whole’ rather than merely a portion of the whole. Since Tilden published his principles of interpretation, they have been amended/added to as a result of societal changes and technological advances (Beck and Cable 1998 cited in ibid). According to ICOMOS (1993), the successful interpretation and effective presentation of a WHS must start with a plan whose starting point is the consideration of the visitors. This plan must specifically describe all interpretative elements including all written materials, visual and graphic displays, exhibits, sensory and hands on opportunities etc. The plan should also aim to communicate certain themes/concepts that, according to the heritage site administrators, convey the essence of the heritage site’s significance, without limiting themselves to only the positive aspects.
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Visitor interpretation strategies at the destination must begin with market research on the visitors to the destination, followed by identification of objectives and goals, consultation with the locals, the development and implementation of an action plan as well as an annual strategy review to monitor the project’s progress (English Historic Towns Forum 1994 cited in Orbasli, 2000). The goal is to familiarize the tourist with the destination by providing him with sufficient information. The quality of the interpretative tools is as important as the quality of the information provided. Increasingly, heritage conservation and management bodies are applying the same interpretative tools that are used in the museum environment (such as signboards, recorded commentary etc.) to the urban environment. Examples include signboards, information panels, plaques as well as transportable media such as maps, guidebooks and brochures or leaflets that communicate information about the destination (ibid). According to ICOMOS (1993), a brochure is a basic necessity for any site and should contain basic historical information, a schedule of the site’s operation as well as the services on offer. Brochures must be printed in the local language, English as well as any other languages spoken frequently by visitors. In addition to the basic brochure, a more comprehensive guidebook about the heritage site should also be on sale in the local language, English & the language(s) of the most frequent visitors.
However, many visitors are no longer satisfied with passively experiencing the heritage site by the means of old fashioned interpretation materials (such as brochures). Colonial Williamsburg (in the US state of Virginia), considered to be one America’s most celebrated outdoor ‘living museums’ (Weaver and Lawton 2010, p.125), is struggling with declining visitor numbers despite being regarded as an epitome of historical preservation and interpretation (Barisic 2008 cited in ibid). Site managers attribute this decline in visitors partly to increased competition from newer historical attractions, but also to Williamsburg’s failure to meet the needs of a new generation of tourist visitors that are demanding, ‘hands-on’ and tech savvy. One solution, according to the authors (ibid), lies in increasing the level of visitor involvement by augmenting core learning experiences with entertainment and technological innovation.
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Timothy (2011) also argues for the greater use of technology to promote and communicate heritage sites to tourists and cites examples of how technology can be employed at WHS. While social media enables the tourist visitor to share their experiences at the WHS to their friends and family back home, technological devices (equipped with internet connectivity/ WiFi) enable visitors to search for additional sources of information while at the WHS. Standing in front of a monument, visitors can go online in search of different perspectives of the WHS, while also benefiting from comments/experiences/suggestions/recommendations of other tourists who have visited the attraction. Weaver and Lawton (ibid) agree, arguing that standard guided tours are losing popularity with younger travellers with this new generation of tourist visitors looking for stimulation, involvement and instant gratification. To attract them, some companies/destination organisations provide virtual guided tours that can be loaded onto a smart device. For example, the US-based company Audissey Guides offers tourist visitors virtual travel guides that enable the tourist visitor to start/end the guided tour wherever he/she wants.
Such virtual guided tours are also described as ‘anti-tours’, since they also focus on areas that are usually off the beaten track. In addition, they make use of local residents to offer local, personalized content. A Belgium-based company, PodGuides.net, is now taking the concept to a whole new level by allowing anyone to make and post their own comments on the guide. This gives ordinary members of the public the opportunity to influence future tours by contributing their own tips or even creating entirely new, innovative guides that send tourists to destinations not currently featured on conventional tours. Added advantages are that the tourist visitors feel immersed in the experience while never having to divert their attention to a tour brochure/guide. For those self-conscious visitors who do not wish to look like tourists, it is easier for them to pass off as residents, since the guides are not as distinctive as regular audio guides (Weaver and Lawton 2010, p.127).
Speed (2012, p.187) describes the Walking Through Time application that enables visitors to search for their current location on a Google map, then choose from several historical maps
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 104 and relocate themselves in a 19th century map of the destination. Using the user’s GPS coordinates, the map of the present is replaced with a map of the past. Although visitors are able to see a dot on the screen as a proof of themselves, they are surprised to see that the place around them has changed dramatically. This ability to discover heritage and history while standing in a live location offers a number of opportunities for visitors to ‘walk’ through older streets, discover missing buildings and improve their understanding of the past. Although one obvious target of the application are tourists, Speed states that the app developers believe that many locals might also choose to navigate the urban landscape not in the ‘present’, but instead prefer to choose a technologically-determined older landscape instead.
According to Veverka (1994 cited in Puczko 2006), visitors remember 90% of what they have done, 50% from what they have seen, 30% from what they have read and only 10% of what they have listened to during the process of interpretation. As a result, the author agrees that heritage destinations should utilise both visual and interactive media to communicate successfully to the tourists. In order for interpretation to succeed, it must use what Puczko calls the ‘edutainment’ approach where the tourist is being informed yet entertained at the same time. It is the pleasurable nature of ‘edutainment’ that leads to its success. However, it must be remembered that tourists are not mere “passive consumers of either destinations or their interpretation, but are instead actively engaged in a multi-sensory, embodied experience. While this experience may be individual, it is also cultural and occurs within, and with reference to, the tourist’s own culture and meaning systems. What becomes necessary, then, is to find a way of understanding this intersection of culture and self” (Wearing et al 2010, p. 132).
The newest objectives of interpretation, therefore, include focusing communication toward specific tourist target groups and their interests as well as making interpretation more entertaining and informative by employing cutting edge modern technologies. According to Misiura (2006), heritage organizations are now effectively using new media technologies to communicate to new audiences. The British Museum website uses audio excerpts from the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 105 actual tour in combination with images and information about the objects on display to communicate to potential museum visitors or those who are interested but unable to visit. Visual and interactive media technologies are being used to attract a younger profile of visitors, thus broadening the scope of the communication and interpretation of the heritage site.
Du Cros and McKercher (2015, p.232) also believe that “cultural tourism should be experiential. More sites need to encourage people to become actively involved in the experience”. According to the authors, there are several techniques available that help bring the assets to life including advisory, locational and interpretative signage as well as new ICT and virtual technologies. It is vital to use supporting digital resources to supplement the limited information on the signage thus not merely providing facts, but also interpreting events or underlining the cultural values inherent within the asset. A new area of digital technology with great potential to bring cultural heritage sites to life are known as ‘immersive virtual environments’ (IVEs). These IVEs integrate high resolution digital databases from archaeological sites (photography and 3D models) with immersive and interactive display systems (Kenderdine, 2013 in ibid). Although originally created for architectural design or astronomy research, their application to cultural heritage assets is becoming increasingly common.
The PLACE-Hampi project created especially for the Kaladham Museum near the Vijaynagar UNESCO WHS in Hampi, India, uses animation as part of the 3D immersive imagery. The project utilises an interactive 3D installation that projects onto a circular screen from a rotating platform that is controlled by a single viewer at a time. The animation superimposes 3D images of Indian mythological characters/events associated with the local culture at the WHS ruins (ICOM Australia 2013, AliVE 2014 in ibid). Another innovative IVE project uses images of ancient Buddhist religious art as a basis for the ‘Pure Land: Augmented Reality Edition’ application, resulting in presentations like the ‘Pure Land. Inside the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang 2012’. This project utilised images chronicled by various Dunhuang Caves conservation project teams in China to create a number of interactive virtual tour presentations. The project enables tourist visitors to view the Dunhuang art in greater detail while at the same time, helping to protect
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 106 the wall paintings inside the caves, since fewer and shorter trips to the caves are now required (CityU and Dunhuang Academy 2012 in ibid). Such technologies have the potential to eventually replace the actual visit as large crowds put greater pressure on increasingly fragile assets. Digital tools such as laser scanning and high-resolution photography play a crucial part in allowing some kind of continued access for visitors to these heritage sites under threat. In addition, they also offer an experience of the heritage site in a manner that is both interesting and fun to visitors, especially younger visitors who are used to virtual technology and gaming.
New communication technologies are also extremely effective for those with disabilities (Misiura, 2006). Virtual tours are targeted specifically at those with physical disabilities that prevent them from physically visiting heritage sites or parts of heritage sites. Since the heritage sites themselves cannot be physically modified or changed, offering virtual tours to heritage sites or parts of heritage sites that are not disabled-friendly is an important step in offering equal opportunity for all individuals in society, irrespective of their disability. Hearing impaired visitors can use hand-held computers that allow them to understand sign language interpretation. The world’s first British and American Sign Language Guides can be found at the Tate Modern Museum in London and the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Baltimore respectively. At the International Spy Museum in Washington, a hand-held captioning device can be used by those with hearing difficulties. Similarly, audio tours can be offered for visually impaired visitors and tourists. The Holocaust Gallery at the Imperial War Museum in London offers a special touch tour that allows partially blind visitors to touch model replicas of certain objects while listening to descriptions and explanations. A special audio tour of the exhibition is also available for those with learning difficulties. By making the museum and heritage experience more inclusive for disabled and impaired members of society, heritage is able to be communicated to a wider range of heritage enthusiasts by means of new technologies, thus enlarging the scope of heritage interpretation and discourse.
Orbasli (2000), however, criticizes the direct application of museum interpretative tools to the external environment (such as WHS), claiming that it might lead to a museum-like atmosphere
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 107 at the WHS. The use of headsets and other interpretative media also result in the tourists feeling isolated. Unlike a museum that focuses on its exhibits, an urban environment is far richer in what it has to offer a tourist and museum interpretative methods fail to recognise this. Instead, she suggests that cultural events be given preference over medial interpretation methods when it comes to heritage interpretation with historic locations such as churches, forts, castles forming the perfect backdrop for such events. Other events include the ‘UNESCO World Heritage without Borders’, organized by the German WHS in 2014, that resulted in thousands of visitors to the 38 German WHS (Freilassinger Anzeige, 2014).
As long as WHS do not provide visitors with any heritage interpretation, the local tour guide remains the only interface between cultures as well as the only opportunity to offer travellers insights into the local culture. This is particularly true in areas such as Thailand where the English skills of the locals are very poor. The role of the tour guide has three dimensions (Herdin, 2008): i. Cultural representative: As a representative of his own culture, the tour guide has a gatekeeper function since he selects information based on how he chooses to depict his country, its culture as well as past/current events. He thus has a great impact on the country’s image in the minds of the guests. Stereotypes can be strengthened, but outdated images can also be corrected by offering a sensitive and deep insight into the local culture. Thus, the tour guide as a so called cultural broker (Saretzki and May, 2012) serves not only as a mediator between the tourist visitor and the local populace but also as a cultural translator and interpreter. The information that the cultural broker chooses to communicate and the manner in which he/she communicates it greatly effects the image that the tourists have of not only the local culture but also of the destination (Cohen 1985 and Herdin 2008 cited in ibid). Especially in the case of UNESCO WHS, the use of a cultural broker means that the monument’s meaning is not just communicated but also interpreted at the same time. The tourist gaze is thus diverted in a certain manner and the cultural heritage is ‘constructed’ (Rodrian, 2011). ii. Cultural intermediary:
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In addition to this metacommunicative information function, the tour guide also acts on an interactive-personal level with the visitor. Apart from telling tales of his/her private life as well as functioning as an interpreter, the tour guide is also able to remove cultural specifics (e.g. Buddhism in daily life, prostitution) from the stereotypical perspective and give them new cultural connotations. In addition, the guide should provide further information in addition to the basic information available at heritage attractions e.g. explain the structure of the Thai language at the Statue of Ramkamhaeng (‘inventor’ of the Thai language) iii. Mediator: Cohen (1985) calls for the tour guide to be a mediator between the tourist and the destination and a high level of interpretative competence is required of the guide for a heritage site to become comprehensible to the tourists visiting the destination. Building on Tilden’s (ibid) concepts of interpretation, Cohen suggests that the task of the tour guide is the “translation of the strangeness of a foreign culture into a cultural-idiom familiar to the visitor” (ibid, p. 10). In other words, the tour guide must present the destination to the tourist in a manner that is familiar and known. To do so requires that “interpretation and not mere dissemination of information is the distinguishing communicative function of the trained tourist guide” (ibid).
Considering the importance of the role of the tourist guide as cultural mediators, many experts have called for the inclusion of intercultural competence in the training of guides. ICOMOS (1993) also warns that a heritage site’s reputation can be made or broken by the quality and skill of the tourist guides and many destinations have recognised the importance of providing proper training to the guides (Harrison, 2005a). UNWTO (2012) cites several examples of community-based training programmes for guides that were created/funded by UNESCO, NGOs and/or development aid. One example is the specialist WHS guide training programme run by the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) in Macau and UNESCO Bangkok that includes a more in-depth review, interpretation and presentation of the UNESCO WHS than in a regular guide-training course (IFT, 2014). Examples of other community-based projects include the Roi Mata Cultural Tour Community Project at the UNESCO WHS of Vanuatu that assisted the local community to create/manage its own tours and was financed by WHC International Assistance,
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UNESCO Apia Office as well as the EU. The project applied the participatory tourism planning process known as “Stepping Stones for Heritage and Tourism” that enabled the community to have greater control over the information/meanings/values about its heritage that was communicated directly to the tourists (UNWTO, 2012). However, this is not always the case.
According to Seaton and Bennett (1996), heritage communication and knowledge dissemination is often in the hands of intermediaries that act as “information-gatekeepers. These include “all potential intermediaries who advise tourists at all stages of the trip” (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.138) such as the commercial travel trade, local tour guides, DMOs, travel guidebooks as well as family and friends”. Gatekeepers “are involved in gathering information, processing it, and then retransmitting it either to other gatekeepers along the communication chain or directly to the tourist” (ibid). They may also intentionally/unintentionally transform the initial expectations of a tourist visit (Solomon 1997, Palmer 2000). Not all gatekeepers will be relevant for all visitors in all instances. While many interdependent travellers will have no need of gatekeepers, others may use them selectively, preferring to seek advice from trusted sources such as friends and family members instead.
Du Cros and McKercher (2015, p.149) differentiate between the gatekeepers, based on their geographic proximity to the heritage site, levels of contact, levels of awareness and knowledge as well as reasons for wanting to convey information (e.g. to convince a tourist to visit the destination, to get the tourist to book a particular package offering etc.). Although “tourists see them as trusted and knowledgeable key informants” (ibid, p.139), the kind of information that is offered by these gatekeepers may be selectively modified due to a variety of reasons: to either suit the gatekeeper’s own needs, to suit the gatekeeper’s perceptions of the tourists’ needs, to comply with certain political objectives set out at the destination or merely out of sheer ignorance (Dahles 2002, Jennings and Weiler 2006, Wong and McKercher 2010). Gatekeepers thus act as mediators that have the power to determine the amount of information provided at the heritage site (Jennings and Weiler, 2006).
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In some cases, this may take place up front. Dahles (2002) cites the example of the Indonesian Government that which views a tour guide’s role as more than that of simply welcoming/ informing tourists. Instead, the Indonesian Government provides them with a clear PR function that is aimed at conveying the meanings and values of the tourist destination. The tour guide is also given the responsibility of taking visitors to the right places at the right time, thus creating “controlled experiences” that create a positive destination image, while avoiding ‘politically less palatable’ aspects. This might also hinder the communication of alternative/ conflicting histories and messages by individuals/groups that do not belong to the powerful ruling elite (Palmer, 2000).
Politics can also play in crucial role in influencing both the travel itinerary as well as the subsequent interpretation (Cheong and Miller, 2000) at heritage sites, especially those that are framed ideologically as part of a national identity (Johnson, 1999). On a recent trip to Israel, Du Cros and McKercher (2015) were taken aback with the near complete omission of the 1,900 years of history that represented the non-Jewish occupation of the destination with the interpretation focussing on Israeli history prior to 100 AD and then suddenly jumping to the early 1900s. Similarly, the presentation of Chinese cultural heritage starts off with ancient history, followed by the start of the Communist Revolution and then by Deng Xiaoping’s reformation efforts in the late 1970s, thus completely avoiding historical events that do not portray the country in a positive light. In a similar manner, the history of Hong Kong tends to focus on its relation to China, especially since the handover of sovereignty to China in 1997, while scarcely mentioning its 150 year-long British colonial rule (Du Cros 2006b, Du Cross 2004, Du Cros and McKercher 2015). In what the author calls the sanitization of colonial history, Wong (2013) found that the official heritage interpretation taught to tour guides as part of the training programme in Macau almost totally avoids any reference to its Portuguese colonial history.
In addition to political pressures, there are a number of other challenges. Instead of communicating valuable knowledge, thus ensuring a fruitful interaction with the guests, tour guides often administer portioned, instant information at the classic sights for easy and rapid
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 111 consumption (Herdin, 2008). The cultural values for which the attraction is known may also be trivialized/over-simplified in order to gain visitor’s attention and make it more palatable for him/her. “The more gatekeepers involved, the greater the likelihood the message will be presented in a simplified, commodified or inaccurate manner” (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.139). The greater the number of gatekeepers, the greater the risk of the WH management losing control over the message that is conveyed since it gets increasingly distorted. In addition, at every stage of gatekeeping, a certain amount of control over the information that is disseminated is lost which in turn, results in a certain loss of control over the heritage site/asset.
According to Du Cros and McKercher (2015, p.140), direct communication between the heritage site (or rather its management) and the visitor ensures that the desired message is conveyed unimpeded and is thus ‘pure’. While this is an ideal situation, it seldom occurs. Most tourists must be informed about the heritage site before they can visit it. The responsibility of awareness-creation lies usually with tourism operators, destination marketers or others in the travel trade. Thus, unless the visitor somehow finds the heritage site by accident or has direct access to information provided directly by the site’s management, it is highly likely that some intermediaries will have influenced the awareness-creation process. Although the Internet has opened greater opportunities for direct communication between the visitor and the WH site management, its current level of use is rather low (ibid). Instead, the heritage site’s message is usually communicated either through travel-intermediaries or the local DMO. The DMO often only offers a highly superficial overview of the intrinsic cultural significance of the heritage site with some DMOs adding a link to the website of the heritage site (if available) for more information. However, as Vong (2013a) found in her study of Macau, it is only the purposeful or serendipitous cultural segments that engaged in such a deep informational search, with the remaining tourists satisfied with information offered by the intermediaries.
Once at the destination, a typical tourist experience takes place by viewing “named scenes through a frame, such as the hotel window, the car windscreen or the window of the coach”. (Urry 2002, p.90). In his seminal work titled ‘The Tourist Gaze’, he tries to identify the factors
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 112 that furnish certain tourist sites and sights with a particular semiotic meaning for tourists. Although the author does not suggest that there is a single tourist gaze or “universal experience true for all tourists at all times” (p.1), he does indeed observe that tourist sites and sights are organised socially through portrayals of these places by different gatekeepers. These portrayals involve a certain screening of tourist sites and sights, assigning greater value to certain sites when compared to others, thus resulting in restriction or impairment of the (independent) tourist gaze or what he refers to as ‘selected viewing’.
Richards (2010) posits that such select viewing is caused by the use of markers that ‘attract’ visitors to them like a magnet. Markers are pieces of information about the WHS that can be communicated to tourists and serve to facilitate a visit to the site (Culler 1988, Leiper 1990, Olsson 2010). Culler (1988, p.5) defines them as “any kind of information or representation that constitutes a sight as a sight: by giving information about it, representing it, making it recognizable”. MacCannell (2001) adds further that markers serve as a signal that the place is worth a visit. Moreover, as Clark (2009, p.111) notes, since “markers function to trigger motivation, they often contain information or present an image about what might be experienced at the sites concerned”. The aims of markers are awareness creation, interest stimulation, desire motivation as well as the encouragement of action (i.e. visiting the site). Examples of markers include promotional/communication materials developed by the tourism sector.
However, markers are not limited to only commercial promotional materials. Analysing the literature, Wong and McKercher (2013) show that markers can also include other forms of information e.g. common knowledge not attributable to a particular source, intangible cultural heritage associated with a travel destinations or heritage site, information delivered by informants like tourist information centres staff, souvenirs that remind the visitor of the heritage site/cultural experience, word-of-mouth from other visitors, tour guide narratives, inscriptions and signage at heritage sites and monuments and, to a greater extent, social media channels. Souvenirs, for example, can function as a link to the past tourist experience and can play a vital
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 113 role in motivating visits by potential tourists (e.g. friends or family of the visitor), since souvenirs symbolise the fact that the site is a ‘must see’ attraction.
Markers can be located either at the tourist destination or in the tourist-generating region. In addition, ‘online markers’ can also target visitors either in their country of origin when planning their visit or after they have already arrived at the destination. So-called ‘generating markers’ focus on conveying information as well as creating awareness of the tourist destination, with the aim of motivating a visit (Wong and McKercher, 2013). Generating markers are usually generic, factual and focus mainly on sightseeing-oriented experiences. Online, there are relatively few generating markers, especially on the front pages of websites,. Some authors (such as MacCannell 1976 and Leiper 1990 cited in Richards, 2010) believe that certain markers exist to differentiate ‘must-see attractions’ from the attractions that are ‘not so important’. Users are forced to search deeper in order to discover markers of so called ‘lower order’ attractions deemed to be less important. According to Litvin and Mouri (2009), this is unsurprising since generating markers are usually associated with iconic (heritage) sites and that often define a destination. Roura (2009) explains that markers often assist in understanding and underscoring the significance of historic sites, thus playing a key role in their protection and conservation. In this regard, Lovelock (2004) highlights the importance of the person that controls the marker, since whoever does so is also in charge of the image of the heritage site. “Ideally, the cultural asset managers, custodians, and stakeholders should control the markers or at least have some influence over how the trade conveys messages. In practice [the heritage manager] …has little real control over the type, quality, and veracity of information imparted to the visitor, for…[he] is the last stop on the information chain for most visitors, rather than the first” (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.138).
As seen above, the attraction itself can be a marker. If the tourist site is important enough to be a ‘generating marker’, then it will have a great influence on the travel decision. To test this hypothesis, research (ibid) showed that nearly 50% of the participants had already decided to visit a particular cultural attraction at the destination before leaving home. This insight can have
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 114 an important effect on how & when cultural heritage attractions are communicated/interpreted. Using the popularity of the markers, the method of ‘clustering’ offers several advantages (MTC, 2009). Clustering involves linking smaller complementary cultural heritage sites by anchoring them to a primary icon or attraction that, on its own, generates large visitor numbers. This creates increased opportunities for the lesser known heritage attractions. Clustering spreads the focus of the tourist visitor on a wide range of cultural attractions, thus creating a wider overall experience (Du Cros and McKercher 2015). Richards (2011), however, notices a trend towards ‘reverse marking’, “an explicit strategy whereby one consciously ignores what is typically marked as though it were mundane and focuses on the unmarked as though it were exotic and unusual. Rather than gravitating to what already stands out as exceptional, reverse marking tries to find the exceptional in what is ordinarily taken-for-granted as unexceptional” (Breckhus 1998 cited in ibid, p. 5).
In order to learn more about the markers and attractions at destination, the starting point for heritage tourists must be the visitor centre (Misiura, 2006). “Visitor centres aim to provide services and facilities for activities that take place in and around them and the building needs to be designed around these activities. As well as being an attraction for visitors and tourists, it might well serve as a focus for local community activities. In addition to visitor services, a centre may perform administrative and maintenance functions for a site” (Atkinson 2004, p.4). Located near or in the WHS, the visitor centre functions as a ‘one stop shop’ for tourists who are able to access all the necessary information at one point. At the WHS, the visitor centre is often the first point of contact for visitors. Ringbeck (2009) recommends the establishment of a centrally located visitor centre at the WHS, that is open daily. Here, the historical and geographical parameters can be shown and the specific reasons for the inclusion of the WHS on the WH List can be explained to the tourist visitors. In addition, the UNESCO and the WH idea must also be communicated. Visitor centres can also offer WH and other UNESCO Publications. ICOMOS (1993) believes that every heritage site should have a visitor reception
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 115 and orientation centre where the visitor first stops to buy an admission ticket, secure a guidebook/brochure or maybe even view an introductory exhibit. It is vital that the visitor has at least a basic understanding of the site’s significance, its size and what options it offers visitors in terms of experiencing the site upon leaving the centre. It can also be used to inform the visitors about the wide variety of cultural activities at the WHS (Orbasli, 2000). Thus, if well organized, the visitor centre can become a cultural focal point of the heritage site or destination.
However, the performance of a visitor centre depends to a large extent on its staff and the quality (relevance, accuracy) of the information provided by them (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.145). A study was conducted in this regard by Wong and McKercher (2010 cited in ibid) into the depth and breadth of the knowledge of visitor centre staff at UNESCO WHS. While knowledge breadth was categorized by employee awareness about places to visit and activities on offer, knowledge depth was characterized by the knowledge about the particular WHS. While some staff were able to communicate a number of ‘lower order attractions’, others were unable (or unwilling) to go beyond the main iconic markers/attractions. The results also showed that knowledge depth regarding the cultural significance were unfortunately only limited to the extrinsic appeal of the monuments, while at the same time ignoring their intangible meaning and values (ibid, p.146).
Research conducted by Spielmann et al (2008), however, shows that classical information centres are no longer valid today, due to the ubiquity of information about the site available through multiple other sources (including online). Citing the example of the DialogCenter Naters, they instead put forward the following requirements for a modern information centre: • It should be a place of discussion about the future. In these discussions, all stakeholders must be involved, including the local population, experts from society/politics/science as well as tourist visitors. The latter is especially important, since they not only bring income to the WHS region, but also significantly shape the perception of the WHS. • It should also function as an informal communication platform between stakeholders. Classic areas of informal communication such as lounges, the restaurant,
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shop and library must be given special attention. Such infrastructure, with the help and participation of different actors and decision makers, turns a visitor center into a place of mediation, discussion, research and implementation. In addition to the following functions, Lask and Herold (2005) also recommend the addition an ‘observation station’ at the visitor centre to analyse of the effect of tourism on the social structures of the local populace at the destination. An interdisciplinary observation of the tourist behaviour at the heritage destination will enable a better understanding of their impact on the local culture as well as improve intercultural communication between the tourists and the local populace, thus fostering both cultural and scientific exchange. In addition to the Visitor and Information Centre as the focal point of the heritage site, it is important not to forget to communicate at other areas of the WHS as well. This communication must be based on a mobile information concept, including info-points at strategic locations as well as smartphone based applications and technologies such as NFC.
Another important aspect of heritage interpretation at the WHS, apart from communication, is in relation to its education mandate. WHS have great potential as an educational resource, by providing information for both the local community as well as for (tourist) visitors. If the visitor is to learn about/appreciate the heritage of the WHS, its value and meaning must be properly presented and/or explained. Research at the WHS of Luang Prabang has shown that although visitors are motivated to visit the site to learn about its heritage, poor heritage interpretation results in visitors remaining “unaware of the significance and value of what they are seeing e.g. when wandering the streets, they are not provided with information explaining the characteristics and history of local buildings” (UNESCO 2004, p.109). The Deutsche UNESCO- Kommission e.V. (2002) states that providing education to the tourist visitors is a major responsibility of the WH management while Section VI. Educational Programmes, Article 27 of the WH Convention calls for the state parties to the Convention to use all means appropriate, especially information and education programmes, to strengthen the respect and appreciation of the cultural heritage (Stroeter-Bender, 2010b). According to Williams (2005, p.135), there is an urgent requirement for UNESCO to also educate the public on the meaning and implications
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 117 of an inclusion on the WH List, for only then will the “widespread ignorance of the WH concept among general public, NGO’s and government agencies…be removed (ibid). “UNESCO’s World Heritage Programme offers an ideal way of taking an innovative educational approach and linking the teaching of local culture with lessons on world culture. The aim should be to sensitize people for their own culture as well as for the culture of others” (Huefner 2002, p. 144). Ringbeck (2009) affirms that an inclusion in the UNESCO WHS list goes hand in hand with an obligation to communicate and to make the WHS known to a broad public. It is advisable to accompany the process of WH application with an intensive public relations campaign while in the period after inclusion, strategies for the communication, promotion and presentation of the WH concept can be developed, with input from partners/stakeholders from different areas such as museums, school administrations, tourism organizations etc. (ibid).
Dippon and Siegmund (2010) claim that the 2006 Hildesheim Resolution of the German UNESCO Commission was remarkable because, apart from highlighting the intention of making UNESCO WHS into places of intercultural encounter and communicators of the UNESCO ideal, it explicitly mentioned the educational mandate of German WHS for the first time. Ways of achieving this educational mandate included closer cooperation with educational institutions such as UNESCO Associated Schools, inclusion of the WH subject matter into the curriculum, a further training and information program for multipliers and stakeholders etc. It also called for increased participation in the UNESCO World Heritage Day. An initiative of the German UNESCO Commission and the German WHS Association since 2005, it aims to raise greater public awareness of the German WHS instead of focusing merely on their historic conservation mandate. In the German UNESCO declarations of Lübeck 2007 and Wartburg 2008, the education aspect was taken up again. The Lübeck Declaration appealed to the UNESCO National Commission to support the educational mandate of WHS through closer cooperation with universities as well as greater educational effort on the part of the culture and tourism managers at the destination (Schottler 2004 in ibid).
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Vieregg and Schefers (2010), however, disagree with Dippon and Siegmund, criticizing the fact that Article 7 of the Resolution of the German UNESCO Commission, only referred to the ‘further development’ of the educational mandate of German WHS in passing, as if it were a long- agreed consensus. The authors claim that WHS conservation remains the dominant theme at WHS, with little focus being placed on the educational mandate. WHS often lack the infrastructure required for education, including proven communication concepts, well-trained and motivated staff and facilities such as a museum, visitor center etc. (ibid). They also criticize that fact that a site’s ‘World Heritage-worthiness’ is still judged mainly on its historic preservation aspects and not enough on its educational mandate. However, they hope that the situation will change soon, with the WHS’ education mandate one day becoming just as self- evident as its preservation mandate.
The educational mandate of a UNESCO WHS as a place of non-formal learning depends largely on the level of inclusion in the classroom as well as in the curriculum. WHS can have a number of didactic functions, from a tentative initial contact via intensive project work to a deepener interaction with the WHS that could culminate finally in a site visit (Richter, 2010). Roessler (2002) cites the example of the UNESCO Special Project “Young People’s Participation in World Heritage Preservation and Promotion” that was launched in 1994. Students in local schools near WHS were encouraged to acquire knowledge about the history/culture associated with the site. Furthermore, Huefner (2002) cites the example of the UNESCO ‘Kulturerbe macht Schule’ programme in Germany, a nationwide educational initiative involving the teaching of cultural heritage topics in local German schools. The project funded 100 innovative school projects in the field of cultural heritage, developed an education programme to train teachers and created an educational resource kit published by UNESCO titled “World Heritage in Young Hands”. Partner schools also carried out school projects on WHS in the region. The main idea behind the project was to encourage young people to develop an interest in the cultural heritage of their region. Students were encouraged to not just visit WHS but also actively engage with them, thus becoming more aware of their history as well as more sensitive to the need for their
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 119 conservation. By creating a network of partner schools, the German UNESCO Commission hoped to improve the relationship between young people and cultural heritage of the region.
According to Kirsten (2002), the WHS’ future lies in the hands of the children/youth. If they are not interested in their own cultural heritage, the future of the WHS are in doubt. Citing the example of the German WHS of Dessau-Wörlitz as a best practice example of a successful children’s education programme, she states that children are an extremely important target group for WHS since they represent the tourist visitors of the future. To make the WHS interesting for them, however, requires a special effort on behalf of the WH management. Children must be offered ‘edutainment’ – a mix of education and entertainment and educational initiatives for children that do not merely educate but combine education with enjoyment. Presentation and communication of the WHS must take place in a special child orientated form e.g. special guided tours or learning materials for children. Different programmes must also be offered for other age groups. Although secondary school children are capable of absorbing more theoretical knowledge than primary school children, it is important not to overload them with too much information. Instead, group project or workshops can be used to allow them to acquire the information by themselves. For young adults, the UNESCO University Twinning programme and the UNESCO Chair initiative at universities offer undergraduate/post graduate students the opportunity to conduct research on UNESCO WHS (ibid).
3.3.1 Participatory Culture and Heritage Interpretation
According to Ciolfi (2012), the mission of heritage sites is to communicate information and knowledge to its tourist visitors. In the past, heritage communication and interpretation resulted “from a selection process [that was] often government initiated and supported by official regulation” (Logan and Smith 2009, p. xii). However, Smith and Waterton (2009) claim that visitors to WHS are increasingly playing a far more active role in the creation/ interpretation
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 120 of heritage meaning. Visitors no longer passively accept the official heritage communication and interpretation but instead prefer to create meaning for themselves (Smith, 2006). In contact with the visitors, successful tourist offer design provides greater opportunities for a more personalized touristic experience by enabling a more active participation at the tourist site (Weber and Kuehnel-Widmann 2015).
Participatory culture is defined by Jenkins et al (2006, p. 7) as a culture where “not every member must contribute, but all must believe that they are free to contribute when ready and that what they contribute will be appropriately valued”. Participation can be divided into two forms (Ciolfi, 2012): immediate (i.e. here and now e.g. taking a photograph on a smartphone and uploading it to a social network) or delayed (i.e. later e.g. at the end of the journey or back home by writing a review of the WHS or a blog post about the experiences at the heritage destination).
While the culture of participation is not a new concept, it has been expedited by socio- technological factors such as the rise of social media, the ease and low cost of new media tools such as websites, forums, blogs, wikis as well as web sharing services such as Instagram for photos and YouTube for videos. Social media has not only made the creation of content easier, it has also enabled the easy sharing of this created content, thanks to the networking characteristic of web services such as Facebook, Instagram etc. These new media enable users and visitors to engage in a variety of conversations with an increasingly wider community online. Social media has also been incredibly effective in encouraging the participation in and co-creation of heritage, with major museums around the world using a variety of new media to “communicate, promote, enrich and sometimes create exhibits” (Ciolfi 2012, p. 73). Giaccardi (2012, p.1) believes that social media has caused us to “reframe our understanding and experience of heritage by opening up more participatory ways of interacting with heritage objects”. Through the concept of ‘participatory culture’, it is possible to analyse how social media can be “brought to bear on the encounter with heritage and on the socially produced meanings and values that individuals and communities ascribe to it” (ibid). Thus, it can be seen
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 121 how the participatory culture supported by social media changes the manner in which (tourist) visitors experience and conceive heritage.
“Participatory cultures are not new…However we are witnessing today a broader and more profound phenomenon. This is the result of a combination of several socio-technical factors” (ibid, p.3). The creation, publishing and distribution of content requires less time and less money now than in the past thanks to the availability of new, easy to use software that does not need sophisticated programming skills. Examples of participatory projects include encyclopaedic collaborative projects such as Wikipedia, Q&A sites such as Quora, non-profit crowdsourcing projects such as Ushahidi, web services to share/tag digital content such as Instagram for photos or YouTube for videos etc. Social media (media which is based on the technological and ideological foundations of Web 2.0) facilitates the development of online communities around affinities/topics of interest, thus transforming what was traditionally one-way medial communication into an active conversation between members. In addition, the widespread use of mobile devices ensures greater mobility of social media, which results in a participatory culture unrestricted by limitations of time and place. Furthermore, there is also the possibility to attach digital data to artefacts in the ‘real world’ through apps for augmented reality. “Thus the fabric of participation and conversation offered by social media is not simply made of online interactions and virtual experiences; it is also interwoven [spilling out into the real world] with physical objects, places and activities that are augmented and enhanced with social data and connectivity” (ibid, p.4).
Giaccardi (2012) observes that social media’s ‘participatory culture’ ends up developing a new socially created meaning of heritage, that enables people to ascribe their own meanings and values to the heritage product. Put differently, people socially construct heritage based on their own frames of reference of their own daily lives, so that their interplay with the past result in the creation of a more personal vision of the future (Lowenthal, 2005). According to Anais Nin (n.d. cited in Herdin and Luger 2010), we do not see things as they are, we see things as we are. When visiting WHS, heritage tourists generate their own interpretation by furnishing the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 122 heritage space with their own meanings, thus creating identity (Bachleitner and Rehbogen, 2008). Citing the example of the WHS of Salzburg, Hoffmann (2008) believes that visitors, tourists and residents each view a WHS according to the context of their personal and collective identity and/or the pre-formed images of history with the actual history only playing a subordinate role in how a heritage site is experienced.
“Heritage sites, as they are experienced by different communities of visitors and stakeholders, become inscribed with social traces: ideas, opinions, physical trajectories and collaborative practices that embody the presence, activity, and agency of multiple participants, and that can be represented in perceivable traces (e.g. visitor comments) in curatorial choices and in the information on display. Social traces are derived from people’s practices, values and understandings (Ciolfi 2012, p.72). Ciolfi defines social traces as “those immaterial attributes that become inscribed into heritage artefacts and sites” (ibid p.69). However, she criticizes the fact that these social traces often remain ‘invisible’ i.e. they are not represented when heritage is displayed or communicated. Ciolfi believes that rethinking the interaction design process can help facilitate increased social participation in heritage via technology, highlight the abovementioned social traces from stakeholders as well as enrich a WHS by representing the various communities involved. She feels that this support function of design that expresses/represents what she calls the ‘social nature of heritage’ is critical to “facilitating the creation of shared heritage through active participation” (ibid).
People today increasingly facilitate this participation by sharing aspects of their lives with others who can then comment on and add their own viewpoints/perspectives to these digital traces. “Preserving, making sense and exchanging everyday artefacts and practices is increasingly becoming a matter of heritage: it brings the past to matter in the present, helping us to tell stories of who we are. In this sense, heritage artefacts and practices not only constitute a legacy to future generations, but they also play a crucial role in shaping our sense of place and identity” (Giacciardi 2012, p.5).
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The author thus sees the emergence of broadening the visitor experience from personal to more communal interactions. There is also a constant shifting in the understanding of what exactly lies at the core of the heritage experience and why this is important. In order to broaden the manner by which people participate in the social significance of heritage artefacts or places, we must start to comprehend how heritage is experienced and constructed as a result of upcoming ICTs and social practices that both shape and are being shaped by the spread of participatory attitudes and cultures. Social media channels are frameworks of communication and interaction that also serve as spaces of cultural production. There are, however, a number of “new series of issues that come with social media, including the loss of curatorial voice” (ibid).
Russo (2012, p.146) states that in the past, the museum aimed to combine knowledge and education in a rigidly constructed environment of authority and power with the curators “responsible for disseminating complex stories and information to a broader public through research, exhibition and advocacy…Over time the curator’s role acquired greater authority through their manipulation [and control] of technologies of display…this expertise was often restricted to peers rather than the visiting public”. Liu (2012, p.31) defines curation as an “active and intentional process of making choices about what is meaningful to preserve and pass on to future generations”. This task was usually associated with the role of professional curators at cultural heritage sites and institutions. Museums and heritage sites were created and maintained by experts who possessed a great amount of knowledge in their respective fields and it was these experts who finally decided what would be communicated and what would be excluded. Heritage interpretation was fixed and heritage interpretation decisions were usually autocratic rather than democratic. There was thus a clear and distinct division between the private space where heritage was disseminated and interpreted and the public space where heritage and its autocratic interpretation was displayed (Ciolfi, 2012).
Thus, ever since the public museum was first created, a clear division
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“separated the practices of the museum workers from those of the visitor. The experience of the museum, its collections, and its specialist processes, was different on either side of this divide. The lack of knowledge of the work of the curator constituted the visitor as ignorant and the curator as expert in respect of the collections. Conversely, the lack of knowledge of the visitor’s reactions and responses constituted the curator as ignorant in respect of the audience for whom the museum’s intellectual products were intended” (Hooper-Greenhill 1992 cited in Ciolfi 2012, p. 71). The displays of heritage were usually created & maintained by skilled professionals in curatorship and conservation and the items displayed represented these expert’s knowledge and interests. Furthermore, these curatorial decisions were kept ‘invisible’ by positioning the exhibits as a given and authoritative, rather than as the “product of a professional practice and of a set of values, intentions and meanings naturally subject to change” (ibid). Indeed, for a number of years, it was extremely difficult, if not impossible, for visitors to “question a museum’s content and layout and to make of the museum a place for debate, not to mention the possibility to leave ‘traces’ of their own meanings and interpretations” (Ciolfi 2012, p.71). Such a closed attitude to communicating/displaying solely the professional curator’s interpretations had an effect on both museum visitors and other stakeholder groups such as museum volunteers, who were not allowed to give any input on either layout or communication or be able to represent their own thoughts and opinions, even though they were deeply involved with the heritage site. This differentiation between the ‘knowledgeable elite’ curator and the ‘subaltern’ audience is similar to the discrepancies between the ruling elite and the subaltern subjects mentioned in previous sections.
From the 1960s onwards, however, museum discourse began to “acknowledge that visitors brought their own experience, knowledge and responses to exhibitions to frame the meanings that they derived from the collections on view” (Russo 2012, p.146). Russo (2012) sees such a shift in cultural practice as being able to provide significant interpretative knowledge, although it might seem to undermine the authority of the curators at the museum at first (Russo, 2012). The ability for the visitors to add content to the museum’s collection means that the curators
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 125 at the museum no longer have total control over the ‘story’ (Speed 2012, p.192). In this participatory, plural & collaborative form of culture “the boundaries between amateur and professional, consumer and producer, grassroots and mainstream are breached, if not erased” (Leadbeater 2010, p.46). “The impact of social media and emerging cultures of participation on our understanding and experience of heritage is blurring. This leads to a questioning of the boundaries between official and unofficial heritage, reshaping and creating new relations between audiences and institutions, fostering [new] manifestations of heritage practice” (Giacciardi 2012, p.4).
Nowadays, the “closed and private space of the early public museums has begun to open and the division between private and public has begun to close” (ibid) with the concept that memory in the heritage field requires control by experts now practically obsolete (Tschofen, 2007). Although this rigid attitude to curatorship might still exist in some cases, they are thankfully the exception rather than the rule. The introduction of a culture of participation into the heritage sphere has given museum visitors the opportunity and the resources to ‘construct’ their own meanings in terms of their own frames of reference (Du Cros and McKercher 2015). This enables a more active participation rather than the usual passive consumption of exhibits, making heritage something that is “taken not given, created not provided” (Fairclough 2012, p.xiv).
Ensuring sustainable forms of participation, however, remain a political challenge (Stuedahl and Moertberg 2012, p.111). Thus, User-generated content (UGC) promises, a “rebalancing of power relations that affect the ways places are ascribed heritage significance, because such content selects and interprets places diversely [and in a more democratic way]” (Bidwell and Winschiers- Theophilus 2012, p.199). These new collaborative forms of culture make experts afraid that visitors will no longer know the difference between user-generated content and expert interpretations, thus resulting in either confusion, the spread of wrong information or both (Wakkary et al. 2012).
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Nevertheless, Ciolfi (2012, p.72) sees an increasing political commitment amongst museum management to improve access to museums and heritage sites by encouraging the public to participate and to use social media to comment on the exhibits. Heritage sites also began to systematically take part in community outreach by either allowing activities such as lectures, performances of meetings to take place on their premises or by taking themselves outside the walls of the museum and into the local community. The notion of heritage “is now thought of as a participative one…attempts have recently been made to facilitate the co-creation of heritage” (ibid). Speed (2012, p.191) cites the example of a 2011 exhibition entitled ‘Scotland: A Changing Nation’ where artefacts were tagged with QR codes that enabled visitors to not only access media footage such as video clips about the object but to also add their own story to the object, thus increasing the body of knowledge related to each object. According to Ciolfi (2012, p.71), it is important to “explore what technology can do to facilitate social involvement and to enable new possibilities for interaction”. Such an approach to technology is in tune with recent views that regard museums as open and participative institutions, resulting in significant changes in the concept of heritage.
According to Fairclough (2012), the opportunities presented by social media are not just about adding to the heritage offered by others (curators, experts, politicians) but instead, allow [even require?] citizens to create their own, shared cultural heritage. These developments are able to potentially dissolve the walls of a museum and offer a means by which to ‘widen the audience’ by reaching new constituencies and transforming heritage by asking and enabling everyone to participate in its construction. It thus encourages an open rather than closed form of interpretation, making flux/uncertainty/doubt critical rather than unwanted characteristics. In addition, facilitated by a permanent, always-connected/always-on lifestyle, heritage becomes part of daily life, rather than something that is consumed only on vacation.
By allowing people to connect to heritage wherever they are, social media enables heritage to be brought into the daily discourse, rather than something that is and can only be consumed while at the destination. When using these so called ‘technologies of memory’ (Van House and
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Churchill, 2008), it is thus important to consider the temporal aspects of participation. Participants can choose whether to contribution here and now or after the visit/holiday is over (Ciolfi 2012, p.82). Fairclough (2012) sees heritage discourse, whether through social media or other means, as a dialogue between the past and the future with the process of archiving and interpreting the past for coming generations as an inherent part of heritage. Wakkary et al. (2012, p.234) agree, stating that feel that visitors must not only be able to interact with other visitors that are there at the same place/time, but also be able to connect with previous and future visitors, thus broadening the shared social experience. Social media users are able to be involved in this participatory culture, independent of their location. In essence, social media has taken local heritage and made it a global phenomenon (Giaccardi, 2012). According to Fairclough (2012), social media also enables people worldwide to ‘see into’ each other’s culture and lifestyle, resulting in an exchange of culture/heritage on a global and transcultural scale. The participatory nature of social media, thus, has an effect on both the access to as well as the inherent character of cultural activity.
According to Liu (2012, p.31), curation has thus transformed into a socio-technical practice that increasingly involves ordinary people via emerging ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) to manage, preserve, and digitally share their personal memories and stories. Emerging ICTs are transforming these ‘digital memories’ into artefacts which can then be modified, remixed and curated online. Authors such as Salgado et al. (2009) or Simon (2010) believe that content creation and sharing represents a much more active form of participation. People are encouraged to express their own views and opinions, engage in participatory activities as well as, in certain cases, even contribute to the main displays. Social media can be extremely effective in facilitating this, with major museums worldwide, such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Smithsonian Institution among others “utilizing different forms of content sharing and crowdsourcing to communicate, promote, enrich and sometimes create exhibits” (Ciolfi 2012, p.72).
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Citing the example of the DialogCenter Naters, Spielmann et al. (2008, p.223) put forth the following suggestions for participatory exhibit concepts: • Offer visitors the opportunity for dialogue through guided tours, events, electronic possibilities e.g. online forums or direct interaction with curators and local guides. Visitors can create their own ‘dense descriptions’, a form of ethnographic experience and interpretation of cultural interlinkages (Geertz n.d. cite in ibid) as well as combine their opinions/experiences with existing content, thus adding to the body of content. • Exhibitions should be largely electronic since this offers greater opportunities for participation, with every visitor able to actively interact with the contents/exhibits, as well as the possibility to offer the same content at other locations/centres worldwide. • Locals from the WH region should be able to speak directly to visitors, conveying their own subjective positions/experiences & their own knowledge, which is often not written down. Spielmann et al. (ibid) also bemoan the fact that little to none research has been conducted on participatory processes at WHS exhibitions, calling for them to be investigated in greater detail.
Russo (2012, p.147) believes that the "contemporary museum is a media space. The ways in which audiences engage, participate, review and critique museum practices increasingly occur within the realm of online media”. This notion of a media(l) museum is based on the increase in the use of ICTs within the museum space/environment. As the importance of the online audience experience in the development of museum communication increases, ICTs offer frameworks through which tourist visitors are able to engage with and create new heritage content. According to Russo et al (2010), social media assists in the co-creation, reflection and interpretation of cultural heritage online. Furthermore, Russo states that social networking offers opportunities for audiences to “access, discuss and engage with cultural collections. In turn, this broader access enables new collaborations and conversations between audiences and institutions” (ibid, p.148). “Integrating social media with interactive technologies in exhibitions can create more inclusive and non-hierarchical spaces for cultural experiences and expressions” (Iversen and Smith 2012, p.140). Furthermore, the authors believe that the use of new/social media also brings about a comprehensive perspective shift from merely communicating fixed
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 129 narratives of heritage to instead designing frameworks/medial platforms that encourage collective reflection and dialogue – a “speaking with and between, rather than to the audience” (ibid, p.142) on a global scale.
One challenge to participatory culture globally, however, exists in the form of the digital divide. Although ICTs play a key role in promoting development in various areas of society (e.g. connecting individuals to one another, to businesses, governments as well as their cultural heritage), there still exists a digital divide with regards to accessibility between high and low income countries. Two of the world’s most populated countries, India and China, perform particularly poorly with regards to ICT access. India, known globally for its IT services, suffers from a large digital divide in its own country with a low percentage of its population enjoying access to the Internet. The newly adopted United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 give special importance to ICT Access so that all countries (especially the least developed ones) are able to fulfil the goal of providing universal and affordable Internet access to its citizens. Strategies that help achieve this goal include encouraging public-private partnerships in building ICT infrastructure as well as helping increase awareness among citizens about the use of digital technology (Kapoor and Mathur, 2016).
Another weakness lies in the fact that, unfortunately, most WH sites/institutions lack social media strategies that include all the stakeholders (e.g. not only visitors but also volunteers as well as the local population). “These voices are often not represented, yet they could add significant value to the role of social media in facilitating the creation of true forms of shared heritage” (Ciolfi 2012, p. 84). Chan (2008) feels that this status quo is changing with the creation of new social media strategies with the aim of promoting inclusion in social media as a means of adding value for the visitors. However, as Allen-Greil et al (2011) argue, most social media strategies focus only on the tourist visitors, thus ignoring other remaining communities and stakeholders in the destination. The stakeholders of any heritage site come from a heterogeneous mix of cultures and backgrounds and social media “needs to allow spaces for these groups of stakeholders to provide a contribution in order to make the heterogeneity of
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 130 communities surrounding heritage a feature not a hindrance” (Ciolfi 2012, p. 79). This can be done by communicating to the stakeholders that their participation is welcomed by the WHS.
3.3.2 Stakeholder Participation and Heritage
As can be seen above, heritagefication or heritage-making is no longer the exclusive competence of elites anymore, instead taking place ‘from below’ (Kirchengast, 2010). Baker and Cameron (2008) thus see stakeholder involvement as a key element in successful heritage interpretation and communication and stress the significance of a meaningful involvement of the local communities. “Stakeholder participation and effective stakeholder organization are critical to the success of the management process…There needs to be a process put into place to ensure that all stakeholders…are able to participate in effecting direction and change in the community…Local residents…are important stakeholders but are often under- represented in meetings and decision making” (UNESCO 2004, p.80). There is an immediate need for management stakeholders to create measures together with communities to protect their cultures. Tourism planning officials and tour operators thus need to work closely together with WH site management and the local population to make sure community interests and tourism interests are given equal importance (UNESCO 2004). Unakul (2010) agrees, stating that it is vital that these communities are closely involved in any decisions regarding their cultural heritage. Indeed, civil society can play a key role in raising public concerns (European Commission 2001 cited in Pausch 2008), especially on highly politicized topics such as heritage selection.
Cultural heritage must not be limited to a few isolated objects/elements that have been selected by national/international institutions but must also include those elements that local groups/minorities deem to be important (Weigelt, 2007), making stakeholder discussions a vital part of the heritage and tourism management process (UNESCO 2004, p.115). Luger (2014)
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 131 bemoans the lack of open (stakeholder) discussion and debate about the meaning/values of the WHS in Salzburg. Until now, there is no ‘Association of Friends of World Heritage’ which can promote a WH mindset or function as ‘institutionalized advocacy representatives’ of the WH. Civil society currently has little institutionalized possibility of influencing the work of the WH management. The involvement of district assemblies or public participation procedures have rarely been practiced, leading to the assessment of the present situation of participation by the citizens as being highly unsatisfactory as well as a poor showing of the WHS of Salzburg with regards to communication in the international benchmarking study ‘World Heritage & Tourism’6, resulting in an ambivalent relationship of the city with ‘its’ world heritage (ibid).
ICOMOS (1993) suggests the formation of a local ‘site advisory council’ to deal with matters related to the WHS and UNESCO (2004) agrees, stating that the establishment of such a committee/council is an effective way of ensuring effective “communication and understanding within and between stakeholder groups” (ibid, p.83). At the WHS of Luang Prabang, there are several stakeholders including government departments (e.g. the Luang Prabang Department of Information and Culture in charge of preservation/promotion of the local Lao culture), the (Luang Prabang) Provincial Tourism Office, special-interest organizations as well as groups such as La Maison du Patrimoine and all these stakeholders need to be organized in such a manner that everyone’s voice is heard. Such a council would offer the local residents (of Luang Prabang) a platform from which to “work together on issues of common concern” (ibid). UNESCO (ibid) also believes that it is vital that the local community is able to contribute to the planning and management processes. Their “lack of awareness and appreciation of built heritage…is an obstacle which can be overcome through awareness-raising and education…[a] critical component of heritage management” (ibid, p.57) that will require the engagement of all the local stakeholders. It is vital that the local community understand the cultural/social impacts of sharing their heritage with (tourist) visitors, thus being able to make informed decisions as to how to manage the impact it will have on their culture.
6 of which this dissertation is a part.
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However, Wöhler (2010) questions the extent to which this is possible as the inclusion on the UNESCO WH List has made the cultural heritage no longer exclusive domain of the local community. When a demand is made for the survival/ preservation of cultural heritage, the question arises as to whom this demand is addressed. UNESCO claims that it addresses the international community, national governments as well as civil society. However, since conventions cannot be signed with either the ‘international community’ or ‘civil society’, they are signed by ‘member countries’ for their respective territories. Thus, as soon as a site is included in the WH List, an automatic dispossession takes place, since most cultural elements that were bound locally in their cultural context are now transferred to regional, national or even international contexts as a result of the WH nomination (Weigelt, 2007). The role of UNESCO as the umbrella organization of WH in this regard is highly ambiguous. On the one hand, its role in the fostering of cultural diversity & intercultural dialogue involves facilitating local place-making -processes at the destination/WHS. On the other hand, the idea of WH can be viewed as a transnational/transcultural construct (instead of an intercultural project) in which global interpretations override local meanings (Saretzki and May, 2012). Cultural heritage is brought into the political system and then allocated to departments for processing, which are then responsible for this cultural heritage. The control over the cultural heritage is in the hands of these external authorities, rather than the local population. Whosoever is responsible for the What and How of the communication/transmission of cultural heritage, automatically gains the privilege of interpretation, and therefore, power over the cultural heritage (ibid), making the concept of WH a highly political topic.
Citing the example of the UNESCO WHS of Ambohimanga, May and Saretzki state that for many Madagascans, the international attention associated with WHS status has greatly helped the processing the colonialist effects on the indigenous culture. French colonial accusations of backwardness and paganism, in particular, still weigh heavily on the local Madagascans. However, as part of the process of heritagification (Wöhler, 2008), the removal of the WHS from its local, socio-cultural context by making it a site of importance for the whole of humanity has
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 133 also caused certain alienation/resentment among the locals. The recent ‘development ban’ of the site, imposed by UNESCO and implemented by the Ministry of Culture is a case in point. The locals compare the ban (a result of the UNESCO classification) to the socio-political and economic disempowerment of Ambohimanga by the French colonial powers over a 100 years ago, both similar in their patronizing nature strongly associated with European power politics.
Citing the example of the WHS of Hampi, India, Bohnert and Jekel (2008) describe the conflicts that can arise between UNESCO and the local population if the latter perceives that they are being dispossessed of ‘their’ cultural heritage. Awarded WH status in 1987 (UNESCO 1986 cited in ibid, p.87), the WH Committee decided to put Hampi on the endangered Red List in 1999. This resulted in huge pressure on the central/local governments to balance the interests of the local population, on the one hand, and the requirements of UNESCO, on the other (UNESCO 2006 cited in ibid). Wolkersdorfer (2001 cited in Bohnert and Jekel 2008, p.89) points to the nexus of politics, power and space and the authors believe that WHS are situated in this area of conflict. Bohnert and Jekel apply Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space which states that space is a complex social construct, based on the social production of meaning that is often conflicting/contradictory and thus political in nature (Stanek 2011, p.ix). Social space can be a means of control/ domination and power and Lefebvre argues that the social production of space is used by the hegemonic elite to reproduce and continue its dominance. Lefebvre's theory is shown in this dissertation only in its basic approach, as a lens for the analysis of WH and its often antagonistic relationship with the local community.
Based on Lefebvre’s theory, Bohnert & Jekel (ibid) highlight three aspects of space and WH: a) Spatial Practice and WH Spatial practice manifests itself at the interface between physical/material things and human action. Applying Lefebvre’s basic idea (that every social entity produces its own, potentially conflicting space) to the WHS of Hampi, the authors observe several different stakeholders including the managers of WH whose aim to preserve the historic monuments is in conflict with the local inhabitants who have to be moved from their homes within the protected area, thus
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 134 changing their current spatial practice. Other stakeholders include the pilgrims that visit the WHS. Given the diversity of spatial practices in the same space, the question arises as to who should have/has the power to define this space. b) Representations of Space and WH In this concept, Lefebvre focuses on how the space is conceived, represented and communicated. The various representations compete with one another, with a dominant narrative asserting itself. By designating heritage as WH and assigning it with specific values, UNESCO constructs a certain mindset about these objects. In Schouten’s (1995 cited in ibid, p.93) view, cultural heritage contains not only physical aspects, but also meanings that have been attributed to it in the process of selection and preparation. These meanings can be highly dissonant, with Schouten (ibid) claiming that “you will have no difficulty in finding a group who is not pleased or who is even offended by the representation or non-representation" of WH. This is further exacerbated by the asymmetry with regards to the potential power to achieve representation: WH conservation institutions have many opportunities to make scientific/cultural/medial representations while the local population do not enjoy such access, leaving them structurally disadvantaged. c) Representational Space and WH Lefebvre’s third concept of space refers to lived space. Unlike the previous discourse on space (conceived space), this concept deals with discourses of space. Representational space is space that consists primarily with meanings and symbols with the only products of the space of representation symbolic in nature. The representational space is alive, constantly being produced and changed over time by its use. Representational space differs from the previous spaces by explicitly bringing lived space to the fore, rather than concentrating on perceptions (perceived space) or abstract concepts (conceived space).
The conflict at the WHS of Hampi represented a struggle for attribution of meaning to the space (Bohner and Jekel, 2008). While UNESCO demanded urgent conservation measures by the local government including the immediate cessation of development work on the creation of two new bridges (The Hindu 2002 cited in ibid, p.97), the local population of Hampi rejected the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 135 representation of the space by UNESCO. This placed the objectives of UNESCO (conservation) in apparent irreconcilable conflict with the demands of the local community which advocated the building of both the bridges to increase connectivity (utilisation) and showed the conflict potential if the local community does not get to have a say in the representation of their space7.
Instead of the representation of WH space being limited to political and institutional elites such as UNESCO or regional/national authorities, the representation of cultural heritage (spaces) should be debated and determined in the political public sphere. The term ‘political public sphere’ refers to the political debate in the public sphere. Rather than an institution or organization, it is instead what Habermas (1994 cited in Pausch 2008 p.13) describes as a ‘network for the communication of content, positions and opinions’. The public sphere must be open, in principle, for potential interlocutors. Figuratively speaking, Pausch (2008) compares the public sphere to the Greek agora, where everyone was free to enter and leave at will. Whereas in the case of the agora, the public sphere was clearly defined, this form of organized public sphere is now relatively rare. However, the growth of new media technologies enable and encourage a new form of public sphere as seen in a previous section. Silberman and Purser (2012, p.16) cite the example of social networking sites that, through their spontaneous usage, form a so called ‘virtual kitchen table, backyard fence, corner bar conversation’, thus representing a new public sphere. The authors (ibid, pp.19-20) believe that digital technologies can enable the existence of a more vibrant public sphere, helping locals/communities take a more active role in what was, until now, a largely top-down heritage decision making process.
Even the values-based heritage management approach8 that has been widely adopted has a number of limitations with regards to the role of the community. Although it acknowledges the importance of seeking stakeholder inputs in the definition of these values in theory; in practice, the approach involves use of experts, who have the power to mediate the views of the different stakeholders and their values. The danger in this reliance on experts is that values deemed
7 The conflict was solved when, in 2003, UNESCO finally agreed to the completion of the bridge under certain conditions. 8 The values-based approach is based on the concept that numerous values are associated with a heritage site/place.
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 136 incompatible by them may not be included in the official versions of heritage. Thus, the involvement of experts curtails the role & importance of the community (Unakul, 2010). Warning against leaving the meaning of heritage to the so-called specialists, Assmann (2014) calls for greater involvement by the local communities in heritage discourse.
The UNESCO Convention of 2003 represented a major shift from the previous heritage discourse that has been dominated by experts (Unakul, 2010). Until then, heritage and culture had been determined in a more or less academic-civic discourse, thus separating and expropriating cultural heritage from its carriers (Wöhler, 2010). Previous international conventions such as the UENSCO World Heritage Convention of 1972 made little to none reference to the importance of communities, merely stating that states should ensure that the cultural heritage plays a role in the everyday life of the community. Thus, the “paternalistic hand of the state is evident, as the state is the body mandated to facilitate the interaction of the community with the heritage” (ibid, p.384) rather than the community being handed over more decision-making power, especially considering that the heritage belongs to that community. Numerous organisations such as the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) are increasingly arguing that the local community should be viewed as the natural guardians of their heritage (Johnston 2006 and Timothy 2007 cited in Timothy and Davis 2008, p.333), based on the strong belief that it is the community that knows best about its own heritage (Unakul, 2010). According to this perspective, members of the local community know, better than outside consultants/ Government Officials/those in power, how best to present their cultural heritage. Rather than depending on ideas and management plans from outside, development specialists now concede that stakeholder participation is key to their empowerment. “Heritage has the potential to restrict or empower; its significance lies not in the objects and places of the past” (ibid, p.26) but instead in their meaning for local communities in the future.
Cultural heritage can thus play a crucial role in empowering the local population by creating a unique sense of self-esteem, especially in developing nations (Greenwood 1989 cited in May
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 137 and Saretzki 2010, p.26). Cultural heritage tourism, in particular, offers communities the opportunity to present their own history from a local position and be heard globally. In the field of tourism, community-based tourism is more an approach/mindset to tourism development rather than a form of tourism. In keeping with this perspective, stakeholder collaboration is vital and interest groups at the destination must have a greater role in tourism planning/development as well as benefiting directly from tourism revenues (Aas et al. 2005; du Cros 2001; Timothy 1999b and Timothy & Tosun 2003 cited in Timothy and Davis 2008, p.332).
If tourism is to bring positive benefits to the destination, then it is critical that the tangible heritage at the destination must be well preserved and managed. However, cultural heritage can only be well preserved/managed if the community values that heritage. If historic buildings are not valued by and relevant to the lives of the local residents, then it becomes increasingly challenging to motivate the local community to preserve them. Thus, a vital aspect of heritage destination management is to increase awareness among the public of their heritage and site managers must develop action-plans and educational strategies that creates an appreciation of and pride in heritage among the local stakeholders (UNESCO 2004, pp.101-103).
Although there has been a lack of grassroots empowerment in most traditional societies, the authors believe that the situation is slowly beginning to change. Those in power are slowly beginning to recognize (sometimes even through international pressure) the need to empower local communities who can then decide what represents their best interests, especially in the case of WHS (Dredge 2004 and Timothy 1999b cited in ibid, p.333). Stakeholder empowerment is especially important at WHS which are “symbolic places revered and venerated by the local people” (Timothy and Davis 2008, p.332). Such spaces must be developed in close consultation with the views and opinions of the local populations. Timothy and Davis cite the example of the WHS of Pueblo in the New Mexico where the indigenous population have control over their WHS e.g. to keep their sacred ceremonies private (from the tourists), they restrict access to the WHS at certain times during the year, keeping the interests of the local community in mind.
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Failure to consider the interests of the local community can lead to conflicts. Omitting them from the consultation process means that their concerns will not be heard and thus cannot be addressed. Furthermore, the term ‘consultation’ has different meanings in different cultures. In some cases, the process is consensual to such an extent that it results in lengthy delays while in others, it consists of little more than holding a single, large public meeting and informing people what will be done (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.58). In a study of 6 UK WHS sites, Landorf (1999) concluded that although all WHS had identified major stakeholders, only two had defined their relationships in detail. AHNA (2014), on the other hand, offers a good practice example of a model for stakeholder inclusion. Developed by the US National Park Service and the Alliance of National Heritage Areas with the goal of “telling America’s story and conserving natural and historic resources” (ibid), it boasts of 49 areas with stakeholder partnerships including government agencies, non-profits and businesses. Citing the example of the UNESCO WHS of Luang Prabang, UNESCO (2004, pp.80-83) feels that the monks are an important stakeholder who play a vital role in the identity of the region and should, therefore, be an integral part of any consultations, not merely as participants but instead as leaders of the process. Since they have traditionally played a leadership role in Luang Prabang society, their replicating this traditional role will ensure that resulting (tourism) development plans and management strategies are both culturally appropriate and socially sustainable. Till date, however, neither the WHS of Salzburg nor the other WHS in Austria have been given a suitable function and place in public life, due to a lack of political engagement. Even when compared to other Austrian WHS, Salzburg is far behind the planned target, lacking a mission statement, a comprehensive management plan as well as a WH center that could function as an information and communication center for both locals and visitors alike. It is no wonder then, that the function and significance of WH is not sufficiently anchored in the consciousness of the local population to become part of the cultural memory of the city (Luger, 2014), thus contributing to its identity.
According to UNESCO (2003 in Silberman and Purser 2012, p.13), cultural heritage provides the local community with a sense of identity and continuity. As an example of this, the Levuka
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Cultural Landscape Project [now a UNESCO WHS] that enabled the local community to participate in the heritage nomination process is cited (ibid, pp.19-20). The project first designed an accessible medium/platform to document exactly what community members wanted to have acknowledged as elements of their heritage, and then convey this information to their own governmental authorities as well as international consultants, functionaries and decision makers. Using digital technology, a locally focussed medium/platform was created that was used to first discuss memories and meanings amongst the members themselves and then generate what the authors refer to as a “truly alternative ‘map’ of [what] the local Levuka community members defined as ‘heritage’ and its ‘significance’” (ibid). This map was in stark contrast to the definition process that was, until then, being largely driven increasingly by outsiders. During this ‘process of remembering’, a number of new aspects were discovered and new information with regards to the relationships between past and present emerged.
Although acknowledging the importance of community participation in its cultural heritage, Ciolfi (2012, p.72) highlights a number of challenges including the complex social relations in the community as well as the heterogeneous backgrounds of the stakeholders. Although stakeholder partnerships at WHS are crucial (Leask & Fyall, 2001 and Grief & McIntyre 1998 cited in Timothy and Davis 2008, p.334), it also poses many challenges especially since most WHS have multiple stakeholders with varying different degrees of connectivity to the WHS e.g. public/private/non-profit sectors, local/regional/national/international levels etc., differing levels of legitimacy as well as widely differing viewpoints on how the WHS should be managed, making stakeholder consultation and management a highly political field (Timothy and Davis, 2008; Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.58). This results in conflicts of interest, since each group/sector has different goals and ideas. In addition, multiple discourses intersect at WHS as an attempt is made to unravel multiple, contested histories (Timothy and Boyd, 2003). , Stakeholders often have a long and chequered history with one another, making it critical to understand such issues as the power alliances that have formed between and among groups as well as the presence of any major conflicts between the stakeholders in the past (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.178).
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As mentioned above, ensuring that the consultation process is conducted fairly and transparently is a major challenge. In some cases, this consultation takes place as a cynical exercise aimed at being seen to involve the stakeholders, instead of genuinely seeking their input into the planning and management procedure. Ideally, the consultation process should involve all the legitimate stakeholders in the entire planning procedure. However, the difficulty is to clearly identify what exactly constitutes a community and who has a legitimate interest in the management of the site and who doesn’t. Depending on the significance, size, as well as the political sensitivity of the site, there are a number of potential stakeholders that might show an interest in it. While some of these stakeholders may have an immediate and direct interest e.g. ethnic minorities or indigenous groups or an indirect yet legitimate interest e.g. historical organizations, and conservation groups, international heritage agencies, local/regional/national tourism NGOs, heritage NGOs, other agencies associated with heritage management, the local travel trade as well as some public-sector tourism bodies. If, however, the proposed use of the site is a controversial one, other stakeholders without a strictly legitimate interest might also try to get involved. Potential conflicts are far greater if stakeholders without a direct interest get involved since these stakeholders often view issues from a more philosophical and political level. The line between direct and indirect stakeholders is often blurry. Some indirect stakeholders might be located much closer to the particular WHS while direct stakeholders may be physically distant from the particular site. One example is UNESCO, which is often located physically farther away than some indirect stakeholders, although it has a direct interest in the WHS (Du Cros and McKercher, 2015). It is crucial that all the legitimate stakeholders are able to actively participate in and be a part of the decision- making process and there are several Stakeholder Cooperation Models in this regard (UNESCO 2004, pp.84-88).
The European Commission also offers a number of political initiatives with the aim of giving a voice to diverse local interests and stakeholders and this number has risen sharply in recent years. The concept that lies behind these initiatives is known as "good governance", which
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 141 among other things, includes the principle of transparency (Pausch 2008 pp.137-138). Although public policy debates have often taken place behind closed doors in the past, this has been changing in recent years. Political participation in modern democracies manifests itself in the political public sphere. Democratic systems and democracy are closely related to the possibilities of public participation and thus the existence of a public sphere (ibid, pp. 10-11). However, Pausch (ibid) interestingly claims that whether the citizens actually participate in a democracy or not is not important with focus being placed on the possibility of participation rather than the actual participation. In contrast to the various forms of participatory democracy theory, Pausch (2003) puts forth the model of a potentially participatory democracy that focuses more on the framework for political participation by the public.
The stronger the political participation framework, the more WHS selection will reflect the wishes of the local population (Strasser, 2007). Strasser believes that entries will be able to successfully sustain their position on the WH List only if the local population is involved in the decision of the candidacy. If the local people are dismissive of the WH status, then they will have little or no sympathy for limitations and/or for international monitoring mechanisms that accompany the nomination. Opposition to the planned submissions or even after the submission has already been approved by UNESCO might sometimes come from local interest groups. Thus, the degree of transparency of the nomination process as well as the participation of the local citizens and stakeholders will finally determine the future sustainability and long- term success of the cultural heritage site.
In some cases, local stakeholders at the destination might even decide against heritage nomination/designation. Hitchcock & Darma Putra (2007 in Weaver and Lawton 2010, p.292) cite the example of Balinese stakeholders who opposed and were successfully able to prevent the designation of an important temple complex as a UNESCO WHS. The reason behind their opposition was that such a designation would have conceded significant management powers to the Indonesian governmental authorities who were already implicated in a number of tourism-related corruption and environmental degradation cases.
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In addition, the local population/civil society can also make an active contribution as part of the heritage 'monitoring' process once the heritage site has been included in the UNESCO WH list. The author suggests that any grievances or detection of threats and destruction of WHS, in either their own countries or in destinations that they are currently travelling in, can be communicated by private persons or organized groups such as citizens' initiatives directly to UNESCO in Paris. Upon their receipt, a consultation mechanism ('reactive monitoring') is started by UNESCO. The State, on whose territory the WHS (where the maladministration/violation has allegedly taken place) is located, is asked for a report. This 'reactive monitoring' has now become a significant part of the official communication with the UNESCO for some European countries with states that have a well-organized civil society showing a higher rate of such initiatives (ibid).
3.4 Heritage and the Sacred
Religious tourism can be defined as “promoting best practice in welcoming visitors to places of worship and developing the tourism potential and visitor experience of a unique part of our historical and contemporary sacred heritage” (Churches Tourism Association, 2007 cited in Wiltshier 2011, p. 251). Many UNESCO WHS have a religious component to them that require special attention from a management perspective. These sites of religious tourism often include secular as well as religious tourist visitors and are “one of the few types of heritage places where worshippers interact with leisure tourists” (Timothy 2011, p. 395), resulting in a “duality of place” Bremer (2001 cited in ibid). This duality of place refers to the simultaneous existence of a space as both sacred and secular. For those locals and tourists who have come to worship at the site, the WHS represents a sacred space with sacred meaning and importance. At the same time, for the tourists who are not religiously inclined, or of another religion, the site is a secular space with no sacred importance. This results in two, sometimes opposing sets of behavior by the two groups. While religious local and tourist visitors approach the site in a holy frame of mind and
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 143 engage in worship, the secular tourists engage in activities that are deemed to be irreverent by the worshippers such as taking photographs, making noise, cracking jokes, laughing, eating, drinking and not obeying local religious customs (such as not taking off shoes or wearing revealing clothing). In order to serve the needs of both religious and secular tourist visitors, sacred heritage sites need to manage the “convergence of sacred and secular space” (Olsen, 2006 cited in Wiltshier 2011, p. 254). Religious heritage sites are often very sensitive for the local communities and conflict between different user groups can easily arise if care is not taken (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.21). According to Brooks (2003), visitors who do not show respect for the sanctity of these religious sites will adversely impact the sites as well as the communities. Mckercher and Ho (2006) blame this behaviour on a failure to properly educate the tourists.
It is thus extremely important to make sure that the areas accessible to visitors are designated carefully and that the local residents/worshippers are given due respect. Care must be taken not to allow the tourists to interfere with the (religious) interactions of the locals with the site. This can be done e.g. by designating certain sections of the site as off-limits to tourist visitors during certain hours or the entire time (ICOMOS,1993). Timothy (2011, p. 396) warns that “care should be taken to control the effects of non-worshipping visitors on those who are trying to have spiritual experiences” and suggests various methods such as restricting non-religious visitor times (e.g. during religious ceremonies such as Mass) and using interpretive media to keep non-religious visitors away from specific areas or to remind them to follow appropriate behavioural habits.
3.5 Heritage and Peace
“In retracing its own cultural lineage, in recognizing the many different influences that have marked its history and shaped its identity, a people is better able to build peaceful
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relations with other peoples, to pursue what is often an age-old dialogue and to forge its future” (Bandarin 2002, p. 16). Heritage can play a critical role in intercultural understanding, enabling cultures to develop peaceful relations with other cultures, thus serving as an instrument of peace and reconciliation. UNESCO’s mandate is to facilitate “mutual understanding through intercultural dialogue” (Matsuura 2009, p. IIIc) and as its Preamble (1946 in Wiegelmann – Bals, 2010) clearly states, since wars start in the mind, it is in the mind that peace must be developed. Intercultural dialogue and understanding are linked contextually & spatially to UNESCO’s WHS.
WHS as sites of intercultural dialogue between communities with opposing memories, can also make an important contribution to post-conflict reconciliation (UNESCO 2009). “We need to think carefully about ways in which intercultural dialogue can be integrated into conflict prevention strategies or employed in post conflict situations. Without proper attention, painful memories – of a ‘past that is still present’ – can lead to the resumption or exacerbation of conflict” (ibid, p. 50). UNESCO (ibid) believes that WHS as ‘places of memory’ can be used to initiate intercultural dialogue and facilitate intercultural understanding, with the goal of reducing conflict and achieving peace. As UNESCO believes that culture and religion are closely linked to one another, interfaith dialogue also forms a “crucial dimension of international understanding, and thus of conflict resolution…Religious and spiritual convictions invariably inform cultural affiliations, even if they rarely define a culture in its totality” (ibid).
The ability to establish intercultural dialogue is closely linked to the acceptance and acknowledgement of cultural diversity. Cultural diversity is, however, not always viewed in a positive light. Although some believe cultural diversity to be inherently positive, since it involves sharing the wealth embodied in each of the world’s cultures, thus uniting all citizens through a process of process of exchange and dialogue, others claim that cultural difference is what causes people to forget their common humanity, resulting in a number of global conflicts. Forces of globalization have increased the number of interaction and friction points between
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 145 various cultures, leading to identity-related tensions that could evolve into potential sources of dispute (UNESCO 2009, p. 1). According to Matsuura (2009, p. IIIc), acknowledgement of cultural diversity as a tool for peace requires a focus that goes beyond focusing on the “differences that can only be a source of conflict, ignorance and misunderstanding… [Instead, cultural diversity] represents opportunities for dialogue based on sharing what we have in common beyond those differences…recognition of our respective differences leads ultimately to better mutual understanding”. Riviere (2009, p. v) concurs, stating that an acceptance of the advantages of cultural diversity will help in defusing tensions that might arise in multicultural societies between majority and minority cultures, particularly in the case of a dissonant past. Here, it is important to openly discuss this dissonant past, striving for reconciliation and long-lasting peace that is based on a mutual respect for cultural diversity. Bokova (2009, p. IIIa) states that UNESCO is firmly dedicated to ensuring that “respect for cultural diversity becomes the very foundation of dialogue between cultures and a tool for peace” (ibid).
Indeed, Dallmayr (1996, p.37) calls for an intercultural dialogue that acknowledges cultural “difference without it degenerating into [an argument about] superiority/inferiority”. Young (1990 cited in Dallmayr 1996, p.208) agrees, stating that a good culture does not try and eliminate or transcend group difference. Instead, it generates equality among the culturally different groups of a society that both mutually respect and affirm each another in their differences. According to Huefner (2002, p. 146), intercultural dialogue must therefore involve “…an open attitude towards exchange with other cultures, a willingness to get to know them and learn to understand them, respect for the diversity of cultures and for human rights…Only through respect for cultural diversity, through tolerance, dialogue and cooperation, will it be possible to create a climate of trust and understanding which will contribute to…international peace and security”. UNESCO (2009, p. 47) concurs, stating that effective intercultural dialogue involves not only the promotion of dialogue between individuals “in all the complexities of their multiple identities” but also by “ensuring the necessary conditions of equality among them…the latter involves
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 146 recognition, by all parties, of the dignity and value of all cultures involved” while Richards (2011, p.142) states that the dialogue between cultures ”must fundamentally be seen as a dialogue between equal partners who have equal rights” if it is to lead to long-lasting peace.
c. UNESCO World Heritage and Intercultural Communication
‘Communicating heritage’ somehow seems to suggest the idea that heritage is something you have, something that can be taken into possession and could/should be passed on in this form from generation to future generation. According to this view, intercultural communication is associated with a static notion of heritage and culture (Schoberth, 2010). Ayres (2002), however, believes that cultures are constantly changing entities that include the values/beliefs/practices shared by groups and the manner in which they are expressed/produced/communicated.
In order to analyse heritage communication in an intercultural field, it is important to first ascertain what culture actually is. Culture may be defined as “the content of human minds…a historically derived social construct, forming a continuum from the past through the present to the future” (Werstsch 1985 cited in Goonatilake 1995, p.225)”, a whole complex of notions, ways of thinking, modes of feeling, values and meanings that materializes itself in symbolic systems and created by humans (Luger, 2010b) or the set of learned behaviours and attitudes, value systems and knowledge (Herdin and Luger, 2001). A ‘holistic understanding of culture’ includes firstly, regular and observable lifestyles (habits, customs), secondly, the ideal and normative requirements of these acts (knowledge, faith, morality) and thirdly, the artificial products and artifacts that are produced in this connection (Reckwitz 2000 cited in Luger 2010b, p.16). According to Matejka (n.d. cited in Luger 2010b), culture is far more than what has been established/claimed/experienced/taught by tradition; culture is life itself.
Culture as a reference system of social analysis refers in particular to the early pioneering work of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies/Raymond Williams who considered culture as
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"a whole way of life" (Williams 1981 cited in Luger 2010b, p.16). According to this perspective, the culture of a particular group or community is reflected in the living tradition/ practices that generates understanding and is also embodied in human behavior (Hall 1986 cited in Luger 2010b, p.16). Culture not only shapes the social relations within a group, but also the manner in which these forms are experienced, understood, and interpreted (Clarke et al. 1981 cited in Herdin and Luger 2008, p 144). Furthermore, culture is inherently embodied in people's behavior and contains so called ‘maps of meaning" (Luger 2010b, p.16), which makes the world understandable for its members and allows them to act in their surroundings, while itself creating a dense web of meaning (Hall 1986). People create different representations of reality, in a manner that can be compared to Korzybski’s 'maps' (Korzybski 1958 cited in ibid, p.153). In the same way that a map can never be the area that it represents, but, at best, merely similar to the area, it is equally impossible to see reality objectively. Herdin and Luger (ibid) link these ‘maps’ with the concept of 'culture', in that it contains 'maps of meaning' which make everyday life understandable for its members.
Understanding this process requires an understanding of the filters according to which humans construct, organize and generalize the world around them, the basis of which is formed by individual experiences and socialization, religion and beliefs, values, interests and stereotypical assumptions. The filters therefore determine the notion of the world in which we live (O'Conner & Seymour 1992 cited in Herdin and Luger 2008, p.151). When we travel, for example, we travel along with these filters which we then use to organize our behavior in a foreign country. They serve to simplify our environment, with both positive as well as negative consequences. According to Herdin and Luger (2008), interactions with people from other cultures do not lead to ‘objective’, but instead to ‘subjective’ knowledge as a result of our filters. These filters are based on a system of rules, meaning and application that is coherent but not free of contradictions. On the one hand, they creates a sense of community, belonging and cultural identity, but also creates manifest and latent borders, increases sensitivity towards issues of foreignness and emphasizes difference. Not only does culture create a sense of belonging, since complexity can be reduced by rejecting the foreign/new/unknown, cultural communities are
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 148 often abused for political purposes, providing the basis for ethnocentric attitudes and xenophobia (Luger 2010b).
As seen above, culture is a key factor in the formation of identity (Bachleitner, 2010). However, instead of contending that cultures are fixed identities, Luger (2006a) stating that culture is to be understood more as a ‘construction process’ and a system that is modified through communication (Schmidt 1992 in Luger 2006a), thus manifesting itself as a discursive construct (Luger 2010b). Cultures are, in fact, dynamic and highly complex systems of meaning, which are negotiated in a continuous process of social interactions and communications (Saretzki and May, 2012). Culture can only be understood as a process as a society has to constantly deal with new challenges and as a result, its value and classification system must constantly change (Luger and Wöhler, 2010a). Such an understanding of culture is based on the ideas of founding fathers of (German) sociology, Max Weber and Georg Simmel. Despite the differences in their positions, they agree that culture is a human creation and that it is a process with movement, adaptation and change. Both Weber and Simmel defined culture as a societal process, making it not a fixed but instead more of a flexible model for behavior (Luger, 2006a).
Culture includes not only the values of the members of a community but also the norms that they follow. While values formulate abstract ideals and concepts, norms are followed by distinct principles or rules to which people are accustomed (Herdin and Luger, 2008). Since both norms and values are subject to change processes, culture is to be understood more as a process than a static corset. Bauman (1999 cited in ibid, p.145) speaks in this regard of culture as a constantly changing matrix with the understanding of culture requiring the understanding of a whole set of changing rules or conventions. People tend to utilise cultural techniques to organize their activities and daily lives with elements of culture being used, modified and discarded, based on how useful they are in the organization of life (Herdin and Luger, ibid).
Here, the media as a meaningful authority plays a central role, since they assume the function of combining both cognitive as well as social systems. Indeed, cultural manifestations such as
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 149 customs, belief systems, lifestyles and ‘maps of meaning’ are all modified by the influence of medial staging (Luger, 2006a, pp.86-87). Luger (2010b) believes that, in Western industrial societies, in particular, it is primarily the media and culture industries that have taken on the role of implanting new themes/ ideas in society, thus initiating cultural change processes. Culture is thus controlled by the means of communication, with the power to influence the definition of meanings as well as to determine the speed and/or direction of cultural changes that make big corporations and tycoons of the cultural industry strive for medial hegemony (Herdin and Luger, 2008). Whoever dominates the media, also regulates the program/’software’ of a society by determining the social development & speed of the change of life structures (Giddens 2001 cited in ibid, p.146). Processes of globalization including the international reach of the Western media as well as international tourism increasingly introduce new ideas into a culture, thus modifying the ‘software’ of a society and expanding the influence the ‘West’ has on it. Globalization is often referred to in connection with this trend towards a universal homogenization of culture.
Appadurai (cited in Hogan, 2010) proposes 5 factors/dimensions or ‘-scapes’ that play a key role in the process of globalization and the global exchange of information. Ethnoscape refers to the movement of people between borders and across cultures, resulting in cultures that are constantly in flux rather than being fixed. In tourism, it is the movement of tourists and/or tourism employees that cause a change in the ethnoscape. Technoscapes cause new means of cultural encounters through technology. The third scape, finanscape, is in relation to worldwide companies, e.g. tourism companies that span the globe. The remaining scapes deal with the global creation and dissemination of information and images. Mediascapes involve the global media (film, television, print media etc.) that increasingly shape our opinions/images/stereotypes of a particular culture/ destination while Ideoscapes refer to the various life forms, values, norms, attitudes (e.g. ‘Western Way of Life’), religious attitudes and practices, ideas of freedom and democracy, political ideologies etc. All these scapes trigger cultural change worldwide with information communication technologies playing a key function within these processes (Herdin and Luger, 2001).
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As people negotiate these cultural changes in a globalized world, there is a call for greater ‘interculturalism’ that offers opportunities for critical, even conflicted, exchanges between communities (Isar, 2006). Harrison (2005a) suggests that heritage has to do with individual and collective identity and that conflict may occur since people are divided into different cultures with their inclusive set of beliefs. Characters or symbols, the basis of systems of meaning and means of communication are deeply anchored culturally. The more foreign/different a culture is, the greater the effort required to communicate since the norms/values/beliefs/ myths/models of ‘correct’ behavior differ greatly between cultures (Herdin and Luger 2008 cited in Luger 2010b, p.17).
For intercultural communication to take place, people of different cultures must create and share meaning together, despite their different perspectives and moral concepts (Sadri and Flammia, 2011 cited in Saretzki and May, 2012). The basic requirement for successful intercultural communication is to be aware of one’s own culture and one’s own value system as well as acknowledging that one’s own culture is not the only way of seeing/interpreting the world (Harms, 2012). UNESCO treats all cultures with equal value, with regards to both their status and their dignity (Albert, 2002), thus clearly rejecting any sort of hierarchy of cultures where one culture is deemed to be more important/of higher status/of greater dignity than another. This viewpoint of all cultures being equal is extremely important for successful intercultural dialogue, which is based on mutual respect and understanding (UNESCO, 2009). Not only is the UNESCO WH list based on the mutual recognition of all the cultures of the world as equally important parts of a common human history, its widespread popularity also makes it one of the most successful instruments of intercultural dialogue (Bernecker, 2009).
The idea behind the UNESCO WH List, according to Saretzki and May (2012), is to make WHS into places of intercultural encounters and thus, intercultural dialogue. In order to do so, WHS must transcend local and even national boundaries (Hitchcock, 2005). After all, as the name suggests, WHS have a universal relevance for all mankind. Lask and Herold (2005, p. 20) agree,
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 151 stating that the function of WHS as spaces of ‘genuine exchange’ is vital since they are culturally and universally important. Maddern (2005) believes that WHS have the potential to become spaces of dialogue where cultural differences can be worked out. Heritage also presents a number of unique opportunities for the local community to come to terms with the transcultural aspects of their past. In addition to helping promote the heritage site to tourists, it is suggested (Harrison, 2005b) that a listing as a WHS can also be helpful for the local population to appreciate the intercultural aspects of their history, thus enabling them to have a better understanding and tolerance for the intercultural aspect of their present.
3.6 Heritage Communication and Tourism
WHS are important and indispensable resources for both tourism and intercultural understanding. Tourism plays a major role in this encounter, since it is due to tourism that visitors encounter local values and heritage, resulting in cultural dialogue. According to Misiura (2006), there has been little to none research that deals specifically with the relationship between heritage communication and tourism. Cultural heritage, whether tangible or intangible, cannot speak but must instead be communicated (Luger and Wöhler, 2010). Thus, heritage communication in tourism needs to communicate the importance and values of cultural heritage with the goal of making him visit the heritage site.
According to Luger (2008), heritage is a fragile, non-renewable resource that requires protection to preserve its exceptional character for future generations. This gives rise to a fundamental conflict of objectives between WH and tourism: While heritage as a system is governed by the underlying principle of preserving that which is passed on from generation to generation, tourism as a system is governed by the underlying principle of consumption of landscape and resources. Managers of WHS thus find themselves in a predicament since, on the one hand, they have a responsibility on behalf of a global public to protect/preserve the WH in the long term while on the other hand, not only are they confronted with the commercial
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 152 interests of the tourism industry but are also dependent on its revenue to finance conservation efforts (McKercher and du Cros, 2002). In this tension between reconciling the twin goals of ‘preservation’ and ‘utilisation’, the stakeholder concept is gaining increasing importance in WH Tourism (Luger, 2008), a topic that will be dealt with in later sections. What is clear is that the conflicts that result from tensions between conservation and usage need to be resolved in an innovative and future oriented manner (Knöbl, 2010).
As cultural heritage is of immense importance for tourism, the ability to reconcile divergent interests is vital. On the one hand, international tourism can be a threat to heritage while, on the other hand, making available the budgetary resources necessary for conservation. To overcome these contradictions requires a dialogue between tourism professionals, historians and political leaders. The tasks of mediating competently between public interests and local representatives to the empowerment of individuals and groups who share the responsibility of the conservation of world heritage are gaining in importance.
The fundamental reason behind cultural heritage conservation is so that both present and future generations can enjoy it. According to Weigelt (2007), this means not only ensuring its physical protection but also ensuring the possibility of access to the site. The Venice Charter of ICOMOS concurs, holding that heritage conservation should and cannot be an end in itself (Du Cros and McKercher, 2015). However, heritage communication is often subject to “constraints that might prevail, such as the need to protect parts of a heritage site or historic property because of the increased wear and tear resulting from the extra footfall stimulated through marketing initiatives. This example is typical of the balance that many heritage providers must achieve, particularly in relation to the built environment, i.e., the marketing activities should be designed to stimulate demand and satisfy the consumer but not to the detriment of that which needs to be preserved for future generations” (Misiura 2006, p. 2). This definition clearly highlights the difficulties that heritage managers face when trying to combine the need to preserve heritage for future generations with communication activities.
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Misiura (2006) cites the example of English Heritage as a best-case example of heritage communication in tourism9.
3.6.1 Destination Communication and Tourism
A vital part of heritage communication in tourism is the role that it plays in the process of communicating the heritage destination image, which is defined as “the sum of beliefs and impressions people hold about places. Images represent a simplification of a large number of associations and pieces of information connected with a place. They are a product of the mind trying to process and pick out essential information from huge amounts of data about a place” (Kotler et al. 1993, p.10). Destination communication is defined by Gold and Ward (1994, p. 2) as “the conscious use of publicity…to communicate selective images of specific geographic localities or areas to a target audience”. According to a number of authors (Kotler et al, 1999 and Iversen, 1999; Buskoven et al, 2002; Naper, 2002 cited in Gran, 2010), the latest trend in destination communication is to convert destinations into brands that are then used in promoting the tourist industry. Timothy (2011, p. 276) defines place branding as a “public relations approach that requires…a complete image overhaul and focuses on the characteristics of place that make a destination special and unique, as well as efforts to strengthen positive images or correct negative images of a destination” while brand building is defined by Gran (2010, p. 26) as “the art of making images” with destination managers converting their destinations into images to be consumed by the (tourist) visitor (Harvey, 1993).
9 English Heritage has several communication initiatives that include membership drives, on-site recruitment of new members, off- site recruitment campaigns, membership sales promotions, a historic sites map, a handbook featuring all the heritage sites, a Heritage Today magazine etc. The communication strategy of English Heritage is decided through a process of participation and consultation with the regional departments and is shown in the form of an annual communication plan that includes specific targets for income, visitor numbers, awareness among target groups as well as customer service. Publicity programmes help raise awareness of English Heritage, communicate a better understanding of the role and goals of English Heritage as well as attract visitors to the heritage sites including locals & tourists. Furthermore, interpretation initiatives, publications, events, concerts and education help promote and enhance understanding of British heritage. English Heritage also partners with the major tourism organizations in the UK including the British Tourism Authority and the English Tourism Board.
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According to Morgan et al (2011), destinations are in competition with each other to attract tourist visitors and only destinations with positive images creates the perception that a destination is worth visiting. Destination branding involves communication that focuses on specific parts of a destination, resulting in “an overall impression…the image the product [the destination] creates in the consumer’s mind, how it is positioned…[resulting in] unique associations for the customer” (Morgan and Pritchard 2004, p. 61). The main aim of destination branding is to create a consistent and clearly focused communication strategy (Morgan and Pritchard, 1998). A strong destination brand thus also helps combat against product parity, substitutability and competition (Morgan et al, 2011).
Tourism destinations spend large amounts of money to create a certain, desired brand image that will appeal to their target markets. A destination brand is thus used by tourists as a lens to interpret the destination (Ooi, 2002). As a result of the destination branding process, tourists visit the destination with preconceived images/interpretations that further effects their experience at the destination. The extent of tourist interest in cultural heritage thus depends on the extent to which they are compatible with the destination image. Those cultural heritage attractions/monuments that complement this brand image “tend to receive preferential treatment in marketing campaigns, while those that are inimical to it receive far less attention” (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.160). Thus, cultural heritage offerings in destinations with a compatible brand image are likelier to attract more tourists while their counterparts located in destinations with incompatible brand images might struggle. Kotler et al (1999) further posit that a successful destination image must realistic, believable, simple, appealing and unique.
Communication that focuses on the unique characteristics of a destination, thus creating a particular image or series of images in the minds of the potential tourist visitors, is vital for the destination brand (Misiura, 2006). He believes that communication is key to creating this unique destination image and suggests several official communication methods such as PR techniques (a cost-effective means of raising general awareness about a heritage destination or a specific heritage event) such as press conferences, briefings etc., newsletters (both offline as well as
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 155 online newsletters that can link to a special landing page on the destination website), advertising (a more direct, less trustworthy and more intrusive means of communication that can be targeted towards specific target groups interested in heritage) and on-site communication (such as the back of admission tickets can be used to direct visitors to less popular areas of the heritage site as part of a sustainable visitor management strategy).
As mentioned above, the success of a destination lies in the presence of unique resources that separate it from the competition, thus helping it achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. This is exactly where the predicate practices of UNESCO come into play. With the award of the title of ‘World Cultural Heritage’, UNESCO creates unique resources that enable destinations to successfully position themselves (May and Saretzki 2010). The importance of cultural heritage for destinations can be compared to that of a staple food (Weber and Kuehnel-Widmann 2015) with the cultural heritage (tangible/intangible) at the destination forming an important resource for tourism. The presence of cultural heritage makes destinations attractive for visitors and tourists, with the inherent distinctiveness of the cultural heritage offering serving as a differentiator for the particular destination. Rodrian (2011) concurs, stating that the (tangible) heritage of a destination can be utilised as a unique selling proposition (USP) for the destination brand. As seen previously, it is vital for a destination brand to be unique and a destination brand can gain this uniqueness by focusing on the heritage offerings at the destination (Misiura, 2006).
Timothy (2011) agrees, arguing that destinations can use their cultural heritage as a competitive advantage over other destinations and that heritage also has an appeal in destinations where sun and sand dominate the destination image. Since history (and therefore its cultural heritage) does not allow itself to be easily copied, the possible uniqueness of a (tourist) destination lies in what Luger (2015) calls a ‘history generated unique selling proposition, which offers a unique advantage over other destination brands in a hotly contested global market. A listing as a UNESCO WHS is thus seen by Kotler and Armstrong (1996) as a unique selling point that can be utilised to attract more tourists to a destination. Indeed, Kirsten (2002, p. 162) believes that the UNESCO WHS label is the “reason why visitors choose a site as a tourist destination and
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 156 that a WHS should base its…image concept on this status and help visitors become aware of this special quality”.
According to Thompson et al (2006), it is the new and emerging tourism destinations that especially need a strong and differentiated destination brand in order to improve their brand image and position themselves successfully in the minds of the potential foreign tourists. Further, the authors state that an important part of the positioning of a destination brand is the creation of a suitable brand image and identity. Without a clear differentiation of the destination brand, there is the danger of a brand or destination substitutability. This danger exists as long as a destination uses common images of untouched nature or sun kissed beaches. It is only through culture and heritage that a destination can create a unique brand image since culture and heritage is usually unique to a particular destination, while untouched nature is not (ibid). As long as the promotional material of a destination communicate a brand image based on a country’s natural resources (such as beaches or mountains which are often also available elsewhere) instead of focusing on its unique cultural heritage, the tourism promotional authorities will face a great difficulty in successfully and effectively competing against other destinations with a similar campaign. A WHS listing in a new and emerging tourism destination can result in the creation of a long-term destination image as well as become the basis for establishing a brand identity (Shackley, 1998).
The way the destination communicates about itself plays an important role in the changing of perceptions of a destination brand, thus enabling potential tourists to see or know a different aspect or side of a country (Misiura, 2006). When communicating about itself, Bruner (2005, p. 12), however, warns destinations against using “monolithic interpretations that are static and ahistorical, that homogenise meaning” when trying to reposition the image of a destination. Destinations are not passive since they are provided meaning as well as constituted by the narratives that envelop them. Furthermore, destinations often give “rise to conflicting stories as one story arises in response to another in…dialogic narration” (ibid, p.26). Instead of highlighting these conflicting narratives, however, tourism destination managers prefer a more
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 157 conservative approach, “frequently retelling outmoded stories, reproducing stereotypes, replicating fantasy, or simulating a discarded historical vision” (ibid, p.21). As part of the exoticism that often characterizes destination communication, destinations often rely on clichéd images such as ‘pristine’, ‘undiscovered’ and culturally ‘authentic’ (Carrigan 2011, p. xiii).
“A cursory perusal of current tourist brochures shows…clichéd images of sea, sun, sand, swaying palms and sexual permissiveness…[an] array of tourism marketing stereotypes that…commodifies destinations for the world consumer involving representations of what local governments believe their foreign clientele want to see” (ibid, p.16). Instead of a ‘dense description’ as suggested by the American anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1991 cited in Herdin and Luger, 2001), destination communication is characterized by marketable sensations instead. Destination communication thus exoticizes foreign destinations and cultures to make them more easily ‘digestible’ to a wider audience. This approach automatically reduces the chance for a tourist to truly ‘experience’ the other on his/her travels. Instead, destinations should focus on communicating their unique essence (Olins and Hildreth, 2011). Carrigan (2011) however believes that this constant reiteration of paradisiac images in tourist brochures is based on strong commercial interests that tourism corporations have in maintaining these place myths, thus making them incredibly reluctant to modify them.
Changing a destination’s image is neither easy nor quick (Anholt, 2004). This demands patience from DMOs and other stakeholders when trying to reposition the image of a (heritage) tourism destination. “It takes many years to establish a brand image, establish name recognition and develop strong awareness of a destination” (Curtis 2001, p. 81). A destination image has evolved over an extended period of time and thus it will require a significant amount of time and effort to change the visitor perception of a destination as people are “sloppy cognitive processors. They resist changing or adjusting their cognitive structures or prior knowledge. They prefer to adjust what they see to fit what they know. They may fill in information that is not presented or distort the reality to fit their mental representations. People are also more likely to attend information that confirms their
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expectations. They disregard information that challenges their knowledge structures, in a process known as confirmation bias” (Anholt 2004, pp.42-43).
Clichéd images of a destination such as ‘sun-kissed beaches’ or ‘untouched nature’ are often generated through medially constructed notions which then become difficult to modify. These clichéd images, however, only partially reflect reality and lead to false expectations (Jaeggi, 2015). As a result of these medially constructed notions, tourists seek to experience clichéd images themselves and aim to reproduce them while at the destination. Jaeggi also talks in this regard about medial idealisation through cliché creation. The reality, on the other hand, is that the destination is very diverse and does not allow itself to be reduced to a few (postcard) images. The author claims that medial programs underlie a relational concept of culture which manifests and markets itself in terms of exoticism. Analog to this exoticisation, the so called ‘tourism identity’ of a destination is constructed. Tourism – what Luger (2010b) refers to as an illusion factory with a happiness guarantee – seems to be unable to do without some form of staging, since the daily life of the locals is not deemed attractive enough. Tourists are not as interested in normality as much as the colourful variety of the cultural forms, their peculiarities and their exoticism – all in a choreographed form (ibid).
As seen above, these clichés or stereotypes (irrespective of whether they are true or false, positive or negative) strongly affect the behavior of tourists towards destinations, further highlighting the challenge posed by the ‘confirmation bias’ (Anholt, 2011). Anholt suggests that a destination should first ascertain the destination perception or image that exists in the minds of the tourists and then create a strategy to manage it. There are numerous examples in the literature about such image management efforts by destinations. Stoeber and Ooi (2010) cite the example of Berlin as a destination that has successfully been able to rebrand itself and change its image over the years. From the glamorous Berlin of the 1920s to the capital of Nazi Germany, from a divided and devastated city after the end of WW II to now becoming the cultural capital of Europe; Berlin has proved time and time again that it is possible to manage change the image of a destination. Acknowledging that people rarely believe marketed images,
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Berlin has tried to make its image both realistic and believable, crucial criteria for a successful destination image (Kotler et al., 1999), by promoting both its cultural icons and heritage buildings such as the Reichstagsgebäude (or Parliament House) with its unique glass dome as well as highlighting the international awards it receives e.g. UNESCO title of City of Design. Berlin was the first city in the whole of Europe to receive this title and it proudly displays the UNESCO logo in all of its city communication materials.
Singapore is another example cited by Stoeber and Ooi (ibid) of a destination that has successfully managed to rebrand its image. It is unique because it has managed to do so despite, or perhaps, because of its multi-cultural populace. To promote its rich cultural heritage, the Singapore Government set up a National Action committee to assist Government agencies in designing communication campaigns. Not only did Singapore’s effort result in a new brand image, it also serves as a vision for Singapore to further highlight and focus on its cultural heritage. Thus, destination branding serves a double purpose. The government’s blueprint to rebrand Singapore’s image includes four related strategies. Firstly, the Singapore Government relaxed stringent and often bureaucratic government rules and regulations, thus boosting Singapore’s cultural scene. Secondly, governmental bodies/agencies aimed to attract international events, meetings and concerts to the country. These events generate free and extensive publicity and media coverage for Singapore. Thirdly, like Berlin, Singapore too uses endorsements and awards to help rebrand its image. Fourth, to metamorphose itself into a truly cultural destination, Singapore has created a number of cultural institutions including three national museums to “showcase and promote cultural events that reflect the multi-cultural, cosmopolitan city” (ibid, p. 75).
Spain, Turkey and Thailand have all proved, however, that it is indeed possible to rebrand their image from beach destinations to cultural destinations. Spain changed its “Everything under the sun” campaign to a campaign that highlighted its historical and cultural heritage instead while Turkey chose the “And the rest is history” campaign to focus its marketing message on
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 160 the historical sites that it had to offer. All the three destinations chose to move away from the low spending backpacker/charter market to the higher-spending cultural tourist (Orbasli, 2008).
Not all destinations, however, are as successful. Although Cuba’s rich cultural heritage - tangible (Spanish colonial architecture) as well as intangible (e.g. music) - are considered as important tourism resources, tourism in Cuba continues to be focused on sun and sea (Long, 2008). A large number of tourists visit Cuba on package tours, since it is strangely often cheaper for tourists to book an all-inclusive two-week resort package than a mere return airfare to Havana. Most tourists come to Cuba mainly for the sun and sea, “with a little bit of 'culture' thrown in” (ibid, p.433), e.g. a day trip to Old Havana. A skewed tourism emphasis on Old Havana together with limited schedules result in the remainder of Havana, despite its rich historical and architectural significance, being largely neglected by tourist visitors. Although Salzburg was proud to receive WH recognition, it seems to be unsure about how to use the title. The uniqueness of the WH architecture plays only a minor role in the city’s marketing agency and no explicit connection to WH is made in marketing and advertising campaigns. Furthermore, there is only one single indication of WH status in the entire WH area: a small metal plate in the ground with the World Heritage logo that is dominated by the Mozart monument in front of it. As a result, those tourists that visit the Old Town remain unaware that they are wandering through a WHS that represents humanity’s heritage (Luger, 2014).
Other destinations such as Macau suffer from ‘incompatible images’ (Du Cros 2009; Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.164). Both the world’s largest casino destination as well as the location of a UNESCO WHS that reflects both the 500 years of Portuguese colonial settlement as well as the emergence of a unique Macanese culture, “Macau’s heritage image is losing the battle with its gambling image” (ibid) after years of aiming to please both of these completely different markets, especially after the 2006 WHS inscription. Croatia, on the other hand, benefitted from having no destination image at all and being forced to create a new one from scratch after gaining independence upon the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. This gave it a unique opportunity to create a totally new destination brand image. Although the destinations
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 161 remained the same – cheap and popular coastal destinations in the in the former Yugoslavia - the fact that the name Croatia did not have any previous images, enabled it to create a new brand image that centred on its historic coastal towns of Split and Dubrovnik and its diverse cultural heritage (ibid).
According to Kotler et al. (1993, pp. 142-143), strategic image management (SIM) is a continual process of conducting research of a (heritage) destination’s image among its target audiences, positioning the destination to either support an existing brand image or create a new one and finally, communicating this new/existing image to the target audience. Thus, the aim of destination image management is to influence public perceptions of the destination (Ooi, 2004). Andersen and Prentice 1997, p. 463) call this an “image modification process”. Anholt (2011), however, warns that such communication initiatives should never be purely for image purposes. Instead, every communication strategy should be backed up by a real change in the tourism product or offering. Otherwise, the communication strategy risks being viewed as insincere and ineffective. He believes that communication alone is “inadequate as an instrument to move the needle on such a robust construct as national image: only profound, widespread, consistent, and sustained changes in national behaviour can do this. Substance must be coupled with strategy and frequent symbolic actions if it is to result in an enhanced reputation” (ibid, p. 26). Best practice examples of such symbolic actions include the Irish Government exempting artists/ writers/poets from income tax to show that the country respects its cultural heritage, creating and highlighting historic heritage buildings such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao or the Syndey Opera House or hosting for international cultural events that communicates to the wider world that the destination is an important player in the cultural heritage scene.
In order to depict how destinations use communication to create a specific image in the minds of tourists, Anholt (2011) created a communication model with 6 factors/activities i.e. Tourism, Brand, Policy, Investment, Culture and People. Tourism communication is a crucial factor of destination image branding since DMOs usually have the biggest financial budgets. Brand
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 162 refers to those products/services exported by the country that can act as influential ambassadors for their country if the place of origin is clearly communicated. Policy decisions of the government are communicated by the international media, thus helping shape public perception in other countries. Cultural exchange and cultural activities play a role in communicating and shaping public perception and image while people refers to the local population who are judged on their behaviour in a foreign country & their behaviour towards foreign tourists in their own country. To manage a destination’s reputation, all 6 communication activities must be coordinated to reinforce the message the destination wants to communicate.
Tourism
People Brands
Culture Policy
Investment
Figure 1: Destination Communication Model (adapted from Anholt, 2011)
Despite the ubiquity of official communication methods, a destination’s reputation was not created through official means and thus, it will also not be possible to change a destination’s reputation solely through them. While communication techniques such as PR public relations might help in the communication of destination image, attention must also be paid to the local stakeholders at the destination. If they (i.e. the stakeholders) are all communicating the same powerful/believable/interesting story about the country or destination, only then will the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 163 destination be able to achieve some control over its international image (Anholt, 2004). Unfortunately, most of the destination images that are used in tourism communication materials are created without the involvement of the local host communities (Macleod 2006a, Cunningham 2006), resulting in the actual tourist experience at the destination differing from the images portrayed in the communication materials. Only if the local communities are allowed to take part in determining the image of the destination to be portrayed, will it be truly authentic, resulting in far more effective destination communication (Wearing, 2010). Citing the example of the WHS of Salzburg, Austria, Luger (2014) believes that the biggest deficits in the current management of the WHS are with regards to its information and communication efforts involving the host population.
Destinations face a number of other challenges including lack of funds, numerous stakeholders, political pressure and little control over the destination (Palmer, 2004). Morgan et al. (2011) also believe that tourism communication is only one source of the destination image and that DMOs are incapable of exercising full control over the destination story/image, since they do not ‘own’ the destination – the destination is ‘owned’ by all of its stakeholders including the local population, the tourist visitors and the political and bureaucratic establishment. Destination managers have little control over the other stakeholders at a destination including hotels, tourist attractions, museums etc., making the task of communicating even more challenging.
3.6.2 New Media and Tourism
Consumer behavior has experienced a shift thanks to new media, resulting in the consumer playing a more active role in the generation of communication content and the dialogue with a heritage destination brand (Munro and Richards, 2011). Furthermore, communication often happens between consumers, completely excluding the DMOs and heritage tourist boards. When it comes to deciding where to take a holiday, it is recommendations from friends and relatives that are the most influential and traditional communication channels are losing their
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 164 effectiveness as consumers and tourist visitors are tired of merely being recipients in a one-way dialogue. Social media has resulted in the creation of informal networks that are increasingly facilitating the flow of information/communication far away from official communication channels (ibid).
The advent of new media has thus caused a change in the balance of power between traditional push identities such as destination management organizations (DMOs) and heritage tourist boards and traditional pull identities such as consumers and tourists. This clear shift in control from heritage managers and DMOs to the users and visitors themselves means that the consumers are taking over control of the destination brand. Thanks to social media, it is now the tourist visitor that shapes the brand image as travellers are able to “obtain virtual representations of their destinations before actually going there and afterwards they can present their travel activities through text, photography and video. The internet adds social dimensions to the activity of travelling” (Jensen 2010, p. 213). DMOs and the tourist industry are thus forced to compete with a number of non-commercial materials, created and shared by the tourist visitors, that now exert a much great influence on the tourist’s decision-making behaviour than in the past (Akehurst, 2009). Unlike traditional gatekeepers that present destinations in a ‘highly idealized’ manner (Du Cros and McKercher (2015, p.142), social media sites are gaining importance since many tourist visitors believe the information being shared on these sites is more reliable than that shared by traditional gatekeepers such as commercial media or DMOs (Mack et al. 2008, Zheng and Gretzel 2010). According to Leonhard (2009 cited in Munro and Richards, 2011), the culture of information (usually top – down) has been replaced with a culture of communication (both bottom up as well as horizontal). These communications are increasingly taking place online and ultimately shape the image of a (heritage) destination brand. As seen above, tourists making a decision on which heritage destination to visit or what heritage sites to see at a particular destination, increasingly use this conversational content to influence their decision.
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As a result, not only does the DMO not control the product, it doesn’t even control the message anymore. While most destination managers and tourism boards continue to communicate themselves, Anholt (2011) claims that such a strategy will no longer work. Instead of communicating the themselves, the author suggests that it is better if the DMOs encourage tourists who already visited the destination to do it instead. In today’s digital age, where tourist visitors have greater access to new and social forms of communication, destination managers require a shift in mindset from the traditional concept that a destination brand can be controlled to the new concept that a destination brand can only be managed, and that to, to a much lesser degree that in the pre-digital past (Dinnie, 2011). Epperson (2009) suggests that DMOs focus on conversations and how to guide these conversations instead of thinking about destination communication in terms of campaigns. Social media also enables and encourages the creation of communities or groups based on specific interests. DMOs have the choice to take part in the conversation on existing communities/forums or create their own online social networks.
Once DMOs accept the fact that the customer is now in control of the brand, it must then relinquish control of the communication tools that it has created and let the user generate content. Munro and Richards (2011) give the example of Visit Sweden which not only started a Visit Sweden page on Facebook but also created its own social networking platform at www.communityofsweden.com. Most of the content that was created and communicated was generated by the users themselves and this peer-to-peer content bypasses the traditional role of heritage destination managers as gatekeepers of the destination brand. The authors (ibid) also cite the example of Visit Wales which ran a wales10000things campaign. The Visit Wales communication strategy included offering a platform for actual tourists and visitors to upload, rate and share pictures and videos of the destination, thus providing the potential Wales tourist with a virtual experience of the sights that Wales had to offer, albeit a far more trustworthy virtual experience, since it came from actual tourists who had visited Wales. Visit Wales relinquished total control of the content and communication that took place on the site and merely provided the platform and tools for users to communicate with one another. Anderson (2009) also suggests that DMOs should listen to information and feedback from the users on
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 166 matters relating to destination communication strategy. It is all about “deciding when to listen, when to take part and when to stimulate and cultivate conversations” (Munro and Richards 2011, p. 150). While the campaign provides a best-case example for other DMOs to learn how to relinquish control of the destination brand in order to foster conversations between past and future tourist visitors, the extent to which other (heritage) destination management organizations are willing/able to accept and act upon this (new) reality remains to be seen.
3.6.3 UNESCO Heritage and Tourism
Although heritage tourism is “one of the most significant and fastest growing” areas of tourism (Poria et al. 2003, p. 239), there still isn’t a consensus of what heritage tourism actually is, with definitions ranging from “people visiting heritage places or viewing historical resources”, “visits by people who want to learn something new or enhance their lives in some way” to “travellers seeing or experiencing built heritage, living culture or contemporary arts” (Timothy 2011, pp. 3-4). Carter and Horneman (2001 cited in Luger 2008, p.21) define WH tourism as "tourism centered on what we have inherited, which can mean anything from historic buildings, to art works, to beautiful scenery" while Zeppel and Hall (1992 cited in ibid) describe WH tourism as "a broad field of speciality travel, based on nostalgia for the past".
„…there is rather more fundamental trait of human nature which attracts people to ancient monuments. Understanding, exploring, and conquering the mystery of the past, and seeking answers to the questions posed by ancient monuments... is something in- built in human nature. For many people, the remains of the past provide a sense of security and continuity in an uncertain world” (Darvill 1987 cited in Luger 2008, p.21). Heritage tourism enables tourists to immerse themselves in the cultural highlights of a civilization and experience a once valid cultural order that no longer exists. Nowadays, social life is often detached from its localized context as modernity has moved society away from the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 167 certainties of tradition and brought identities into motion. Despite material prosperity, people are increasingly on the lookout for points of reference in the familiar during a time of great technological, economic and social change. These desires and aspirations seem to be fulfilled while on holiday, since this is the time when the loss of identity in daily life can be compensated (Luger and Wöhler, 2010a). As mentioned previously, heritage monuments/buildings/sites, so- called ‘memory of mankind’, serve the purpose of ‘identity factories’, offering guidance to a society that is increasingly in need of support (Luger, 2008). For many people, the past provides a security anchor and a sense of stability in the fast pace of today’s world (Bachleitner and Rehbogen, 2008). WHS are sites of memory that have ‘stored’ culture, thus representing a culture of remembrance of past epochs of human history. Especially in the post-modern world with its fast pace, rapid changes and upheavals, these ‘sites of historical high culture’ represent a symbolic deceleration of time. Tourists to the WHS seek in the contemplation and experience of the past a form of security and continuity that is increasingly lost in a fast-moving and volatile present. Presumably due to the influence that these ‘sites of historical high culture’ have on societal identity, they have gained political undertones.
Despite the efforts of UNESCO to select a culturally balanced list of WHS, Harrison (2005a) observes that Europe and Judaeo-Christian monuments that dominate the list. Agreeing with Harrison (ibid), UNESCO (1994, p. 3) notes that ‘elitist’ European architecture and religious buildings relating to Christianity were indeed over-represented on the WH List, further acknowledging that the traditional and local cultures “with their depth, their wealth, their complexity and their diverse relationships with their environment” were mostly absent from the list. Many authors (Dutt, 1995; Eriksen, 2001; Fontein, 2000; Olaniyan, 2003, Singh, 1998; Turtinen, 2000) criticize UNESCO for being too Eurocentric and propagating an elitist idea of cultural heritage. There was a growing concern during the late 1980s and early 1990s that the geographic representation of heritage sites on the UNESCO WH List was biased in favour of European heritage sites, while those cultural heritage sites from Asian or African countries were under-represented (UNESCO, 2008). Over 50% of the monuments on the WH List are currently found in Europe. Furthermore, a number of monuments that are not in Europe can be
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 168 apportioned to Europe due to their colonial connections. This is largely due to the strong European influence on deciding which tangible monuments could be considered ‘beautiful’ (Strasser, 2007). The act of canonization as a WHS gives a particular site a greater importance than all the other (non WH) sites (Assmann, 2014). Although the author (ibid) admits that not every memorial site (lieu de mémoire) is a suitable candidate for the status of WH, it is right to question on what basis some sites are deemed to be ‘suitable’ while others aren’t as well as if and what role postcolonial/neo-colonial considerations play in this decision.
Within a country, it is the State that has a monopoly with regards the selection of the heritage that is submitted for inclusion on the WH List. What remains unclear is the extent to which ideological premises and the so called ‘state necessary’ interpretations of history affect the heritage selection process as well as the extent to which minority opinion is solicited in the process (Strasser, 2007). Strasser calls for further research into the extent to which the political system exerts pressure on the interpretation/presentation of the sites, both before and after inclusion. He also raises the question of whether the national sites submitted to the WH List have a significance for all of humanity. Although the UNESCO WH List clearly stipulates that the cultural heritage being submitted must be of 'exceptional universal value', Strasser asks whether the States comply and submit only sites of global importance. Apart from the difficulty of defining what exactly 'exceptional universal value' means on a global scale and context, ICOMOS (cited in ibid) contend that the filing practice of States is largely oriented towards 'national' values, thus showing little interest in evaluating/examining their national heritage from a supranational perspective. States thus often submit sites that possess exceptional value at the national level but lack a global significance.
For many States, an increase in tourism is one of the major motives for submission to the WH List (Hafstein, 2009). Inscription of a heritage site on the WH List gives recognition to the site, increases the site’s profile and image and creates and increases tourist demand (Bandarin, 2005). According to Shackley (1998), the inclusion of a heritage site on the WH List is so
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 169 significant that it will act as a tourist magnet. Thus, countries and states nominate heritage sites for inclusion in the UNESCO WH List in order to attract more tourists.
Noelle (2010) claims that an inscription on the WH List by UNESCO helps draw public attention to that particular WHS and allows the touristic development of the monument by increasing the prestige of the site in the eyes of the visitors. In a highly competitive tourism industry, an official heritage seal has high (tourist) visibility and acts as a tourist quality label, thus providing guidance to the international tourist visitor (Andris, 2015). According to Tauschek (2013 cited in ibid), a UNESCO seal signifies that the site is a globally relevant historical place of importance.
Sites with the UNESCO (WHS) seal are thus used by DMOs as an “additional aspect to sell to visitors and tourists” (HJM Consultants & Hubbard 1994, p. 61). According to Williams (2005), one of the positive effects of WH designation is increased tourist numbers, especially foreign tourist numbers as WH designation is particularly attractive to those foreign visitors with special interests who are keen to learn about these interests at the site (Yaeger 1999 cited in ibid). Numerous authors (Molstad, 1993; Strasser, 2007; Bandarin, 2001 and Evans, 2005) compare the WH List to the Michelin Guide in terms of how a listing on the WH List makes a heritage site a ‘must-see’ travel recommendation, resulting in drastically increasing the number of tourists that visit these sites.
However, authors such as Hall and Piggin (2002) disagree with the popular premise that inclusion on the UNESCO WHS list will result in greater tourist numbers. Bart et al (2005) state that even if the premise that a listing as a UNESCO WHS were to attract more tourists were true, tourist numbers at such heritage sites and destinations are high enough as it is and hence a further increase in tourist numbers is unnecessary. Also, as the number of sites on the UNESCO WH List increases, the value of the WH label will lose its value. Timothy (2011) warns against treating a UNESCO WH listing as a ‘magic wand’ to increase tourism:
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“Many countries’ tourism officials are under the misguided assumption that once a heritage place is inscribed on UNESCO’s list, the site will, with certainty, be inundated with foreign tourists and the destination’s economic ills will be cured” (ibid, p. 187). Instead, the author states it is more likely that the UNESCO WH label will increase tourism to already popular destinations while other, less famous destinations will see little growth.
Conservation, rather than growth, of the WHS has been UNESCO’s focus until now. Thankfully, this ‘conservation bias’ (as the author of this dissertation terms it) is slowly changing, both as a result of the pressures from the international tourism sector (Chahhabra, 2010 cited in ibid) as well as from within UNESCO itself (UNESCO 2012 cited in ibid). While it must be remembered that WHS are sensitive spaces that must be protected against overexploitation and destruction caused by mass tourism (Bernecke 2002; ICOMOS 2002 cited in Saretzki and May, 2012), Saretzki and May posit that the concept of the universal nature of WH is also closely connected with accessibility. One of the main goals of UNESCO (2009) is to promote intercultural understanding and acceptance of cultural diversity. Only if the cultural heritage of a destination is made accessible to a global population will the goal of intercultural understanding become a reality. Increasing accessibility to a heritage site can have many advantages (Timothy, 2011) including the ability to ‘set the record straight’ about misconceptions regarding the WHS, increase the willingness of both the locals and tourists to become more conservation minded as well as increase visitor numbers and revenues (which can be used for the heritage conservation) as part of the rapid growth in global tourism.
Worldwide, there has been a great increase in tourism over the past decades. From a mere 25 million tourist arrivals worldwide in 1950, UNWTO (2010) predicts a massive 1.6 billion international arrivals by the year 2020. Tourism is expected to grow continuously in the next few decades, driven to a large extent by growth in tourism numbers in emerging economies (UNWTO 2011b). While developing countries attracted 20.8% of global international tourists in 1973, this number increased to 43% in 2000 (UNWTO 2002). In 2015, emerging economies were estimated to receive more international tourist arrivals than their advanced counterparts with
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 171 their share expected to reach nearly 60% by 2030 (UNWTO 2011a). WHS, particularly those in emerging economies, benefit from this growth in international tourist arrivals. However, despite this rapid growth in tourism to developing nations (UNWTO 2010), analysis of World Heritage Factsheets by IUCN show that nearly 75% of visitors to natural WHS are in North America, Europe and some Asian sites, when compared to only 1% in the least developed countries (UNEP and WCMC 2010). These figures show the great potential for increasing tourism to WHS with cultural tourism growing at a much quicker pace than all other forms of tourism in developing economies (UNWTO, 2005).
3.6.4 Cultural Tourism
At its 66th Annual Meeting in June 2006 in Hildesheim, the German UNESCO Commission highlighted the need to make WHS into places of intercultural encounter and mediators of the ideals of UNESCO. In practice, this means that UNESCO WHS need to be seen as part of a worldwide network for international cooperation and intercultural dialogue (Huefner, 2010). Goonatilake (1995, p.227) claims that a global exchange of culture can take place when people share their thoughts/actions/ideas i.e. their culture, across vast distances. Thus, the author believes that tourism, although often limited to the citizens of developed countries/elite of developing countries, can play a role in fostering intercultural communication. Tourism involves meeting with other people/cultures/habits/living conditions and the opportunity to get to know foreign things first hand offers an ideal terrain for intercultural communication (Herdin and Luger, 2001). UNWTO (2011) predicts that by the year 2020, 1.56 billion international trips will have been undertaken. This enormous growth in international travel will result in a further accentuation of the multicultural character of international tourism while Urry (2002) believes that a tourist’s ‘point of cultural reference’ will become increasingly globalized as the number of international tourist trips rise. With this increase, Orbasli (2000) believes that tourism is able to not only play a key role not only in the preservation of heritage/culture but also in the promotion of transcultural understanding
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According to Wearing et al (2010, p. 133), tourism offers a “space for cross-cultural exchange and understanding. It can be an experiential framework for resisting cultural constraints and facilitating the crossing of cultural boundaries”. Destinations thus become touristic border zones, “crossroads of cultures” (Achebe 1988, p.34), where tourists can engage in performative interactions with the locals. Tourism, however, not only enables visitors to learn about other cultures, but (this interaction with other cultures) also encourages visitors to deal with and discover more about their own cultures. It is only by coming into contact with the so called ‘other’ that visitors are made aware of their own culture and societal habits. During one’s travels, cross cultural interaction with the local residents might result in increased appreciation of other people and their cultures, thus having a “lasting impact for the individuals involved, rendering them in some way changed or transformed” (Mathews 2008, p. 101).
Global cultural tourism is a particular aspect of intercultural contact. Interculturalism refers to a dynamic process between culturally different subjects who, when in contact with one another, negotiate communicational and behavioural rules, which differ from the reference systems of both cultures (Barmeyer 2010 cited in Saretzki and May, 2012). The mobilization of culturally interested people is an important effect of the global praedicatisation of cultural heritage in the form of the UNESCO WH List. The concept of WH is thus integrated into the system of global tourism, without which it wouldn’t be as popular or effective. According to institutions involved in the field of cultural heritage (UNESCO 2009, ICOMOS 2002), cultural heritage tourism plays a key role in the promotion of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue.
The numerous definitions of the term ‘cultural tourism’ often result in confusion (Sofield and Birtles 1996 & Hughes 1996 cited in Cole 2006). However, most authors agree on certain commonalities. Nahrstedt (2000, p.17) refers to cultural tourism as an ‘open education system’ that creates ‘learning by traveling’. Cultural tourism enables an intensive engagement with a foreign culture that might even result in a new solidarity between the travelers and the travelled. It can also play an important role in national building, by “using cultural assets to promote
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 173 national identity and create a sense of shared belongingness” (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.34). Cultural tourism also satisfies the inherent “human need for diversity, tending to raise the cultural level of the individual and giving rise to new knowledge, experience and encounters” (World Tourism Organization 1985, p. 2). According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), cultural tourism may be defined as: “the movement of persons to cultural attractions in cities in countries other than their normal place of residence, with the intention to gather new information and experiences to satisfy their cultural needs and all movements of persons to specific cultural attractions, such as heritage sites” (Whyte, Hood and White 2012, p.10).
Richards (2001a) believes that cultural tourism is a ‘good’ form of tourism since it avoids the drawbacks of mass tourism. Mass tourism, on the other hand, dominated as it is by ready-made travel packages and ‘all-inclusive’ club holidays, hinders intercultural communication. Their only contact with the locals is with the service personnel at the hotel complex where ‘communication’ is limited to a friendly smile or a polite ‘thank you’ while giving/receiving a tip. Thus, the only opportunity for intercultural communication in mass tourism is limited to fellow international travellers. The area outside of the hotel complex remains nothing more than a backdrop that is either gazed at or viewed indifferently during the taxi-transfer from the airport to the resort. At the resort itself, (mass) tourists are searching for a confirmation of their ‘mental images’, their notions of the destination that have been gathered through media consumption. These images influence any encounter between tourist and local, pre-regulated by existing stereotypes and prejudices on both sides.
Stereotypes are manifestations, simplifying in an unjustified, generalizing way, and assigning certain properties/behaviours to a group of people (Quasthoff 1973 cited in Herdin and Luger
2008, p.159). Although stereotypes serve to reduce complexity, they also involve a stigma of bias. Stereotypes are difficult to correct, since they already exist before the encounter with the stranger and – as per the theory of cognitive dissonance - tend to be resistant against
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 174 refutation. They reinforce users in their opinions and thus enforce a common 'we-feeling', since as shared fears are emotionally connected. They are closer in nature to prejudices that create negative images while discriminating against and downgrading the stranger (ibid). What makes stereotypes even more challenging, according to Gudykunst and Kim (1992 cited in Herdin and Luger 2001, p.11), is that stereotyping is so ‘natural’ in each communication process that ‘We cannot not stereotype’.
An important source of stereotypes is the mass media. Thus, intercultural exchanges in tourism often involve encounters with the unknown or at least medially-transmitted copies. In this regard, stereotypes are often used in communication, since it is only stereotypes that can be integrated into the mental concept that is familiar to the tourists. Here, tourist attractions seem to be symbolically suitable, since they offer tourists the chance to consume the strange and new in a simple and clear manner (Hennig 1997 in Luger, ibid). The modern tourist is a ‘collecting voyeur’, limiting his sightseeing, however, to those things that he has seen or heard of. Once at the destination, he searches for confirmation of the ‘mental images’ that he has of the destination, usually via the media. The media, as a ‘manager of illusions’ (ibid, p.85), create images and expectations whose fulfilment/non-fulfilment (as the case may be) are then communicated on returning home. This process takes place on a global scale with international tourism and the development of the media and culture industries (in particular film and television) being primarily responsible for what Luger refers to as a ‘cultural and communication-technological globalization’ (ibid, p.83). So closely are international tourism and the media interlinked, that the entire system of global tourism is held together and controlled by communication services and the media (ibid).
In the absence of direct experience with a particular culture, it is these (medially induced) stereotypes that signify what can be anticipated from members of that culture. Tomlejenovic and Faulker (2000 cited in Weaver and Lawton 2010, p.239) argue that direct interactions between tourist visitors and locals can help remove such stereotypes, enabling members of both groups to see each another as individuals and even friends. Tourism can thus become a
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 175 potent force that encourages cross cultural understanding when great numbers of people from a particular culture come into contact with members of another cultures both in their home country as well as at destinations abroad. Understanding a different culture reveals its normality, without losing its peculiarity (Geertz 1991 cited in Herdin & Luger 2008, p.148). “Rather than the simple aimless pleasures of mass tourism, the cultural tourists are those who go about their leisure in a more serious frame of mind. To be a cultural tourist is to attempt, I would suggest, to go beyond idle leisure and to return enriched with knowledge of other places and other people” (Meethan 2001, p. 128).
According to Luger (2004, 2006a), traveling, involving encounters with other people/cultures/ habits/circumstances, offers travellers the opportunity to learn about foreign cultures and environments first-hand, thus proving to be ideal terrain for intercultural communication. So- called ‘key concepts’ (Herdin and Luger, 2008) are vital for intercultural communication and understanding by helping to decode/’decipher’ a culture and thus reach a deeper understanding of it. They help people understand new situations, thus assisting them in behaving properly. It is important to remember that key concepts only involve a description and not an evaluation of a culture and/or its members. Superior thinking, deeply rooted in colonialism and still characterizing the relations of the peoples, for example has no place in this model (Said 1994 cited in ibid, p.159). One must also keep in mind that key concepts apply to a cultural group and not every statement necessarily applies to every single individual. In the sense of ‘reading’ a culture, key concepts reduce the complexity of a culture that is foreign to us and become an aid to help better interpret foreign behavior as well as adapt our own behavior. Without them, understanding of the foreign culture/order and adequate behavior in a foreign environment are impossible, according to the authors (ibid).
In research conducted to investigate the factors that can promote intercultural encounters and intercultural learning, the following prerequisites were identified: openness and tolerance, knowledge about other cultures, self-reflection with regard to one's own culture/person,
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 176 empathy etc. While encountering people from other countries can promote openness and tolerance, this does not take place automatically. Cultural contact will only contribute to a better understanding under certain favourable conditions including tourists taking an active interest in learning about the country and its people as well as actively searching out personal encounters with the locals.
In order to learn more about these conditions, it is important to first look at the factors influencing the contacts between ‘guests’ and ‘hosts’ (Evans 1976 and Reisinger&Turner 2004 cited in Saretzki and May, 2012): i) Temporal factors (e.g. length of stay) ii) Spatial factors (e.g. number of tourists) and iii) Cultural factors (e.g. distance between the host and guest cultures as well as their socio-economic backgrounds). Furthermore, interactions between locals and guests do not take place in interest and power free spaces. Apart from possible socioeconomic differences, the respective roles of service provider and guest/customer and the ensuing monetarization of relations influence the intercultural relationship. In addition, the previous knowledge about the foreign culture (acquired through consumption of tourist media and its exoticisation of the foreign culture) results in the formation of stereotypes and prejudices instead of greater understanding (Luger, 1995). The emergence of intercultural exchange relationships also require specific situational conditions, which is rarely found in tourism due to economic, social and cultural disparities. Instead of consensus-building and the encouragement of mutual understanding, intercultural encounters can lead to discrimination, misunderstandings and even xenophobia due to unequal power distribution, the confirmation of negative stereotypes due to ethnocentric dominance etc. For the abovementioned reasons, the chances of intercultural exchanges in tourism are usually assessed negatively in the literature (Favero 2007; Thurlow & Jaworski 2010 cited in Saretzki and May, 2012). Cross cultural interaction can also face a number of challenges due to a lack of awareness among the tourist visitors. Citing the example of the WHS of Luang Prabang, UNESCO (2004, p.58) state that many tourist visitors remain unaware of appropriate social behaviour or how to interact with the locals in a sensitive manner, leading to a lack of respect for local lifestyles/traditions.
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Furthermore, the incorporation of cultural traditions and heritage into the tourist system as commodities has led to the touristic commoditization or touristification of the local culture (Meethan 2011). Wearing et al (2010) strongly criticize the commoditization of the destination product. Instead of encouraging them to communicate and interact with the local culture, leading to a positive intercultural exchange for both the tourists as well as the host populace, the tourist visitors are forced to become ‘voyeurs’ into the otherness of the local culture. Furthermore, the local culture is dressed up in order to conform to the brand image that has been portrayed to the tourists through printed marketing promotional material and travel programmes on television. Carrigan (2011, p.130) talks about touristification when he derides the reduction of diverse cultural practices to tourist performance, referring to this phenomenon disdainfully as “mass tourism’s fetishization of native culture”. According to Naipaul (2001, p.67), culture is thus seen as “something quite separate from day-to-day existence…Culture is a dance – not the dance that people do when more than three of them get together – but the one put in in native costume on a stage. Culture is music – not the music played by well-known bands and nowadays in the modern way…but the steel band. Culture is song – not the commercial jingle which…has become the folksong of Trinidad…but calypso”
There has been a growing reconceptualization of cultural commoditization over the last two decades, along with a general acceptance that tourism, like globalization, has corrupted local cultures. Carrigan (2011) believes that tourism is largely responsible for fixing local cultures by replicating colonial stereotypes and racist fantasies, and limiting possibilities for cultural adaption. Macleod (2004) agrees that transcultural or intercultural exchange need not always be positive, offering the example of the Canary Islands as a case where intercultural interaction between the tourists and the locals population resulted in negative consequences for the host culture, with the local youth preferring to imitate the Western lifestyles of the tourists including their dress, music etc. Similar evidence of the negative cultural effects of tourism can be seen in Mbaiwa’s (2004) study on the effects of safari tourism in Botswana such as the fragmentation of the traditional family structure, increase in serious crime/prostitution and modifications in
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 178 traditional clothing as well as language. According to Wearing et al (2010), the negative social and cultural impacts on the host population are well documented in tourism research, especially with regards to the effects of mass tourism on the local populace.
Although identifying and measuring tourism’s cultural effects is problematic, since the effects are more long term rather than short term (Mowforth and Munt, 2003), Macleod (2006b) perceives a change in the cultures of both the host destination as well as the tourist generating countries because of tourism. Wendt (1995, p.3), however, argues against portraying locals as “hapless victims and losers in the process of cultural contact and interaction”, noting how the locals have indigenised much that is foreign to suit themselves. Tourism is thus not merely an “aggregate of…commercial activities; it is also an ideological framing of history, nature and tradition; a framing that has the power to reshape culture and nature to its own needs” (MacCannell 1992, p.1). Instead of an external force that attacks the local society from the outside, Picard (1997, p.183) claims that tourism, or what he refers to as the ‘touristification of society’ takes place from within by “blurring the boundaries between…what is ‘ours’ and what is ‘theirs’, between that which belongs to ‘culture’ and that which pertains to ‘tourism’…instead of asking whether or not…culture has been able to withstand the impact of tourism, we should ask how tourism has contributed to the shaping of…culture” . Thus, rather than attempting to ‘preserve’ specific cultural aspects, efforts must be made to improve the communities’ ability to conceive tourism developments based on their own ideologies rather than having tourism imposing itself externally (Robinson, 1999a; Richins, 2009). Bandarin (2005, p. vi) states that it is UNESCO’s mission to promote a “discerning type of tourism that is developmentally beneficial…[yet] culturally and environmentally sustainable”. UNESCO (1996, p. 157-159) warns against the “onslaught of low quality mass tourism provoking the irreversible destruction of…cultural heritage”, preferring instead the more sustainable form of cultural tourism.
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While contemporary cultural tourism is praised for its inherent motivation in discovering more about the ‘otherness’ of the local culture (Cole, 2006), organised mass tourism is often criticized for seeking the destination of the ‘other’ without necessarily having to interact with the ‘other’ (Augé 1997 in Hoffmann 2008, p.135). Hoffmann (ibid) himself, however, does not share the widespread belief that tourism can somehow be divided into the negatively connotated ‘destructive’ mass tourism and a high-quality, sustainable, ‘cultural tourism’, calling this wishful thinking. According to the author, this is easily seen in the obvious indifference of the many, so-called ‘cultural tourists’. Citing the example of the WHS of Salzburg, he claims that the window displays of Mozartkugel or other souvenirs attract more attention than the sight of Fischer von Erlach’s Collegiate Church or other tangible monuments at the WHS. Although by no means a pessimistic verdict on all forms of modern cultural tourism, Hoffmann warns against illusions of the effects of cultural tourism in general. The tourist visitors, in their vast majority, simply do not have the experiential or knowledge-based relation to the cultural and historical dimensions of the WHS monuments marketed within the framework of ‘cultural tourism’. This results in ‘cultural tourism’ quickly being reduced to nothing more than cursory snapshots or standardized tourist clichés.
Saretzki and May (2012) thus question whether (cultural) tourism can actually contribute to intercultural encounters that facilitate dialogue. How can cultural tourism contribute to understanding/interaction between guests and hosts on a global scale? Is the understanding of and interaction with a foreign culture fostered by merely visiting a heritage site? and Under what conditions can intercultural encounters in the sense of an exchange relationship be truly spoken of? are some of the questions raised by the authors. Intercultural encounters involve more than the entry and viewing (i.e. sightseeing) of a culturally foreign space. Although tourism does bring people from different cultures into contact with each other, Luger et al. (2004) claim that the encounters between guests and hosts are characterised by inequality and can even assume neocolonial traits. Even if an interest in foreign cultures and encounters with locals are regularly ranked as the most popular travel motives, their brevity and mutual difference and strangeness mean that these encounters rarely go beyond the superficial
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(Saretzki and May, ibid). Garaeva (2012, p. 209) shares this view, stating that merely travelling abroad does not necessarily make tourists to “...engage in a deeper intercultural understanding of their tourist destinations. In most cases, travelling abroad seems to merely reinforce stereotypes and clichés centered around a tourist destination’s people, places and culture. These clichés get intensified by many ways in which foreign culture is being staged in order to cater to tourist’s pre conceived notions of what a culture is about”. According to Macleod (2006a, p. 83), tourists remain unaware of the destination culture due to heritage communication that focuses on “tried and tested successful formulaic images”. He claims that if the tourist experience is to lead to a better understanding of other cultures, then destination managers need to gain a greater awareness of the profile of the cultural heritage tourists that they are trying to attract.
3.6.5 Cultural Heritage Tourists
Timothy (2011) classifies cultural heritage tourists based on their characteristics. In general, the majority of heritage tourists are between 30 and 50 years of age, although this may differ from place to place. In market research conducted into the profile and demographics of visitors to Dutch museums (Misiura 2006), it was found that the visitors were predominantly female, over 50 years of age and ‘well educated’. The so called empty nesters have relatively large amounts of wealth as well as free time in which to spend their wealth. When asked for the main reason for visiting heritage museums, information gathering was given as a response. This group is interested in ‘discovering’ or gaining more knowledge about the past. As mentioned above, heritage tourists are also highly likely to have higher levels of education and post graduate qualifications are usually common among this visitor group. A related effect of education is a higher level of income and greater amounts of disposable income. In his study of European cultural tourism, Richards (2001) discovered that an extraordinary 70% of cultural tourists were
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 181 in professional or managerial posts. Their higher socio-economic position thus enables cultural tourists to travel further, more frequently, stay longer and spend more at the destination.
Silberberg (1995 cited in Weber and Kuehnel-Widmann 2015) analyzed cultural tourists based on a study of visitors to museums and UNESCO WHS. According to the study, cultural tourists both earn and spend higher sums of money, take longer holidays, are well-educated, usually female rather than male and are usually older than other types of tourists. This last aspect is important, since there are a number of demographic changes that are presently taking place in a large number of nations worldwide, leading to more countries with ageing populations. As a result of their growing importance, destinations try to attract cultural tourists as a strategy to conserve their cultural heritage and develop a new image as a cultural heritage destination.
The exact definition of the culture tourist has proven to be extremely challenging as the two differing philosophical approaches used to define the target group & its behaviour each producing vastly different conclusions regarding its size and importance (Vong, 2013). The first approach defines cultural tourists based on their activities at the destination while the second approach focuses more on the motive for the visit. The former approach thus classifies a cultural tourist as one who visits a cultural attraction irrespective of why he/she chose to visit the destination and while the latter counts only those as cultural tourists who are attracted to the destination because of its cultural attributes (ibid). Du Cros and McKercher (2015, p.121) criticize the method that ‘proves that cultural tourists “spend more, stay longer, travel more frequently and participate in more activities and are older, better educated, and more affluent than the travelling public as a whole” as being inherently and conceptually flawed as it infers trip purpose based on the activities undertaken, an inference that cannot be made according to the authors. In addition, this method wrongly presumes that the market is homogenous when, according to the authors, “many shades of cultural tourist exist” (ibid).
In the past, the cultural tourism market was wrongly assumed to be homogenous. Today, however, experts recognize that it is far from homogenous, consisting instead of a number of
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 182 clearly defined segments that are differentiated both by the importance of culture as a travel motive as well as the depth of experience being sought. That said, there are several different views as to what exactly constitutes a cultural tourist, leading to differing statistical results. Du Cros and McKercher (2015, p.120) highlight the challenges in classifying cultural heritage tourists, reminding the reader that different segments seek different products/experiences and respond to different communicational methods/messages.
There are numerous ways of segmenting cultural heritage tourists. One means of segmenting this target group is with regards to the importance that tourists place on culture when making travel arrangements/in their travel design. These varying degrees of importance/cultural interest must be taken into account, both in the design of cultural offerings themselves and in the tourist offerings at the destination. Siller (2010 in Loretan, 2015) claims that the expectations with regards to quality and authenticity of the tangible/intangible cultural offerings are higher in the case of highly motivated culture enthusiasts, while for the ‘also cultural tourists’ (Auchkulturtouristen) and the coincidental cultural tourists (Zufallkulturtouristen), it is the staging and the entertainment value of the cultural offerings that are more in the foreground.
Stebbins (1996) identifies two different types of cultural tourists: the generalized cultural tourist who slowly gains a broad general knowledge of different cultures by visiting numerous, different heritage destinations over time and the specialized cultural tourist who only concentrates on a few cultural sites/destinations with the aim of gaining a deeper cultural understanding of that particular place or type of heritage. Lord (1999), on the other hand, divides heritage tourists into four categories. Out of the general population of tourists, 15% would never visit heritage sites, which leaves a potential target of 85% of tourists. Out of this 85%, 15% are deemed to be greatly motivated in visiting heritage sites. This group of ‘highly motivated cultural tourists’ consist of those who travel specifically to a certain destination in order to experience the local cultural heritage that the destination has to offer. The second group of tourists, ‘the partly motivated cultural tourists’, make up around 30% of the tourists and travel to a destination only partly due to the cultural heritage to be found there. The third
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 183 group of tourists, the ‘adjunct tourists’, make up around 20% of heritage tourists and are motivated by factors other than the heritage of a destination. While their main motivation is not the consumption of heritage, they will plan a visit to a heritage site as part of their journey. And finally, the ‘accidental or coincidental tourist’ has no specific plans to visit a heritage site but will do so if an opportunity arises. Creating a high level of visibility of the cultural services at the destination is the one means of offering these “coincidental cultural tourists” (Zufallskulturtouristen) the opportunity to both notice cultural institutions as well as to visit them (Loretan, 2015). As mentioned above, coincidental cultural tourists are those who notice local attractions at the destination and spontaneously make the decision to visit, even the cultural offerings have not played a major role in their decision to visit the tourist destination. Increased visibility of these cultural offerings, achieved through posters, bill-boards, flyers, apps of tourist information offices or temporary exhibitions or events, can result in increased visits from these coincidental tourists.
The most useful model for the typology of cultural tourists is offered by McKercher and du Cros (2002 cited in Herdin 2008, p.273). They define different types of cultural heritage tourists, based on the role that cultural tourism plays in their decision to visit a destination (x-axis) as well as the ‘depth’ of the experience that they aim for (y-axis):
This framework developed by the authors has not only been confirmed by a numerous other studies but also adopted by a number of governmental and semi-governmental agencies (Beesly 2005, ETC 2005, Latvia 2006, AL 2010, VB 2010, Williams 2010, Failte Ireland 2012, CTC
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2013, CBI 2014 in Du Cros and McKercher, 2015). According to Du Cros and McKercher (2015, p.123), the 5 segments of cultural tourists are: i. The Purposeful Cultural Tourist, whose main aim of visiting the destination is cultural heritage and where the visitor has a deep cultural experience at the destination; ii. The Sightseeing Cultural Tourist, where cultural tourism is the main aim of going to a destination, yet the destination experience is more shallow; iii. The Serendipitous Cultural Tourist, who does not travel with the main motive of cultural tourism but finds himself/herself experiencing a deep cultural tourism experience; iv. The Casual Cultural Tourist, where cultural tourism is not a strong motive for visiting a destination and the resultant experience is also shallow and finally, v. The Incidental Cultural Tourist, who does not travel for cultural tourism purposes, participates in some sightseeing and has a shallow experience.
According to McKercher and Ho (2012 in Du Cros and McKercher 2015), the market is usually monopolized by the incidental and casual cultural tourism segments with the purposeful tourism segment being the smallest. A Hong Kong study conducted by the authors found that nearly half of all visitors who visited cultural attractions were either casual or incidental visitors with culture having little/no influence in their decision to visit. A further one-third of the visitors were sightseeing cultural tourists, for whom culture was a strong motive for them to visit, but only had a rather shallow experience. Only 6% were purposeful cultural tourists. Vong’s (2013) study of Macau came to a similar conclusion. Visit Wales (2009) also believes that the purposeful cultural tourist represented only a small minority of the tourist population, while the casual cultural tourist represented a majority in their research.
Du Cros and McKercher (2015, pp.128-132) believe that although all five types of cultural tourists can be found at a destination, their exact composition differs, based on the destination, the heritage site and the origins of the tourist. While purposeful and sightseeing cultural tourists use travel as a means of personal growth and travel more for educational reasons, casual/incidental/serendipitous cultural tourists usually travel with the goal of fun and
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 185 relaxation with friends and family. The main goal of purposeful/sightseeing cultural tourists is to improve their knowledge about a destination’s heritage and thus search out qualitatively different experiences to satisfy their goal. The purposeful cultural tourist is extremely interested in the museum experience (Niemcyzk, 2013), visits lesser-known heritage sites/monuments, tries to submerge him/herself in the local culture while learning more about its character (Nyapaune et al., 2006; Vong, 2013). The sightseeing cultural tourist, however, is more interested in a wide variety of experiences rather than a single experience in greater depth. The sightseeing cultural tourist is thus more likely to focus on visiting the iconic attractions at a destination and is also more likely to travel widely in the destination. These tourists are also the most active and prefer sightseeing to shopping and will have the most number of photos of key heritage tourism attractions in their social media channels (Du Cros and McKercher, 2015).
In comparison, casual/incidental tourists prefer low involvement activities that focus more on pleasure. Physically/architecturally impressive heritage appeals to this tourist type, and for them shopping holds the same value as a visit to a cultural site. The casual cultural tourist seems to be more willing to visit heritage sites than the incidental cultural tourist but less so compared to the purposeful cultural tourist. Incidental cultural tourists, in comparison, visit conveniently located attractions that are not very intellectually challenging. As a result, the experience of the heritage will be superficial at best. Last but not least, the serendipitous cultural tourist is the most difficult to describe. Their experiences involve an element of exploration where the tourist happens to come across a cultural site/attraction/ performance by chance but is enthralled by it (ibid). Vong (2013) believes that they are highly inquisitive tourists, usually spending a long time at individual sites. Learning something unusual/new about the heritage site offers these tourists an extremely pleasurable and unexpectedly deep experience.
Du Cros and McKercher (2015) believe that different approaches and messages are needed to appeal to each segment. Indeed, the same ‘product’ can also be presented in a number of different ways in order to satisfy the various market segments. For example, a historic site can be presented in a more superficial manner to appeal to the casual or the incidental cultural
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 186 tourist, while extra interpretation and an opportunity to engage with the heritage site in a deeper manner will appeal more to the sightseeing and purposeful segments. Purposeful cultural tourists need to understand the meaning as well as the broader cultural connections of the heritage site before they experience it. These tourists usually conduct extensive research using a wide range of media. Descriptive, accurate, and factual messages with a learning aspect work best for such tourists (Kantanen and Tikkanen, 2006). Promotional messages aimed at the sightseeing cultural tourists are similar to those for the purposeful cultural tourist. The former want to learn about the attraction and are motivated by experiencing different cultures and learning new things (Kastenholz et al., 2013). However, their willingness to engage with the heritage site is much lower than the purposeful cultural tourist. As a result, the messages and materials should focus more on the enjoyment aspect, rather than the learning aspect, of the experience. Incidental/casual cultural tourists, on the other hand, do not want to be deeply engaged by the experience. As Kantanen and Tikkanen (2006) suggest, visiting a heritage attraction is one way of passing time on holiday.
Herdin (2008) believes that the group of ‘purposeful cultural tourists’ are capable of finding enough opportunities by themselves to interact with the locals/local heritage. He thus feels that it would be interesting to target the group of ‘serendipitous cultural tourists’ i.e. travellers who visit cultural sites ‘unintentionally’ as part of the tour so that an impetus for a possible conversion to a ‘purposeful cultural tourist’ is given. For this, it is vital to not only focus on the tangible heritage of the monument, but also on the intangible aspects of heritage including meaning, values, identity constructs as well as dissonant aspects of the heritage. This target group could be encouraged to deal more deeply and intensively with the space by using additive elements such as further information and heritage interpretation, that help educate the visitor about the importance/values of the WHS.
“Education can be seen as a stimulus for opening people’s eyes to various elements of the past and increasing a desire to experience historic places and cultural events” (Timothy 2011, p. 27). Orbasli (2000) posits that heritage and historic destinations are more attractive to those tourists
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 187 who are stimulated intellectually by their travels to WHS citing research showing that these tourists more likely to visit WHS than other tourists. According to Timothy (ibid), ‘serious heritage tourists’ in particular possess a strong personal interest in different aspects of history and culture. A number of these highly-devoted heritage tourists tend to prepare for their visits to the destination well in advance by reading about/researching the destination.
It is thus vital for heritage destination managers to know where cultural heritage tourists collect information about which heritage/cultural sites to visit. Information searching and trip planning are a decisive part of tourism demand. Understanding information sources can help heritage destination managers “make more informed decisions about how best to approach their potential markets” (Timothy 2011, p.30). According to research conducted by the Travel Industry Association of America (2003), 58% of heritage tourists use the internet as their primary information source, followed by friends and relatives/word of mouth (48%), brochures (33%), guide books (26%) and magazines (24%). Although these figures were gathered for the US, they do give an idea of the growing importance of the internet as a source of heritage information for tourists. Timothy (ibid) believes that it is crucial for a destination to conduct geographic segmentation i.e. which countries do the tourists come from as well as what each nationality does when at the destination. Armed with the information from which countries the cultural heritage tourists come from, destination managers can take decisions on where/how to communicate. Also, by knowing exactly which heritage attractions appeal to which nationality, communication efforts can be better targeted to the needs and interests of that specific nationality, thus further increasing the effectiveness of a destination’s communication strategy.
3.6.6 Heritage and Sustainable Tourism
Heritage and sustainability share a common theme of inheritance [where] heritage tourism is, as an economic activity, predicated on the use of inherited environmental and socio-cultural assets in order to attract visitors [and] sustainability requires that those
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assets are carefully managed to ensure that future generations inherit a resource base that is sufficient to support their needs and wants (Fyall and Garrod 1998 cited in Southall and Robinson 2011, p. 178). Although the tourism industry contributes 9% of the world’s GDP and nearly 300 million jobs globally (WTTC 2011), tourism must be sustainable if it is to have a positive impact on the WHS and its surrounding regions.
WHS are located in both rich industrialized countries as well as poor developing countries. Especially in the latter, local managers are faced with huge challenges with regards to the preservation and communication of their WH (Luger, 2008). A carefully planned and regulated sustainable tourism strategy can result in economically underdeveloped countries, in particular, making a significant contribution to conserving their cultural heritage. However, the reality is quite different. In the Indian WHS of Bodhgaya, one of the most important Buddhist sites worldwide where the Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment, there are plans to surround the temple area with a luxurious golf course and hotel compound. The Chilean WHS of Rapa Nui islands, famous for their mythical stone figures, are experiencing a tourist invasion with tourist numbers increasing drastically from 5,000 in 1990 to 46,000 in 2005 while in the case of the UNESCO WHS of Galapagos islands, the number of tourist visitors rose from 60,000 to 125,000 between 2001 and 2005. Other WHS such as Angkor Wat/Machu Picchu/Valley of Kings are all experiencing drastic increases in tourist arrivals that, on the one hand, bring large amounts of money to the region while contributing negatively to the development of the WHS on the other (ibid).
Makela and O’Reilly (2008) list several negative effects of tourism development on Siem Reap Province, in which the Angkor Wat WHS is located, including drastic increases in tourist arrivals, rapid hotel construction (despite a management plan and development zoning by the local authorities), greater pressure on the local infrastructure, visitor crowding and unmanaged visitor flows. Furthermore, tourism has not brought the hoped reduction in poverty alleviation, increase in local sourcing of food provisions (over 90% of which are imported from
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 189 neighbouring Vietnam and Thailand), nor the increased local participation and involvement in tourism development (the roles/ responsibilities of various stakeholders - public/private/civil society- are unclear, causing confusion). Furthermore, local communities do not currently have the capacity to make informed decisions with regards to participation in tourism development.
Makela and O’Reilly (ibid) thus call for an increased focus on how to sustain growth in the long term while considering the principles of sustainability (people/planet/profit), how to distribute the economic benefits of tourism more evenly through the province/country as well as how to share these benefits with all the stakeholders equally. Sofield (2006 cited in ibid) claims that a current analysis of tourism at Angkor Wat using the three Ps would result in a poor score. Tourism development at Angkor Wat WHS (as well as other WHS) must be conceived in such a way that it achieves the goals of heritage conservation and protection, manages visitor flows, involves the local communities in tourism development and shares its profits equally. Attempts are being made by the Royal Government of Cambodia along with its development partners to enable a more sustainable growth of the tourism sector as well as the empowerment of the local community to increase their involvement in tourism development. In addition, the Mekong Private Sector Development Facility (MPDF) is working on a pro-poor tourism analysis to identify poverty alleviation methods that can be brought about through tourism and its link to other sectors.
Large-scale, foreign-owned enterprises often hinder sustainable development since they marginalize and push out locally owned and operated services from the local tourism economy (Cater 1992, Lew and Hall 1998, Mowforth and Munt 1998 and Smith 1998 cited in Timothy and Davis 2008, p.332). As a result, outsiders emerge as the biggest financial beneficiaries from tourism. In the developing world, this also increases income leakage from the region i.e. only a small portion of the income generated by tourism remains in the local economy, with the rest leaving the region or even the country and being repatriated to the home country of the foreign owned firm. This also means that the local community lacks the ability to take independent initiatives (Yamamura 2004 in ibid), due to a lack of skills/knowledge/financial resources and/or
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 190 the power to take decisions within a top-down political system of control (Timothy 2007 cited in ibid).
Heritage and tourism must be incorporated in a sustainable manner (Luger 2010b) for tourism to become a profitable form of regional economic activity. It was only at the turn of the century, in the context of the global sustainability debate, that tourism was seen again as a potent force that could contribute to regional development (Luger, 2006). The fundamental question is, therefore, how WHS can enter into a sustainable relationship with tourism. According to Luger (2006 cited in Luger 2008, p.35), WH tourism is sustainable if it is: • possible in the long term, since resources are developed with care • culturally compatible, since respect is shown towards local conventions/rites • socially equitable, because the benefits are distributed equally, regional disparity is avoided, and locals are involved in decision-making • environmentally viable, since it causes the lowest possible pressure on the environment • and economically viable & productive, because it is profitable for the local and national economy and is responsible for generating income for the indigenous population.
Despite the ubiquity of the term sustainability, its definition remains vague. WCED (1987) defines sustainable development as one that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” while Franquesa and Morell (2011, p. 172) define sustainability as “achieving a concurrent increase of social, economic, cultural and environmental benefits in the development process”. Liechti et al. (2010) believe that as a normative concept, sustainable development cannot be defined in absolute terms, but only on a case by case basis via a locally negotiated process. For the purpose of this dissertation, the definition of sustainable tourism by the UNWTO (2004) will be used. According to this definition, sustainable tourism involves four main aspects including: 1. Economic: Viable, long-term economic operations • Fair distribution of financial benefits to all stakeholders (Poverty alleviation) • Stable income-earning opportunities and employment for the local community
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2. Environmental: Optimal usage of environmental resources • Conservation of natural heritage and biodiversity • Ensuring the long-term utilisation of natural resources 3. Socio-Cultural: Authenticity of the host communities • Conservation of tangible/intangible cultural heritage of the local communities • Intercultural understanding and tolerance 4. Governance: • Informed participation of all relevant stakeholders • Continuous monitoring of impacts
Sustainable WH Management is, according to Luger (2008), far more comprehensive than providing protection for buildings or their (tourist) marketing. Ideally, it should comprise all components of an integrative project conception, requires an interdisciplinary approach and must merge the perspectives of conservationists/tourists/city planners/experts from various disciplines & administrators of the WH. In order for WH and tourism to support and profit from one another, the principles of the International Cultural Tourism Charter (UNESCO World Heritage Center 2002 cited in ibid, p.36) stipulate that responsible WH management must take into account the interests of the locals, manage heritage with a long-term perspective as well as ensure that conservation measures are in accordance with tourism planning goals.
On a global scale, sustainable tourism in WH areas continue to face many obstacles. Firstly, human resources and expertise is lacking: Many sites have no/not enough staff to monitor the social and environmental impact of tourism on their sites. There is no data on visitor numbers and visitor desires and only in few cases do tourism management plans exist. Furthermore, few WHS inform visitors/local population about the importance and the special nature of WH; instead of communicating WH as a USP, it is merely marketed as any tourist destination (Eschig, 2008).
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Thus, it is not sufficient to merely manage sustainability but also communicate it as well. To communicate and achieve sustainability in tourism destinations, an optimum management orientation process is essential (Middleton and Hawkins, 1998). According to the authors, a sustainable communication perspective is an overarching management orientation that balances the interests of the local stakeholders with the long term environmental needs of the destination. Ideally, sustainable WH Management includes all the components of an integrated project conception and requires an interdisciplinary approach that includes perspectives of conservationists, tourism professionals and urban planners, merchants, the administrators of the WH as well as the local residents (Luger, 2014). If the abovementioned principles of sustainable tourism are implemented in the correct manner, WHS can become best practice examples of sustainable development and growth as long as they are also communicated in a sustainable manner.
According to Timothy (2011, p. 285), sustainable heritage communication is a new trend that can be defined as communicating “cultural [heritage] destinations in a way that assures their long-term viability, as well as that of visitation levels”. Middleton and Hawkins (1998, p. 122) argue that the aim of sustainable communication is to “secure continuing benefits for resident populations in economic, social and physical environment terms…without creating damage to the long-term health of either the social and physical environment on the one hand, or to the competitiveness and prosperity of the industry on the other”. Sustainable heritage communication attracts tourist visitors who are truly interested in the history and heritage of the destination and will make an effort to contribute to the conservation efforts at the WHS (Timothy, 2011) as part of WH tourism.
Although UNESCO has repeatedly stressed the link between WH and tourism (Bernecker 2002, Eschig 2008, UNESCO 2012 cited in Saretzki and May, 2012), Eschig (2008) admits that the WH Convention does not focus sufficiently on the ‘usage’ of the WHS. Use is addressed in only a single paragraph of the guidelines: In Article 119 under the heading ‘Sustainable Use’, it says
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 193 that the usage of WHS is possible provided that it is ecologically and culturally sustainable. However, even UNESCO is slowly beginning to realise the need for the ‘use’ of the WHS and is working on this matter, creating the UNESCO program ‘Sustainable Tourism in WH Areas’ deals specifically with the question of what tourism policy is adequate for WHS and what management it requires. The primary goals of UNESCO involve strengthening the management capacity of the different sites in this regard as well as to help the local communities to benefit from tourism. In a first important step towards sustainable tourism, UNESCO requires WH administrators to make arrangements for managing the site sustainably, including development measures that must be clearly laid down in a Management Plan (according to UNESCO guidelines). The current ‘Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention’ require a management plan to be submitted together with the nomination papers for any new property to be inscribed on the UNESCO WHS list. As a result, a number of management plans exist for the sites that have been included from 2005 onwards (Karpati 2008, p.9). Although the argument can be put forth that most of the WHS were selected for their outstanding universal cultural value and therefore do not need a new plan of management, there are several arguments that justify a management plan. Firstly, the current situation at the WHS might be a different one to that when it was inscribed on the WH List (ibid). Secondly, the likelihood of conflicts emerging in the future requires adequate means of conflict prevention and stakeholder involvement to be clearly mentioned in the management plan. However, Karpati (ibid) questions whether the existing management plans for the WHS are actually workable documents or whether they are merely prepared to meet the requirements of the Operational Guidelines. Furthermore, as these guidelines became mandatory only for sites inscribed from 2005 onwards, those WHS that have been included on the list before 2005, i.e. the majority of all WHS, will have to submit their plans not immediately but sometime in the future10. Also, the creation of a management plan is only the first step, with the proper implementation of the plan another crucial factor.
10 with no information as to when exactly management plans will become obligatory for the remaining WHS.
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With UNESCO making management plans for WHS obligatory, one might presume that it also defines exact requirements concerning content and format. Unfortunately, this is not the case. As part of the Operational Guidelines, the management of sites are mentioned often (e.g. Paragraph 108, 109, 111, 118 etc.) but only in a general manner. It is apparent that although the desired aims & objectives are set out clearly by UNESCO, no means of how to achieve them are provided (Karpati 2008). Not only are there no official UNESCO or UNESCO-approved documents that provide detailed provisions on how to create a proper management plan, the number of publications relating to the management of the WHS are meagre. One notable exception, “Management Guidelines for World Cultural Heritages Sites” authored by Feilden/Jokilehto and published/produced by ICCROM/UNESCO/ICOMOS, is neither recent nor comprehensive enough (ibid). When checked last, it was stated as not being available for purchase. Thus, there is no single binding code or directive that regulates the preparation of management plans for WHS that is authorized or prescribed by UNESCO. This “lack of a standard makes it impossible for anyone to meet that standard” (ibid, p.9).
Karpati (2008) offers a number of reasons for UNESCO’s lack of prescribed guidelines for management plans. These include the neutrality requirement for an international body such as UNESCO, insufficient capacity of the UNESCO WH Centre to aid all WHS in creating their management plans or work out globally binding guidelines as well as the danger that developing countries might be discouraged from nominating sites if they lack sufficient means to follow these guidelines. However, none of these arguments really hold. After acknowledging the importance of management plans and making them mandatory for all WHS from 2005 onwards, it is UNESCO’s responsibility and duty to provide clear and binding guidelines that will help prospective State Parties create effective management plans. It is important to create a unified structure for management plans that is versatile enough to apply to any kind of property and flexible enough to enable the nominating State Party, irrespective of its resources, to create and implement at least a basic working version of the management plan (ibid).
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Based on the outcome of his research, Karpati (ibid) has drawn up several requirements that a management plan needs to fulfil11. He also acknowledges that the requirement catalogue is neither exhaustive nor comprehensive due to the complexity of the subject. Management plans must be workable in order to be used independently by anyone with a background in heritage conservation/architecture/art history without the need for further (re)sources. This would require the management plan to contain everything that is necessary to understand all the aspects of the WHS including the details needed to balance both conservation and sustainable usage. According to Karpati (ibid, pp.32-49), a management plan structure should include the following elements: • Statement of Significance Before going into how a WHS must be managed, a management plan needs to clearly state what makes this site so important and why it needs to be managed. Thus, the significance of the WHS needs to be the basis of the management plan. This statement of significance tells the reader what makes the WHS so outstanding and is thus vital for the understanding of that site. According to UNESCO (2016, p.33), the Statement of Outstanding Universal Value should include a summary of the Committee's determination that the property has Outstanding Universal Value, identifying the criteria under which the property was inscribed…[thus
providing] the basis for the future protection & management of the property. Feilden and Jokilehto (1998, p.18) suggest the consideration of cultural (including identity values, artistic values and rarity value) as well as contemporary socio-economic values (including economic, education and political values) in the statement. • Comprehensive Inventory & Area of the Nominated Property and Buffer Zone In addition to why a WHS should be managed, it is important to also mention exactly what is to be managed since only what is known and documented can also be safeguarded (Karpati 2008, p.35). Therefore, a complete inventory of all the assets that belong to the WHS must be included in any management plan. Especially in the case of historic centers and/or cultural
11 However, as UNESCO does not provide mandatory requirements concerning the elements that must be contained within management plans, these requirements reflect the subjective opinion of the author.
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 196 landscapes, a full listing of all the buildings/monuments must be produced. It is also necessary to provide details of the exact outlines of the WHS as well as the buffer zone (if applicable). • Action Plan for Conservative Measures In order to safeguard the objects included in the inventory, short, medium and long-term conservation goals should be mentioned in an action plan. For urban WHS, the appropriate form might require a detailed architectural or urban master plan. • Communication, Education & Awareness-Raising It is important for management plans to include strategies for the communication of the respective site. Furthermore, education and awareness raising should be another goal of the management plan. According to Article 27 of the World Heritage Convention (ibid, p.46), UNESCO clearly states that the State Parties must aim to improve the appreciation and respect of the WHS by the local population through appropriate means such as educational and information programs as well as keeping the public informed of the potential dangers to the heritage and what is being done to combat it. State parties thus need to work out specific strategies and programs for education and awareness raising in their management plans. • Visitor and Destination Management The inscription of a WHS often results in an increase in visitor numbers (Pedersen 2002, p.5), which might result in several negative effects including overcrowding, increased traffic and pollution, greater deterioration of built monuments and structures. In response, Orbasli (2000) poses questions concerning visitors to historic towns including How can the pressures of tourism be better managed?, How can the ‘special’ quality of a place be maintained? and How can tourism be a benefit to the built heritage? The answers to these questions are essential for the planning of visitor management strategies within the management plan. For tourism to not pose a threat to WHS but instead to enhance its qualities requires measures and strategies including infrastructure planning as well as the management of vehicular and pedestrian traffic, especially in sensitive/crowded areas. • Stakeholder Analysis and Conflict Avoidance/Resolution Before strategies can be developed that resolve or avoid conflicts, a thorough analysis of all the involved parties/stakeholders is required. Conflict avoidance/resolution strategies must include
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 197 an increased and active involvement of the stakeholders and the community e.g. in stakeholder audits prior to decisions concerning the WHS. While the avoidance of conflict should be the first priority, it is not possible to avoid all conflicts. When these do occur, appropriate conflict management strategies should be detailed in the management plan including mediators or independent bodies that constitute only in case of conflicts.
As part of his research, Karpati (2008) looked at a number of management plans including those of the Bamberg WHS, the Liverpool WHS as well as the Port Arthur Historic Site:
Bamberg, a town of 70.00 inhabitants, is located in the district of Upper Franconia in the state of Bavaria in Germany. The management plan for the Bamberg WHS was compiled in 2003 and updated in 2004. While the management plan was prepared voluntarily by the town authorities (since at that time, management plans were not obligatory for newly inscribed sites), the author does criticize its brevity. Compiled on a mere 12 pages in both English as well as German, it discusses over 30 topics including subheadings such as tourism, conservation, infrastructure, and residential aspects. Although many important aspects are touched upon, including special issues affecting the WHS, its meagre length does not leave much scope for an in-depth discussion of the individual topics. Furthermore, although a total of 12 objectives are mentioned for the WHS, no strategies or intended steps are given that would explain how these objectives (which themselves are very brief in nature) might be achieved (Karpati 2008, p.57).
The management plan for the Maritime Mercantile City Liverpool WHS, prepared according to the recommendations of Feilden and Jokilehto (1998), has a similar structure to the plans of Bath and Hadrian’s Wall, which also used the same guidelines (Karpati, 2008). The plan was finalized in December 2003 after a public consultation process and submitted to UNESCO’s WH Committee prior to the site’s inscription in 2004. The plan begins with a detailed introduction, offering the reader a comprehensive overview of the subject of WH as well as the legal implications related to the inscription of a site. This clearly shows that the management plan is aimed at not only the professionals and experts in the field but at the public. This, along with
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 198 the fact that the preparation of the management plan included a public consultation process, serves to fulfill the goal of education and awareness raising. Additionally, the plan does not shy away from incorporating dissonant aspects such as Liverpool’s role in slave trade (ibid).
Following the introduction, a historical overview of the WHS is provided together with a summary of significant monuments, along with maps and photographs. The inventory, however, is unfortunately not comprehensive (the list of all monuments needs to be collected from the respective heritage institutions within the municipality) but merely serves to give the reader a general understanding of the site. The Liverpool plan also provides a comprehensive list of stakeholders, especially the owners of significant properties and monuments in the WHS. Additionally, the legal status of the stakeholders in the WH area and their duties are provided along with a detailed list of protective measures and their implementation. This enables the site’s management to quickly and correctly identify the concerned stakeholders and legal instruments in the event of a question or possible conflict (ibid). Despite the plan lacking conflict resolution tools, including a comprehensive list of stakeholders with their legal standing is a step towards achieving that reality. Liverpool’s management plan is one of the most comprehensive (ibid). Not only does it focus on important topics such as visitor management and education & awareness raising, the public consultation process that accompanied the plan provides a good example of how to involve the community and other stakeholders in the development process. This results in increasing local identification with the WHS, thus creating a feeling of responsibility among the locals for their heritage. If the locals believe that their opinions are heard and regarded as important, their interest in the WHS and its development will also increase as a result (ibid).
Although the site is not a WHS and the plan not a management plan, the Port Arthur Historic Site Conservation Plan provides a good example as to how management plans might be structured. The plan was commissioned by the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority (or PAHSMA), the institution responsible for the management of the site and the plan itself is the legal instrument for the management of the site. This institutional basis provides the plan
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 199 the backing it needs in order to work properly and to be a usable instrument for the managers of the site. The historic site of Port Arthur is situated in the south-eastern part of Tasmania, an island south of the Australian mainland. Port Arthur has a highly controversial and dissonant past, as it was the site of a convict camp in 1830 after the Aboriginal inhabitants were nearly exterminated by the colonialist rulers. Until 1877, the site was used as a convict settlement, where prisoners were punished with hard labor. The site thus represents a multilayered dissonant history and this is expressed clearly and honestly in its Statement of Significance (Karpati, 2008), which is extremely rare for any heritage site and can serve as an example to the other WHS.
Port Arthur Conservation Plan Derived Plan
PORT ARTHUR HISTORIC SITE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY Primary Plans MANAGEMENT PLAN
CONSERVATION PLAN VOL 1 + 2 BUSINESS PLAN
Secondary Plans
Tertiary Plan
Figure 3: Port Arthur Conservation Plan Derived Plan (adapted from the Port Arthur Conservation Plan, Vol. 2, p.183 in Karpati 2008, p.82)
However, what is truly unique about the Port Arthur Conservation Plan is its structure – it is a comprehensive and complex compendium of several texts that together form a single management document. In addition to being divided into two sections (conservation plan and
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 200 business plan), the plan is also split into three levels or tiers (primary, secondary and tertiary). The primary plan discusses the significance of the site and its values and sets out strategies for management. The issues discussed in it are done so in detail without going into too much depth at this stage, thus making the primary plan a document that is comprehensive without becoming too complex. In addition to the primary plans, it also includes secondary plans – supported by tertiary plans – that deal with more specific objectives in order to achieve the main (conservation) aims set out in the primary plan (ibid). The secondary plans are prepared according to themes identified within the Primary Plan including landscape, archaeology and interpretation. Using interpretation as an example, it can be said that the secondary plan “revisits the historic values and broad interpretation policies of the [Primary] Conservation Plan and produces a detailed plan of action that flows out of stated interpretation philosophy and strategies…to a level of specificity” (ibid, p.83).
The main advantage of having multilayered plans are the flexibility they offer. The preparation of the secondary and tertiary documents need not take place at the same time as the primary plan. At the time of submission, a prospective WHS only needs to submit a primary plan where the aims and goals are described in general. This places far less pressure on prospective State Parties to prepare a perfect management plan and consider all eventualities. Once the site has been accepted onto the WH List, the State Party then has more time (and space) to prepare secondary and tertiary plans that can go into greater depth and detail, including specific actions and tasks required to achieve the broad goals and strategies set out in the primary plan. In order to ensure that these sub-plans are created in a timely manner, the primary plan could include a time frame, setting out clearly when the sub-plans would need to be completed. This system of submitting a (basic) primary plan as a holistic guiding document followed by sub- documents at later stages, would enable WHS management authorities to be more flexible and thorough with their work and allow them to concentrate on the relevant, most urgent issues at the time of submission, leaving other less urgent/important issues to be dealt with at a later date in a secondary or tertiary plan (Karpati, 2008). Such a plan would certainly be one of the most exhaustive documents available in heritage site management. Together with its secondary
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 201 and tertiary plans (once, they are all prepared), it becomes a comprehensive plan that provides a strong basis for decision-making. The one criticism of the Port Arthur Conservation Plan, that “of giving seemingly undiluted primacy to conservation (over tourism and economic concerns)” (ibid, p.85), can easily be corrected using the same structure by simply adding sections in the primary as well as secondary/tertiary sections that balance out the focus on conservation and tourism/visitor management equally.
Another vital focus of any management plan should be its legal standing and the role that it plays in conflict resolution/avoidance. If sufficient conflict resolution strategies are provided in the management plan, the need for the WH Committee to intervene in possible conflict situation will decrease, as disputes can be prevented even before they emerge (ibid, p.99). Again, the Port Arthur plan provides a best practice example. Its policies and strategies are implemented into a legal framework that gives real decision-making authority to the management of the site, the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority. It is equipped with an advisory body that is independent from the local or regional government, reports directly to the State Government and has a legal standing that is crucial to ensure the effective enactment of the principles set out in the management plan (Karpati, 2008). In the case of the Bamberg WHS, a development project ‘City Passage’ caused great conflict. A proposed retail complex within the WH area of the historic city (with sales floor space of 15.000 m2 and an underground car park) planned to incorporate several blocks of buildings with heritage significance. The manner in which the historic buildings were to be incorporated into the designs were not considered appropriate by some relevant stakeholders. Although the city council of Bamberg had set up an advisory board for city planning issues in 2001 and it even gave recommendations regarding the ‘City Passage’, these recommendations were not accepted by all parties, thus delaying a final decision on the case. In order to prevent conflicts, the appointment of an independent, interdisciplinary advisory body for conflict resolution as in the case of Bamberg might seem to be an effective solution. However, unless this advisory body is given decisive power within a legal framework, the recommendations will not be binding, and the conflicts will not be resolved (ibid, p.62).
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In order to resolve conflicts or even prevent them from escalating in the first place, a functioning advisory body whose decisions are accepted and followed by all stakeholders is thus crucial. Its decisions must not only be accepted by the local stakeholders but also by the WH Committee. For this to take place, the Committee must be informed about existence of such a body and the advisory body must also follow the standards set out in the Operational Guidelines. If the WH Committee accepts the local body and gives it the necessary authority to take binding decisions, its decisions must be accepted unlike in the case of Bamberg. Furthermore, the existence of a functioning advisory body at the local level removes the need for the WH Centre to react to every complaint regarding WHS. By referring the parties to this body, the WH Centre relieves itself from the mass of bureaucracy and is free to focus on issues of greater relevance. This would also be a demonstrative act of giving more responsibility to the States Parties, especially since UNESCO is often criticized of interfering too much in matters of national concern (ibid, p.63).
It is thus of critical importance that UNESCO, as the body responsible for the WHS, clearly sets out minimum guidelines or standards for the preparation of management plans. These could be issued in the form of guiding principles, which could function as an underlying philosophy. An example of such a structure has been provided in this dissertation, offering both guidance as well as maximum flexibility in its structure. The Port Arthur Conservation Plan with its sub- documents can function as best practice for future management plans at WHS worldwide. Its (flexible) structure of developing a primary document that sets out the philosophy/strategy of the WHS as well as developing overarching policies, followed by detailed sub-documents that have specific policies and action plans, makes it suitable for nearly every type of WHS (ibid, p.93).
As seen above, a management plan should not only focus only on conservation and protection but also on the usage/interpretation/communication of the WHS in a sustainable manner (Noelle, 2010). UNESCO (2004) suggests that a dynamic planning process be used that ensures
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 203 the various tourism related activities are linked to a broader strategic tourism plan. Any strategic planning approach must also include a long- term perspective, a clear vision, the participation of as well as the communication and cooperation between all the stakeholders to ensure sustainable tourism development while avoiding over-use of the WHS. “Over-use is often accompanied by uneven spatial distribution of tourists, leading to crowding and site deterioration in some areas, with other areas of sites experiencing little or no visitors” (Du Cros and McKercher 2015, p.38). The authors cite their own observations during visits to Pompeii, Teotihuacan and Angkor Wat WHS to demonstrate this challenge. The challenge lies in the extreme popularity of a few iconic attractions and major tour routes among tourist visitors, while the remaining attractions and back streets are less popular and often remain totally empty. Thus, the shifting of demand from higher density to lower density areas forms a significant management challenge, especially since tourist visitors naturally prefer to visit icon sites and attractions instead of the lesser known ones. The authors cite the example of the UNESCO WHS of the Historic Centre of Macau that includes St Paul’s ruins which suffers from overcrowding on a daily basis, while the adjacent visitor centre and city museum attract less than 10% of the visitors. Du Cros and McKercher believe that communication activities might be an effective means of motivating tourists to move from more popular to less popular attractions, especially if they are close to one another.
The UNESCO WH List includes some of the world’s most exceptional attractions monuments (ICOMOS, 1993) and these WHS are tourist magnets for tourist promoters while also serving as symbols that continue to influence the values of the countries where they are located. This ‘hit list of superlatives’ (Assmann 2014, p.22), similar to the legendary seven wonders of the world, mobilizes local pride while at the same time being connected to a universalist perspective that considers all WHS as the ‘property’ of a universal human family. Local and national cultural heritage is thus entered into a comprehensive human memory and a commitment is made to ensure its survival in the future. ICOMOS (1993) believes that a tourism strategy that promotes WHS yet follows sustainable guidelines is required which would not only help conserve the sites for future generations but also permit access for and appreciation from the current generation.
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ICOMOS posts that the WH Convention requires nations to not only protect and conserve WHS but to also ensure that they play a key role in the life of the local population. Rather than keeping these treasures locked up, they must be integrated instead into the fabric of local life (ibid). It believes that finding an equilibrium between usage and conservation is a key task that WH site management must perform: conserving the site in their care while at the same time, providing access to as many visitors as the WHS can ‘carry’. After conservationists have finished defining the carrying capacity of a WHS, tourism professionals can then help to attract visitors, thus generating income for the continued protection, conservation interpretation and maintenance of the WHS. To successfully achieve this, WHS managers must work closely with professionals from the fields of tourism, planning and community development.
If tourism destinations are to ensure a sustainable future for themselves, they must move away from the ‘boosterism’ model of tourism communication where destinations are “promoted and marketing blindly without regard for the negative social, environmental and economic consequences” (Timothy 2011, p. 263). Sustainable heritage tourism must be “fitted into its environmental and sociocultural context, which implies the need to take into account the social structure as a whole, with all its complexity” (Franquesa and Morell 2011, p. 173). Southall and Robinson (2011, p. 178) also raise the concept of ‘socio-cultural sustainability’ and call for a “balanced approach to financial, environmental and socio-cultural sustainability”. “While a plethora of social scientists have spent decades dealing with social issues of tourism, there is very little evidence to suggest that cultural sustainability in the form of harmonious relationships between host communities, especially in the poorer parts of the world, tourists and the supplying tourism business sectors has gained the same level of importance as the physical environment” (Burns 2006, p.13).
“Sustainable development is an aim to achieve, an ideal to reach, and is therefore useful for establishing policies, principles, criteria and guidelines” (Franquesa and Morell 2011, p. 172). Although particular forms of tourism, such as cultural and heritage tourism, are considered sustainable by some, others argue that even heritage tourism has become so mass driven that
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 205 this new mass ‘heritage tourism’ goes against the goals of sustainable tourism development (Timothy, 2011). In 2011, UNESCO began developing a new World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Programme with the aim of creating “an international framework for the cooperative and coordinated achievement of shared and sustainable outcomes related to tourism” at WHS (UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2013). The WH and Sustainable Tourism Programme uses a new approach that is based on dialogue and cooperation between stakeholders at the destination level (ibid).
Magnussen & Visser (2003 cited in Timothy and Davis 2008, p.329) concur, stating that sustainable (tourism) development at the WHS require: • all stakeholders in the region to be consulted and to work together to establish and develop the WHS. For this, open lines of communication must be maintained • a management plan, that ensures the involvement of all stakeholders, to be developed Heritage Management offers an excellent application field for the (new) research & management paradigm of Good Governance. Developed from macroeconomic strategic management, it uses an approach to complex problems/challenges that includes effects and interactions, explores possibilities for action and tries to improve the performance of a system through coordinated efforts and dialogue between all the stakeholders (Luger, 2008).
According to Middleton and Hawkins (1998), an effective partnership between public and private stakeholders is a prerequisite to achieving sustainability in a tourism destination with a strategic use of communication essential for its implementation (Austin and Pinkleton 2006 cited in Luger 2008, p.27). Instead of focusing on the relatively narrow and short-term goal of profit maximization, tourism marketing can become a real tool for sustainable development. According to this definition of marketing, developed together with the concept of Good Governance, a new paradigm has emerged that aims to balance the economic interests of (tourism) businesses, satisfaction of customer interests and social objectives and is known as social/societal marketing. "Societal marketing includes the wider interests of all stakeholders
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 206 ranging from investors and shareholders to staff and residents of local communities” (Middleton and Hawkins 1998, p. 119).
Criticizing that the interests of the local population in particular are ignored in international tourism, Ponne et al. (2008) cite the Asia – Pacific region as an example of the great inequalities that exist. Although at a macro level, visitor arrivals to the Asia-Pacific region have increased drastically (from 56 million in 1990 to over 145 million in 2004) and tourism revenues have more than doubled (from $ 46 trillion to over $ 127 trillion), at a micro level the financial benefits rarely trickle down to the local stakeholders. The authors posit that a cost - benefit analysis that weighed tourism incomes against the environmental and social effects of tourism would show a negative result. Thus, they conclude that the vast potential of tourism to alleviate poverty has not yet been fully exhausted. In addition to conserving cultural heritage for the future, development needs to focus on the pro-poor benefits that tourism could bring. Instead of merely focussing on ensuring that tourism does not negatively impact the local community, it is important to develop tourism such that it actively improves the local community’s social and economic well-being. To do so requires a paradigm shift in the tourism industry from top-down development models (dominated by large external firms) to a more community-based approach, focusing more on local revenue capture and investment, local skills building and job creation as well as increased local involvement in decision making. This leads to a new form of heritage tourism, known as community-based heritage tourism (CBHT), which places a dual emphasis on heritage protection and local development (Ponne et al., 2008).
As a best practice example of CBHT, Gujadhur and Rogers (2008) cite the example of the WHS of Luang Prabang's tourism industry where strong local ownership is a key characteristic. The large majority of tourism businesses are locally-owned and operated. Of the 155 guesthouses, only one is a foreign partnership (since local regulations do not allow 100% foreign-owned guesthouses) and only two hotels are fully foreign-owned with the rest either totally or partially owned by locals. The growth in guesthouse and restaurant firms has been fuelled by locals entering the tourism marketplace via small and medium size enterprises. This has been
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 207 accompanied by protectionist measures by the government e.g. minimum foreign investment is pegged at US $ 100,000 and until recently, it was prohibited for foreigners to own land. However, there is increasing concern as many buildings within the heritage zone are being rented/sold to foreign investors e.g. large hotel groups have purchased large pieces of land and a 27-hole golf course has been approved. In the future, it will become increasingly important for authorities to make a specific effort to protect local interests. Another worrying change for local businesses is that as the average daily expenditure of tourists in Luang Prabang increases and new (foreign-owned) properties begin to target upmarket tourists, this might result in a higher-spending but possibly less adventurous type of guest. Higher-end tourists are likelier to purchase imported goods and services and at the same time less likely to utilize local transport, eat local market food or travel to rural areas, thus reducing the percentage of their tourist dollars (or Lao kip, as the case maybe) that will flow into the local economy when compared to low or mid-market tourists. However, it is too early to judge the effect of more affluent tourists on local businesses and it remains to be seen how a change in visitor patterns from low-end to high-end tourism will affect the local economy (ibid).
The successful implementation of CBHT requires a structured interaction between different stakeholders involved in tourism and heritage, workable solutions to ensure common ground between the stakeholders as well as mechanisms to facilitate sustainable cultural tourism that benefits all stakeholders. To develop and implement the required tourism development policies at WHS in the Asia-Pacific region, UNESCO Bangkok has been working on a bottom-up, community-based approach that included a pilot project, undertaken together with the Norwegian Government between 1999 and 2003. This project resulted in a toolkit of best practices including fiscal management and investment, community education and conflict resolution as well as the "Cultural Heritage Management and Tourism: Models for Cooperation among Stakeholders' (Ponne et al., 2008). Better known as the 'Lijiang Models' (ibid) they include a model for fiscal management of heritage conservation/maintenance and development (that addresses revenue shortages despite increasing tourism revenues by evaluating current revenue generation methods and identifying new methods), a model for re-
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 208 investment by the tourism industry in cultural heritage (highlighting the importance of the tourism industry in helping to sustain cultural heritage), a model for community education and skills training leading to employment in heritage conservation/cultural tourism (by first identifying the various groups of stakeholders and then determining their short and long term training and education needs) as well as a model for consensus-building among various tourism stakeholders such as tourism operators, the public sector and the local community (by developing a platform for multi-stakeholder participation in the formulation of a heritage and tourism vision as well as its design and implementation).
Together, these four models offer a comprehensive framework for the sustainable conservation and development of WHS. Several WHS have benefited from the multi-stakeholder approach of the 'Lijiang Models' including Lijiang, China; Levuka, Fiji; Luang Prabang, Lao PDR; Melaka, Malaysia; Bhaktapur, Nepal and Hoi An, Viet Nam, demonstrating that sustainably managed tourism can have a tangible effect on poverty reduction. In Melaka the project resulted in direct/indirect employment opportunities in tourism and heritage conservation, in Bhaktapur there was an increase in employment opportunities for local tour guides as well as for skilled workers in conservation and Hoi An saw a significant increase in local revenue capture from tourism through a clear method of revenue sharing with the local communities (ibid).
According to Luger and Wöhler (2008), (the involvement of) the local population is highly important for sustainable WH tourism, since it is the inhabitants of the region that are ultimately the custodians/guardians/owners of the WHS. “The keystone of sustainable development is the participation of the local community in the decision-making process” (Camargo 2011, p. 239). Camargo believes that poor communication causes the cultural heritage of a destination to be misunderstood by the local community, making them feel that the cultural heritage does not belong to them and resulting in them not playing an active role in its conservation or communication. The involvement of the local population in the decision-making process must take place in a structured and sustainable manner. Till date, a narrow focus on enforcement/regulation by the authorities has neither resulted in making the local population
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 209 better appreciate their cultural resources nor encouraging their active participation in heritage management and development. The lack of communication has resulted in locals remaining unaware about the importance of heritage conservation. Although WH status requires the participation of the local population in maintaining their heritage for the benefit of others, this often makes sense to them only if placed in the context of tourism. Increased tourism has resulted in recognizable benefits such as new jobs, business opportunities etc. i.e. tourism- induced economic benefits have become major incentives for the locals to conserve and manage their heritage. Paradoxically, the increase in tourism demand has also contributed to the erosion of the same heritage it depends upon so greatly (Gujadhur and Rogers, 2008).
Southall and Robinson (2011) stress the importance of finding a balance between too little tourism and too much tourism. Too little tourism results in the under-utilization of heritage resources and of the potential of heritage sites to be used as a tool for education. On the other hand, too much tourism can result in over-use, over-crowding and poor quality education that will quickly take a toll on the physical aspects of the heritage site. Visits to the UNESCO WHS must not just result in the ‘consumption’ of the heritage site. Instead, as the ICOMOS World Report (Heuter 2004 in Richter, 2010) suggests, visitors to cultural heritage monuments should be taught to not merely consume but instead to make a vital contribution to the protection/preservation of the WHS. For this to take place, there must be an understanding, from a school level itself, of the need for restrictions on visits to highly frequented WHS. Visitor management techniques, for example, could be used to reduce wear and tear and conserve the heritage site for future generations. Thus, UNESCO must aim achieve a fine balance between the protection of the WHS (the overarching goal of the WH Convention) and tourism as a development factor through a close cooperation between societal stakeholders, environmental agencies, businesses and governance.
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3.6.7 Cooperation in Heritage Tourism Communication
“[Cooperation must take place] at all levels and between all levels; between the people and the managers, between visitors and the community, between members of a partnership, between regional and local authorities, between neighbouring towns and villages. Action planning for example depends directly on communication among all the parties involved. Formal structures need to be established and informal opportunities created for better communication. Active and influential partnerships and networks are effective platforms for communication” (Orbasli 2000, p. 148).
The Lübeck Declaration of the German UNESCO Commission (2007 in Stroeter-Bender and Wiegelmann-Bals, 2010a) explicitly welcomed the opportunity to cooperate and exchange information/ideas/best practice examples of WH at both the national as well as the international level. It also calls for communication and cooperation between WH stakeholders and partners in Europe and beyond to further improve. The Declaration believes that regular and well- coordinated dialogue and knowledge-sharing is crucial for the fulfilment of the WH Convention mandate. Anholt (2011) warns that instead of focussing on their own geographic boundaries, destinations must participate in the ‘global conversation’ taking place. Ringbeck (2009) concurs, stating that communication efforts at a WHS can only be truly successful if networking between WHS amongst themselves as well as with other institutions in the context of the WH program.
At a 1995 ICOMOS Conference, Sir Angus Stirling, Director of the English National Trust, further emphasized the importance of partnerships by observing that “Experience shows that little can be achieved without partnership”, while at the same time calling for “better and widespread exchange of information and good practice, and results of experimentation” (Stirling 1995, p. 16 cited in ibid, p. 148). Orbasli (ibid) believes that small heritage organisations are especially reliant on partnerships in order to survive and function effectively. Historic cities also have access to a wide number of possible partnerships including the English Historic Town Forum and the Walled Towns Friendship Circle for European towns as well as the ICOMOS Historic
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Towns and Villages Committee and the World Heritage Cities Organisation for towns worldwide. These partnerships enable the sharing and communicating of important information including visitor numbers and visitor profile research.
Cooperation gains a particular importance with the inclusion of cultural heritage on the WH List. Once they are awarded with the WH designation, states (must) automatically place their cultural heritage in the universal context of the history of all mankind, dispensing from this point on with a purely national use of their heritage. It is this partial surrender of sovereignty that forms the cultural-political core of the WH idea (Bernecker, 2009). WHS are never isolated. Rather, they are related in both a narrower (i.e. national) as well as broader (i.e. global) context. At each of the UNESCO WHS, there is a piece of universal culture is to be found that is both unique to the site itself yet with connections to other WHS worldwide. Indeed, UNESCO believes cultures are no longer understood as islands clearly demarcated from one another, but instead in a much broader definition as a globally interlaced system, whose historical and contemporary relations exist in a transnational context (Stroeter-Bender, 2010).
This also raises the questions of ‘Whose heritage?’ i.e. to whom e.g. does the Museum Island in Berlin or the Cathedral in Cologne really belong? or whether members of other cultures living in a country are responsible for the preservation of its heritage? If one considers that over 50% of the residents in the center of Paris are migrants from Africa, then this fact has great importance for the conservation of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, for example, since it was not built by the ancestors of these cultural/religious groups (Stroeter-Bender and Wiegelmann- Balls, 2010a). Questions such as these affect the discourse that surround WHS. According to Bender (2010), the basic idea(l) of World Heritage is that we, irrespective of where we are based, should consider ourselves responsible for one another. Accordingly, WH in one country should be so close to the hearts of people from other countries and vice versa that we make sure it is our concern/responsibility that good care is being taken care of it. According to the author, the WH concept requires greater solidarity among member states to preserve what is after all ‘our common heritage’ (ibid).
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4. Context: Case Study Analysis of the UNESCO WHS of Goa
4.1 Introduction
Situated between the Arabia Sea and the Western Ghats, Goa is situated on a narrow strip of land in the Indian peninsula. Although famous for its “white sandy seashores…beautiful landscapes dotted with palm trees…Exotic sun-kissed beaches along a crystal clear sea, sparkle like a trove of diamonds under the magic of the smiling sun” (Goa Tourism 2011, pp 1-2), it has a lot more to offer the tourist visitor than its its world-famous beaches. “Goa has it all, sun, sand and sea…[yet] incredibly rich in monuments and historical sites…a unique blend of Latin and Oriental…its uniqueness lies in the fact that whilst creating a delicate synthesis of various cultures, it has retained its inherent soul…Goa owes its dominant Christian influences to almost four decades of Portuguese rule…The ensuing Portuguese influences produced a blend of East and West, which is exotic and distinct” (India Tourism 2012, p.1). Goa was colonized by the Portuguese, awaiting "it’s colonised turn with the arrival of Vasco de Gama (1498)” (Shohat 1997, p.91) and the “impact of 450 years of Portuguese colonial rule is apparent in every aspect of Goan life – in the food and dress, in the houses painted in gay colours and in the joie de vivre of the people” (Mitra 2001, p.143). Even today, the Goan lifestyle retains a distinctive Southern European flair, forming a unique blend of East and West. Modern- day Goan culture is a mix of the numerous civilizations that it came in touch with (Goa Tourism, 2011). Examples include the traditional Goan folk dance that reflects Goa’s “rich historical and cultural legacy …a unique amalgamation of different cultures” (ibid, p.8) or the Goa Carnival that is held for three days and nights in February. A remainder of the (colonial) Portuguese era, it causes the streets of Goa to come alive with lively processions, floats, dances and non-stop festivity. Although mainly a Catholic festival, it has also absorbed Hindu traditions and attracts
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 213 members of all faiths and cultures (Goa Tourism, 2011). Goan cuisine is also a fusion of various cultural influences. The Portuguese, through their trading routes, brought to Goa a number of fruits and vegetables never seen before by the locals e.g. potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, aubergine, cashew nuts and chilli (pimento). Indeed, Pork Vindaloo, one of the most popular dishes in Goa today, was the result of the fusion of Portuguese and Goan cuisine (ibid).
“Gently-swaying palms…stretches of smooth, golden sand…the rhythmic crashing of frothy waves. This is what lures tourists to Goa and few of them venture beyond the beaches. But take a drive through the less popular interiors of Goa and experience its unique colonial heritage” (Mitra 2001, p.143). If one is to discover the other side of Goa, one must venture beyond the palm-fringed beaches of Goa in order to explore the most enduring landmarks of this heritage. Old Goa, for example, offers the visitor a number of “gleaming whitewashed churches with Portuguese-style facades” (Menon 1993, p. 57) dating from the 16th century onwards with architectural styles such as Classical or Baroque reflected in its construction (Rajagopalan, 2004). These magnificent churches remain “witnesses to the intense religious history of the land” and “reveal the rich religious heritage of Goa” (India Tourism 2012, p.1).
4.2 History
Indeed, Goa boasts of a rich cultural heritage as well as a long history. According to legend, Goa was reclaimed by the legendary Parushuram, the sixth incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu. Although inhabited by prehistoric man from the early Stone Age, the official history of Goa begins in the third century B.C. when it formed part of the Mauryan Empire. Later, it was ruled by different dynasties including the Bhojas, the Silaharas and the Kadambas. The Bahmani dynasty conquered Goa in 1472, shifting its capital from the banks of the river Zuari to the banks of the river Mandovi in Ela (present Old Goa). Power passed on from the Bahmanis to the Adilshahis, the Muslim rulers of Bijapur in 1490. Yusuf Adilshahi developed the port at Old Goa, which soon became a key port for trade, with many international ships docking there. Such
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 214 were the riches of Old Goa that Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese traveller who visited Goa around 1500 AD praised the city as being “inhabited by many moors, respectable men, foreigners, rich merchants, other gentlemen, cultivators and other men at arms” (Archaeological Survey of India Goa 2012b, p.1). Barbosa also noted with admiration the lofty edifices and beautiful architecture, surrounded by fort walls and towers including the awe-inspiring palace of Adilshah (Rajagopalan, 2004), that was later used by the Portuguese as their seat of governance.
The Portuguese had established a trading station at Fort Cochin shortly after Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut in 1498. However, the opposition from the Zamorin of Calicut along with the competition in trade from the Arabs forced the Portuguese to search for another permanent base from which to control their maritime interests. Goa, with its natural harbours and navigable rivers was the perfect solution (Rajagopalan, 2004). In 1510, the Portuguese Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa by defeating Ismail Adilshah, the Muslim Sultan of Goa. Goa remained a Portuguese colony for a total of 451 years and 25 days. However, during that period Goa changed geographically (Afonso 2008, p.ii). At the time of its conquest by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510, Goa only consisted of the island of Tiswadi (‘Ilha de Goa’). Over the years it increased to include the adjoining islands as well as the nearby districts of Bardez, Salcete and Mormugao (the so-called ‘Old Conquests’), followed by the addition of the districts of Pernem, Ponda, Sanguem, Quepem & Canacona (‘New Conquests’) (ibid).
After the conquest of Goa in 1510, the Portuguese slowly began filling the land with churches and convents. The different religious orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians and Carmelites) built a number of chapels, churches, convents, monasteries and a Cathedral of “unsurpassed architectural beauty” (Archaeological Survey of India Goa 2012b, p.1) in Old Goa, the new capital of the Portuguese. The styles of art and architecture prevalent in Europe at that time influenced the monuments of Goa, often in combination with local architectural influences. Although the architects were foreigners, the artisans that built these churches were local, often from other religions. This resulted in a unique blend of Eastern and Western architecture that transcended religious boundaries. Evidence such as the floral decorations on the interior walls
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 215 of churches such as the Church of St. Francis of Assisi that resemble the Hindu Bijapur style or the traces of Islamic art on the walls (Rajagopalan, 2004) could be seen across Old Goa.
Old Goa (or Goa Velha) functioned as the de facto capital of the vast empire of the Portuguese in Asia, receiving the same civic privileges as its capital Lisbon. It was often referred to by travellers as Goa Dourada or Golden Goa (Mitra 2001, p.144) for good reason. The Rua Direita or High Street was the main thoroughfare of the city and was lined on both sides with stately buildings where bankers, jewellers and other traders of different countries carried out their business. Other buildings included the Royal Tobacco Depot, Customs House, the Royal Hospital, the Aljube or Archbishop’s prison, the mint and the gun foundry. Towards the end of the 16th century, Goa was a flourishing city state, in tune with the rapid growth of Portuguese power in Asia. However, the rise of the Dutch, French and the British as alternative trading powers caused economic conditions in Portuguese Goa to deteriorate, since the Portuguese were unable to maintain the splendour of Goa any longer. The locals suffered greatly from lack of provisions which, together with terrible malaria and cholera epidemics and the subsequent decline of commerce, reduced the city to ruins once the capital was shifted to Panjim (ibid).
Unfortunately, all that remains of Old Goa today are a few major historical monuments while the rest have either been razed to the ground or destroyed by the ravages of time. Looking at the overgrown jungle that covers most of Old Goa today, it is difficult for the tourist visitor to visualize the ancient grandeur of this city with its grand houses, crowded bazaars and elegant shops that once stood here (Mitra, 2001). All that now remains are a few churches, convents and monasteries, protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (Rajagopalan, 2004).
4.3 UNESCO WHS of Goa
These few churches, convents and monasteries form the ‘Churches and Convents of Goa’, as the UNESCO WHS of Goa is officially known. The nomination file of the “Churches and Convents
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 216 of Goa” was submitted in October 1982 by the Government of India12. In its recommendation report, ICOMOS (1982, p.3) stated that the “churches and convents of Goa are an outstanding example of an architectural ensemble which illustrates the work of missionaries in Asia”. However, following the recommendations of its Bureau13, the file was deferred by the World Heritage Committee14 in 1983 until it received more information15. The file was examined again in 1986 with the Bureau recommending the inscription16 and, as a result, the Committee inscribed the site in 1986 (UNESCO, 1986; WH-Info 2017, personal communication, 8 January). The Churches and Convents of Goa’ are located at Old Goa, 10 km to the east of Panaji (the present-day capital of Goa) on the National Highway NH-4A and connected to the capital via road and bus services. Compared to the hustle and bustle of the capital, Old Goa is a ‘quiet and charming place’ (Rajagopalan 2004, p.4). Apart from the churches and convents at the UNESCO WHS and the related tourist infrastructure such as souvenir shops and refreshment stalls, there are only a few residential buildings/offices/dwellings. As a result, Old Goa is only frequented by tourists or locals with the express purpose of visiting the UNESCO WHS unlike other WHS that also attracts locals who either live/work there.
The centrepiece of the Goa WHS is the Basilica of Bom Jesus. Dedicated to the Infant (Bom) Jesus, the Basilica is “famous throughout the Roman Catholic world” (India Tourism 2012, p.1).
12 A detailed description of the process for nominations can be found online on the UNESCO website available at http://whc.unesco.org/en/nominations/ [Accessed on 20 October 2017]
13 Refer to p.9 of the pdf report available at http://whc.unesco.org/archive/1983/clt-83-conf021-8e.pdf) [Accessed on 20 October 2017]
14 The WH Committee, responsible for the implementation of the WH Convention, consists of 21 elected members and has the final say on whether a property is inscribed on the WH List or not. It can also defer its decision and/or request further information from the State Parties (Karpati 2008).
15 Refer to p.10 of the pdf report available at http://whc.unesco.org/archive/1983/sc-83-conf009-8e.pdf) [Accessed on 20 October 2017]
16 Refer to p.4 of the pdf report available at http://whc.unesco.org/archive/1986/cc-86-conf001-11e.pdf) [Accessed on 20 October 2017]
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The construction of the Basilica took place from 1594 to 1605 and includes a richly gilded main altar with the statue of the Infant Jesus as well as a statue of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Order of the Jesuits. The Basilica also houses the remains of St. Francis Xavier (ibid). Commissioned in 1665 by the Duke of Tuscany and completed in Florence, it includes fine bronze work by the Italian sculptor Giovanni Battista Foggini (ICOMOS 1982). The rich silver casket containing the body of St. Francis Xavier was wrought by a Goan silversmith in 1636/37 (Archaeological Survey of India Goa 2012b, p.1). In addition to its fine artistic quality, the “tomb of the apostle of India and Japan symbolizes an event of universal significance: the influence of the Catholic religion in the Asian world in the modern period” (ICOMOS ibid, p.3).
Every year on December 3rd, the death anniversary of St. Francis Xavier, thousands of pilgrims and tourists flock to Old Goa to pay homage to the saint affectionately known as Goencho Saiba or Lord of Goa. Born in 1506 to an aristocratic family in Spain, Francis Xavier went to Paris to join the priesthood where he met Ignatius Loyola. When Ignatius was ordained in 1534, he set up the Society of Jesus and made Francis a member. At the time, the Royal court in Lisbon was receiving regular complaints of the debauchery rampant among the Portuguese expatriates in Goa. The King turned to the Jesuits and in 1541, Francis Xavier was sent to Goa to save these souls. Within months of landing in Goa, Francis founded a number of schools and churches and he worked tirelessly over the next few years. In 1552, on his way to China, he contracted dysentery on board the ship and passed away and his body was buried on a nearby island. When it was exhumed a few months later, it was found to be in a perfect state of preservation. Believing it to be a miracle, his body was brought to Goa in 1554 where it was laid to rest. Today, the sacred relics of the Saint are carried from the Basilica of Bom Jesus in procession to the Se Cathedral for an exposition that takes place once a decade (Mitra 2001, p.150). Macleod (2010) posits that international icons such as St Francis Xavier can be used to create a memorable and strong destination image while helping the destination in the promotion and communication of its (colonial) cultural heritage.
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Other significant monuments of (colonial) cultural heritage at the Goa WHS include the Se Cathedral and the Chapel of St. Francis Xavier. The Se Cathedral is the “largest church in Goa, India and reportedly all Asia” (India Tourism 2012, p.1) as well as the seat of the Goan Archdiocese. The original Cathedral, built in 1510, was dedicated to St. Catherine since it was on Nov 25th - St. Catherine’s day – that Afonso de Albuquerque managed to conquer Goa. The construction of the present Cathedral took place from 1562 to 1652. Dom Francisco Coutinho, the Portuguese Viceroy who commissioned its construction, wanted it to be “a grandiose church worthy of the wealth, power and fame of the Portuguese who dominated the seas from the Atlantic to the Pacific” (ibid). The Churches of Old Goa such as the Se Cathedral thus served an additional evangelical purpose i.e. the intent to awe the local population into converting as well as to convince them of the superiority of the new religion. As a result, the facades were made lofty and tall and the interiors magnificent (Mitra 2001, p.146). In addition, the Baroque style with its ornamentation and gilded work was also used to create the necessary reverence in the minds of the new converts for whom these churches were built (Rajagopalan, 2004).
Architecturally, Portuguese – Gothic in style, the exterior of the Se Cathedral is Tuscan while the interior is Corinthian. It also has square towers flanking the 30m high façade with one of the towers housing a 17th century bell, the largest bell in Asia. This bell has a rather dissonant past as its tolling, during the Goan Inquisition, represented the begin of the terrifying auto da fe or Acts of Faith, as suspected heretics were dragged out of the Palace of the Inquisition’s dungeons across the square to meet their fate. The relics of the so called ‘Martyrs of Cuncolim’, who were killed while attempting to convert the court of the Muslim Emperor Akbar can also be found at the Se Cathedral (Mitra 2001, p.146).
Situated next to the Se Cathedral in the abandoned convent of St. Francis of Assisi is the Archaeological Museum at Old Goa (Archaeological Survey of India Goa, 2012a). The museum’s collection consists of both sculptures and stones from the early and medieval periods as well as portraits of Governors and Viceroys, wooden and bronze sculptures and armoury from the period of Portuguese rule. A 3m high bronze statue of Afonso de Albuquerque greets visits at
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 219 the main entrance while in the visitor’s lobby, maps showing the sea routes of the early Portuguese explorers, other ASI museums in India as well as a current map of Goa can be seen. Other important exhibits on display include historic drawings of Old Goa in 1509 and some photographs of centrally protected monuments in Goa. In the main or ‘key gallery’ (as it is known), visitors can learn about Goa’s history in the form of an open book placed on a pedestal. The primary attraction of the main gallery is the imposing nearly 4m high bronze statue of Luiz Vaz de Camoes, the national poet and a national icon of Portugal.
In a unique display of intercultural and interreligious tolerance, the showcase in the center of the hall is divided into two halves with one half being used to display Hindu gods and goddesses (highlighting Goa’s rich Hindu heritage) while the other half is dedicated to Christian wood and ivory objects from the Portuguese Catholic rule. In the galleries on the first floor, portrait paintings of the Governors and Viceroys are displayed along with a complete list of Portuguese Governors and Viceroys of Goa from 1505AD – 1961AD, painted by local (usually Hindu) artisans. The Museum also houses a counter for sale and display of guidebooks published by the ASI to showcase WHS in India (Rajagopalan, 2004) which is unfortunately hidden away under a staircase and therefore not very visible to all tourist visitors. The museum also offers a video show on WHS/Monuments as well as an audio tour of the museum. The museum itself is open from 9 AM to 5 PM and is closed on Fridays. Entry Fee for Indians is a very reasonable INR 10 (the equivalent of ca. EUR 0.10) while the Entry Fee for foreign tourists is USD 5 or INR 250. Entry for children below 15 years of age is free (ibid).
Another well-known monument, the Church of Our Lady of Grace, popularly known as St. Augustine Church (1602) is situated on Holy Hill. The Augustinian Order established their convent in 1572 and built what was then the largest church complex with a seminary, convent, library, cloisters, dormitories, galleries and a number of prison cells. However, due to the ban on all religious orders in 1832 by the Portuguese Government, the Augustinians were forced to leave Goa by 1835. Due to a neglect and lack of maintenance, the huge vault of the church collapsed in 1842 and its façade and towers fell down in 1931 and 1938 respectively. The
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Archaeological Survey of India removed the collapsed debris and uncovered 5 altars, 8 side chapels and a cloister (Archaeological Survey of India Goa 2012b, p.1).
Team Herald (2012) also warn of the potential threat to heritage sites at Old Goa due to the increasing illegal constructions near the WHS. Despite the fact that these dwellings were constructed illegally, local authorities have turned a blind eye. Authorities at the Bom Jesus Basilica had also previously raised concerns regarding illegal construction activity in the buffer zone of the WHS at Old Goa. The National Monument Authority of India has been created with the purpose of examining gaps in the law (such as the exact specifications of buffer zones), with Old Goa being one of the pilot projects. There is also a Goa Draft Regional Plan 2021 that defines land use at and near the WHS. However, many heritage houses, hospitals and buildings of the Portuguese era are still to be included in the Regional Plan (Sharma, 2013). Former chief town planner for the Indian Town and Country Planning Organization Prof. Edgar Rebeiro, (cited in ibid) offers the following recommendations with regards to heritage conservation in Goa: ▪ Listing of heritage sites should be completed faster and spatial development plans in the local municipalities, where they are present, must be created ▪ Development plans should indicate heritage sites to analyse them in a scientific manner ▪ Protection of the boundaries of heritage sites/areas along with their buffer zones ▪ Monitoring of spatial development plans by ASI (Archaeological Society of India) (and State Archaeology Department to ensure the protection/conservation of heritage sites
Conservation experts feel that a more professional approach by the government in conserving heritage buildings and monuments is the need of the hour and call for including a management plan of the monument at the feasibility stage of renovation itself. However, any management plan must be worked out together with the villagers and the local population’s “interaction should be encouraged as much as possible while putting them to use” (ibid, p.2). The aim must be to build up the “capacity of local communities in preserving heritage, and also to set up a sustainable, culturally, socially and economically viable model through contacts with institutions, communities and individuals” (ibid). Heritage lovers and activists are also agreeable
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 221 to the concept of adaptive reuse of monuments and built heritage if they ensure it is well maintained and also generates financial benefits for the local community. Conservation architect Ketak Nachinolkar highlights the need for a sustainable “policy towards the maintenance and management of heritage structures…Such structures need to be used for research and educational purposes” (ibid) while another conservation architect, Poonam Mascarenhas, believes that professionals in the conservation of a monument should be given a clear mandate to create a management plan that includes proposals for conservation as well as sustainable revenue generation through e.g. cultural tourism. “Goa is so rich in its cultural treasures; it can easily move away from beach to cultural tourism [which]…should be taken seriously and assigned due importance in the regional plan” (ibid).
When other stakeholders were asked about whether the tourism policy promoting Goa as a fun destination should be reviewed and more focus be placed on promoting cultural tourism, opinions were mixed. Roland Martins (Goacan Coordinator cited in Times City, 2012) believed that an urgent revaluation of the tourism policy was needed since no review had taken place in many years. Merely promoting Goa as fun destination was not sufficient as this has led to problems such as overcrowding e.g. in Calangute beach. Emphasis should instead be laid on other aspects like culture, heritage, eco-tourism etc. However, he also called for the participation of tourism associations, hotel and shack owners, village panchayats, water sports operators, tourists and others involved in heritage tourism. John Mendonca (Retd. Headmaster cited in ibid, p.5) felt that Goa is dependent on tourism to “promote our culture” as well as generating income, tourism being the second largest industry after mining. He saw no problem in promoting fun as long as it is kept within limits. He says that it is important not to promote rave parties/other immoral events that cause drug addiction/gambling. Shilpa Singh (Lecturer cited in ibid) felt that the policy should be reviewed since this has led to large-scale overcrowding at certain tourist destinations. Singh believes that Goa is more than just a fun destination and Goa’s cultural/historical heritage should be promoted instead. According to UNESCO (2004), tourism at other WHS (such as the UNESCO WHS of Luang Prabhang) has managed to contribute greatly to a new sense of pride in the local culture and heritage. If
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 222 managed and communicated properly, cultural heritage tourism can also have a similar positive effect on the UNESCO WHS of Goa. However, the dissonant nature of the (colonial) heritage of the Goa WHS makes its management and communication especially challenging.
4.4 Dissonant (Colonial) Heritage of Goa
According to Negussie (2007), aspects of colonial heritage can be as full of conflict as the past itself. Indeed, colonial heritage is rightly deemed to have a complex relationship with the present society of the now independent country as it is viewed as a symbol of occupation and oppression as well as being associated with a power relationship (between colonizer and colonized) that was unequal/unfair (in the past) (Henderson, 2007). According to Misiura (2006, p.16), “there is great disdain amongst the general indigenous public for most of that which has been inherited” from their colonial past”. The link between UNESCO Heritage and tourism gains particular importance in postcolonial tourism destinations, since these “edifices of colonialism are often left in the hands of the formerly colonized who may be indifferent to the global significance” (Hitchcock 2005, p. 184).
The locals often share a complicated relationship with these ‘edifices’. Moore-Gilbert (1997, p.197) posit that the reason for this complicated relationship was the divide and rule policy of colonialism that was based on the “supposedly irreconcilable Otherness of subordinate peoples, not just in respect of the dominant but of each other” (ibid). These ‘edifices’ are, therefore, a symbol of colonial rule and the memories of brutal repression that is associated with it.
As in the case of Levuka, Fiji (Harrison, 2005b), the Churches and Convents of Goa is one of the few WHS that represents the (colonial) heritage of a cultural minority and not that of the majority of the population. Goa’s population is only 29.86 per cent Christian with the Hindus making up 64.68 per cent and the Muslims 5.25 per cent (Goa Tourism, 2013). This raises numerous issues. If Kirschenblatt-Gimlett (1995, p.370) calls heritage a “mode of cultural
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 223 production in the present that has recourse to the past”, then Unakul (2010) rightly questions ‘Whose past?’ when the WHS represents less than 30% of the population. Secondly, if heritage is defined as “that which a past generation has preserved and handed on to the present and which a significant group of the population wishes to hand on to the future” (Hewison 1989, p.16), then the question arises as to whether a cultural minority can/should be considered as a ‘significant group’. Thirdly, there is the dissonant nature of heritage (Tunbridge and Ashworth, 1996). The majority Hindu population will view the Portuguese colonial heritage in a completely different manner when compared to the Catholics of Goa who, according to Afonso (1991), generally tend to take a more optimistic view of colonial/Christian Portuguese rule thanks to the often-preferential treatment received (as mentioned in a previous section).
Although Christianity originally came to India with the arrival of St. Thomas in the first century AD, it was the Portuguese who “firmly implanted the faith in this land in the 16th century” (Rajagopalan 2004, p.1) by providing the necessary royal backing so that it took firm roots in Goa. For the Portuguese, politics and religion went hand in hand and all their colonial conquests were conducted with religious zeal. They considered themselves to be instruments of God with a mission to propagate the Catholic faith all over the world. The zeal with which they started to defend Europe from the Mongols and later the Arabs continued when they began to discover and conquer distant lands through their maritime explorations. Each colonial conquest was followed by the settlement of missions for conversion of the natives (ibid).
However, the early efforts of the missionaries to introduce Christianity into Goa were perfunctory and it was only after the arrival in 1542 of the Jesuits (Mitra 2001, p.144), that proselytizing began in earnest. The court in Lisbon directed the local Portuguese administration in Goa to offer all possible support to the church and, as a result, huge sums of money were diverted to build convents and monasteries. Even after Portuguese trade and commerce began dwindling in the 17th century, construction of churches and cathedrals in Goa continued at a rapid pace (ibid). In stark comparison with Portuguese-controlled Goa (where evangelizing went hand in hand with colonization), there was interestingly a great hesitancy by the British to allow
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 224 missionary work in colonial British India, since they feared that the Indians would be threatened by evangelization and cause trouble for British commercial ventures (Vishwanathan 1997, p.118). Unlike their British counterparts, the colonial Portuguese rulers were clear that their goal was to unite the “two powers, spiritual and temporal, that the one should never be exercised without the other” (Kamat 1999, p.39). When the Portuguese navigators entered the Indian Ocean, they did so in search of ‘Christians and spices’. Having firmly set foot on the west coast of India, Christianization and acculturation (in a Eurocentric, colonial framework) were the dominant themes of colonial imperialism.
Initially, it was the Muslims of Goa who were the victims of colonial imperialism. At this stage, Albuquerque was careful not to alienate the majority Hindu community. Apart from abolishing sati, he did not interfere in their customs and even offered them important offices in the new administration. However, this policy of association and assimilation was more out of necessity for local support to perpetuate Portuguese rule. Indeed, Albuquerque suggested to the King to banish the natives as soon as there was a sufficient population of Portuguese to defend and administer the territory of Goa. Sure enough, the policy of association with the Hindus was short lived as the first temple was destroyed during the Governorship of Albuquerque itself. Furthermore, petitions in 1518 and 1522 urged the King to destroy temples, replacing them with churches as well as banning Hindu priests from Goa as they could “restore the heathenism of the local people” (ibid).
By the 16th century, Goa had begun to experience a more violent conversion to the colonial brand of Christianity. Spiritual and temporal conquest was now the dominant weltanschauung of the Portuguese with the Papacy in Rome sanctioning “the use of force, strength, and power against the fury of the infidels” (Kamat 1999, p.41). There was a clear shift in attitude from the initial accommodating approach of the Portuguese after having defeated the Muslim rulers of Goa, as they were no longer dependent on the assistance of the local Hindu population. “In the first flame of conquest…all symbols of heathenish cult crushed and all books written in vernacular language burnt, as convict or suspect of containing precepts of idolatry” (Rivara cited
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 225 in Noronha 2008, p.1). The King of Portugal, D. João III, commanded the Portuguese Government in Goa to destroy “idolatry…prohibit gentile feasts…exile the brahmins…[and] punish with severe punishments whoever makes any idol of wood, stone or metal” (Noronha 2008, p.18).
According to De Souza (1994), the socio-religious pattern of the Goan villages also experienced drastic changes with the arrival of the Portuguese in India. The villages had to face great economic hardships with the growing bankruptcy of the village communities a direct result of the financial contributions they were forced to make towards the expenditures of the colonial administration such as majestic, baroque-style churches and pompous religious festivities. Lands, labour and money were taken from village coffers in order to establish the new religion, in clear violation of the initial promises that the lands would remain under the control of the village communities. In some cases, entire villages (e.g. Assolna, Velim) were handed over to the Society of Jesus. The transfer of village revenues from old temples to new churches in the same village might not seem to make much difference to the village economy. However, this ignores the fact that families associated with the temple benefited financially under the former arrangement, while under the new dispensation, surplus revenues usually left the villages and were poured into the common pool of the religious institutions (De Souza, 1994).
Proselytization by the colonial rulers in Goa also resulted in many natives being forced to leave Goa. Indeed, by the mid-16th century, all the villages of the ‘Old Conquest’ had become Catholic with a huge exodus of Hindu families fleeing persecution to areas outside Portuguese control including Karwar, Gorkarna and Bhatkal. Those Hindu families that stayed back, used the large profits they earned by collaborating with the Portuguese to reconstruct temples in areas outside Portuguese control. Thus, much to the chagrin of the colonial rulers, they discovered that Christian Goa was encircled by Hindu temples towards which they had indirectly contributed. Between the 17th and 19th centuries, these same Hindu traders bailed out the colonial rulers by providing financial assistance to the Government. As a result of the dependence of the colonial administration on the services of the local Hindu community, the Hindus maintained sufficient
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 226 economic clout to neutralise much of the anti-Hindu legislation which was often not strictly enforced (De Souza, 1994). With the election of the liberal Prime Minister, Marquis de Pombal, the power of the missionaries was considerably reduced, resulting in a further consolidation of power by the local Hindus. Thus, the local Hindu population managed to survive the dark period of colonial rule by making themselves indispensable to the colonial rulers (Vas, 2011).
This is not to say that the local Hindus did not suffer any persecution at the hands of the colonial rulers. Many Hindus accepted Christianity either willingly (to overcome traditional social/economic injustices) or under pressure (through legislation enacted by the Portuguese that hindered the practice of the traditional religion and native lifestyle). The first Ecclesiastical Council, which took place in Goa in 1567, marked the beginning of a systematic effort against local religious and social practices that were deemed as harmful to the ‘spiritual health’ of the new converts. One example was the capitation tax that the colonial rulers in Goa levied on the local population in the 18th and 19th centuries. Known as the Pensão do Shendy, it taxed those who wore the long braid of hair on the crown of their heads, a distinctive mark of the Hindu religion. For those who converted to the new religion, the first act after baptism was the shaving of the Shendy as a sign of denouncing their old religion.
By and by, further laws came into effect that were detrimental to non-Christians. While privileges/freedoms/favours were being granted to the converts, the ‘gentiles’ were being persecuted at the same time. Firstly, no Government official were allowed to use the services or skills of any Brahmin or any other ‘infidel’. If they did, the officials would lose their posts and the Brahmins/’infidels’ would become captives, with one ½ of their estate going to the State & the other ½ to the one who denounced them. In addition, the Brahmins/’gentiles’ working in Government posts were removed and the posts given to converts instead. This decree was made into law on 23rd March 1559 (De Souza, 1994).
The law also called for Hindu village leaders to be replaced by capable converts and it was also forbidden for Hindu artisans to create objects of Christian worship. Furthermore, if any gentile
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 227 died without any male heirs, his wife and daughters would only be able to succeed him if they converted. Else, all the properties would be given to the nearest relative of the deceased who was willing to convert. Another law of 25th of March forbade any temples or idols, inside or outside the homes of the gentiles with the existing temples were to be burnt down. Idols of wood/stone/metal etc. were forbidden as were gentile feasts, public or private, especially by the newly converted Christians. Anybody who disobeyed this law would be sent as a captive to the galley ship and would also lose his entire estate, with one ½ going for the works of the Church while the other ½ went to the person who denounced him (Noronha, 2008). This strategy of corrupting the locals by offering them one ½ of their neighbour’s estate caused many of the new converts in Goa to denounce their neighbours and soon became an effective instrument of colonial policy. This also had an important effect on land ownership in Goa, even till today. These ‘traitors’ were rewarded not only in the form of lands and properties of the accused/condemned but also by privileges and honours. In reality these converts were motivated by worldly gains to betray those who refused to be baptised or who reverted to their old gentile ways, although the motives were given as piety/zeal/faith (Afonso 2008, p.xxix).
In 1567, the First Provincial Council of Goa laid down the official doctrine that made it illegal to “bring anybody to our faith and baptism by force, with threats and terrors...but [instead] shall bring the infields to the faith with example of living and preaching the truth of our law and refutation of their errors, so that with the knowledge of these things they leave their falsehoods and receive Christ” (Noronha 2008, p.37). However, in reality the situation was quite different. According to the fifth decree, non-believers above the age of 15 were to be present every Sunday in church to be preached to. According to De Souza (ibid, p.88), there was no disposition on behalf of most foreign missionaries to see anything good in the native cultures and they possessed a “mentality that was closed to seeing God at work in traditional native religions and their cultures”. As a result, the 9th decree called for the destruction of all “idols, temples, trees and any other place where the demon is venerated by the gentiles” (ibid). In Chapter VI of Instructions of the Fathers of Christians, Jesuit Priest Fr. Alexandre Valignano admitted that the conversion of ‘infidels’ took place in Goa not
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 228 through preaching and doctrine, but instead by other means such as the obstruction of idolatry and punishment for the same. Furthermore, it conceded that denying the ‘infidels’ benefits and giving these benefits to the new converts would lead to others wanting to convert.
Unfortunately, it was these same converts who suffered most from one of the most infamous periods in colonial Portuguese history – the Goan Inquisition. The Goa Inquisition was also known as the ‘Terrible Tribunal for the East’ for good reason. According to the Archbishop of Évora, (n.d. cited in Kamat 1999, p.48): “If everywhere the Inquisition was an infamous court, the infamy however base, however vile, however corrupt and determined by worldly interests, it was never more so than the Inquisition of Goa, by irony of fate called the Holy Office” Fr. Castro also highlights the exploitation of the local Goans by the Office of the Inquisition citing examples of Goans being falsely accused of heresy and forced to confess to crimes they were not guilty of, resulting in their lands being confiscated by the State. All Goans suffered from the Inquisition that was carried out by the Tribunal of Holy Office, with the new converts suffering the most.
Ironically, it was St Francis Xavier (later patron Saint of the new converts) who was responsible for bringing the dreaded Inquisition to Goa. Hoping that the newly converted Christians could be made more devout by persuasion, Xavier requested the Portuguese King to: “establish the Holy Inquisition, because there are many [Christian converts] who [continue to] live according to the Jewish law, and according to the Mahomedan sect, without any fear of God… since there are many who are spread all over the fortresses, there is the need of the Holy Inquisition” (Vas 2011, p. 54). Created in 1560, briefly reppressed from 1774 to 1778 and finally abolished in 1812, the Goa Inquisition was established to punish the so-called ‘New Christians’ (i.e. Jewish/Muslim/Hindu converts to Catholicism) who had ‘relapsed’ and were suspected of secretly practising their ancestral religion and culture. In addition, non-converts who disobeyed bans on the observance of Hindu/Muslim rites or hindered colonial Portuguese attempts to convert non-Christians to
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Catholicism were also prosecuted. Although its stated aim was to preserve the Catholic faith, the Goa Inquisition was mainly used as an instrument of social control, in addition to enriching the Inquisitors coffers by confiscating victims’ property (ibid).
A New Christian arrested by the Inquisition was forced to declare on oath all his property, being informed that untrue statements would not only incur the wrath of the Inquisition. The accused, if innocent and thus expecting a quick release, readily did so. Soon after the declaration, the possessions and property of the accused were sold by public auction (before his guilt was even decided), the proceeds of which went to the Holy Office. After a long period of imprisonment, the prisoner was summoned to the Hall of Judgment and forced to confess. If he acknowledged his guilt, he was condemned; if he maintained his innocence, he was found guilty without confessing guilt. However, more often than not, the terrified prisoner confessed to the crime even if he was innocent. Such confessions were important to the Inquisition. They were read out publicly, thus proving to the world that the Holy Office was impartial and just. Although most of the Goa Inquisition’s files were destroyed upon its abolition in 1812, remaining records show that between 1561 and 1774, nearly 20,000 people were tried, 57 sentenced to death and executed while another 64 were burned in effigy. The rest were subjected to lesser punishments with most, if not all, losing their property (Vas, 2011).
The New Christians did not lose their property but were also forced to give up their old cultural ways as well. Conversion of the local population involved coercing the new converts to adapt to the Lusitanian culture and way of life as local customs/habits were deemed as ‘pagan.’ Significantly, a convert was baptized in European clothing, signaling his/her conversion not only to Christianity but also to a new, European way of life. Christian converts were forbidden from interacting with their Hindu neighbours and friends and were also forced to give up their customs and culture and adopt the Portuguese culture. This including being forced to change their names/habits/manners, abstain from wearing nose rings, armlets, flowers in their hair, refrain from singing traditional songs, speak Portuguese, wear European style shirts, trousers, dresses, boots and hats sit at the table during meals, use cutlery/crockery instead of eating with
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 230 their hands, drink wine and eat meat (Goans predominantly ate rice and vegetables). Thus, Pão and mas (bread and meat) became important instruments of conversion, giving Goan Christianity the tag of being a ‘beef-bread faith’ (Kamat, 1999).
Attempts such as these were made to de-structure local culture and society and replace it with a culture that was based on the colonial model that promoted Portuguese colonial interests. “Colonial conquest was not just the result of the power of superior arms, military organization, political power, or economic wealth – as important as these things were. Colonialism was made possible, and then sustained and strengthened…by cultural technologies of rule as it was by the more obvious and brutal modes of conquest that first established power on foreign shores” (Dirks n.d. cited in Kamat 1999, p.43). Interestingly, however, Goan Catholics were permitted to keep their caste identity since it served the important (colonial) purpose of retaining divisions in society. De Souza (1994) thus blames the colonial rulers for denying the marginalised classes/castes the opportunity for social and economic change within the existing traditional social structures. Against this background, he calls for a re-assessment of the impact of colonial rule in Goa. Although some negative cultural elements (such as sati, the custom of widow burning) were abolished by the colonial rulers, others such as the caste system were reinforced. While the marginalised castes/classes converted to Christianity after the arrival of the Portuguese to increase their social and economic standing, the higher castes accepted Christianity in order to safeguard their traditional privileges/status under Portuguese jurisdiction. Class/caste differences in Goan society were thus exploited by the Portuguese for their own purposes.
Despite adopting the same lifestyle of their colonial masters, Christian converts continued to be judged by the colour of their skin. During Goa’s struggle for liberation, the Portuguese administration tried to highlight the beneficent nature of Portuguese colonialism in India. Historians such as SR Welch, H Bernard-Maitre, Edgar Prestage and A. da Silva Rego believed that the Portuguese colonial system remained untouched by the common European imperialist problem of racism. According to Welch (n.d. cited in Kamat 1999, p.87), “There was no racial
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 231 question anywhere in the Portuguese colonies” while Prestage claimed that “it is to the credit of Portugal that slaves and Jews apart, she made no distinction of race and color and that all her subjects, once they had become Catholics, were eligible for official posts” (ibid).
In reality, however, colour continued to play role in the Portuguese colonial empire. The newly converted local Christian population quickly became aware of the racial discrimination rampant in the colonial administration, despite the presence of a royal decree that guaranteed converts all the privileges/liberties offered to the Portuguese residents of Goa. A social classification of the inhabitants of Goa during this period shows the presence of a clear hierarchy based on colour. The uppermost level was occupied by Portuguese of noble lineage (i.e. the reinois or ‘those from the kingdom’ who were given the highest positions in the colonial administration). Next came the castiços or ‘children of the Portuguese born in India’ followed by the mestiços/mulattos (i.e. those of mixed Portuguese-Indian/Portuguese-African blood). The naturaes or ‘natives’ occupied the lowest rung, with the canarins (Christian converts) being given a position slightly higher than the gentios (‘gentiles’ i.e. Hindu/Muslim ‘non-believers’). As can be seen from this hierarchical classification of Goan society, the darker the colour of one’s skin, the lower the position one had in society. Indeed, the reinois looked down upon the castiços because they were born/brought up in India and had been suckled by local wet-nurses which resulted in their “blood being contaminated, making them ill-behaved and not to be entrusted” (Kamat 1999, p.88). The situation was so bad that a castiço cleric, Miguel da Purificação, was forced to go to Rome in the 17th century to explain to the Pope the difference between a castiço and a canarin since Indian-born Portuguese were considered to be ‘niggers’ and were thus prohibited from joining the Franciscan order. The reinois considered the mestiços as quasi-negroes. Despite this, the mestiços were proud of their European ancestry and, in their turn, despised the canarins and tried to at least get their daughters married to reinois of low birth, rather than to the Goan native converts.
Fr. Ardizone Spinola, a European visitor to 17th century Goa, claimed that the Portuguese colonial masters looked down upon Goans as members of a ‘contaminated’ race, being
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 232 intrinsically inferior to the Europeans. The Portuguese referred to the Indians as ‘niggers’ and believed them to be ‘base, cowardly and unreliable’ members of a physically and morally ‘contaminated,’ and thus raça infecta or inferior race (Kamat 1999, p.89). Indeed, “if the Portuguese were more remarkable for their kindness to the new converts, a great number would become Christians; as it is, the heathen see that the converts are despised and looked down on by the Portuguese, and so, as is natural, they are unwilling to become converts themselves” (Colridge-Henry, n.d. cited in Vas 2011, p.53).
With regards to the claim that Portugal “made no distinction of race and color and that all her subjects once they become Catholics were eligible for official posts” (Kamat 1999, p.89), records show that the converts were never treated as being equal to the reinois and the casados, despite royal decrees. Goan converts were excluded from the highest-level offices which were the exclusive preserve of the Portuguese. Even in the lower levels of the colonial administration, the Goan converts were discriminated against. For example, if 8 years was the minimum period of service required for a Portuguese to be eligible for a job, Goans would not be considered for the same post before a minimum of 12 years had passed. Goan Christians were not admitted to the Royal Hospital of Goa and were treated at another hospital meant only for colored people. Even in the infamous prison cells of the Goa Inquisition, a clear distinction was made between prisoners based on race and colour.
Kamat (1999) alleges that the colonial Church was guilty of racism in practice, despite its stated tenets of liberty, equality and universal brotherhood of man. Clergy of Goan origin were denied admittance into the Religious Orders due to the colonial prejudices. Although European graduates of the Holy Faith Seminary were eligible for admission into the Holy Orders, their Goan counterparts were initially not allowed to be ordained as regular priests and could only serve in a secular capacity. Although the Propaganda Fide of the Catholic Church was in favour of the indigenization of missionary activities and encouraged native Goan priests to rise in the hierarchy of the Church, the local colonial administration was not as favourably disposed towards the local priests. When the Congregation for the Propagation of Faith was established,
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 233 it raised the hopes of many Goans. Almost immediately, it started receiving complaints of discrimination from the Goan Christians with regards to their admittance to the priesthood. Intellectual deficiency, poor character, lack of firmness of faith and inability to maintain celibacy were some of the weak reasons given by the local Church administration as to why Goans should be refused ordination.
However, the real reason, Kamat (1999) alleges, was that if the local Goan priests were ordained in large numbers and promoted according to merit, they would soon outnumber the Portuguese clergy. The Secretary of the Congregation, Cardinal Ingoli (cited in ibid, p.98) concurred, claiming that the “European missionaries…particularly the Portuguese, do not want to allow the Indians to raise their heads…[nor] promote them to Holy Orders…for political reasons”. Their female counterparts did not fare much better. When the Santa Monica Convent was initially established, it consisted of European members since there were insufficient local nuns. However, later, even when the doors were opened to the mestiços/canarins, a strict distinction was maintained between the Europeans and the Goans. While the European nuns were given superior positions and designated as mothers (with the traditional black veil), Goans remained as mere sisters (with white veils).
Even though Goans were ordained priests in the latter years of Portuguese colonial rule, they suffered from deep routed racism by the Portuguese. An the college of St. Paul, the foremost Jesuit educational centre, Goan and Portuguese boys lived separately with the Goans being forced to live furthest away from the college (Kamat, 1999). Father Salvatore Gallo (cited in ibid, p.93) commented on how the Portuguese would not offer seats to the Goan priests when they visited them nor make confessions to the native Goan priests while the Jesuit Visitor Valignano described how the Portuguese treated the local Goan priests with the greatest contempt and even advocated the exclusion of Goans from the Society of Jesus “because all these dusky races are very stupid and vicious, and of the basest spirits” (ibid).
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However, according to De Souza (1994), it is important to distinguish between the Church at the time of the colonizers and the Church in Goa today. As the makeup of the (Catholic) church has changed, so has the acceptance that the (Catholic) Church should indeed be separated from the political intentions of (Catholic/Christian) colonizers (Hawley, ibid). Today, the Church in Goa is no longer the Church of the colonizers but now belongs to the colonized17. It is also crucial to differentiate between the behaviour of the colonial missionaries and the teachings of Christ. The inherent belief of moral superiority, though cloaked in a religious rhetoric, was not always based on Christian teachings and there are some who firmly believe that Christianity and its biblical text are fundamentally opposed to oppression (Gallagher, ibid). In the New Testament, Jesus even embraces the ‘Others of the Hebrew world’ (ibid). Thus, as mentioned in a previous section on postcolonialism and Christianity, distinction must be made between the Christianity of the West and the Christianity of Christ. In addition, the growth of a ‘Third World’ or liberation theology that tries to find new means to “understand the Bible, to practice Christianity, to be the church” (Gallagher, ibid) as well as drastic changes in the constitution of the (Catholic) church18, means that there is greater willingness to separate the (Catholic) Church from the political intentions of (Catholic/Christian) colonizers (Hawley, ibid). Furthermore, the Church in Goa has entered the field of education in a big way (providing education to thousands and thousands of Goans), over 20 new religious congregations have entered Goa since 1961 (caring for the aged, destitute and the handicapped of Goa) and has also made its presence felt in areas where gross violation of social justice was taking place (De Souza, 1994).
4.5 Postcolonialism and Goa
Goa had a rich historical and cultural heritage dating back far beyond the arrival of the Portuguese and Naipaul (cited in Vas, 2011) blames the Portuguese for erasing this heritage, leaving behind instead their religion, their language (without a literature), their names and a
17 or at least the Christians of Goa. 18 Refer to the section on postcolonialism and Christianity for more details
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Latin-like colonial population. However, after Goa was absorbed into independent India, “nearly everything else of Portugal had been swallowed up in the colonial emptiness” (ibid, p.6) of postcolonial Goa. Even the statue of the Portuguese poet Camoes (author of the famous epic Lusiads) in the main square of Old Goa was taken down and placed in the museum, being replaced by a statue of the Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi.
Despite this fact, De Souza (1994) highlights the need to revisit Goa’s dissonant (colonial) heritage, calling for the rewriting of the history of a colonized people that was until now written from the stand-point of the colonial power. Although there are several historical works on Goa, they all lack a critical depth of analysis into the implied theory of welfare that has, till date, served to quieten the guilt of the erstwhile colonial rulers and their local beneficiaries. De Souza classifies most of these works as ‘tourist brochure history’, focussing on colonial built surface attractions, while keeping in the dark the stark realities that were as much a part of the same colonial legacy. The other attitude that is taken in many of the existing historical works on Goa regards colonial rule as gesta Dei per lusitanos or God working through the Portuguese. For example, the author Diogo do Couto (cited in ibid) in his Diálogo do Soldado Prático, follows a particularly harsh description of colonial administrative abuses & military failures by concluding that the presence of colonial rule was by divine dispensation.
Descriptions of the evils of colonialism in Goa with its fanaticism, persecution and intolerance may cause it to appear to be similar to the Dark Ages (Afonso, 2008). However, it cannot be denied that the Portuguese brought an abundance of positive influences to Goa. Even those who disagree with the myth of Golden Goa accept and appreciate the numerous contributions that arose from contact with the Portuguese. Despite all the inequality and suffering, the encounter between the Portuguese colonizers and the local Goans brought about a broadening of minds on either side. For the Goans, it became an opportunity to prepare for further intercultural encounters and exchanges. If Goa was the gateway to the East for the Portuguese, then Portugal was a gateway to Europe for the Goans, a case that continues to exist even today. Several specific contributions of the Portuguese must be highlighted, including the abolition of
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 236 the barbaric custom of widow immolation or sati by Afonso Albuquerque. The single most important legacy of the Portuguese was the non-discriminative, uniform, egalitarian and equitable legislation and jurisprudence of Personal Law. As a result, both colonised as well as coloniser, in the colonies as well as in the metropolis, were subject to and equal before the same laws. This feat is of no mean significance, especially considering the different legal systems in British India at the time (ibid).
Unfortunately, instead of a balanced appreciation of the ‘positives’ that resulted from Goa’s long intercultural interaction with Portugal, there has been a focus on superficial symbols of the ersatz cultural legacy of the Portuguese such as carnaval or fado. At the same time, misrepresentations about Goa’s past have reached dangerously high levels. While some want us to believe that Goans were “‘blessed’ to have been under the Portuguese yoke, for they were the ones who made us a colourful people, hospitable, docile…[with the] ‘good taste’ for life and western manners…[as] gifts from the colonial masters” (Afonso 2008, p.xvi); others prefer to focus only on the brutality of colonialism with their “own brand of ‘saffron coloured’ history…[denigrating] the Portuguese and…the Portuguese period in Goa as if nothing else had happened save the atrocities against the Hindus” (ibid).
De Souza (1994) highlights the urgent need for a reinterpretation of Goa’s past by replacing the myth of ‘Golden Goa’ with the reality of the socio-economic pressures that the Goan population experienced under colonial rule even though this idea might not be popular with those who are happy with the few patches of exotic cultural vestiges left behind by colonial rule. Harrison (2005a) argues that the designation of colonial architecture and buildings as heritage is merely a ploy to attract tourists (especially high spending international tourists from Christian countries such as Portugal, Spain, Britain and Germany). Colonial heritage is not just a symbol of imperialism and oppression but colonial heritage areas such as WHS are also areas of tourism and leisure (Henderson, 2007), requiring them to be specifically be angled towards tourists/outside visitors and made more relevant/compelling for the foreign tourist (Hitchcock 2005, p.184) in order to attract more tourism. Communicating Goa’s dissonant heritage to the
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(tourist) visitor while acknowledging the wrongs inflicted upon the people by the colonial powers can be challenging, and risk alienating both the social elite as well as tourism managers: “Such accounts are not meant to entertain the masses, lift spirits of the revellers, set the mood for merry making…[and] is not likely to go well with the ‘happy’ Goans, with the carnival image of Goa, with the tourism poster of Goa. It is not likely to draw more of those crowds of wealthy, happy travellers who come to see the exuberant remnants of gaudily adorned Golden Goa” (Afonso 2008, xx).
As a result, there are those who question whether this focus on dissonant colonial heritage is really necessary. Till date, nobody seems to feel a moral obligation to do anything in the form of reconciliation; neither those from the shores of the erstwhile colonizers nor from Goa itself. By and large, the Hindus have remained quiet as have the Portuguese, the Church and the Catholic community in Goa. “A fanciful doctrine of convenient inaction has come to prevail” (Afonso 2008, p.xxxv). This “denial mode, the ostrich syndrome, the pretence of ignorance and innocence” is the reaction of some of the intelligentsia of the local Catholic elite and some of the media (ibid). Responses include questioning ‘what suffering and what wounds?’ and statements such as ‘Even if there were some excesses by some over-zealous missionary, whatever wounds might have been caused, if at all, must have already healed’. Others hide behind the fact that in the past five decades, nobody has deemed the matter to be important enough to raise. Why to rake up the past? Why to judge that situation today…? Those were the ways, the temper of the times...the mood of the age” (ibid, p.xiii).
However, there is a moral imperative to re-examine old wounds and search for a “lasting cure” (ibid, p.xxxvii). with the main question as to who exactly should do it. Without regard for the jurisprudence of (international) law, the author believes that the colonial power must own up to its mistakes and admit the excesses/atrocities committed by its agents. Liable and obligated are also those who had joined them and benefited from their policies and actions. However, he is also aware that the task of enthusing those responsible to assume that responsibility will not be an easy one. Particularly difficult to convince will be the elite – “the creamy layer among the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 238 blessed…the ‘finest’ among the fruits of the civilising action of the Lusitanian race” (ibid, p.xxxvii) – who would want to avoid the ‘demeaning’ deed of admitting the role of their forefathers and apologising to the descendants of the victims. However, this raking up of the past is essential if there is to be an “authentic, deep rooted and mutually respectful reconciliation” (ibid, p.xv) between the major cultural communities in Goa, instead of the “superficial glitter of their present relations” (ibid).
4.6 Communal (dis)harmony in Goa
“…sustaining Goa and enriching Goan cultural identity depends on healing of the old wounds that have divided the Hindus and Catholics... [for] To construe superficial conviviality and…bonhomie as deep rooted communal harmony is just fooling ourselves”. (Afonso 2008, p.ii) If the locals of Goa continue to pretend to be immune to societal reality, they run the risk of blurring and erasing their unique multifaceted collective identity. Delaying the healing of old wounds and divisions is not the right way forward for Goan society. “Continuing to take shelter under concocted wisdom that ‘old wounds are best allowed to rest unaddressed’ is neither productive nor civilised” (ibid, p.xvi) since it would cause a threat to Goa’s cultural identity.
When Goa became a part of the Republic of India after gaining independence from the Portuguese, it had remarkably “strong bonds of communal harmony unheard and unseen in the rest of India” (Correa 2014, p.8). Although there were some conflicts in post-Liberation Goa, they were few and far between. Today, however, right wing political parties such as the Ram Sene are trying to fan the flames of communal discord in Goa. Correa thus believes that the then Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar acted sensibly in banning the Ram Sene in 2014 to prevent “forces that would bring back the fear of communal hatred” (ibid).
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However, in a move that could pose a major threat to the communal fabric of Goa, the right wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) announced in 2015 that it would welcome a ‘home coming’ (or ‘Ghar Wapsi’) of Goan Christians back into the Hindu fold. Alleging that the Church had converted people ‘forcibly’ and ‘aggressively’, Dada Vedak, VHP's convenor for Goa and Maharashtra promised to "facilitate reconversions in Goa if the local people wanted it. Thousands of years ago, Hindus in Goa were converted to Christianity. If they want to come back… we will facilitate their return to Hinduism" (PTI, 2015). Vedak, a central functionary of VHP, told the “thousands of Hindus [that] were converted to Christianity by the Portuguese” that if they wanted to convert to Hinduism, they would be welcomed with “prem (love), respect, mamta (affection) and (samata) equality” (Team Herald, 2015). He, however downplayed concerns that this would create tension or disharmony between the religious groups, promising that nobody would be forced to return. “We will not force anyone…If they want to come (into Hinduism) how can we stop them?” he said (ibid).
VHP General Secretary Champat Rai called the Ghar Wapsi programme a big success, claiming that between June 2014 and June 2015, 33,975 persons were brought back to their ‘original faith’ while 48,651 people were ‘prevented’ from being converted to other religions. Rai justified the programme saying that since “All minorities in India have converted from Hinduism. They should accept their original faith” (Sharma, 2015). Not stopping there, Sadhvi Arya, a prominent VHP leader warned that the 'Ghar Wapsi' programme would continue until the 150 million people who, she claimed, left Hinduism after Independence, were "reconverted to Hinduism" (PTI, 2015a). A newspaper editorial in Goa (Herald, 2015), however, called the VHP attempts at reconverting Christians into the Hindu fold both ‘mischievous and harmful’ and a ‘blatant attempt at polarization’. The affair has also gained a political angle after it was criticised by a number of political parties.
'Ghar-Wapsi' has not yet taken place in Goa, a BJP-ruled state. The announcement met with strong criticism from the VHP’s political ally, the BJP. Laxmikant Parsekar, the then BJP Chief Minister of Goa, criticised the programme, claiming that it would create communal disharmony
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 240 in Goa. In the past, the BJP Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has assured Christian organizations that Ghar Wapsi would not touch Goa (Team Herald, 2015). BJP coalition party (GVP) members from minority areas of Goa also blamed issues such as Ghar Wapsi for their losses in the local Zilla Panchayat polls. Even victorious political candidates claimed that they would have won by a much higher margin if not for Ghar Wapsi, saying that the Opposition exploited the issue. The leader of the GVP party even claimed that some minority religious leaders had exploited these issues by asking the minorities to vote against the BJP-GVP alliance. According to Herald (2015), controversial programmes by the VHP will result in creating political problems for its partner, the BJP, in Goa. Ultimately, it will be the ruling BJP party which will have to face the consequences, especially with regards to the minority vote. Thus, it calls on the Government of Goa to send a clear warning that such attempts at disrupting the social and communal harmony in Goa will be dealt with strictly.
There are still those, however, who believe that India, and especially Goa, is immune to communal violence. Correia (2014) disagrees, stating that the problem of communal violence is both “systemic and endemic to the Indian society” (ibid, p.8) and believes that it was right for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to warn the Indian public about the dangers of communal violence in the 68th year of Indian Independence. Newman (2001, p.194) concurs, stating that he sees Indian society at a dangerous crossroads since there is a division in the population between those, who on the one hand “want to abandon India’s age old tradition of synthesis and chauvinistically declare India a ‘Hindu state’, and those who would keep India a secular state with traditional tolerance for all” (ibid). Maeillo (1996, p.110). concurs, citing a“rise of aggressive Hindu revivalism and fundamentalism” that can pose a threat to the traditional form of Hinduism which is “key to toleration and co-survival”. Newman (ibid) too fears that if India abandons its secular traditions, this would result in large scale chaos and bloodshed. The Indian secular tradition, while offering a strong alternative, can only be successful if a conscious effort is made to combat communal conflict at all levels.
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The growing communal and cultural violence in India has gained not only the attention of scholars but is also at the forefront of public concern (Maiello 1996, p.99). A plausible reason for the recent increase in communal violence in India according to Maiello may lie in the role of India’s past on ethnic relations and the manner in which the postcolonial restructuring or (lack of) decolonizing processes have caused a greater aggravation of such relations. Spivak (1999, pp.362-363) agrees, stating that despite the lack of open conflict for a long time, the “eruption of Hindu nationalism in India in December 1992, resulting in the destruction of a mosque in Ayodhya…taught us a lesson about the failure of decolonization in India”. In addition, there is always a danger posed by those “nationalists wishing to de-emphasize the colonial past” (Ashcroft et al. 1989, p.23). Thus, even though there might not be open conflicts/tensions that exist, there is always the potential for such conflicts to arise if these intercultural issues are not raised and (mental) decolonization remains incomplete.
In the struggle against colonialism, the nationalist freedom fighters strongly believed in the unity of the colonized that constituted a force that was opposed to the colonizers. However, this unity required admitting the presence of difference as well. Thus, the nationalists spoke of ‘unity in diversity’, claiming that the colonized peoples formed a nation despite existing social, regional, and ethnic differences. Such declarations were not “merely polemical responses to the colonial rulers who resisted the nationalist demands; instead, they underscored the necessity of…difference for the…nation’s unity” (Prakash 1995, p.9). In today’s India, however, each individual state has “become an incubator of communal conflicts, activating at the local level persistent and ingrained divisions” (Maiello 1996, p.106). He believes that, in the absence of clear policies that promote cultural difference, minorities are often discriminated against. The “growth of rampant factionalism, religious and caste interest have become intertwined with the very fabric of political parties, and they have come to abandon their ideological commitments in favour of more partisan considerations. The profound communalisation of the Indian political process has been a major factor in the resiliency of the communal issue, as well as transforming the system of parliamentary democracy, originally envisaged as a cohesive force, into a source of division and factious tendencies” (ibid).
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Yet, there are still those who question the need for intercultural dialogue and whether it is really necessary to highlight the dissonant aspects of heritage in the process if the conflicts/tensions are not openly visible. The conflict dimension is often highlighted in discussions about the public sphere. However, Pausch (2003) believes that an absence of conflict is in fact an important indication of the deficit that exists in democratic politics. That so much effort is made to avoid conflict has a lot to do with a shaky political consensus. Instead, the author believes that open political debates about religious and cultural issues and the resultant differing opinions and views of the public sphere are to be viewed in a positive light, since this means that debates are taking place in the public sphere between different cultures rather than a closed door formalized deliberation restricted to the elite (Pausch 2008). Instead, he calls for a political debate in a public sphere where all citizens are able to equally articulate their opinions.
Sen (2005) posits that India has a long history of what he calls ‘dialogic heritage’ and a “tradition of public reasoning…the Indian subcontinent has a particularly strong tradition in recognizing and pursuing a dialogic commitment…some of the earliest open public deliberations in the world were hosted in India to discuss different points of views… [Mughal Emperor] Akbar championed…the necessity of public dialogue…by arranging actual dialogues between members of different faiths. The importance of such recollections does not lie merely in the celebration of history but also in understanding the continuing relevance [of this dialogic heritage in modern India]” (ibid, p.75). Afonso (2008) claims that human history is full of examples of those who forget or indeed choose to ignore their past being fated to relive it. “Erasing the memory of the record of one’s own history is self-destructive in the long run, even when…done with the seeming[ly] good intent of keeping out the ‘negatives’” (ibid, p.xv). Cultures are shaped and defined by their histories, both positives and negatives. The author believes that there is a need to highlight and reinforce the former while at the same time, confronting the latter by cleaning the psychological space in the deeper recesses of mind. Unless this takes place, human communities run the risk of living in a “self-deluding rhetoric of friendship, harmony and peace” (ibid).
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5. Research Methodology
“The aim [of research]…is the same in all sciences. Put simply…the aim is to make known something previously unknown to human beings. It is to advance human knowledge… The aim is…discovery” (Elias 1986 cited in Veal 2006, p. 2).
5.1 Research Philosophy
The research philosophy of phenomenology (or interpretivism as it is also known) concerns itself with the examination of people and their social behavior (Gill and Johnson, 1997). This dissertation research, following the research philosophy of phenomenology, aimed to enter into the minds of the respondents and view the situation of heritage communication from their eyes. According to Veal (2006), phenomenology usually involves a more flexible approach to data collection, mostly involving and inductive approach and qualitative methods. The philosophy of phenomenology normally involves a wide variety of data collection methods that are used in collaboration with a smaller sample size, thus resulting in an improved description and understanding of the research field (Easterby-Smith et al., 1999; Saunders et al., 2007). The phenomenology perspective thus aims to develop “an understanding of the context in which phenomena and behaviors take place… [it is] designed to be probing in nature, thus encouraging informants to introduce concepts of importance from their perspective” (Altinay and Paraskevas 2008, p. 75).
The aim of this research was to gain insight into the specific concepts related to heritage communication in Goa by critically analyzing the responses from the participants in the phenomena i.e. the WH site management, the Goa Tourism Department, heritage conservation bodies and NGOs, the local residents and the tourists themselves. These responses provided
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 244 the basis from which this research aimed to understand and interpret the phenomenon of heritage communication in the field of tourism.
Descriptive research of this nature is common in the tourism and leisure field, due to the lack of existing research as well as the novelty of the research area. Since leisure and tourism studies are comparatively new fields of study, “much of the descriptive research in the field might therefore be described as exploratory: it seems to discover, describe or map patterns of behavior in areas or activities which have not previously been studied” (Veal 2006, p. 3). Smith (2003 cited in Melkert and Vos 2010, p. 37) agrees that (cultural) tourism studies is a comparatively unknown academic discipline and describes it as a composite discipline, since its theoretical underpinning draws from a number of different academic areas including anthropology, museum studies, cultural studies, sociology, heritage, urban planning etc. According to Richards and Munsters (2010), cultural tourism research has seen a paradigm shift from quantitative, survey based research methods to more qualitative research methods, thus focusing more on the qualitative nature of the tourist visit as well as the cultural impacts of tourism on the destination. “As cultural tourism has grown, so its social and cultural impacts…As more cultural tourists start to explore the everyday lives and cultures of the people they visit, there has also been more attention paid to the issue of intercultural communication” (ibid, p. 2).
Another major research focus in this dissertation was on the postcolonial. A postcolonial approach to research is seen by Botterill and Platenkamp (2012) as useful in understanding the relationship of tourism and heritage, since many heritage sites/attractions are linked in some way to a colonial past. The authors believe that, as part of postcolonialism, the groups involved “have gone through a phase of colonial relationships, awakened from its legacies and built up a new way of understanding the emergent economic, political and cultural networks around them” (ibid, p. 152). This dissertation focuses on the case of the postcolonial WHS of Goa.
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5.2 Research Strategy
The case study is a highly popular research strategy in the field of tourism research (Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007) while Zikmund (1997) believes that the case study is an ideal research design for exploratory research. Robson (2002, p.178) defines a case study as a “strategy for doing research which involves an empirical investigation of a particular contemporary phenomenon within its real life context using multiple sources of evidence”. According to Veal (2006, p. 110), a case study involves analysing an example or case of the particular phenomenon that is being researched with the aim of understanding the phenomenon. “Where no known relevant theoretical framework exists to address a topic, or those that purport to do so are seen as inadequate, one possible task of the case study can be to develop new theoretical propositions or insights, which are consistent with the case study data and which might even be further tested by additional empirical study” (ibid).
Compared to other research designs, the focus of the case study is on a bounded situation or system wherein an intensive examination of the case and its setting takes place (Bryman and Bell, 2011). This dissertation uses the case study strategy of research. Firstly, the existing literature on postcolonialism, heritage and intercultural communication were analysed in order to identify the factors critical in facilitating heritage communicating in an intercultural setting at UNESCO WHS. Then, the lessons learnt from the literature were applied to the case study of the UNESCO WHS of Goa in order to critically analyze how the rich (postcolonial) heritage of Goa can be successfully communicated to its multicultural audience.
The adoption of a case study strategy enables fresh information and knowledge about the phenomenon (in this case the UNESCO WHS of Goa) to be generated where there was little existing knowledge previously (Otley and Berry, 1994; Stake, 1995). Stake (ibid) observes that case study research concerns itself with the complexity of the phenomenon and the specific nature of the case and advises researchers to select a case study on the basis of the chance to
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 246 learn something new and wherein the expected learning effect will be the highest. In the case of this dissertation, the case of the UNESCO WHS of Goa was chosen since there has been little to none research in the field of heritage communication at the UNESCO WHS of Goa. In addition, the UNESCO WHS of Goa provides a unique opportunity to analyse heritage communication in a postcolonial, intercultural field. Furthermore, the fact that unlike at most WHS, the (tangible) heritage of the UNESCO WHS of Goa is not representative of the majority of the public, but instead of a small minority makes the case study of greater interest.
5.3 Research Methods
In order to conduct research for this PhD dissertation, a combination of secondary and primary research methods was utilised.
As part of this dissertation, secondary research was undertaken by reviewing the existing literature (journal articles, research papers, books etc.) on the topics of postcolonialism, heritage tourism and intercultural communication. In addition, documents, books and newspaper articles related to the UNESCO WHS of Goa were gathered and analyzed.
The UNESCO ‘Benchmarking World Heritage & Tourism’ study, that forms the basis of the primary research, was conducted by Swiss and Austrian researchers together with the respective UNESCO local offices. Case studies were conducted at, among others, WHS Historic Centres such as Salzburg, Austria; Luang Prabang; Old Town of Lamu, Kenya and Cesky Krumlov, Czech. The study aimed at promoting an understanding of the interrelationship between world heritage, sustainable tourism and regional development and its long-term objectives can be defined as follows: ▪ To allow a comparative quality assessment of interactions between WH and tourism with a view to sustainable regional development ▪ To examine how tourism can be used as a tool for sustainable management of WHS
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The study focused on developing a benchmarking system that enabled a comparative quality assessment of UNESCO WHS in terms of their management of tourism and its effects on the WHS. One of the goals was to examine whether and how the relationship between WH and tourism in terms of sustainable regional development could be strengthened. An attempt was made to abandon the cycle of qualitative expert opinions and the case studies in favour of a system that is based instead on measurement and comparability. A ‘Benchlearning’ approach enables the WHS stakeholders and actors to learn from each other in a comparative manner as well as to network and exchange successful practices19. In the case of such a comprehensive study, it is also important to clearly define in advance what is outside the scope of the study. In the case of the abovementioned study, a comparative analysis was limited to the management activities of WH managers with regards to long-term conservation of the WHS as well as sustainable tourism and development at the WH Region. Out of the scope of the study were a quality analysis of WHS i.e. no WH Monitoring nor a comprehensive sustainability analysis of the WHS and its management were conducted (Clivaz et al., 2013).
The methods, tools and results developed as part of the study are aimed primarily at the management of individual WHS; secondarily at regional, national and international institutions and at a tertiary level at regional entities and actors as well as tourism organizations and providers. Not only are the management organizations of the individual WHS the primary target audience, they are also the primary user group for the Monitoring and Benchlearning tool. The benefits for the participants of the study & the users of the application include: ▪ promoting exchange of experiences between WHS, ▪ assessing personal achievements and significance, ▪ learning by comparing successful practices, ▪ increasing networking between WH, tourism and governmental authorities, ▪ promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and ▪ increasing awareness of current issues in the heritage field
19 The authors of the study seem to refrain from using the term ‘best practices’, preferring to use either ‘successful practices’ or ‘good practices’
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The results of the benchmarking can also be used at a regional/national/international level for monitoring, developing of recommendations and decisions-making (ibid).
Project Development The development of the project took place in four phases. Phase 1 consisted of an analysis of the state of research and a preliminary conception of the study design. The previous findings in the area were largely based on case studies and expert reports of individual WHS or regional WH groups. Unfortunately, there had been little to none attempts in the past to make comprehensive comparisons between the WHS. In addition, there were only a limited number of studies that linked comparison with ‘Good Practice’ recommendations. During the project development phase, therefore, the basis for the implementation of the monitoring and Benchlearning tools had to be developed. Phase 2 consisted of the development and evaluation of preliminary case studies. A total of five preliminary case studies were developed with the goal of developing the methodology of the survey & the measurement criteria. Keeping in mind the great diversity in the types of WH, a restriction of two mutually comparable basic types (mountain regions and historic old towns) for the feasibility study was put in place. One control study (Vallée de Mai/Seychelles) served to review the approaches developed for other WH types. The preliminary studies made it possible to define the methodology and the measurement criteria (indicators). In addition, it was possible to more accurately determine the exact time and resources required for the individual case studies. Based on the results, Phase 3 consisted of extensively revising and optimizing the study design for a total of ten case studies as part of the main study. The study design of the case studies was kept as close as possible to the design of the preliminary case studies, thus demonstrating that the preliminary case studies were indeed transferable. In selecting the case studies, the experience of the geographical institute of the University of Bern (Centre for Development and Environment/CDE) was utilised. While the case studies in Europe and Asia were completed by the researchers themselves, the case studies in Africa were realized with the help of local employees. Finally, Phase 4 consisted of entering the results of the case studies into the web-based ‘Monitoring
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 249 and Benchlearning’ tool and subjecting the data to a preliminary comparative evaluation (Clivaz et al., 2013).
Monitoring and Bench learning tool The aim of the ‘Monitoring and Benchlearning’ tool was to compile and present both a quantitative and qualitative comparison of the participating UNESCO WHS. With this tool, WHS managers are provided with a comparison opportunity with other WHS. This is made possible by conducting a comparative quality assessment of the WH management through Benchmarking on the one hand while, on the other hand, ensuring the possibility of the exchange of experiences and practices through ‘Benchlearning’ or learning by comparison. The quantitative measurements assist the user/reader/WHS management in the search for ‘good practices’ at similar sites while the benchmarking was aimed at being a tool for guidance. The user is thus able to learn from the practices and methods of other WHS by using the benchmarking dimensions of the individual indicators. The major challenge in the development of the ‘Monitoring and Benchlearning’ tool consisted in linking the benchmarking approach - dealing with qualitative data such as ‘good practice’ information – with the indicator-based quantitative evaluation of the WHS (mentioned in greater detail below). The main aim of the tool was not the ranking of the WHS in a certain order but instead, facilitating direct learning from other WHS. The tool is thus a concrete instrument available to WH managers to learn by comparing their own WHS with other WHS of the same typology. The quantitative part enables a comparative assessment of the sites while the qualitative descriptions allow an exchange of experiences and practices – so called ‘Benchlearning’ or learning by comparison as mentioned above (ibid).
The aim of the ‘Benchmarking World Heritage & Tourism’ study was to provide a comparative, indicator-based quality assessment of World Heritage regions as well as an appraisal of how tourism is managed at WHS. The semi-structured questionnaires included the concept of indicators, which can be “used for the assessment and monitoring of heritage tourism” with an indicator being a “numeric factor, which refers directly or indirectly to a feature of a given
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 250 situation or action. The use of indicators includes: the measuring of situations, policies, management, impacts and pressures” (Franquesa and Morell 2011, p. 176). According to Valles (2001, p. 10), indicators must be “important, numerically measurable, useful, easy to interpret in time and between destinations, objective, directed at improvement, and reliable”. It is these characteristics that make indicators so popular among researchers. Since they are numerically measurable, they can be used to measure different cases at different times. They also lend themselves to being amassed together and creating a large database of data across a variety of cases. However, Franquesa and Morell (ibid) warn that indicators cannot express the entire situation of a particular case and the conversion of a situation into a number involves the exclusion of a great amount of information. Therefore, indicators were used in collaboration with exploratory qualitative data and opinions gathered in the interviews.
One of the goals of the empirical part of this Dissertation was to add to the results of the UNESCO project ‘Benchmarking World Heritage & Tourism’. As mentioned above, the UNESCO WHS of Goa is a case that has received little attention from researchers. In addition, Goa’s unique characteristic as a postcolonial destination with a UNESCO WHS that is not representative of the majority of the public, but instead of a small minority makes the case study of Goa a valuable addition both to the ‘Benchmarking World Heritage & Tourism’ study as well as to the general body of knowledge on the subject.
Case Study Leadership The implementation of the various case studies was given to individual Case Study Leaders. A crucial criterion for the task was that the case study leader had to be well versed with the respective WHS as well has possessing a good local knowledge of circumstances in the WH regions. In the case study of the UNESCO WHS of Goa India, the author of this dissertation was the Case Study Leader due to his background and family origins in Goa. In his/her function, the case study leader was responsible for data collection, organization and implementation of all interviews as well as the consolidation of the collected data. In order to ensure a comparable implementation of the various case studies, an extensive guide was provided to each case study
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 251 leader. This so-called ‘Manual for Case Study Leaders’ included the precise approach to data collection, the instructions for carrying out the interviews and cross-checking expert statements as well as supplementary information and guidance on the various questions in the questionnaire (Clivaz et al., 2013).
Sampling The next step of the empirical research was the selection of the participants to be included in the research survey, also known as the process of sampling. Expert Interviews were conducted with experts from the WH management in Goa (officials from Archaeological Survey of India - Goa Chapter and from the Church), the responsible persons in the regional (tourism) administration as well as tourism stakeholders and tourists in the region. Due to the sheer impossibility of interviewing the entire ‘population’ of tourism stakeholders and tourists at the UNESCO WHS of Goa, this author of this dissertation took a sample of elements from the ‘population’ and on the basis of their responses, inferred something about the whole population (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2002). While acknowledging this drawback, the author of this dissertation aimed to compensate with an increased focus on qualitative research by conducting in depth interviews and questionnaires with the chosen respondent sample at the UNESCO WHS of Goa. “In qualitative research, the purpose is seldom to arrive at statistically valid conclusions (even though it is possible), but rather to understand, gain insights and create explanations (theory)” (ibid, pp.120-121). Alasuutari (1995, pp.156-157) agrees, stating that the aim of qualitative research is not to generalize, but rather to gain a deeper insight into the topic or phenomenon under consideration (i.e. the case study of the UNESCO WHS of Goa).
Interview-based data collection The collection of data was conducted via expert interviews with a questionnaire developed as a central working tool. Before conducting the interviews, all valid data that was available from studies/statistics/UNESCO databases/statistical yearbooks of the respective country etc. were filled in to the respective sections of the questionnaires.
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Questionnaire Sections ‘Administrative Information’ Section The administrative section of the questionnaire includes the personal data of the case study leader and the interview partners as well as the type of interview. ‘General Data’ Section In this section of the questionnaire, basic data and contextual background information of the particular WHS were collected. In addition, basic data about the country and the WH region in the form of existing socio-economic and environmental indicators and indicators for national and regional tourism were recorded. As mentioned above, this data was researched and collected by the case study leader before the interviews and later discussed with the interview partners to fill the gaps and to obtain the opinions of the experts. ‘Evaluation’ (expert interviews) Section The ‘Evaluation’ section included the questions that were answered by the WHS management as well as representatives from tourism and/or public authorities. The interview questions were grouped thematically into four different areas: ‘Condition of the WHS’, ‘WHS in general terms’, ‘WHS management in terms of tourism’ and ‘WHS management in terms of regional development’ and were designed to identify concrete actions and impulses of the WH management with regards to the issues mentioned above. Thematic priorities include Condition & Preservation, Condition of the WHS, Management Plan, Conflict Management, Visitor Management, WHS Tourism Strategy, Sustainable Tourism, Participation and involvement of NGOs, Communication as well as Education & Awareness (Clivaz et al., ibid).
Structure of the questions and evaluation pattern The organization of the questionnaire was closely linked to the ‘Monitoring and Benchlearning’ tool mentioned previously. The design and structure of each question was done in order to enable a sufficiently quantifiable analysis of what is largely qualitative information. Therefore, the questions were highly structured and follow a general construction principle:
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• First, the interviewee was asked to specify, via a checkbox based Likert Scale, whether/to what extent a particular activity is performed and additionally, the quality with which it is performed (Closed Question). • Next, the interviewee was asked how the activity is carried out/implemented. These qualitative, text-based responses form the Benchlearning aspect of the application (Open Question). Case Study leaders were constantly required to justify answers and explain any major deviations/differences in opinion. The benchmarking questions in the ‘Evaluation’ section of the questionnaire were evaluated according to a predefined scoring system. For comparative analysis, the benchmarking questions were assigned an indicator and the indicators in turn were grouped thematically to form dimensions. The text-based responses, on the other hand, were unable to be assigned points due to their qualitative nature. Although not incorporated directly into the benchmarking, they nevertheless formed part of the evaluation. The developed application made it possible to provide appropriate text-based answers to questions regarding methods/experiences/procedures of WH management as so-called ‘Practices’. These ‘Practices’ were then presented at the evaluation level in the appropriate context (dimension and indicator) for each WHS as part of a cluster (ibid).
Principle of cross-checking: The Cross-checking approach The organization of interviews with experts from different subject areas was based on the principle of cross-checking, one of the underlying principles in the social sciences (Dean and Whyte 1979). The principle stresses the need for several independent sources of information to examine or cross-check certain statements/facts. In the case studies, the principle of cross- checking – referred to here as the "Cross-checking approach" – was primarily meant for the verification of statements made by the WH management.
The cross-checking approach in practice The surveys, conducted as part of the case study, were carried out according to the maxim that every question in the ‘evaluation’ section of the questionnaire (Expert interviews) was to be
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 254 answered by at least two experts. In most cases, this consisted of a representative of the WH management and at least one other interview partner. If the statements made by at least two experts were consistent, both with each other and/or with other studies or written sources, the question was considered answered. If there were differences between the interview partners, it was the task of the case study leader, based on the statements and data, to assess the facts summarily and submit a final conclusion to each question in the form of ‘Composed Answers’. Analogous to the individual ‘Composed Answers’, there was also, at the level of the overall survey, a ‘Composed interview’ that can be understood as the essence of individual interviews conducted (ibid).
Composed interview The composed interview is the main and most important part of the entire empirical piece of work, comparable to a master dataset. It is formed as a result of the individual interview statements as well as the judgements and research conducted by the Case Study Leader. The composed interview comprises of the following aspects: 1. Answers to the section ‘General Data’ as provided by the Case Study Leader (i.e. his or her own research together with information provided by the experts). 2. Composed or ‘synthesised’ answers to the section ‘Evaluation’ as provided by the Case Study Leader. These synthesised answers are based on the individual interview statements of the WHS management, verified and cross-checked with the statements of the other experts, as well as weighted with the Case Study Leader’s own judgement. 3. Answers to the part «Further information» According to the authors (ibid), this required the Case Study Leader to behave like a journalist by composing his/her own synthesised answers to the questions in the ‘Evaluation’ section. As mentioned above, these synthesised answers are based on individual interviewee statements as well as the Case Study Leader’s own assessment of the situation (ibid).
In general, all the interview questions in the ‘Evaluation’ section of the questionnaire were to be answered by the WHS management. However, not all questions were able to be answered
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 255 by the other experts interviewed (e.g. representatives of tourism or regional management authorities) due to a lack of knowledge. Nevertheless, the Case Study Leader needed to apply the above-mentioned cross-checking approach whenever possible, ensuring that each interview question was answered by at least one other expert (either from tourism or from the regional management) in addition to the WHS management to verify (cross-check) the answer statements. The best case, of course, would be if all three parties are able to provide an answer. The Case Study Leader was expected to use his/her own judgement with regards to cross- checking responses and the weightage of the individual responses when composing the synthesised answers. For example, the Case Study Leader may have given greater weightage to the opinion of the WHS management when concerning WH affairs since the manager knew best. However, if all the other experts disagreed with the response of the WH manager, then this might be a cause for alarm. The overall goal was to get at least two consistent statements for each interview question. If this was the case, the Case Study Leader composed a synthesised answer based on these statements and the question was then considered answered (ibid).
In case of differing answers with regards to an appraisal question (that was based on individual viewpoints or interpretations), the Case Study Leader needed to provide a final answer based on his/her own judgement of the answers. For example, if in response to the appraisal question ‘How do you judge the quality of the management plan?’, the WHS management answered very good, but two other experts only answered good, then the synthesised answer of the Case Study Leader would probably have been ‘good’ instead of ‘very good’. In the text-box ‘Please explain’, the Case Study Leader would have been required to explain the different statements (who said what and why) and provide his/her own reasoning. Taken all together, this formed the composed (synthesised) answer. If, however, the experts all provided different answers, the composed (synthesised) answer would have been somewhere in between. In the case of certain answers, e.g. regarding a fact, the Case Study Leader (CSL) was allowed to even overrule the answers of the experts. For example, if in response to the question ‘Does a management plan for the World Heritage site exist?’, the WHS manager and an additional expert both agreed that a management plan existed (and the CSL had seen it), the synthesised answer would have been
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‘yes’. If the WHS manager answered yes and the additional expert answered no, but a third expert who was called in answered yes, the synthesised answer would have been ‘yes’. If, however, the experts disagreed but the Case Study Leader was aware that a management plan existed (because he or she had seen it), the synthesised answer would still be ‘yes’ (ibid).
Evaluation The evaluation of the data collected in the consolidated ‘Composed interview’ took place at two different levels: Firstly, each case study was individually assessed in a qualitative manner. Secondly, all the case studies were subjected to a comparative evaluation in order to broaden the scope of the study as well as facilitate Benchlearning between the different WHS. Single evaluation: Case Study Reports At the level of the individual case study, a qualitative evaluation in the form of an individual Case Study Report for the WHS of Goa was conducted (which can be found in the appendix of this dissertation). The case study report was divided into three chapters. The first chapter described the WHS of Goa, the regional context and the tourist situation in the WH Region while the second chapter summarized the key findings and identified challenges and exemplary management practices at the WHS. In the third chapter, feedback from the Goa WH site management and other interview partners were processed and conclusions drawn. In accordance with the aim of placing the individual case studies in a comparative context, the ‘Monitoring and Benchlearning tool’ included all the WHS case studies conducted (ibid).
Data Entry: ‘Monitoring and Benchlearning tool’ As mentioned in a previous section, the web-based ‘Monitoring and Benchlearning tool’ enables a comparison of WHS for people responsible for WH management at each Site. The heart of the application is a database with a web-based representation of the paper based questionnaire. The tool also has a comprehensive administrative area in which the comparative evaluation took place. The procedures included: ▪ Setting of Basis Points: Basis points were assigned to the quantitative, benchmarking questions in the ‘evaluation’ section according to a predefined scoring system.
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▪ Associating questions with indicators: The answers evaluated by benchmarking were associated with a set of indicators. ▪ Grouping of indicators to form dimensions: The indicators were then grouped thematically to form dimensions. The dimensions and their respective indicators were displayed in the evaluation level of the application. ▪ Weighting of indicators: At an indicator level, a weighting was performed. ▪ Selection of answers for representation as practices: The text-based answers to questions about methods/experiences/procedures of the WH management were set as ‘Practices’ and displayed in the appropriate context to facilitate ‘benchlearning’ among the WHS.
As a graphical representation, a radar chart showed the evaluation of the data in 6 dimensions. The values shown were relative in nature and show the points reached in each case in a dimension as a percentage of the total points. The six outer corners of the diagram form the best possible rating. The evaluation of the case studies in the form of radar charts was done to order to clearly bring out the individual differences of the examined WHS. Furthermore, an attempt was made in the Data Results section to explain the larger deviations in the radar charts between the different WHS (ibid). The responses as well as statistical data in the three questionnaires of the Goa WHS together provide a solid basis for interpretations and aim to add to the data already collected on the subject (as part of the Benchmarking study) as well as the existing body of knowledge.
5.4 Research Quality Criteria
Altinay and Paraskevas (2008) suggest the evaluation of the results of the research surveys against research quality criteria such as (external) validity, in order to ascertain its quality. Validity is the “extent to which the data collection method accurately measures what it is intended to measure and the extent to which the research findings are really about what they profess to be about” (Saunders et al, 2007 cited in ibid, p.130). Put differently, validity can be explained as the extent to which the results of the empirical research accurately reflect the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 258 phenomenon that is being examined. Further, Veal (2006) states that tourism research faces a huge number of difficulties in this area since it mainly concerns itself with people’s attitudes and behavior and relies on their own reports in questionnaire based interviews. He cautions that it is normal that validity in tourism research is lower when compared to the natural sciences.
It is extremely difficult to determine the external validity or generalisability of case studies. It is here that the question is posed as to how a single case can claim to be so representative in its field that it can generate findings/results/recommendations that can be directly applied to other cases. Bryman and Bell (2011) warn that case study researchers must not delude themselves as to the possibility of identifying cases so typical/representative of their respective fields that that the results of their analysis have an automatic validity for other case studies. However, case studies also enable empirical researchers to generate a number of concepts that have a certain degree of generalisability in that particular area (Kanter, 1997). According to Veal (2006, p. 109), although case studies do not aim to produce generally representative results, if the research conducted had absolutely “no implications beyond the particular case…there would be little point in conducting it…Thus, while case study research may not result in generalizations about a population, it can have valid things to say in relation to theory in the case of explanatory research”.
In the case of this Dissertation, the results of the analysis into the Goa WHS can claim to have a certain degree of generalisability at other postcolonial heritage tourism destinations as well, given the similarities between heritage destinations especially in postcolonial countries. However, Lee, Collier and Cullen (2007) suggest that particularization rather than generalization is the main advantage of the case study, and should thus be its main focus. Put differently, the aim of the researcher should be first and foremost to concentrate on the uniqueness of the Goa WHS and to develop a deeper understanding of its specific aspects/phenomena rather than trying to establish widely generalizable heritage communication theory.
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6. Data Analysis and Interpretation
In section 6.1 Results, the results of the Case Study of the UNESCO WHS of Goa in the Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool (MBT) will presented in the form of a spider chart/ radar diagram (shown in red) alongwith the results of the individual indicators shown in the form of bar graphs. The results will then be compared to the average results of the other case studies/ WHS (shown in blue) and possible reasons for existing deviations between the Case Study of the UNESCO WHS of Goa and the remaining case studies/WHS will be provided.
In the second part of this chapter, section 6.2 Data Analysis and Interpretation, the results of the secondary research will be compared to the results of the Goa WHS in the 6 dimensions mentioned above, attempting to provide a theoretical underpinning to the data interpretation. Furthermore, (best) practices (of other WHS) will be suggested for the WHS of Goa, according to the Benchlearning goals of the UNESCO study. Together, the aim is to add to the body of knowledge on the subject of heritage communication, especially focussing on the topic of dissonant heritage communication that makes the Case of the UNESCO WHS of Goa so unique.
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6.1 Results
Figure 4: Spider diagram/ radar chart of the UNESCO WHS of Goa compared to the average of all case studies (Source: Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
As can be seen in the figure above, the ‘Churches and Convents of Goa’ (as the UNESCO WHS of Goa is officially known) performs reasonably well in most areas when compared to the average of all other case studies. In the field of Condition & Preservation, it even exceeds the overall average while in the fields of General Management, Tourism Management, Involvement & Support and Regional Development, it is not too far behind the overall average. However, where the performance of the Goa WHS really lags behind the other WHS is in the field of Communication & Awareness, a major focus of this dissertation and as the results show, rightly so. As can be seen from the figure above, the red line of the Goa WHS is almost right at the centre of the spider diagram. Although the blue line of the other WHS does not manage to reach the tip of the chart i.e. the idea result, the gap between the Goa WHS and the other WHS clearly shows the need for the Goa WHS to catch up to the other WHS. Possible reasons and solutions will be provided in the next section.
In the following paragraphs, the scores of the Goa WHS for the individual indicators in the 6 dimensions/fields mentioned above will be presented in greater detail.
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Figure 5: Condition & Preservation (Source: Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
As mentioned above, in the field of Condition & Preservation, the Goa WHS performs admirably with the combined ranking for this dimension even higher than the average of the other WHS. The indicators used for this Dimension were the Condition of the WHS Site, the Status of Protection and Threats of the WH Site.
In the first indicator, Condition of the WH Site, the Goa WHS achieves a full score of 100 compared to the overall average of just above 80. Assessment criteria in this indicator include the State of the Site and the Monitoring of the Site.
With regards to the state of the cultural heritage at the Goa WHS, the interviewees felt that, by and large, the monuments and buildings were well preserved. The Deputy Superintendant Archaeologist of the Archaeological Survey of India, Mr N Taher claims that all the seven monuments are maintained and preserved throughout the year and necessary conservation work is carried out. The interviewees also felt that as such, there is no structural disintegration
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 262 of the monuments. However, there is a threat from deforestation and uncontrolled real estate development in the buffer zone near and beyond the borders of the WHS which may result in some damage to the site itself in the coming decade. In comparison, the other WHS perform rather well. The preservation status of the buildings at the Salzburg WHS is very high throughout with city zoning, historic town conservation law and greenland declaration being strong instruments for the protection of the core zone of the WHS and its surroundings. However, there were some conflicts regarding the proper interpretation of the rules and regulations. Since the WHS of Český Krumlov was listed as WH, great emphasis was given to its repair and restoration, with the restoration and conservation of only a few objects pending. The WHS of Lamu has achieved good grades on the UNESCO monitoring results in 2010 and was deemed to be in a satisfactory state. Its architecture and culture have remained more or less intact thus far, despite the threat of modernization and influx of people from other cultures. Both renovations as well as new buildings are under strict instructions to maintain/adapt themselves to the original architectural design of the buildings. Nevertheless, development might pose a threat to the fragile buildings and urban spaces as well as the authenticity of the Old Town. At the Sagarmatha WHS, the monasteries in the region are well maintained, receiving (financial) support from the tourists, development agencies and locals.
With regards to the Monitoring of the Site at the WHS of Old Goa, the responsibility for the monitoring of the monuments lies with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) that is attached to the Ministry of Culture and dedicated to the protection, preservation and conservation of the national monuments. The ASI took over the archaeological monuments at Goa from 1968 onwards. There are 21 monuments under Goa Circle where preservation and conservation works are being carried out. The ASI is also responsible for the submission of Periodic Reporting, the last of which was submitted in 2003. How many of the measures mentioned/recommended have been implemented in response to the monitoring results of the Periodic Reporting is unclear. The monitoring at other WHS in the study are equally well conducted, although not with great regularity. At the Salzburg WHS, the last UNESCO monitoring was conducted in 2009 with more or less regular monitoring taking place in the context of building activities under the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 263 control of a supervision board (old city commission) and the local office of the federal monument and building protection authority. Each year a brief status report of the WHS of
Český Krumlov is prepared and periodic monitoring by UNESCO takes place every 5 years. The WHS of Kilimanjaro is regularly monitored and corresponding actions are taken in accordance with the management plan while at the Lamu WHS, status reports are prepared by the WHS Conservation Office annually that include the state of the WHS and the challenges faced as well as recommendations on how to improve. The Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS is also monitored regularly by the University of Berne. However, the monitoring systems at the Sagarmatha WHS and the Luang Prabang WHS are not as strong. The former lacks a regular monitoring system while the latter is in its initial stages.
In the second indicator, Status of Protection, Goa achieves a score in the high 90s compared to the average of just above 80. Assessment criteria in this indicator include Legal Protection of the Site and most effective means of protection.
With regards to the Legal Protection of the Site, the WHS of Goa and its Monuments are protected /preserved under the Central Government Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act 2010. The government agency responsible for the site is as stated above, the ASI since 1968. The other WHS also have similarly strong legal protection including the Salzburg WHS (Historic town conservation law since 01.01.1969), the Český Krumlov WHS (Czech law No. 20/1987 Sb. on state historic monument care), Kilimanjaro WHS (Forest Reserve since 1921/National Park, since 1973), Lamu WHS (National Museums and Heritage Act 2006/2006 Planning Act etc.) and the Sagarmatha WHS (National Park and Wildlife Conservation Act 1972 and Himalayan National Park Regulations 1976).
With regards to the most effective means of protection, although the Goa WHS and its Monuments are protected /preserved under the Central Government Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act 2010 and although conservation efforts are ongoing by the ASI, there is the urgent need for the establishment of
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 264 a written Management Plan that places stakeholder cooperation at the centre of protection and conservation efforts. Stakeholders that must be included include the State Government and Archdiocese of Goa and Daman as the principal stakeholders, alongwith the ASI as well as other stakeholders including the local population, local and regional NGOs, conservation architects, heritage conservationists, managers and experts from the tourism sector. At the WHS of Salzburg, the historic town conservation law is the most important instrument of preservation while at the Český Krumlov WHS, the national monument protection law is deemed as the most effective means of protection with its application, however, deemed unsatisfactory. Although the strict enforcement of laws is very important for the Kilimanjaro WHS, conservation can only be achieved if supported by the community. Therefore, various outreach programmes, conservation education and community development projects are needed. Efforts are also being made to increase the financial benefits that the local population receives from tourism, e.g. by means of a visitor’s tax. The interviewees at the Lamu WHS also agree that the most effective means of protection is through awareness creation and community involvement (e.g. a project called 'AMU FAHARI YANGU', translated: Lamu, my pride) which encourages the Lamu people to take pride in their homes and culture. Sensitisation and stakeholder involvement is also a focus at the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS with all of its stakeholders (including the local community, tourism stakeholders, economic interest groups, environmentalists, etc.). This is an ongoing process, where the purposes and the benefits of the WHS are explained, information disseminated, and feedback sought.
In the third indicator, Goa does not perform as well with a score of around 50 compared to the average of nearly 80. Assessment criteria in this indicator is the availability of threat management as well as the most important strategies against threats.
According to Section II of the Periodic Reporting Exercise on the Application of the World Heritage Convention by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at the Goa WHS, the factors causing damage to the integrity of the WHS property such as illegal constructions, irregular parking, hawkers etc. are tackled at the local level by the ASI with the help of state government
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 265 authorities while factors like capillary action, saline action, weathering etc. are attended to during periodical inspections. The most important strategies against threats at the Salzburg WHS include the historic town conservation law, flood protection and a zoning and urban development plan while at the Kilimanjaro WHS, these include community involvement in conservation as well as offering knowledge and assistance to establish income-generating activities for local communities at the WHS. To tackle the issue of land at the Lamu WHS being sold to foreigners, the community is being educated on the importance and benefits of owning the land while to counter the threat posed by fire, the Conservation Office is proposing to put up fire hydrants that use seawater. The third threat, of the youth who are at risk of losing their culture, is being tackled by educating them and encouraging embrace their own culture through participation in traditional competitions and activities.
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Figure 6: General Management (Source: Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
In the field of General Management, the Goa WHS does not perform as well as the other WHS, achieving a score of less than 40 with the overall average at a score of slightly less than 60. The indicators used for this Dimension were the Management Plan, Conflict Management, Human Resources and Funding.
Due to the lack of a Management Plan with conflict management solutions, the Goa WHS achieves a score of 0 in the first two indicators, compared to the overall average of around 60. Assessment criteria for the first indicator, Management Plan, include Existence and quality (problems & approaches in terms of WH management) and Monitoring & Controlling of Management Plan.
With regards to Problems and approaches in terms of WH management, the major problems that need to be solved at the Goa WHS include the damage that deforestation of the surrounding area may cause in the next 10 years. The interviewees highlight the uncontrolled
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 267 real estate development around the site as a threat and call for green cover to be maintained. Developments in the area may also be curtailed by not giving permissions for new building projects. The interviewees also call for a management plan to be approved by the Government of India and incorporated in the even larger Development plan for the Se-Old Goa Panchayat. In addition, for the WHS monuments under ASI control, an agreement is needed between the ASI and the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman as the principal stakeholder in the area. When asked about the forms of monitoring suitable for keeping track of progress, the interviewees believe that frequent seminars, workshops etc. will help increase awareness of the importance of WH while stating that monitoring can be done by the National Monument Authority or ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) on the basis of a transparent Management Plan that involves the participation of both the Government of Goa, the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman, village panchayats such as the the local Se-Old Goa Gram Sabha/Panchayat and Heritage NGOs. They also call for tourist guides to be imparted proper training by providing them with authentic information. Problems at the WHS of Salzburg include budget constraints, understaffed management and the complexity of rules and regulations while possible approaches could be to make guidelines etc. more transparent. At the WHS of Český Krumlov, problems include the need to raise consciousness for heritage conservation as well as the lack of clear guidelines beyond the national protection law while possible approaches could be the (better) implementation of the management plan, information activities and closer stakeholder cooperation. (Lack of) Stakeholder cooperation and community involvement are also problems at other WHS including Kilimanjaro, Lamu, Mt. Kenya, Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch and the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona. At these WHS, the most frequently cited challenge in regard to the management of the WHS was the poor involvement of local communities in reality as well as the lack of benefits they gain from tourism. At the Kilimanjaro WHS, 7.5% of the recurrent budget for all national parks in Tanzania is invested in community development projects. Interviewees at the other WHS also criticize the top-down decision making instead of allowing direct community participation. Communities are often only consulted, but not directly involved in project / management plan implementation, which decreases their ownership and leads to
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 268 insignificant results. Instead, the WHS management should be more collaborative, involving people in conservation and in the implementation of the management plan.
As mentioned above, Goa also scores 0 points in the second indicator of Conflict Management. Assessment criteria for this indicator include the availability of procedures to mitigate conflicts. Conflicts do sometimes arise at the Goa WHS between the primary Stakeholders, i.e. the Archaeological Survey of India and the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman. However, with the lack of a management plan, there is also no procedure for the settlement of disputes that is defined before disputes arise. As and when the dispute occurs, the procedure to settle the dispute is decided ad hoc. In the case of more serious disputes such as the question of ownership between the ASI and the Archdiocese, the courts were involved. The expert from the Archdiocese claimed that at the moment consultation was taking place between the Stakeholders in an informal manner and calls for the ASI to recognize the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman as a major stakeholder (as the Owner of the religious monuments) through an agreement, which is not yet in place. At the WHS of Salzburg, conflicts occur when the construction industry, house owners and entrepreneurs with vested interests aim to interpret the historic town law differently and tried to by-pass these rules and regulations. Conflicts at the WHS of Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya, Lamu, Sagarmatha, Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch and Tectonic Arena Sardona mainly arise with regards to the utilisation of (natural) resources. Processes for mitigation of conflicts at other WHS include the involvement of the historic town commission as per conservation law & citizen participation at the WHS of Salzburg and legal organs such as the water users association at the WHS of Kilimanjaro and Mt Kenya. In addition, Mt Kenya WHS also has conflict management committees that are officially recognized and respected. At the WHs of Lamu, all land conflicts are solved in the District Lands Board, the District Executive Committee, District steering committee and the district security committee. The Conservation Office has also signed an MOU with the Water Resources Management Authority (WRMA), who now owns the catchment area while the Conservation Office remains as the key custodian. At the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS, conflicts and disputes are settled case by case by discussions and roundtables while the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 269 procedures to mitigate conflicts at the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona WHS comprise of institutionalized regional planning instruments and participatory processes in general.
Goa also performs poorly in the third indicator, Human Resources, achieving a score of only 40 compared to the average of 60. Assessment criteria for this indicator include adequateness of staffing level and qualifications and the societal groups involved.
With regards to the staffing level at the WHS of Goa, these include a Deputy Senior Archaeologist who is also the head of the local ASI, an Assistant Archaeologist in charge of technical matters, two Conservation Assistants in charge of engineering/maintenance, one foreman as well as security personnel. However, considering the fact that the WHS includes a number of monuments and the Deputy Senior Archaeologist is also responsible for the WHS of Hampi (another major WHS), the number of personnel need to be increased in order to facilitate better conservation and reduce the burden on the current personnel. Other WHS do not fare much better. At the WHS of Salzburg and the Sagarmatha WHS, staff constraints mean that only the conservation task can be fulfilled properly with the manpower lacking for further activities like updating the inventory, monitoring, awareness and educational activities, a vital task for any WHS. Český Krumlov WHS lacks manpower due to budgetary constraints while at the Kilimanjaro WHS, there is a need for more staff to fulfil all the necessary tasks including site management (law enforcement, community support etc.) and tourism management. The Lamu WHS, the Mt Kenya WHS and the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS are all understaffed with the staff at Lamu unable to take counter actions against non-compliance with conservation laws and the staff at Mt Kenya insufficient for the workload they have. With regards to the equal involvement of all societal groups in the site management, there is no information available for the Goa WHS. Ethnically and by religion, the inhabitants of the town of Salzburg are a rather homogeneous group in nature but a gender balance is not given. While staff from tribes all over the country are employed at Kilimanjaro WHS, the government of Kenya does not discriminate and is an equal opportunity employer at the Lamu WHS. Furthermore, the Conservation Office / Lamu Museum is aiming to hire more local staff, acknowledging that local
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 270 people are the best custodians for their own culture. The Vallée de Mai WHS is another best practice example with the site management equally employing different societal groups with the Seychelles society very multi-cultural with equal employment opportunities for everyone.
In the final indicator, Sufficiency of Funding, Goa WHS performs better than average with a score of around 70, compared to the average of the other case studies which is slightly below 60. The WH site management in Goa claim that they receive sufficient budgetary support from the Central Government and in case they exceed their budget, they need to apply for further funding (giving reasons) but this funding is almost always granted. Thus, lack of funding is not an issue at the Goa WHS. The Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool (MBT), unfortunately, does not provide any practice examples for the other WHS.
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Figure 7: Tourism Management (Source: Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
The field of Tourism Management is another focus of this dissertation, giving this Dimension even greater importance. Again, the Goa WHS does not perform as well as the other WHS in this dimension, giving great cause for concern. The indicators used for this Dimension were the Visitor Management, WHA Tourism Strategy, Tourist Offers of WHS & Sustainable Tourism. Due to a lack of sufficient initiatives regarding tourism at the WHS of Goa, the Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool was presumably unable to provide either a combined ranking for this dimension or rankings for the other individual indicators (with the exception of Tourist Offers where Goa scored less than 20 when compared to the average of slightly above 40).
Assessment and Benchlearning criteria for the Indicator Visitor Management include Existence and adequateness, Balance of frequentation & capacity as well as the Trend in arrivals.
A Visitor Management System per se does not exist for the WHS of Goa. Furthermore, there is no possibility to measure the number of arrivals since there is no ticketing system for the WHS.
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Only visitors to the ASI Museum at the WHS can be counted as they have to purchase a ticket to enter the museum. What do exist are a few guidelines about how tourists/visitors must dress when visiting the Basilica, especially since (female) tourists in skimpy attire were offending the parishioners. Sources claim that it was the domestic/Indian (female) tourists who were a bigger problem rather than the international (female) tourists. Church officials are becoming increasingly concerned by the decreasing reverence at the heritage churches of Old Goa with its historical churches turning into tourist sites instead of places of devotion. Despite being forced to issue a strict dress code, church officials claim that it has become "extremely difficult to manage the crowds" due to a lack of volunteers and a failure by the government to provide adequate infrastructure. These problems might be reduced or prevented all together by the existence of an effective visitor management system.
As with the Goa WHS, the exact number of tourists visiting the WHS of Swiss Alps Jungfrau- Aletsch cannot be determined accurately, because the site is not fenced off and people can enter anywhere. The Jungfrau Railway is the only traffic infrastructure that brings tourists to a point within the WHS with other options being on foot or on ski, thus naturally limiting the number of visitors to the WHS. Other WHS such as Salzburg, Lamu or Český Krumlov suffer from a high relation of visitors in relation to capacity, especially in the high season. In Salzburg, on rainy days during the peak summer season, daily visitors approaching the city by car tend to overstretch the carrying capacity of the roads and parking lots around the city centre with a stillstand of public and individual traffic and restrictions for tourists to enter the inner parts of the city ensuing. At Český Krumlov, a continual challenge is the extreme number of tourists that overcrowd the town center in the summer months. In Lamu, tourist numbers are high, particularly during the Maulidi Festival. Despite these problems, most of the WHS mentioned above do not have any comprehensive Visitor Management System in place. Notable exceptions include the WHS of Kilimanjaro, Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch, Mt Kenya and Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona. Mt Kilimanjaro may only be ascended via marked routes and the number of visitors who want to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro is strictly regulated by the number of permits issued. In general, the number of visitors lies within the limits of defined acceptable use
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 273 and where visitor numbers exceed these limits, routes are temporarily closed. Visitor management at Mt Kenya include park rules that advise visitors on what is allowed/not allowed within park boundaries as well as marked routes/trails, signage and brochures to inform visitors. The performance of the Visitor Management system at the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch is mixed with it being deemed adequate for managing tourism flows while inadequate in terms of educating visitors about WH as many visitors remain unaware that they are in a WHS. In response, two visitor centres were created. At the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS, the main form of visitor management is through infrastructure, as mentioned above. Additionally, there are marked pathways, signage and visitor’s guidelines, in particular in those areas that fall under strict natural protection. On some of those paths that are most frequented, symbolic ‘entry steps’ have been constructed to make people aware that they are now stepping into a WHS, accompanied by information panels. The Visitor Management System at the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona WHS is currently developed in a broad participatory process with all communities with the main focus on visitor guidance and information: By providing various information to visitors, e.g. in form of entry points, signposted paths, information boards and electronic or printed guidelines, the visitors are guided through the WHS.
Proper and effective Visitor Management Systems gain particular importance when viewed against the trend of arrivals at the WHS. The data from all the WHS (apart from Goa where no data is available) show that the number of tourists has been constantly increasing with the Luang Prabang WHS showing an increase of almost 40 % from 2005-2009 and the number of international tourist arrivals increased by appr. 80 % in the same period and Vallée de Mai tourist arrivals also reaching peak levels.
The next indicator for Tourism Management is WHS Tourism Strategy and its assessment criteria include Existence and adequateness of Strategy and its Influence on regional tourism policies. With regards to demand for WHS Tourism Offers at the WHS of Goa, most interviewees felt that demand is not that high in Goa since it is more popular for beach tourism. Goa has a lot of heritage sites and monuments and a visit to these is mostly part of guided tours which
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 274 are in sufficient demand. However, the focus is not purely on WH but a mixed offering of Goa including beaches, temples, markets etc. making trips to WHS more of an ancillary visit. Others felt that the demand is not as high as it could be since tourism offerings are also more focussed on leisure and relaxation and the target market for offerings related to WH is limited. This limited demand can be differentiated into religious tourism and cultural tourism e.g. museums etc. Many feel that tourists are more interested in sightseeing and are not really interested in finding out the history behind the sites but only want to enjoy the view. This is largely blamed on the fact that many tourists are not aware of places which are heritage sites and what WH exact is. It is agreed that the demand in Goa is greater from the foreign travellers than the local/Indian tourists. Demand comes largely from tour operators and tourist offices. Other sources include Internet/booking portals, word of mouth, online sources – blogs, websites and social media, literature, maps and other media. Most other WHS did not answer this question with some such as Sagarmatha WHS claiming that the WHS status does not make much difference in demand as the opportunities at the site (viewing or climbing Mt. Everest) cause greater interest. At the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS, there is certain demand for WH tourist offerings. However, the site is usually experienced individually, in silence, thus inhibiting demand for specific tourism offerings. The interviewees see great potential in educational tourism offerings, together with the utilisation of the WH label in merchandising, which is very strictly regulated, thus restricting the number of offers and products in relation to the WHS.
Most of the WHS, including Goa, do not/are unable to provide an answer with regards to the influence of WHS on regional tourism policies or the existence and adequateness of Tourism Strategy, which often tends not to exist or exists only in fragments (such as at the WHS of Lamu or Kilimanjaro). The notable exception here seems to be the WHS of Salzburg where the CSL claims that the city of Salzburg who is responsible for the WHS has a strategy in terms of tourism. Furthermore, the WHS are unable to demonstrate the clear placement of the WHS in a regional tourism framework. In the past, the WHS found little attention in the tourism policy of Goa. However, in a new (proposed) draft tourism policy 2016 was prepared exclusively by an external consultant for the Department of Tourism, the WHS has been addressed
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 275 comprehensively, offering hope that heritage will now be given more importance in the new regional tourism policy. Firstly, the draft tourism policy suggests that Culture & Heritage be promoted with high intensity for international tourists and for medium density for domestic tourists. Currently, it claims that Culture and Heritage are only promoted with low intensity for both international and domestic tourists. In particular, the draft policy suggests a high intensity focus for the British, German, French, American, Chinese, Japanese and Australian markets with the Russian and Indian/domestic markets receiving medium intensity focus, presumably based on the interest of tourists from those countries for heritage/culture. With regards to repositioning Goa as a multi-product destination and the proposed evolution of Goa as a tourism destination, the draft tourism policy suggests that Goa evolve from a majorly Sun & Beach tourism destination and develop a multi-product destination where Culture & Heritage will play a major role in attracting international as well as domestic tourists. The draft policy suggests that a new marketing strategy with regards to Culture and Heritage be pursued in which innovative cultural offerings, especially in the hinterlands, be developed by the tourism department. In particular, the draft policy defines eight programmes relating to cultural heritage including handicrafts, cultural events, old Goan houses, heritage monuments (temples/churches/museums & other Archaeological Sites) etc. Unfortunately, the UNESCO WHS of the Churches and Convents of Goa are not mentioned specifically, despite their international importance. It is hoped that, with the extensive mention of the WHS in the draft tourism policy, it will receive more attention and promotion than in the past where it was largely neglected, apart from a cursory mention in some tourism brochures.
The next indicator is the Tourist Offers of the WH site with the assessment criteria being the Existence and variety of Tourism offers of the site. Here, the Goa WHS scores less than 20 against an average of slightly above 40. The Churches and Convents of Goa WHS does not have any special offers in terms of tourism apart from the guided tours/ tour guides at the Basilica of Bom Jesus, some of whom are approved by the tourism department of Goa. Other WHS that offer guided tours include Luang Prabang, Vallée de Mai and Kilimanjaro who all work together with private guides offering guided tours. It is important to note that these tours are not official
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WHS guided tours. The CSL of Kilimanjaro claims that this is to reduce management costs, as the management does not have to invest in advertisement, marketing etc. There are also a number of different offers and products at the Salzburg WHS but none under the aegis of the WH label. In comparison, both the Lamu WHS/Lamu Museum and Mt Kenya WHS offer their own guides that can take tourists on guided tours. Some WHS offer unique WH tourist offerings including the ‘Český Krumlov Card’ at the Český Krumlov WHS (that enables tourists to visit a great number of sites at discounted ticket prices), an online tool at the Swiss Alps Jungfrau- Aletsch WHS (that allows tourists to compile their own information booklet on the area, including suggestions for corresponding hikes or excursions) and the Sardona World Heritage trail called Sardona-Welterbe-Weg at the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona WHS (that affords a unique insight into the processes and evidence of mountain formation).
The final indicator is also one of the most important i.e. Sustainable Tourism and its Assessment criteria include WH Contribution to Sustainable Tourism, Balance between conservation and use and Tourism used to conserve the site.
The balance between conservation and touristic use is a topic within the WHS of Goa. As part of the Periodic Reporting Exercise, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) mentions a number of threats caused by touristic use of the WHS including increased vehicular traffic resulting in higher pollution levels, lack of sufficient parking places for vehicles & unauthorised mobile hawkers at the WHS resulting in overcrowding as well as tourists/pilgrims visiting the WHS during the feast of St. Francis Xavier who stay within the WH premises and vandalise the area. Furthermore, the increasing numbers of pilgrim visitors during various religious festivals, in particular during the Novena week (November 23rd to December 3rd) put tremendous pressure on the WHS. However, the lack of a visitor management policy or a management plan means that there are no measures in place to balance conservation and use. While some WHS (such as Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya, Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch and Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona) claim that visitor numbers have not yet reached the limits of acceptable use and tourism is not considered to exert a significant pressure on the site, most of the other WHS complain about
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 277 the threats of tourism towards the WHS. The problems include increasing individual tourism traffic (Salzburg), overuse (Český Krumlov), dramatic increase in land prices making houses no longer affordable for local people, massive amount of corals and sand used for the construction of new “traditional” buildings, cultural “westernisation”, commercialisation of traditional culture and changing religious values seen as a threat by community leaders (Lamu), overcrowding and environmental degradation (Sagarmatha, Vallée de Mai Nature), developmental ressures from tourism including replacement of the local people by investors and tourists in the centre of town, loss of living heritage (local culture and traditional practice), encroachment of the green zones and disturbance of animals and plant habitat (Luang Prabang).
Although Sustainable Tourism policy rarely exists at any of the WHS (including and especially Goa), the CSL of the WHS offer a number of solutions with education and raising awareness deemed to be an important contributor to sustainable tourism. According to the Lamu CSL, WH can influence sustainable tourism only if it is well managed and the co-existence of communities enhanced so that it is not destructive to the environment, biodiversity and culture. Tourism and heritage conservation can succeed only through participatory planning and giving voice and respect to the local communities, and not only the big investors. At the WHS of Vallée de Mai and Sagarmatha, sustainability is left in the hands of the Government which often lacks efficiency, commitment and resources. Therefore, sustainability is not at the forefront of the tourism agenda. The region’s tourism thus suffers due to weak stakeholder cooperation and involvement. Interviewees at the Goa WHS thus call for an independent assessing authority as well as greater involvement of local bodies, panchayats, municipal councils as well as self- monitoring by all stakeholders. When asked which societal stakeholders should be involved in solving problems, respondent proposals included the local population, tourism industry stakeholders, civil organisations and environmental activists, stakeholders from politics and business, environmental activists, people with architecture and heritage preservation knowledge, sociologists, a shack/hotel owners/shopkeeper committee, professors, the local panchayat, citizen groups, NGOs, heritage lovers and resident communities.
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Some WHS, however, do offer unique and innovative solutions with regards to community involvement. Tektonikarena Sardona at the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona WHS cooperates with so called Geoguides, a group of trained ambassadors who engage in education & awareness raising on sustainability issues in the local community. At the Mt Kenya WHS, Kenya Wildlife Service advises communities who want to establish environmentally friendly eco-lodges (that use local materials/resources wisely), campsites, “bandas” (an accommodation facility with a traditional African theme) free of charge. Their research and licensing office also advises people who want to establish small tourism businesses in terms of game farming for free, since they are contributing to conservation. Kenya Wildlife Service also sensitizes the community on how they can benefit from tourism. Nevertheless, the share of benefits that the local population receives from tourism in general must be increased. At the Lamu WHS too, the benefits from tourism are very unequally distributed. Many of the hotels and guesthouses are owned by foreigners, resulting in a general attitude among the local population that tourism only leaves them ‘breadcrumbs’. The Kilimanjaro CSL agrees, stating that taxes from tourism industry might be a possible solution. Currently, porters and tour guides normally do not pay taxes to the district. If all porters and guides were properly licensed and a general tourism tax levied on their income, this money could be invested in community development projects that directly benefit the community. According to the CSL of the Vallée de Mai WHS, development projects could include special training for the local tour guides as the quality of disseminated information and guest services provided by the (private) guides is not satisfactory.
According to the CSL of the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS believes that in the future, a point could be reached where WHS are considered a unique brand to attract tourist visitors. This requires a stronger collaboration between the WH management and local/regional tourism organisations. Tourist organisations and DMOs have to be convinced – for their own benefit - to integrate the WHS into their marketing and to communicate them.
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Figure 8: Involvement & Support (Source: Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
In the field of Involvement & Support, the Goa WHS performance is not as high as the other case studies, achieving a score of slightly above 40 with the overall average at a score of slightly above 60. The indicators used for this Dimension were the Management Plan Participation, Public political Support, Involvement of Government and Involvement of NGOs.
In the first indicator, Management Plan: Participation, Goa achieves a score of 0 as a result. Again, the lack of a Management Plan at the Goa WHS with clearly defined participation methods is the reason for Goa’s poor score. Assessment criterion for this indicator is the Participatory Basis, including the implementation of the Management Plan, the forms of participation included therein and the Quality of Management Plan.
As mentioned above, Goa WHS lacks a management plan and therefore does not have any clearly defined participation methods. The other WHS show differing levels of implementation and success of the Management Plan. While the plan of the Kilimanjaro WHS is good, it lacks
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 280 funding to implement it. In Mt Mount Kenya, availability of resources is a major challenge faced when it comes to implementation although some ideas have been implemented. At the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS, the participative process of the plan raised many and high expectations, which could not all be met. Also, many ideas were generated that cannot all be implemented at once. Furthermore, the goal of the participative process, i.e. that the different stakeholders play a more active role in the making of the WHS was not fully achieved as too much responsibility and power (still) lies with the management centre. Thus, the idea of the public ownership of the WHS has not yet been fully attained. At the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona WHS, the implementation is currently still in progress with a similar situation in the Vallée de Mai WHS where it is claimed that 56% of all the actions in the Management Plan 2002-2008 have been completed or have made substantial progress, 13% of all actions have not commenced and some actions have not been considered in the assessment, as they seemed no longer relevant due to the fact that the plan was outdated.
With regards to the forms of participation in the creation of the Management Plan, only the WHS of Goa and Salzburg do not provide any answer. Nearly all the other WHS have utilised participatory methods including Kilimanjaro, Lamu (where a one-week workshop was held to brainstorm on items to be included in the management plan), Mt Kenya (workshops, training, site visits, seminars, meetings), Sagarmatha (involvement of civil sector and tourism people as stakeholders), Luang Prabang (involvement of private sector and locals) and Vallée de Mai (consultation of locals in stakeholder forums for their input on issues concerned). At the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS, all concerned stakeholders were involved to take part in elaborating the management plan with participation on a voluntary basis and in three phases – gathering of ideas, consolidation and adoption of the plan. The participatory process at the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona WHS involved a process of coordination with the communities (community declaration) as well as awareness training and discussions with different stakeholders. In order to collect project ideas for the management program, up to six forums with interest groups and stakeholders were carried out. Programs and projects, indicators and targets were then negotiated and defined together with the federal government.
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With regards to the quality of the Management Plan, again most WHS score themselves very highly. At the Kilimanjaro WHS, the management plan is a technical document that is the basis for a better management of the site. It is formulated on the basis of participatory discussion and addresses various areas including protection, development, infrastructure and operation. It is based on the OUV (outstanding universal values) on the basis of which Kilimanjaro was inscribed on the WH list. However, not all the aspect of the management plan have been fully implemented due to a lack of funding. The Lamu WHS Management Plan is thought to be good since it involves all governmental department heads in ministries related to physical planning, survey, public health, religious leaders, hoteliers as well as the local population. The Management Plan of the Vallée de Mai provides detailed background information on the site and its context. Actions defined in the Management plan embrace the most important management areas and are very detailed as well as practically applicable, which shows a profound development of actions. Furthermore, locals were consulted when the Management plan 2002–2008 was developed. Deficiencies include management objectives that are too detailed, lack of clearly desired outcomes being addressed and its lack of applicability for daily operations which could have been improved with derived work plans and a set of measureable and achievable targets. Additionally, no budgets and available resources were linked to the management areas. From the point of view of the management centre and UNESCO, the plan of the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS is an example for other management plans, in particular because of the participatory manner in which it was elaborated as well as its comprehensiveness. However, it is also criticized for being too exhaustive, including too many different goals and objectives, as well as making it seem somewhat “detached” from the needs of the local population.
In the second indicator, Public & political support, Goa’s performance is nearly the same as the other WHS, with both having a score of slightly above 60. Assessment criteria include the Level of support by different groups and Successful Measures taken to increase (public & political) support. Although Goa’s performance in relatively good when compared to the other WHS, it
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(alongwith the WHS of Salzburg and Český Krumlov) does not have any measures to increase public and political support. Successful measures at other WHS include PR and active communication towards communities and media (Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona) and regular meeting between supporting groups and the different project leaders, the committee and WH site management (Luang Prabang). At the Kilimanjaro WHS, there are outreach programs and efforts to increase local communities’ benefits from tourism, e.g. under the communities’ conservation service outreach programs. 7.5% of the annual budget of TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks, the governmental management authority for national parks) is allocated to community projects, which are chosen on the basis of community preferences. However, NGOs criticize that it focuses more on building of schools or dispensaries while neglecting more sustainable projects like education, capacity development or business development training. In Mt Kenya WHS, the Kenya Forest Service provides a copy of the ecosystem management plan to a majority of the stakeholders while also educating the masses, in collaboration with environment-oriented civil groups, to take part in ‘Participatory Forest Management’. A best/good practice example here is the WHS of Lamu. The most important and successful measures at the Lamu WHS include awareness raising programs in schools with officers from the Lamu Museum / Lamu WHS Conservation Office visiting schools to educate the children on the Swahili culture and the importance of preserving it. They also offer chances to local artists/groups to present traditional dances and cultural artefacts or Swahili culinary art during public forums and functions. Various announcements on billboards enlighten the population about laws and regulations in regard to the preservation of culture and physical heritage.
The Goa WHS performs well in the third indicator, Involvement of Government, achieving a score of slightly less than 80 compared to the average of just above 80. Assessment criterion for this indicator is the Level of involvement of governmental institutions including a judgement of its involvement. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is the (national) governmental organization responsible for the management and conservation/upkeep of the Goa WHS and the monuments therein. In addition, consultation also takes place with the State Government of Goa. Upgrading of infrastructure, services and facilities around monuments within the ASI
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 283 site are done through negotiations with the State Government/Stakeholders. Other WHS show similarly high levels of Government involvement. Site management of the Salzburg WHS is one of the tasks fulfilled by the department of zoning and construction of the Salzburg municipality while the vice-mayor of Český Krumlov, considered as a quasi-governmental institution, is responsible for its WH management. Similar to the Goa WHS, the management entity of the Kilimanjaro WHS is a government entity and other entities and institutions such as College of African Wildlife Management are involved in the management of WHS. There are different government departments that have a role to play within the WHS region of Lamu including first and foremost, the Lamu WHS and Conservation Office which is directly under the National Museums of Kenya, a Govt. department in the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The case is similar in Mt Kenya which is managed by Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forest Service, both of which are government departments. At the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS, performance agreements are decided together with the federal and the cantonal governments and form the basis for cantonal/federal financial support. Furthermore, representatives of the communities that are part of the WH region are in the assembly of delegates. The President of the Seychelles is the patron of Seychelles Islands Foundation and political leadership and support of the organisation at the Vallée de Mai WHS is therefore direct and very strong. Govt. ministries also have a crucial role (both legally & financially) in regard to decision-making in relation to site values and are the main bodies to implement and supervise decisions.
The judgement of governmental involvement is deemed to be rather negative at the Goa WHS since although the ASI and the State Government are involved in the WH management process, there exists only an informal arrangement between the two. A formal agreement, embedded in a clearly defined management plan, would help improve Govt. participation and involvement. The judgement of the other WHS is rather positive including at the Salzburg WHS where all activities around construction, building and spatial planning are centred in the zoning and construction department and at the Český Krumlov WHS where the authority of the municipality based heritage management can speed-up decision making. At the Kilimanjaro WHS, it is claimed that involving different institutions helps to include an array of different approaches
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 284 and management skills as well as broadens the experience base on which to rely on. In general, the involvement is also positive at the Lamu WHS since it allows integrating and considering different viewpoints. However, National Museums of Kenya often sees itself in a defensive position, as most of the other government departments would opt for more economic development rather than conservation. At Mt Kenya, different departments and governmental institutions with their own priorities and interests all work together, resulting in a balanced plan that takes into account different needs and interests.
In the final indicator Involvement of non-government organisations (NGO), however, Goa WHS performs worse than the average of the other case studies with a score of less than 40, compared to the WHS average which is nearly 50. Assessment criteria include Level of involvement, Participation processes as well as Sustainable social aspects.
Currently, the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman are the only (non-governmental) stakeholders that take place in the participation process. However, this is only an informal arrangement with the State Government and the ASI and no formal arrangement/process for participation exists. With regards to Participation processes for NGOs at other WHS, NGOs at the Kilimanjaro WHS are involved in the implementation of community-initiated conservation projects and thus support the work of Tanzania National Parks (the governmental national park management authority). When compared to the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS where stakeholders are involved in the implementation of projects, but not to such an extent as during the elaboration of the management plan, the Lamu WHS has seen an increase in the participation of civil society movements within the region since the last 10 years with the possibility to participate in a wide variety of fora. Both Vallée de Mai and Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona WHS also organise several stakeholder meetings, workshops, various consultation processes, forums and round table discussions. In Mt Kenya, monthly meetings at the forest station level take place within the Community Forest Associations with the aim of forest rehabilitation through community tree nurseries to raise seedlings and create networks while at the Sagarmatha WHS,
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 285 pollution control work is done by the local NGO SPCC and community development works are entrusted to the Buffer Zone Management Committees, User Committees and User Groups. In Luang Prabang, the WH Department organizes monthly consultation meetings to update the problems and discuss the issues related to heritage management.
On the topic of equal involvement of different societal groups, the performances of most of the WHS including Goa is weak. At the moment, the Catholic Church (Archdiocese of Goa and Daman) is the only group/organization that is involved at the Goa WHS. Most of the other WHS do not provide an answer to this question with Sagarmatha WHS also conceding that on a government level (consisting of mostly Hindu Brahmins), there is little influence on decision making of the local population (who mainly consist of Buddhist Sherpas). Notable exceptions include Kilimanjaro where, during the preparation of the management plan, stakeholders from the four districts adjacent to the WHS were invited, regardless of their gender, ethnic group or religion and Lamu where different societal groups were more or less equally involved including community based organisations (CBOs), womens groups and religious leaders.
Upgrading of infrastructure, services and facilities around monuments within the WHS of Goa are done through (informal) negotiations with the State Government/Stakeholders. Effects of participation at other WHS are mixed. At the Salzburg WHS, members of the historic town commission are selected from the private sector and experts in arts and architecture and together they form an advisory board which contributes in mitigating conflicts between planners, entrepreneurs and the authorities. Disputes are often centred around the interpretation of the law. Participation at the Lamu WHS has created a better sense of awareness among the general population about the value of their own cultural heritage, and has increased pride and identification while participation of various Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona stakeholders in many aspects of the WH site managements results mainly in better support by different groups through involvement, empowerment and a sense of belonging. Participation has had both positive and negative effects at the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS. The involvement of stakeholders led to the fact that the WHS was well accepted (also politically),
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 286 that stakeholders became aware of the dimensions of the project, that fears (e.g. regarding unilateral protection) and parochial mindsets could be dispelled and a certain “community spirit” could be established. On the other hand, this elaborate participative process may also have raised too high expectations towards what can be achieved by inscribing a site on the WHS list. This gap between expectations and reality may turn people away from the WH idea. Participation has mostly positive effects for Mt Kenya. Participation by various stakeholders reduced the workload for the Mt. Kenya forest management, which relieves the overall budget and helps to overcome staff shortage while also creating a sense of ownership. Participatory conflict resolution has been very instrumental in finding solutions when it comes to conflicts over resources such as water. The collaboration between Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Wildlife Service, Laikipia Wildlife Forum (a local NGO) and Water Resource Users Association (WRUAs) was able to solve crucial water issues during a time of water shortage, where an escalation of conflicts over water use was prevented. The effects were also mainly positive at the Kilimanjaro WHS with stakeholders have the opportunity to put forward their concerns to the park authorities and include their preferences in the general management plan. Though it is sometimes difficult to balance all the different needs, this process helps to increase the WH site management efficiency and increase communities’ benefits from conservation and use of the mountain resource. It also broadens the ownership of the WHS and brings new knowledge and ideas.
The level of involvement of NGOs is generally low at the WHS including Goa and Salzburg. The only stakeholder that is able to particpate is the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman. At present the ASI works with it through a consultative process. Little participation takes place with the other (non-governmental) stakeholders and the ASI/Government of India (GOI). Although the Deputy Superintendent Archaeologist of the ASI claims that the State government of Goa has formed a conservation committee which monitors the new development/buildings in the restricted area of the monuments, the exact constitution of this conservation committee remains unclear. This topic is not considered at the Salzburg WHS as the site is protected obviously well by law while at the Český Krumlov WHS, there are some negotiations between the heritage management
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 287 and several local groups about heritage preservation. Self-motivated participation from Vallée de Mai NGOs is moderate and only directed at very specific subjects e.g. research or using the site for the basis of an outdoor experience since most NGO’s in the Seychelles are oriented towards specific research or environmental themes. There is, however, a new Education and Outreach Program that aims to increase NGO participation. Some WHS, however, show a high level of NGO involvement. NGOs at the Kilimanjaro WHS are mainly responsible to educate the community on environmental conservation and to implement conservation projects. They also provide technical support to the communities in environmentally friendly income generating activities such as modern beekeeping or tourism activities such as ecotourism and cultural tourism. Different participation mechanisms have been put into place in Mt Kenya, such as the Water Users Resource Associations, which aim at jointly managing water resources, or the Community Forest Associations, which support communities in managing forest resources sustainable and protecting them. In addition, NGO and community stakeholders were also given an important role in the development of the management plan.
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Figure 9: Communication & Awareness (Source: Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
Alongwith Tourism Management, Communication & Awareness is a major focus of this dissertation. Rightly so, it seems, since the worse performance of the Goa WHS is in this dimension. Goa achieves a score of less than 20 out of 100 with the overall average score of slightly below 60. The indicators for this Dimension were Networking & Cooperation, Communication and Education & Awareness.
The first indicator, Networking & Cooperation is the only indicator out of the three where Goa scores any points. Assessment criteria for this indicator include Level of cooperation and Degree of networking. Important stakeholders/ cooperation partners at the WHS of Goa include the Catholic Church (Archdiocese of Goa and Daman) which is responsible for the churches/convents and conducts masses/prayers/religious activities, the State Government & local panchayat. However, as mentioned previously, it lacks a formal agreement/ Management Plan that clearly names the cooperation partners or clearly describes their roles/responsibilities. Other WHS also have numerous cooperation partners and forms of cooperation.
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In the latter two indicators, Goa’s score is 0 compared to the average score of 60 and slightly above 40 respectively. The Assessment criteria for the second indicator, Communication, include the Existence of a communication concept and (successful) Communication activities.
Few WHS seem to have a communication concept. Those WHS without a clear communication concept include Goa, Salzburg, Český Krumlov and Vallée de Mai while other WHS (such as Kilimanjaro, Sagarmatha, Luang Prabang etc) only have sporadic communication guidelines. The Lamu WHS is an exception as it has a communication concept that addresses both local population and tourists e.g. through public announcements, or tourists through flyers and brochures that are distributed to hotels. The WHS is also mentioned on the official website of National Museums of Kenya, the management authority.
WHS such as Goa, Salzburg, Luang Prabang and Vallée de Mai have no communication activities to state. However, many other WHS do conduct communication activities including annual
European Heritage days (Český Krumlov), Wildlife Week, National Conservation Day, World Wetland Days, World Environment Day, and World Biodiversity Days (Sagarmatha), monthly WH newsletters and cooperation with regional and communal media such as press, radio, television (Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona). At the Kilimanjaro WHS, tour companies work in collaboration with TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks, a government entity) to advertise the WHS. It also participates in national and international tourism trade fairs through TANAPA. The Lamu WHS uses cultural festivals as a means of communication. Many people from within and outside the community attend the festivities and the message of the value of the Lamu culture and the need for its preservation are communicated. The Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS offers the most comprehensive communication efforts including a multilingual WHS website (www.jungfraualetsch.ch), an online tool mentioned above that allows tourists to compile their own information booklet, including suggestions for hikes/excursions and an education tool for schools with ready-made presentations, work- and factsheets.
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The third and final indicator is Education & Awareness, another area where the WHS of Goa scores 0 points. Assessment criteria include Activities to increase awareness and Educational activities. Apart from the WHS of Goa, most other WHS offer numerous awareness raising activities. At the Salzburg WHS, school activities with teaching material provided by UNESCO take place but need to be initiated by the teachers. As such, no cooperation with the WH management exist. Lectures are also given in some University institutes. Český Krumlov WHS also offers numerous activities like school projects. Some WHS can also be considered as good/best practice examples. COMPACT (Community Management of Protected Areas Conservation Programme), an initiative to improve communities’ involvement in WH conservation initiated by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), takes place at the Kilimanjaro WHS. It carries out various activities in terms of education, e.g. supporting communities in constructing efficient cooking stoves, rainwater harvesting, setting up modern beehives, producing handicrafts etc. that help income-generation & contribute to poverty reduction. In addition, there is a community outreach programme where students receive conservation education in class and get the opportunity to visit a WHS. There are also awareness-building activities over TV and radio as well as international research through UNESCO. At the Lamu WHS, activities to increase awareness on heritage and environmental issues among the locals take place which is crucial, considering the general lack of awareness among the local people on the value of the WHS, despite being the main custodians of the site. Through interaction with the communities, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service and other stakeholders at Mt Kenya WHS provide education and training on pertinent issues. The Laikipia Wildlife Forum (a local NGO) has also set up an environmental education programme and hopes to also set up a regional tourism information centre to provide information on environmental issues and conservation. Kenya Forest Service also uses road shows or releases posters to communicate various activities that require the community's participation. Special focus is placed at the Vallée de Mai WHS on the education and awareness of the youth. These include the establishment of an Education and Outreach Programme as well as the association "Friends of VdM" that focuses on primary and secondary school students.
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Figure 10: Regional Development (Source: Monitoring and Benchlearning Tool MBT)
In the field of Regional Development, the Goa WHS performance is again not as high as the other case studies, achieving a score of slightly less than 40 with the overall average at a score of slightly less than 60. The indicators used for this Dimension were the Contribution of WH Tourism, Measures of WH Site, Promotion of Regional Products and Significance of WH for the region/regional development.
In the first indicator, Contribution of WH tourism to regional development, Goa achieves a score of less than 40 with the overall average of the WHS at a score of nearly 60. Assessment criterion for this indicator was the Level of contribution. There are a number of shops/stalls near and at the Goa WHS. These stalls selling souvenirs, refreshments, trinkets etc. are small businesses, run by the local population. Thus, the WH does contribute to a certain extent to the regional economic development and local livelihoods by attracting tourists who spend their money at these stalls. The role of WH in regional development was considerable at other WHS. In Salzburg, it is responsible for safeguarding thousands of jobs in the service and tourism
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 292 industry, contributing to the flourishing of cultural institutions as well as local business by generating revenues, income and taxes. The Mt. Kilimanjaro WHS is crucial in terms of livelihoods as many jobs depend on it. Its inscription on the WH List has further increased its profile and hence also benefits according to the CSL. WH tourism contributes indirectly to the development of infrastructure and regional economic development but not all districts profit equally. Being a tourism attraction, Mt. Kenya greatly contributes to regional economic development. Tourism also supports other industries like agriculture, transport, accommodation and improves infrastructure (roads, electricity, communication facilities). However, it is assumed that very few, if any, tourists visit Mt. Kenya because it is a WHS. Tourists come for the natural attractions of the site, not because of its designation. Tourism is one of the main drivers of development in the region of the Sagarmatha WHS and of outstanding importance to the country. Although tourism also has a significant influence on regional development (employment opportunities, taxes, necessary funds for development projects) at the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch WHS, the CSL questions how many tourists visit the area because it is a WHS. This is especially difficult to measure since tourism in the area was well established before WH designation. Thus, the WH label represents a huge opportunity for the region that has not yet materialised. There is no such doubt that tourism developed as a result of the WH status at Luang Prabang with the tourism sector as one of the key economic sectors of the province, contributing over 20% of the total Provincial GDP. It creates jobs for local people, offer business opportunities, support and strengthen local skills especially handicrafts and services. Vallée de Mai is the No. 1 natural site on Seychelles and tourists mainly come because of it. Thus, the WH tourism makes a high contribution to regional economic development & tourism infrastructure (hotels, restaurants, car rentals etc.) as well as providing for the majority of livelihoods.
In the second indicator, Measures of WHS Management to regional development, Goa’s score of nearly 50 is slightly worse than the average of other WHS which is slightly above 60. Assessment criteria for this indicator were Level of engagement and Influence on regional policies. The WH management (Archaeological Survey of India/ASI) does coordinate with the
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State Government/local village panchayats with regards to the conservation of the WHS of Goa but the unbridled growth of construction on the periphery and buffer zones of the WHS makes it seem that the WH management has little influence on regional development policies/strategies despite its best efforts. The influence of other WHS in regional development policies differs. While there are meetings between the Lamu WH management and the planning department and the former is also involved in the planning of the town and the approval and recommendation of building plans, the Český Krumlov site management has an influence on urban construction and development, zoning and spatial planning of the core zone and buffer zones. Similar to the WHS of Goa, the WH management of the Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch does influence regional development programmes to a certain extent, but mainly through an informal exchange rather than a formalised consultation process. The fact that Mt. Kilimanjaro is a WHS has attracted donors and also raised the profile of the area, and hence its political importance. This means that the management of the WHS is consulted, e.g. in terms of issues of tourism or regional development policies. In the Vallée de Mai, policy developments are conducted in both formal and informal consultation processes with the WH site management.
When asked about the problems (and approaches) regarding WH and regional development at the Goa WHS, even though all the respondents agreed to the existence of binding town and country planning/zoning, they mentioned that illegalities continue despite the law. Respondents also agree that the town and country planning is binding on the regional level. When asked whether the measures of the town and country planning successfully ensured the protection and preservation of the WHS, the answers were mixed with some agreeing while others stated that illegalities continue at the panchayat level. When asked whether/which economic sectors endanger the protection and preservation of the WH, construction near WHS, over construction and cheap tourists indulging in disfiguring were the main causes mentioned. When asked whether/which economic sectors endanger the development or the image of tourism, many of the respondents answered positively with ‘Raping of beaches and heritage areas due to callousness’, illegal shacks, stalls, overcrowded polluted vehicles and the tourism sector itself by having onshore casinos which were not required to promote Goa some of the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 294 factors/sectors named/blamed. Problems that need to be solved in the next decade include proper planning, maintaining forest cover, good wide roads, air and water pollution, better hygiene especially at the beaches, avoiding illegal constructions and better infrastructure, traffic, lowering of prices of hotels, improving taxi services, garbage disposal etc were mentioned. When asked how progress can be monitored as well as suggestions for improvement/solutions to the abovementioned problems, suggestions included monitoring violations using satellites and harsh punishments for those caught committing illegalities, the involvement of public, social and religious groups while others felt that an independent citizens’ committee might be a good option. Professionals like advocates, retired court judges, planners etc, town planners, pollution watchdogs and residents of the area are some of the societal stakeholders that are suggested to be involved in the citizens committee.
Problems at other WHS include a loss of balance between residential and tourism areas, traffic and parking, non-compliance of historic town conservation law (Salzburg), inadequate implementation of the management plan (Sagarmatha), unequal distribution of the benefits accruing from tourism (Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya), high poverty levels, increasing property prices due to tourism (Lamu) as well as lack of identification of the locals with the WHS (Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch, Tectonic Arena Sardona). Suggested approaches provided by the CSLs included improvement of city marketing for local inhabitants, a new traffic system, additional parking garages as well as stricter controls of the law (Salzburg), fostering & promoting local investment in accommodation and other tourism facilities, thus enabling the community to benefit directly from the WHS (Mt Kenya), local community and NGO involvement in the implementation of the management plan (Sagarmatha) and improvement of the communication and cooperation efforts between the WH management and the local/regional tourism organisations (Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch, Tectonic Arena Sardona).
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as the WH management is only responsible for the conservation of the monuments at the WHS. Thus, it can be said that the ASI, by protecting the tangible remains of the WHS, indirectly contributes to the preservation of regional cultural
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 295 heritage. The ASI is also partly responsible for environmental protection, especially in the areas (four heritage clusters classified as WH) under its control. It also makes an effort to prevent environmental degradation in the periphery and buffer zones of the WH, however, often with little success since it has no legal standing in these areas. The management of other WHS also engage in regional development. While the Kilimanjaro WHS contributes to raising funds for environmental protection, Environmental conservation is the core contribution of the Mt Kenya site management as it is of a high ecological and environmental value. This is also the core mandate for both the Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forest Service. The improvement of the road network is an indirect contribution to improving transport in the region. The WHS management of Lamu also supports protection of the environment through Seafront Development Programmes and through the initiation of an education program in schools on environmental issues. In addition, the site management engages a lot in the preservation of regional cultural heritage, and works in close collaboration with the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). The Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona cooperation with the Geoguides, a group of trained ambassadors of the WHS who engage in sensitization, education & awareness raising on the OUV and sustainability issues helps to preserve the natural & cultural heritage in the region. The Vallée de Mai site management engages in environmental protection through "clean-up the world" activities especially with "Friends of VdM", the association consisting of school children from the area. In addition, the preservation of regional cultural heritage is strengthened through organizing cultural events at the VdM visitor centre.
The Goa WHS performs well in the third indicator, Promotion of regional products, achieving a score of slightly above 40 compared to the average of nearly 50. Assessment criteria for this indicator include the Existence and authenticity of offers and Support of local or regional supply chains. Although it does help promote the sale of products in the region, other WHS are much further ahead when it comes to the authenticity of regional products offered. At the Salzburg, WHS, there exist a number of shops and small enterprises in the old city centre that sell specific local/regional products like traditional costumes, wax products, food items, herbs and spices of regional origin, handicrafts, embroideries, clothes, chocolates (first of all the popular Mozart
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 296 sweets) etc. No product, however, is entitled to use the WH label. Souvenirs at the Kilimanjaro WHS and the Lamu WHS (handicrafts like Dhow boat models, carved wooden furniture, embroidered products etc) are locally made and based on local heritage, with some exceptions. Although the WHS of Mt Kenya does not directly offer products to tourists, the Kenya Forest Service and Kenya Wildlife Service encourages the communities to make handicrafts and sell them to the tourists. In Sagarmatha, handicrafts include few locally woven wollen socks, hats, and mittens. However, truly authentic local handicraft was lacking which led to the Mountain Institute's Beyul Project assisting a women's group in Thame Valley to produce local Yak wool products. At the Vallée de Mai WHS, traditional produced include handicrafts and art.
In the final indicator, however, Goa WHS performs much worse than the average of the other case studies with a score of less than 20, compared to the WHS average of over 60. Assessment criteria for this indicator included the relevance/impact of the WHS for regional tourism & development.
The Goa WHS has a relatively low relevance for regional tourism & development since Goa is more famous for beach tourism. Although it has a lot of heritage sites and monuments and guided tours do take place, they are only ancillary to the main purpose of visiting Goa which is leisure and relaxation. Those tourists that do visit the sites are more interested in sightseeing rather than learning more about the history behind these sites and this is largely blamed on the lack of awareness of (world) heritage. The CSL of the Salzburg WHS feels that although the WH label adds value to the city and the local business, it has not been utilized sufficiently thus far. This situation seems to be the same at the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona WHS. The WH label is extremely important for Krumlov, giving the city a globally acknowledged high reputation. The UNESCO label guarantees uniqueness and gives the city an image of highest cultural quality and is used widely for tourism promotion. The fact that Mt. Kilimanjaro became a WHS has definitely raised the profile of the site although it is difficult to say which tourists come because it is a WHS and which come because it is a special natural site. In the end, the attraction of the site is still the mountain itself, independent of the label, according to the interviewees/CSL. The
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 297 case is similar with the Sagarmatha WHS. Tourism is very important, in particular in the region of the WHS of Mt Kenya. However, Mt Kenya also depends more on its natural features than on it being a WHS and the label is not viewed as having significantly changed the status of Mt. Kenya in terms of tourism numbers. Despite this, the WHS is used as a key image when it comes to marketing the region (but not nationally). Kenya Wildlife Service cooperates with other stakeholders like Kenya Tourist Board and also participates in trade fair exhibitions, among other marketing tools, in promotion of the region's tourism products. The WHS of Lamu, Luang Prabang and Vallée de Mai profit greatly from heritage tourism. There is hardly any other tourism than heritage tourism to Luang Prabang and this tourism has a share of more than 20 % of the regional GDP. The Vallée de Mai WHS is considered to be Seychelles No. 1 nature tourist attraction and the top tourism magnet. For the region where tourism is the major industry, it brings indirect as well as direct revenue. A large number of tourists visit the VdM every day (100-150 visitors per day). Hotels, restaurants, small businesses, transport companies etc. benefit from the well-visited WHS by catering to guests who might otherwise not have chosen to come. However, the CSL claims that the importance of the WHS for regional tourism has not been acknowledged by most of the enterprises yet.
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6.2 Data Analysis and Interpretation
6.2.1 Condition & Preservation
As mentioned above, in the field of Condition & Preservation, the Goa WHS performs admirably with the combined ranking for this dimension even higher than the average of the other WHS. With regards to the state of the cultural heritage, all the 7 monuments and buildings were well preserved and maintained throughout the year and necessary conservation work was carried out with no structural disintegration of the monuments being seen. However, there is a real threat from deforestation and uncontrolled real estate development in the buffer zone near and beyond the borders of the WHS which may result in some damage to the site itself in the coming decade. This is an issue that must be taken up seriously and resolved at the earliest.
In order to ensure that Conservation & Preservation takes place in an effective manner, the monitoring of the WHS is vital. As mentioned previously, the responsibility for the monitoring of the monuments of the Goa WHS lies with the ASI. Although the ASI is also responsible for the submission of Periodic Reporting, the last submission was in 2003, nearly 15 years ago(!). Furthermore, how many of the measures mentioned/recommended have been implemented in response to the monitoring results of the Periodic Reporting also remains unclear. While monitoring at other WHS in the study were equally well conducted, their regularity was (often) a great weakness. Annual status reports/periodic reporting and regular periodic monitoring by UNESCO is vital to ensure that the level of Conservation & Preservation remains high. While this is definitely a financial issue, nearly 15 years (as in the case of the Goa WHS) is simply too long a time period to have no periodic reporting. It is only when regular reports are created and submitted that UNESCO can take action if/where necessary.
According to Luger (ibid), heritage is a fragile, non-renewable resource. This resource needs protection if it is to preserve its exceptional character for future generations and therefore Condition & Preservation must be the first and foremost priority for the WH site
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 299 management. WHS are important and indispensable resources for both intercultural understanding as well as tourism, with cultural heritage being compared to a ‘staple food’. The presence of cultural heritage makes destinations attractive for visitors and tourists, with the inherent distinctiveness of the cultural heritage offering itself serving as a differentiator for the particular destination. Since cultural heritage is of such immense importance for tourism, a high degree of sensitivity & ability of the WH site management to reconcile divergent interests and resolve the fundamental conflict of objectives between the systems of WH and tourism in a manner that is both innovative and future oriented is vital so that the WH is protected and preserved in the long term.
The fundamental reason behind cultural heritage conservation is so that both present and future generations can enjoy it. According to Weigelt (ibid), this means that it is not merely sufficient to focus on its physical protection, thus making heritage conservation an end in itself, but also to ensure the possibility of access to the site to (tourist) visitors in a sustainable manner. This issue will be dealt in later sections.
6.2.2 General Management
As mentioned above, the Goa WHS does not perform as well as the other WHS in the field of General Management largely due to the lack of a Management Plan with conflict management solutions. There is an urgent need for a Management Plan which is approved by the Government of India and incorporated in the even larger Development plan for the Se-Old Goa Panchayat. In addition, for the WHS monuments under ASI control, an agreement is needed between the ASI and the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman as the principal stakeholder in the area. Goa also performs poorly with regards to Conflict Management. It is natural for conflicts to arise at the Goa WHS between the primary Stakeholders, especially the Archaeological Survey of India and the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman. Furthermore, the fact that the Goa WHS is a dissonant symbol of postcolonialism may also give rise to conflicts between the
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 300 different cultures at the destination. These conflicts also need to be addressed before they escalate. However, since Goa lacks a management plan, there is also no procedure for the settlement of disputes that is defined before disputes arise. Currently, disputes are either settled ad hoc or in case of more serious disputes, the courts become involved. This situation is not ideal. What is required is for the ASI to recognize the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman as a major stakeholder (as the Owner of the religious monuments) through a formal legal agreement, whose legal framework could be provided by a management plan. Here, Goa can learn from the other WHS such as Mt Kenya which has conflict management committees that are officially recognized and respected, Lamu with its numerous committees to solve all land conflicts and the Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona which has institutionalized regional planning instruments.
Goa also performs poorly with regards to adequateness of staffing level. As mentioned above, the fact that the WHS includes a number of monuments and the Deputy Senior Archaeologist is also responsible for the WHS of Hampi (another major WHS), the number of personnel need to be increased in order to facilitate better conservation and reduce the burden on the current personnel. It is crucial that the Superintending Archaeologist be given sole responsibility of the Goa WHS so that he is able to place his full focus on solving the challenges in Goa without having to worry about another WHS. Funding does not seem to be an issue at the Goa WHS which receives sufficient financial support from the Central Government as well as extra funding if necessary.
WH site management is required to clearly lay down arrangements for managing the site in a Management Plan, according to UNESCO guidelines with the current ‘Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention’ requiring that a management plan be submitted along with the nomination documents for any new property to be inscribed on the UNESCO WHS list. However, since this is only required for sites that have been included from 2005 onwards, it is often the case that those WHS that have been included on the list before 2005, i.e. the majority of all WHS, do not have one.
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Although UNESCO has now made management plans for WHS obligatory, it does not define exact requirements concerning content and format. Furthermore, there no official UNESCO or UNESCO-approved documents that provide detailed provisions on how to create a proper management plan and no single binding code or directive that regulates the preparation of management plans for WHS authorized or prescribed by UNESCO. After acknowledging the importance of management plans and making them mandatory for all WHS from 2005 onwards, it is now upto UNESCO to provide clear and binding guidelines that will help prospective State Parties create effective management plans. This needs to be done by creating a unified structure for management plans that is also versatile enough to apply to any kind of property. The Port Arthur Conservation Plan mentioned in the Literature Review with its sub-documents can function as best practice for future management plans at WHS worldwide. Its (flexible) structure of developing a primary document that sets out the philosophy/strategy of the WHS as well as developing overarching policies, followed by detailed sub-documents that have specific policies and action plans, makes it suitable for nearly every type of WHS while offering sufficient flexibility with regards to time and detail. However, since the Conservation Plan gives seemingly undiluted primacy to conservation rather than tourism and economic concerns, sections need to be added that balance conservation and tourism/visitor management equally.
Based on the results of his research, Karpati (ibid) offers a set of general elements that a management plan needs to consist of including a Statement of Significance, Comprehensive Inventory & Area of the Nominated Property and Buffer Zone as well as means of Conflict Avoidance/Resolution. Before going into how a WHS must be managed, a management plan needs to clearly state what makes this site so important and why it needs to be managed and this is contained in the Statement of Significance. A good example here is the Liverpool WHS plan that offers the reader a broad overview on the topic of WH and the reasons behind the inscription of the site. As seen in the previous section, it is vital for WHS such as Goa to include a comprehensive Inventory & Area of not only the core zone but the buffer zone as well. Although technically not part of the WHS, uncontrolled development in the buffer zone as seen in Goa can easily cause problems with regards to conserving and preserving the WHS itself. Last
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 302 but not least, a management plan should place great focus on conflict avoidance/resolution. However, before strategies can be developed that resolve or avoid conflicts, a thorough analysis of all the involved parties/stakeholders is required. Although the Liverpool plan lacks any conflict resolving tools, it does provide a comprehensive list of stakeholders, especially the owners of significant properties and monuments in the WHS as well as their legal status and duties. In case a conflict occurs, the site’s management can quickly & correctly identify the concerned stakeholders & legal instruments. This is certainly a first step in the right direction.
However, management plans must go further. While the avoidance of conflict should be the first priority, it is not possible to avoid all conflicts. When these do occur, appropriate conflict management strategies should be detailed in the management plan including mediators or independent bodies that constitute only in case of conflicts. If sufficient conflict resolution strategies are provided in the management plan, the need for the WH Committee to intervene in possible conflict situation will decrease, as disputes can be prevented even before they emerge. Again, the Port Arthur plan provides a best practice example as the management plan is incorporated into a legal framework that gives real decision-making authority to the WH site management. Port Arthur also has an advisory body with a clear legal standing. As seen in the case of Bamberg WHS, merely the appointment of an independent, interdisciplinary advisory body for conflict resolution is not sufficient unless it is given decisive power within a legal framework. Only then will its recommendations be binding and accepted by all the stakeholders. Furthermore, if its decisions are accepted as binding by the WH Committee, this removes the need for the WH Centre to react to every complaint, reducing bureaucracy while giving greater responsibility to the States Parties, thus responding to criticism of too much interference in matters of national concern.
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6.2.3 Tourism Management
As the field of Tourism Management is another focus of this dissertation, this Dimension gains even greater importance, especially considering the fact that the Goa WHS performs poorly when compared to the other WHS. Heritage tourism is “one of the most significant and fastest growing” areas of tourism (Poria et al., ibid). It enables tourist visitors to immerse themselves in the cultural highlights of a civilization and experience a once valid cultural order that no longer exists. This is gaining increased relevance in today’s day and age where social life is often detached from its localized context and modernity is moving society away from the certainties of tradition. For many, heritage provides the security anchor and the sense of stability that is craved for in the fast pace of today’s world (Bachleitner and Rehbogen, ibid). Cultural heritage can thus be compared to a staple food (Weber and Kuehnel-Widmann, ibid) for the destination.
In the past, cultural heritage has found little attention in the tourism policy of Goa. However, in a new (proposed) draft tourism policy 2016 prepared for the Tourism Department of Goa, the WHS has been addressed comprehensively, offering hope that heritage (tourism) will now be given more importance in the new regional tourism policy. With regards to repositioning Goa as a multi-product destination and the proposed evolution of Goa as a tourism destination, the draft tourism policy also suggests that Goa evolve from a majorly Sun & Beach tourism destination into a multi-product destination where cultural heritage plays a major role in attracting international as well as domestic tourists. The draft policy suggests that a new marketing strategy with regards to Culture and Heritage be pursued in which innovative cultural offering, especially in the hinterlands, be developed by the tourism department. Although the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Churches and Convents of Goa is not mentioned specifically, one hopes that it will receive more attention and promotion by the State Tourism Department than in the past where it was largely ignored.
As seen in the Literature Review, the UNESCO WH List includes some of the world’s most outstanding attractions and grandest monuments and these WHS often end up becoming
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 304 tourist magnets. For many WHS, tourism provides an important economic contribution. However, they can also become victims of their own success if uncontrolled mass tourism to the site becomes a reality. Thus, the task of the WH site management is to improve the tourism potential of the WHS while ensuring that an increasing visitor flow does not result in any hazards to the WHS itself.
Neither does a Visitor Management System exist for the WHS of Goa nor is it possible to measure the number of arrivals since there is no ticketing system for the WHS (with the exception of the ASI Museum). Proper and effective Visitor Management Systems gain particular importance when viewed against the trend of arrivals at the WHS. The data from all the WHS (apart from Goa where no data is available for the abovementioned reasons) show that the number of tourists has been increasing drastically. Unless these WHS have a proper Visitor Management System in place soon, the chances of damage and destruction to the WHS from constantly increasing tourist arrivals remains extremely high and a great cause for concern.
Due to the lack of a proper Visitor Management System, conflicts at the Goa WHS currently exist between the parishioners and the (female) tourists wearing skimpy attire. Furthermore, Church officials were becoming increasingly concerned by the lack of reverence at the churches of Old Goa which were turning into tourist sites rather than places of devotion. A Visitor Management System at the Goa WHS gains even greater important, considering the fact that it is also a sacred space. As mentioned in the Literature Review, many WHS have a religious component to them that require special attention from a management perspective. These sites of religious tourism often include secular as well as religious tourist visitors, resulting in a ‘duality of place’ (Bremer, ibid) or the simultaneous existence of a space as both sacred and secular. Often, tourists who are not religiously inclined or of another religion tend to behave irreverently/differently from those (tourist) visitors for whom the WHS is a sacred space. Mckercher and Ho (2006) blame this behaviour on a failure to properly educate the tourists. Thus, sacred WHS need to manage this “convergence of sacred and secular space” (Olsen, ibid) to serve the needs of both religious and secular tourist visitors. These WHS are often very
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 305 sensitive for the local communities and conflict between different user groups can easily arise (as seen above) if care is not taken (Du Cros and McKercher, ibid). It is thus crucial that the tourists do not interfere with the (religious) interactions of the locals with the site by means of restricting non-religious visitor times as well as the utilisation of interpretive media to remind non-religious visitors of the need to follow appropriate behavioural habits.
The Churches and Convents of Goa WHS does not have any special tourism offerings apart from the guided tours/ tour guides at the Basilica of Bom Jesus, some of whom are approved by the tourism department. Other WHS that offer guided tours such as Luang Prabang, Vallée de Mai and Kilimanjaro all work together with private guides while offering guided tours. It is important to note that these tours are not official WHS guided tours. As mentioned in the Literature Review, a tour guide has a gatekeeper function since he selects information based on how he chooses to depict his country, its culture as well as past/current events. The information that the cultural broker chooses to communicate greatly effects the image that the tourists have of not only the local culture but also of the destination (Cohen, ibid and Herdin, ibid). Considering this importance of the tourist guide in both intercultural dialogue & destination image building, many destinations have recognised the importance of providing proper training to the guides (Harrison, ibid) with UNWTO (ibid) providing numerous examples of training programmes for guides. Since “tourists see them as trusted and knowledgeable key informants” (Du Cros and McKercher, ibid), care must be taken that the information offered by these gatekeepers is not politically influenced but instead provides a holistic and sometimes even dissonant perspective, especially at a postcolonial WHS such as that of the WHS of Goa.
The final indicator i.e. Sustainable Tourism, is also one of the most important aspects for WHS. If WHS are to ensure their sustainable future, they need to distance themselves from the ‘boosterism’ model of tourism and stop promoting themselves “blindly without regard for the negative social, environmental and economic consequences” (Timothy, ibid). UNESCO’s ‘Sustainable Tourism in WH Areas’ program was specifically created to deal with the question
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 306 of the kind of tourism policy & management was adequate for WHS. Nevertheless, this is an area in which UNESCO has only recently been engaged, leaving much to be done.
The balance between conservation and touristic use is also a topic within the WHS of Goa. There are a number of threats caused by touristic use of the WHS including increased vehicular traffic & pollution, lack of proper parking and overcrowding, especially during certain festival periods, putting the site under tremendous pressure. However, the lack of a visitor management policy or a management plan means that there are no measures in place to balance conservation and use. Other WHS from the study including Salzburg, Český Krumlov, Lamu, Sagarmatha and Luang Prabang suffer from overtourism and increasing tourist arrivals that place significant pressures on the WHS. The Literature Review also mentions numerous WHS that suffer from similar pressures including Bodhgaya, Rapa Nui, Galapagos, Machu Picchu & Angkor Wat.
Southall and Robinson (ibid) stress the importance of finding a balance between too little tourism (which results in the under-utilization of WHS for education/awareness/conservation) and too much tourism (which result in over-use & over-crowding that takes a toll on the WHS) Visits to the WHS that take place within a sustainable framework can make a vital contribution to the protection/preservation of the WHS. The challenge for WHS such as Goa is to achieve that fine balance between the protection of the WHS (the overarching goal of the WH Convention) and tourism as a development factor.
6.2.4 Involvement & Support
According to Luger and Wöhler (ibid), the involvement & support of the local population is highly important for (sustainable) WH tourism, since it is they who are the ultimate custodians/guardians/owners of the WHS. “The keystone of sustainable development is the participation of the local community in the decision-making process” (Camargo, ibid). Unless this is guaranteed, the local population will not feel responsible for the WHS and not play any
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 307 role in its conservation/communication. The participation of the local community in the decision-making process must be done in a structured and sustainable manner with heritage communication playing a vital role. Unless the concept of heritage is properly communicated to the locals, they remain unclear about why heritage needs to be conserved.
In the field of Involvement & Support, the Goa WHS performance is not as high as the other case studies. The lack of a Management Plan at the Goa WHS with clearly defined participation methods is one of the reasons for Goa’s poor score. With regards to the forms of participation in the Management Plan, nearly all the other WHS have utilised participatory methods and there is much that the Goa WHS has to learn from them. Good practice examples include workshops, seminars, meetings, involvement of civil sector, private sector and locals and well as consultation with them in stakeholder forums for their input on issues concerned. Although Goa’s performance in relatively good with regards to public & political support when compared to the other WHS, it does not have any measures to increase public and political support. It can learn from successful measures at other WHS include PR and active communication towards communities and media, regular meeting between supporting groups and the different project leaders, the committee and WH site management as well as outreach programs and efforts to increase local communities’ benefits from tourism. Goa can learn the most from the WHS of Lamu which conducts regular awareness raising programs in schools to educate the children on the local culture and the importance of preserving it, offering support to local artists/groups to present traditional dances and cultural artefacts as well as billboards that enlighten the locals on the need to preserve its cultural heritage.
In the Literature Review, stakeholder involvement is seen as a key element in successful heritage management/interpretation/communication (Baker and Cameron (ibid). “Stakeholder participation and effective stakeholder organization are critical to the success of the management process…There needs to be a process put into place to ensure that all stakeholders…are able to participate in effecting direction and change in the
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community…Local residents…are important stakeholders but are often under- represented in meetings and decision making” (UNESCO, ibid). The formation of a local ‘site advisory council’ to debate matters related to the local cultural heritage is an effective way of addressing this issue. WH site management thus need to work closely together with the local residents to make sure the needs of the community are given equal importance. Unakul (ibid) agrees, stating that it is vital that these communities are closely involved in any decisions regarding their cultural heritage. The local community’s “lack of awareness and appreciation of built heritage…is an obstacle which can be overcome” (UNESCO, ibid) but it will require the engagement of all the local stakeholders. It is vital that the local community understand the cultural/social impacts of tourism, thus being able to make informed decisions as to how to manage the impact it will have on their culture. The local community can also play a vital role in highly politicized matters such as heritage selection. “Heritage has the potential to restrict or empower; its significance lies not in the objects and places of the past” (Timothy and Davis, ibid) but instead in their meaning for local communities in the future. Cultural heritage can play a key role in the empowerment of the local community by creating a unique sense of self-esteem. It is also generally accepted that the local community should be viewed as the natural guardians of their cultural heritage since they know best how to present their cultural heritage.
Failure to consider the needs of stakeholders, especially minority stakeholders, can lead to conflicts. The example of the conflict at the WHS of Hampi, India between the local population and the Government/UNESCO shows the importance of involving the local population in decisions regarding the WHS while acknowledging that the space (also) belongs to them. Omitting stakeholders from the consultation process means that their concerns will not be heard and cannot be addressed. Despite the challenges and hurdles related to stakeholder consultation mentioned in the Literature Review, it is important to place great focus on this aspect. UNESCO (ibid) offers a number of Stakeholder Cooperation Models in this regard.
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Involvement of Government at the WHS of Goa does take place with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) a (national) governmental organization responsible for the management and conservation/upkeep of the Goa WHS its monuments. Furthermore, consultation also takes place with the State Government of Goa with regards to the upgrading of infrastructure, services and facilities around monuments. However, a closer involvement & support of the State Government is required with regards to the buffer zone where uncontrolled development can be observed. Furthermore, there is only an informal consultation process between the ASI and the State Government of Goa. A formal agreement, embedded in a clearly defined management plan, would help improve participation and involvement of the state Govt. as well.
The level of involvement other stakeholders including NGOs is generally low at the WHS of Goa. Currently, the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman is the only (non-governmental) stakeholders that take part in the participation process. However, this is only an informal arrangement with the State Government and the ASI and no formal arrangement/process for participation exists. Little participation takes place with the other (non-governmental) stakeholders and the ASI/Government of India (GOI). Other WHS can provide Benchlearning opportunities, especially the WHS of Kilimanjaro and Mt Kenya. Furthermore, regular stakeholder meetings, workshops, various consultation processes, forums and round table discussions (as in the case of the Vallée de Mai, Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona, Luang Prabang and Mt Kenya WHS) can be implemented in the WHS of Goa. Greater effort also needs to be made with regards to the equal involvement of different societal groups at the WHS of Goa as only the Catholic Church (Archdiocese of Goa and Daman) is currently involved.
If tourism is to bring positive benefits to the destination, then it is critical that the tangible heritage at the destination must be well preserved and managed. However, unless that cultural heritage is valued by the local community, it becomes increasingly challenging to motivate them to preserve it. Thus, a vital aspect of heritage management is to increase awareness, involvement and support of the WHS among the local population.
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6.2.5 Communication & Awareness
Together with Tourism Management, this dissertation places a major focus on the topic of Heritage Communication & Awareness. This focus seems to be justified, considering that the worst performance of the Goa WHS is in this dimension.
As mentioned in the Literature Review, there has been little to none research that deals specifically with the relationship between heritage communication and tourism (Misiura, ibid). Cultural heritage, which cannot speak, needs to be communicated (Luger and Wöhler, ibid). Thus, heritage communication must communicate the importance and values of cultural heritage to the tourist with the goal of making him visit the heritage site. However, it has been conservation, rather than growth, of the WHS that has been UNESCO’s focus until now. Thankfully, this ‘conservation bias’ is slowly changing. Although UNESCO WHS are sensitive spaces that must be protected against the overexploitation and destruction of mass tourism (Bernecke, ibid; ICOMOS, ibid), Saretzki and May (ibid) posit that the concept of the universal nature of WH is also closely connected making these WHS accessible. Only if the WHS are made accessible to a global population will UNESCO’s goal of intercultural understanding become reality. Tourism plays a major role in this as it facilitates the encounter between the visitors and the local values and heritage.
The presence of cultural heritage also makes destinations attractive for visitors and tourists, with the inherent distinctiveness of the cultural heritage offering itself serving as a differentiator for the particular destination. Destinations that are in competition with each other to attract tourist visitors can use their cultural heritage as a competitive advantage over other destinations. As long as the destination continues to focus on cliched images of untouched nature or sun kissed beaches instead of on its rich cultural heritage, there is a real threat of destination brand substitutability Since history and the resulting cultural heritage is not easily copied, focusing on cultural heritage in heritage communication can enable the creation of a unique destination image that is vital in today’s highly competitive tourism market.
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Changing the image of a destination, however, is neither simple nor fast (Anholt, ibid). A destination image that has evolved over a long period of time will need a significant amount of time and effort to change people’s perception of a destination. Other challenges include both the ‘confirmation bias’ in the minds of the tourists as well as strong commercial interests that tourism corporations have in maintaining these place myths, thus making them incredibly challenging to modify. However, numerous destinations mentioned in the Literature Review including Berlin, Singapore, Spain, Turkey and Thailand are prime examples of destinations that were able to successfully rebrand their image from beach destinations to cultural destinations. Among others, Kotler et al. (ibid)’s strategic image management (SIM) and Anholt (ibid)’s communication model offer theoretical concepts on how this might be achieved.
Few WHS in the study seem to have a communication concept (including Goa, Salzburg, Český Krumlov and Vallée de Mai) while other WHS such as Kilimanjaro, Sagarmatha, Luang Prabang etc. only have sporadic communication guidelines. Lamu WHS is an exception and can be used as a best/good practice example for the WHS of Goa as it boasts of a communication concept that addresses both tourists and locals through public announcements, flyers and brochures. The Goa WHS does not have any communication activities either and can learn from other WHS’ communication activities such as annual Heritage days, regular WH newsletters, PR, cultural festivals, dedicated multilingual WHS websites and new media such as interactive online tools.
According to the Literature Review, tourist behavior at the destination has experienced a paradigm shift thanks to this new media, resulting in the consumer playing a more active role in the generation of communication (Munro and Richards, ibid). As a result, communication is increasingly taking place between consumers, completely excluding the DMOs and heritage tourist boards. Especially younger travellers are more likely to use these new media to share their travel experiences (UNWTO, ibid) with their friends, relatives and followers. In today’s digital age, where tourist visitors have greater access to new and social forms of communication, DMOs must begin to accept that a destination brand can no longer be
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 312 controlled (as in the pre-digital past) but only managed to a certain extent (Dinnie, ibid). The top-down form of communication has been replaced with both bottom up & horizontal communication (Leonhard, ibid) that is increasingly taking place online between tourists amongst themselves. Furthermore, it is these conversations that ultimately shape the image of a (heritage) destination brand as tourists base their decision on which heritage destination to visit or what heritage sites to see at a particular destination on these online conversations. The advent of new media has thus changed the balance of power between traditional communicators such as DMOs and tourists and DMOs need to embrace these new media and the opportunities it offers. Once DMOs have accepted the fact that the customer is now in control of the brand, it must then relinquish control of the communication tools and allow users to generate content. Successful destination practices are provided including Wales and Sweden.
In the field of Education & Awareness, another weakness of Goa WHS, most other WHS offer numerous awareness raising activities. Here, Goa can learn from other WHS’ and implement activities such as school education & awareness projects with teaching material provided by UNESCO, university lectures on the topic of WHS etc. Attempts can also be made to implement programs such as the “Community Management of Protected Areas Conservation Programme” (or COMPACT), an initiative to improve communities’ involvement in WH conservation that was initiated by the UNDP at the Kilimanjaro WHS. Furthermore, community outreach programs could be implemented wherein students are provided with conservation education and also receive the opportunity to visit a WHS. Local NGOs could also be involved to set up environmental education programs and regional tourism information centres that provide information on environmental issues and conservation.
According to the Literature, an important role of the WHS is in relation to its education mandate. “UNESCO’s World Heritage Programme offers an ideal way of taking an innovative educational approach and linking the teaching of local culture with lessons on world culture. The aim should be to sensitize people for their own culture as well as for the culture of others” (Huefner, ibid).
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Indeed, an inclusion in the UNESCO WHS list needs to go hand in hand with an obligation to educate and create awareness among a broad public (Ringbeck, ibid). Vieregg and Schefers (ibid), however, criticize that protection/conservation of the WHS continues to be dominant, with little focus placed on the educational mandate and hope that soon, the WHS’ education will be just as self-evident as its preservation mandate.
WHS have great potential as an educational resource, by providing information to both the local community & (tourist) visitors. If they are to learn about/appreciate the heritage of the WHS, its meaning and values must be properly presented and/or explained. Research at numerous WHS have shown that although visitors are motivated to visit the site to learn about its heritage, the lack of heritage interpretation causes them to remain “unaware of the significance and value of what they are seeing” (UNESCO, ibid). WHS management must therefore aim to improve the visitor education & awareness experience at the destination, especially since many of the visitors to a WHS might not have any knowledge about the site.
Means of heritage education and interpretation at the site including publications, online communication and signage. In particular, it is important to make visitors aware that they are now entering a UNESCO WHS. Signage can also be used to educate the visitor by providing him/her with detailed background information about the sights using a combination of text/graphics/objects/models and audio-visual elements. However, signage also suffers from the limited information that can be fitted into the sign, a limitation that digital signage and online interpretative/educational efforts do not suffer from. Furthermore, as the example of Colonial Williamsburg shows, many (younger) visitors are no longer satisfied with passively experiencing the heritage site by the means of old fashioned interpretation materials, demanding education efforts that are ‘hands-on’ and tech savvy. One solution lies in increasing the level of visitor involvement by augmenting experiences with technology. Examples of technology that can be used at a WHS include virtual guided tours, the Walking Through Time application as well as ‘immersive virtual environments’ and 3D immersive imagery such as the PLACE-Hampi or the Dunhuang Cave projects. The main focal point of educational and
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 314 awareness efforts at the WHS can be the visitor centre, a ‘one stop shop’ for tourists to access all the necessary information at one point as well as the first point of contact. Upon leaving the centre, visitors must have at least a basic understanding of the site’s significance as well as the options to experience the site. Research conducted by Spielmann et al (ibid) highlight the requirements for a modern visitor centre. The effectiveness of such a visitor centre, however, depends to a large extent on the quality and training of its staff, a point that has been criticized by the interviewees of the Goa WHS study.
UNESCO WHS also have an education value as a place of non-formal learning for young people. Numerous initiatives were cited in this regard including the UNESCO Special Project “Young People’s Participation in World Heritage Preservation and Promotion” and the UNESCO “Kulturerbe macht Schule” programme. The future of the WHS is in the hands of the children and the youth and if they remain uninterested in their cultural heritage, the future of the WHS will be in doubt (Kirsten, ibid). The example German WHS of Dessau-Wörlitz is cited in the Literature as a best practice example of a successful children’s education programme. It is also important to offer different educational programmes for other age groups including projects or workshops for secondary school children or the opportunity to conduct research on UNESCO WHS for students at University.
The UNESCO WHS’ education mandate gains a special importance at postcolonial WHS such as that of Goa. The manner in which the colonizing power had inscribed itself onto the body and space of its Others as well as the “conscious and unconscious oppression of the indigenous personality and culture by a supposedly superior racial or cultural model” (Ashcroft et al., ibid) make the process of ‘mental decolonization’ as part of education and awareness raising extremely important in order to redress the “internal traumas of identity which are associated with colonisation and enslavement” (Hall, ibid).
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Goa and its’ citizens have experienced a number of these traumas as a result of the Portuguese colonization of Goa including the destruction of temples, the transformation of the socio- religious patterns of its village communities and religious persecution. Having arrived in search of ‘Christians and spices’, the Portuguese began their colonial conquests with Christianization and Eurocentric acculturation as the dominant themes. The local Goans suffered from violent proselytization, being forced to either leave Goa, face discrimination or convert to the new religion. Unfortunately, it was the converts who suffered most from one of the most infamous periods in colonial Portuguese history – the Goan Inquisition. The new converts were also forced to leave their old cultural ways and adapt to the Lusitanian way of life as part of colonial attempts to de-structure the local culture and replace it with model that promoted colonial interests. Despite adopting the same lifestyle of their colonial masters, Christian converts continued to be judged by the colour of their skin. Discrimination took place with regards to social position, marriage, exclusion from highest-level posts in the local administration as well as within the Church. Even in the infamous prison cells of the Goa Inquisition, a clear distinction was made between prisoners based on race and colour.
Although revisiting the colonial past might be painful for to recollect, it is critical that a community is educated about this if it is ever to come to terms with its own history. “If such memories are not ‘re-membered then they will haunt the social imagination and disrupt the present” (Morrison, ibid). It should thus be the goal of heritage education to make both locals and visitors aware of the whole story, rather than restricting itself to a particular part. In the case of controversial or contested heritage, more than one historical narrative of historical events must be provided. Not only is a critical interaction and discourse between tourists and heritage/history essential but this critical discourse should take place alongwith the inclusion of all cultures and perspectives. Indeed, dissonant heritage interpretation and education offers a great opportunity to deal with conflict by trying to locate common ground.
However, such an open discussion on the dissonant aspects of heritage also has its challenges and dangers. The process of mental decolonization is often accompanied by demands to return
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 316 to a ‘pre-colonial reality’, which although understandable given the brutal and unequal nature of the relationship between colonizer and colonized could play into the hands of right-wing nationalists. In a move that could pose a major threat to the communal fabric of Goa, certain right-wing activists announced a program of so called ‘home coming’ (or ‘Ghar Wapsi’) of Goan Christians back into the Hindu fold alleging that they were converted ‘forcibly’ and ‘aggressively’. It is important to educate the locals that such a return to such a pre-colonial past is impossible. This ‘original’ past cannot be recovered since it has undergone a transformation and thus no longer exists in its original form while others argue that the cultural syncreticity of postcolonial societies should be cherished and not denied.
Despite such controversial attempts to stir up communal disharmony, there are still those who question the need to highlight the dissonant aspects of heritage as long as the conflicts/ tensions are not openly visible. On gaining independence, Goa was proud of its unique and strong bonds of communal harmony with conflicts in post-Liberation Goa few and far between. Today, however, right wing political parties are attempting to fan the flames of religion and cause communal discord in Goa. If the locals of Goa continue to pretend to be immune to societal reality, then they run great risks of communal disharmony raising its ugly head. Delaying the healing of old wounds and divisions is not the right way forward for Goan society, since it would cause a threat to Goa’s cultural identity. Thus, even though there might not be open conflicts/tensions that exist, there is always the potential for such conflicts to arise. As long as decolonization remains incomplete, the different communities in Goa run the risk of living in a “self-deluding rhetoric of friendship, harmony and peace” (Afonso, ibid).
6.2.6 Regional Development
Although in the Literature Review, it is stated that WH status is based on the premise that local people have a responsibility to maintain their heritage for the benefit of others, this often only makes sense to the locals when placed in the context of tourism (Luger, ibid). This it important
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 317 to both improve the value creation/economic development resulting from WH tourism as well as educating and making the local community aware of it.
Unfortunately, the Goa WHS struggles in the field of Regional Development. The common opinion with regards to the relevance of the WHS for regional tourism & development was that demand was not that high for heritage tourism in Goa since it is better known as a beach destination. As seen in the previous section, it is the role of Communication & Awareness to change this image of Goa. However, the Literature Review also acknowledges that this process will be both long and difficult since it is very challenging to change people’s opinions in what is known as ‘confirmation bias’. Goa has a lot of heritage sites and monuments and a visit to them is usually part of guided tours. Many feel that tourists are more interested in sightseeing and are not really interested in finding out the history behind the sites. This is largely blamed on the fact that many tourists are not aware of places which are heritage sites and that they do not know what is WH. Here, it is up to the WH site management to target this group of ‘serendipitous cultural tourists’ i.e. travellers who visit cultural sites ‘unintentionally’ as part of the tour and try and convert them into ‘purposeful cultural tourists’ (Herdin, ibid). Focus must not only be placed on the tangible heritage/monuments but also on the intangible aspects of heritage including meaning, values, identity constructs as well as dissonant aspects of the heritage. These ‘serendipitous cultural tourists’ could be encouraged to interact with the WHS by using interpretative elements that help educate them about the importance/values of the WHS. The WHS also needs to be sufficiently promoted and Goa can learn from other WHS e.g. Krumlov where the WH label is used widely for tourism promotion.
There are several shops/stalls near and at the Goa WHS that sell souvenirs/ refreshments/trinkets etc. and are run by the local population. Thus, although the WHS of Goa does contribute to a certain extent to the regional economic development and local livelihoods by attracting tourist income to these stalls, the role that WH tourism plays at the destination could be increased greatly. The role of WH in regional development was considerably higher at other WHS such as Salzburg, where it results in thousands of jobs in the service and tourism
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 318 industry as well as contributes to local business by generating revenues, income and taxes or at Mt. Kilimanjaro, Luang Prabang and Vallée de Mai WHS where numerous jobs and livelihoods depend on it.
Although it does help promote the sale of products in the region, Goa has much to learn from the other WHS, especially with regards to the authenticity/regionality of the products sold at the WHS. The WH site management could encourage the sale of/sell local/regional products like traditional costumes, wax products, food items, herbs and spices of regional origin, handicrafts, embroideries, clothes, chocolates, handicrafts, embroidered products etc. Goa can also learn from the Mt Kenya WHS which does not directly offer products to tourists but encourages the communities to make handicrafts and sell them to the tourists. This would greatly improve the income generation opportunities for the local community in the region & contribute significantly to regional development.
In the Literature, the need to need to focus on the even distribution of the economic benefits of tourism throughout the region and amongst all stakeholders equally is highlighted. Often, it is large-scale, foreign-owned enterprises who marginalize locally owned and operated services from the local tourism economy, thus hindering the development of the region. When outsiders are the biggest financial beneficiaries from tourism, this results in so called income leakage wherein only a small portion of the income generated by tourism remains in the local economy. Heritage and tourism thus need to be integrated in a sustainable manner for tourism to become a productive form of economic activity and contribute to regional development (Luger, ibid).
Criticizing the current inequalities in international tourism that local communities in particular suffer from, Ponne et al. (ibid) provide the example the case of the Asia – Pacific region where despite increasing tourism revenues, the financial benefits rarely trickle down to the local stakeholders. This only goes to show that, thus far, tourism has not contributed sufficiently to alleviate poverty. Regional (tourism) development thus needs to focus on the pro-poor benefits that tourism could offer, requiring a major shift in the tourism industry from top-down
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 319 development models (dominated by large external firms) to a more community-based approach, focusing more on local revenue capture and investment, local skills building and job creation as well as increased local involvement in decision making. Community-based heritage tourism (CBHT), which places a dual emphasis on heritage protection and local development is seen as a solution. The WHS of Luang Prabang is cited as a best practice example of CBHT where strong local ownership is a key characteristic. Successful implementation of CBHT requires a structured interaction between different stakeholders involved in tourism and heritage, workable solutions to ensure common ground between the stakeholders as well as mechanisms to facilitate sustainable cultural tourism that benefits all stakeholders. The "Cultural Heritage Management and Tourism: Models for Cooperation among Stakeholders”, better known as the 'Lijiang Models', offer a comprehensive framework for the sustainable development of WHS and numerous WHS such as Lijiang, Levuka, Luang Prabang, Melaka, Bhaktapur, and Hoi An have benefited from them.
As mentioned in the Literature Review, the importance of a WHS, especially for the local population, lies in its ability to positively affect regional development, thus providing economic reasons (in addition to moral and social reasons) to protect this heritage. Thus, heritage conservation, the overarching goal of the WH Convention depends to a large extent on WH tourism and the income it can generate for regional development.
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7. Conclusion
“Gently-swaying palms…stretches of smooth, golden sand…[and] the rhythmic crashing of frothy waves lure tourists to Goa and few of them venture beyond the beaches” (Mitra, ibid). Goa has always been famous for its beautiful beaches, dotted with swaying palms. However, it has much more to offer that merely that. If one aims to experience Goa in its entirety, then one must venture beyond the palm-fringed beaches to discover what few tourists ever see, the enduring landmarks of its (post)colonial heritage. The UNESCO WHS of Old Goa offers the discerning traveller “gleaming whitewashed churches with Portuguese-style facades” (Menon, ibid) that date back to the 16th century and have remained “witnesses to the intense religious history of the land” (India Tourism, ibid). The breadth of Goa’s tourism offering that ranges from its palm-fringed beaches to its (post)colonial churches and convents makes the title of this dissertation ‘Between Palms and Postcolonialism’ seem quite apt.
Goa boasted of a rich cultural heritage that dated back beyond the arrival of the colonial powers. However, during the 450 years of colonial rule, the Portuguese managed to inscribe their colonial selves onto the body and space of the Goan Other, leaving behind instead their religion, their language, their names and a Latin-like colonial population when they were forced to flee in 1961. However, although Goa gained freedom from its erstwhile colonial masters, the ‘decolonization of the mind’, a process of historical reconstruction that highlights the pervasive effects of colonialism on the psyche of the Goan Other as well as rewrites the history of the colonized Goans from their perspective, remains incomplete. Till date, historical works on Goa have tended to ignore this critical discourse with De Souza (ibid) calling them ‘tourist brochure history’, focussing as they do on tangible colonial monuments, while ignoring the intangible aspects of oppression and infliction that were as much a part of the same colonial legacy. Although it is important to highlight the evils of colonial rule in Goa, its positive effects cannot and must not be denied. Unfortunately, instead of a balanced perspective on colonization in Goa, there has been an oscillation between the ‘blessed’ Portuguese influence and a saffron-
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 321 coloured singularity of focus on its brutality. Till date, nobody has felt the need to highlight these issues with a “fanciful doctrine of convenient inaction’ (Afonso, ibid) coming to prevail. However, there is a moral imperative to re-examine old wounds and search for a ‘lasting cure’, if the ‘superficial glitter’ of the present is to be replaced by an ‘authentic, deep rooted and mutually respectful reconciliation’ (ibid) in the future.
It is imperative that the different cultures at a WHS interact and communicate with one another for such a reconciliation to take place. However, this process is particularly challenging at the WHS of Goa, since it is one of the few WHS that represents the (colonial) heritage of a minority and not that of the majority of the population. Despite their divergent perspectives on its symbolic significance, people of different cultures at the Goa WHS must participate in sharing meaning together for intercultural understanding to take place. Stakeholder participation, i.e. the meaningful involvement of all the local cultural communities in decisions regarding their cultural heritage, is further acknowledged as a key ingredient of successful heritage interpretation and communication. Participatory mechanisms at WHS that encourage communication and dialogue between different (local) stakeholders also fulfil the aim of the WH programme, which is to promote intercultural understanding by making WHS into spaces of intercultural encounters and thus, intercultural dialogue. With their universal relevance, WHS such as Goa have the potential to transcend cultural boundaries and become spaces of dialogue where cultural differences regarding the significance and meaning of cultural heritage can be resolved. It is crucial that the process of heritagefication (including the selection of heritage and attribution of meaning) not be limited to political and institutional elites such as UNESCO and the WH management but also include the (self) ‘re-presentation’ of the local population, thus finally giving a voice to the subaltern and putting him/her on the long road to hegemony. By enabling local communities to participate and contribute in a meaningful manner to the heritage attribution and communication process, they will be able to make informed decisions on how to manage their cultural heritage and better understand the need for its conservation. Thus, increasing the appreciation of and pride in the cultural heritage among the local
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 322 stakeholders is vital for heritage tourism (UNESCO, ibid) as it relies on the continued existence of cultural heritage for its own survival.
The importance of cultural heritage for tourism has been compared to that of a staple food in the Literature. The inherent distinctiveness of (Goa’s) cultural heritage, a ‘history generated unique selling proposition’ (Luger, ibid), offers a crucial advantage over other destination brands in a hotly contested global market. Despite the breadth of Goa’s tourism offering, most tourists remain unaware of what lies beyond its beaches. In order to convince tourists to venture beyond the palm-fringed beaches and discover the rich cultural heritage at the Goa WHS, it is important that Goa successfully communicates that heritage to both tourists and visitors alike. Until now, however, conservation rather than communication has been the focus at UNESCO WHS such as Goa. This is reflected in Goa’s above average performance in the field of Conservation in the UNESCO ‘Benchmarking World Heritage & Tourism’ study while at the same time performing extremely poorly in the fields of (Heritage) Communication and Tourism Management. It is hence vital for WHS such as Goa that the current ‘conservation bias’ among UNESCO and WHS officials changes, thus making heritage communication and tourism an important part of the conservation/management strategy. UNESCO and WHS officials need to work closely together with local Tourism Development officials to ensure that cultural heritage plays a key role in tourism to the destination. Although cultural heritage found little attention in tourism policy in the past, the new draft tourism policy 2016 prepared for the Goa Tourism Department places greater focus on communicating Goa’s cultural heritage. Despite the delay in its implementation, its existence offers hope that heritage will now play an increasingly important role in tourism to the region. Heritage tourism can generate valuable income, which can then be used for conservation purposes.
Nevertheless, the rapid growth in international tourism means that tourism to WHS needs to be balanced against the exploitation and destruction that can result due to overtourism. Sustainability and heritage both share a common theme of inheritance (Fyall and Garrod, ibid) and it is vital that heritage and tourism to heritage destinations are integrated in a sustainable
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 323 manner for tourism to become a potent force for local and regional development (Luger, ibid). This means that it is important to not only manage but also communicate heritage in a sustainable manner so that its long-term viability is ensured (Timothy, ibid). Sustainable heritage management and communication measures need to be laid down clearly in a comprehensive management plan. Unfortunately, many WHS including the WHS of Goa lack such a plan. Although UNESCO itself does not provide binding guidelines concerning content and format, the structure of the management plan put forth by Karpati (ibid) offers the necessary flexibility to function as best practice for management plans at WHS worldwide. The primary document sets out the significance of the WHS including any dissonant aspects, followed (at a later stage) by detailed sub-documents on specific topics such as conservation, communication and education, visitor management and conflict avoidance/resolution.
Heritage tourism represents a unique chance to resolve the intercultural/interfaith conflicts that exist at a destination (Franquesa and Morell, ibid). After gaining independence from the Portuguese, ‘postcolonial’ Goa had remarkably strong bonds of communal harmony between the different cultural/religious groups in the region and conflicts in post-Liberation Goa were few and far between. As a result, many question the need for intercultural dialogue that rakes up the dissonant aspects of the past. However, the absence of conflict does not mean that communal disharmony does not exist. Examples such as ‘Ghar Wapsi’ show that the colonial scars are merely simmering below the surface and waiting to be reopened by those right-wing nationalists wishing to sanitize Goa’s colonial (heritage and) past. Thus, even though there are currently no open conflicts in the region, the potential for tensions to flare up remains a danger unless intercultural dialogue is established and (mental) decolonization is complete. True community healing can only take place if the dissonant issues of the past are kept alive and discussed openly rather than sweeping them under the carpet (Dann and Seaton, ibid).
The question of how to deal with dissonant issues gains particular importance at ‘postcolonial’ heritage tourism destinations such as the WHS of Goa. Communicating WHS that symbolize this dissonant, (colonial) past can prove challenging since the locals of a ‘postcolonial’ country
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 324 often share a complicated relationship with these ‘edifices of colonialism’, as they symbolically represent the brutal repression and subjugation during colonial rule. Although there is an urgent need for a reinterpretation of Goa’s colonial past (ibid), this might not be accepted wholeheartedly by those who are happy with the few remains of exotic cultural vestiges that colonialism has left behind. This is especially true for tourism managers and others that profit from tourism as any process of reinterpretation poses a threat to the flow of tourists who are only interested in the “exuberant remnants of gaudily adorned Golden Goa” (ibid). Details of a conflict-laden history, however, need not be avoided nor be limited to a nostalgic perspective during the process of heritage interpretation and communication. Visitors and locals from different cultures might be interested in a constructive yet critical discourse of the more complicated aspects of the destination’s postcolonial heritage and coming to terms with these problematic aspects (e.g. of a country’s postcolonial past) can also be a beautiful learning challenge (Merkel, bid).
Although such processes might take place differently in other postcolonial countries, their postcoloniality serves as a link between them. Although it was the aim of this research to focus primarily on the uniqueness of the case of the UNESCO WHS of Goa and to develop a deeper understanding of its specific aspects rather than to establish generalizable heritage communication theory, the dissertation offers numerous aspects that can be applied to other postcolonial WHS as well. Despite certain unique characteristics, postcolonial cultures have a great deal in common i.e. the fact that they all emerged in their present form as a result of the colonial experience. What makes all these cultures distinctively postcolonial are the common experiences that they share as a result of their similarly antagonistic relationship to the dominant culture, which attempted to marginalize them. Postcolonial cultures can thus learn from each other’s history of oppression under colonialism. This research aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on postcolonial heritage communication and it is hoped that other postcolonial WHS can gain from the insights in this dissertation.
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As mentioned above, colonial symbols such as the Goa WHS often have a difficult relationship with the present society. However, this need not be the case. Colonial WHS symbols as providers of meaning and identity do not have to continue to symbolize only their colonial past. To remain relevant in the future, the UNESCO WHS of Goa must transform itself into a symbol of modern day Goa, one that offers all Goans the opportunity for a common identity, an identity that is created together by all communities in a participatory process of intercultural dialogue. WHS provide people with the opportunity to learn about the past, thus making them better equipped to face the future. If interpreted and communicated properly, WHS such as Goa can help the local population appreciate the intercultural aspects of their history, thus enabling them to have a better understanding and tolerance for the intercultural aspect of their present (Harrison, ibid). Then, and only then, will states such as Goa be truly postcolonial.
7.1 Limitations
There were a number of limitations, both personal as well as scientific, faced by the author during the course of writing this dissertation. With regards to personal limitations, discipline is a key success factor, as most PhDs who have written their Dissertations while working full time will attest. The pressures of working and having to earn a livelihood while at the same time trying to keep on track with the PhD is a unique challenge that PhD students have to manage. Work often tends to get priority since that is how the ‘bread’ is earned, resulting in the Dissertation almost always slipping to second place behind work assignments. It was only through great persistence and the constant encouragement of friends and family that this Dissertation was able to be completed and for that, the author is extremely grateful.
A major scientific limitation was that the information for the first part of the questionnaire, in particular the relatively detailed information on tourism within the WH region, was extremely demanding and difficult to obtain. Often no or insufficient reliable tourism statistics were available at the regional or local level. WHS, especially in developing countries, are not only
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 326 administratively poorly equipped but in many cases, do not have the necessary data on which an appropriate WH management in general and for tourism in particular can be built. Moreover, data from country to country are not directly comparable, but instead need to be viewed in their respective country and region-specific context (Clivaz et al., 2013).
Another particular problem/ limitation was related to the socio-cultural aspects of WH and tourism management. In the current questionnaire, the abovementioned socio-cultural aspects are included only indirectly, since preliminary studies have shown that no conclusive data are available on a comparative level. Firstly, there is a need to define appropriate socio-cultural indicators for all WHS, while at the same time acknowledging individual cultural aspects unique to each WHS. As part of further research, this dimension could be included, especially considering the fact that there are few such studies currently available in the scientific literature. Furthermore, secondary research i.e. the recourse to existing study results – if at all present - brings with it the problem of comparability, since no common methodological foundation exists. The greatest difficulty, however, lies in the fact that cultural change can only be ascertained and explored over a longer period, thus requiring a more sophisticated and long- term scientific approach (ibid).
Another scientific limitation can be seen with regards to the interpretation of case studies and in relation to the benchmarking results. Although the quantifiable preparation of the case study data can be said to be a relatively good indicator of the actual conditions present at the WHS, thus achieving the project goal of a comparative, indicator-based quality assessment of WHS, certain results must be interpreted with caution. Clivaz et al. (ibid) claim that in the assessment of management at WHS, too much importance may have been given to the existence of (management) plans while not enough emphasis/weightage was placed on their actual implementation. As a result, the assessment might turn out to be too positive in this regard. The existence of management plans can, at best, be interpreted as a first step towards the responsible and sustainable management of WHS. However, its mere availability on paper does not automatically mean that the (management) plans have been successfully
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 327 implemented. Lack of evaluations about the actual implementation of management plans make it difficult to come to a conclusion about the efficacy or the consequences of management efforts. On the other hand, the situation may sometimes be such that certain tourism concepts are present that, de facto, have little to do with WH. Nevertheless, they effectively promote the WH and thus increase its value or encourage regional development. Although WH Management is not connected with these efforts, the results are recorded as positive since ultimately it is not about the ownership of such measures, but instead about their effects (ibid).
Another important limitation is related to the length of the interview questionnaire which was a major drawback and discouraged a number of potential interview partners. For professional interview partners, such as WH managers and Tourism Department officials, on the other hand, it was the international nature and exposure of the Dissertation and the related UNESCO study that caused reticence. Many of the potential interview partners told the author privately that they worried about where their comments/answers would end up, fearing that they would somehow be punished by their superiors for their views or for even answering the questionnaire in the first place. Others were sceptical about the credentials of the author and demanded to see proof of the position of the author as a PhD student. Through a combination of official confirmation letters (kindly provided by Prof Luger) as well as a great deal of persistence and cajoling (in particular by Joaquim D’Souza), the necessary interviews were finally completed.
Nonetheless, in hindsight, a shorter, less detailed questionnaire would have increased the number of interview participants as well as reduced their initial reluctance, making the task of conducting research much easier. Indeed, the main authors of the project concur (Clivaz et al., 2013), suggesting the advancement of the project ‘Benchmarking World Heritage & Tourism’ would require a simplification of the case studies designs as well as an introduction of a so- called ‘light version’ of the application, which can then be independently used by WH management.
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7.2 Recommendations for Further Research
As mentioned above, it has been suggested that further research be carried out by means of a ‘light version’ of the 'Monitoring and Benchlearning’ tool. However, the authors of the study (ibid) also question to what extent the development of the tool into one that enables total self- evaluation/self-completion will result in scientifically valid results. They feel that if the evaluation is standardized to such an extent that it can be completed by the WH Management incidentally, the data would not do justice to the complexities of the case in question and would result in limited generation of new scientific knowledge. On the other hand, if one insists on using the current form of data entry, feedback from the participants shows that the WH management does not have sufficient time/resources to conduct such extensive and detailed research. Thus, a balance needs to be found with regards to the format of the survey, which allows partner institutions (e.g. local universities/research institutions/researchers) to conduct the research while maintaining a certain scientific level. Furthermore, this would also enable Case Study Leaders to update their Case Studies regularly with current data and findings.
Although the main objective of the study - the development of a monitoring and benchmarking system - was achieved, the main authors of the study (ibid) admit that it was neither possible to link research groups worldwide nor to expand the research team accordingly. The reasons given were insufficient resources including time and money. Nevertheless, the results of the study provide a good starting point for the further development of the project. For the implementation of the case studies with ‘external’ Case Study leaders, the introduction of a less extensive, so-called ‘light version’ of the Monitoring and Benchlearning tool is planned for the next phase which will allow WHS management to perform a simple analysis and draw conclusions. The scope and structure of the survey needs to be simplified such that the overall time and effort per case study is reduced from the current 6/7 weeks to 4 weeks. The majority of the work can then be conducted by independent local (ideally postgraduate or postdoctoral) researchers. While this ‘light version’ is not primarily aimed at generating scientific knowledge,
PhD Dissertation | Mihir Ignatius Nayak 329 it does allow a thematic awareness and approach to issues related to WH as well as making access to the Monitoring and Benchlearning tool easier and enlarging the database of WHS. This version can be independently used by the WH actors, thus allowing an autonomous monitoring as well as comparisons with similar WHS (Benchlearning). The technical support and implementation of the project (research groups, funding) must take place on a global scale if the experiences from different WH regions across the globe are to be incorporated into the project. One of the ways that a global expansion of the project can take place is by linking it to the UNESCO WH Sustainable Tourism Programme. The ‘Monitoring and Benchlearning tool’ provides an ideal instrument with which the development of the UNESCO WH Sustainable Tourism Programme can be monitored and supported (ibid).
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