Social Perception and Participation in Cultural Heritage Management For

ISSN 0798 1015 HOME Revista ESPACIOS ÍNDICES / A LOS AUTORES / To the AUTHORS Index Vol. 41 (Issue 17) Year 2020. Page 24 Isolated identity, tourism and heritage: Social perception and participation in cultural heritage management for the transformation of tourism governance in Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain) Identidad aislada, turismo y patrimonio: percepción social y participación en la gestión del patrimonio cultural para la transformación de la gobernanza turística en Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife, Islas Canarias) STENDARDI, David 1; PÉREZ, Elena 2; CASTILLO, Alicia 3; GARCÍA, Juan Israel 4 Received: 20/02/2020 • Approved: 05/05/2020 • Published 14/5/2020 Contents 1. Introduction 2. Methodology 3. Results 4. Conclusions Bibliographic references ABSTRACT: RESUMEN: In this article we present the work that has been carried En este artículo presentamos el trabajo que se ha llevado out within the research project "Society and Archaeological a cabo dentro del proyecto de investigación "Sociedad y Heritage. Recovery of the Archaeological Heritage of Patrimonio Arqueológico". Recuperación del Patrimonio Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife, Canary Islands), in rural Arqueológico de Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife, Islas and urban areas (PARQ_BVISTA)". The objective of this Canarias), en zonas rurales y urbanas (PARQ_BVISTA)". research is the elaboration of an interpretative and Este proyecto está financiado por las fundaciones La Caixa operational framework, oriented towards the creation of y CajaCanarias, y está formado por investigadores de citizen participation networks in the management of diferentes universidades. El objetivo de esta investigación cultural heritage. The study is based on an articulated es la elaboración de un marco interpretativo y operativo, methodology that combines the multidisciplinary orientado a la creación de redes de participación perspective of the research team with qualitative and ciudadana en la gestión del patrimonio cultural. El caso quantitative social research techniques. It comprises of estudiado es el de Buenavista del Norte, una pequeña focus groups, in-depth interviews to administrators and ciudad en una región remota del norte de Tenerife (Islas businesspeople and a questionnaire for local citizens. Canarias). El estudio se basa en una metodología Keywords: social participation, cultural landscape, articulada que combina la perspectiva multidisciplinar del governance, tourism equipo de investigación (arqueología, arquitectura, geografía, sociología, turismo, etc.) con técnicas de investigación social cualitativa y cuantitativa. Se compone de grupos focales, entrevistas en profundidad a administradores y empresarios, y un cuestionario para los ciudadanos locales. Palabras clave: participación social, paisaje cultural, gobernanza, turismo 1. Introduction The study of the cultural landscape has been developed from disciplines as diverse as geography or archeology. At the moment, the research on this type of cultural asset also includes additional perspectives such as sociology, architecture, anthropology or tourism, among others. The analysis of these realities is complex: different disciplines concur in order to build integral methodologies, adapted to the context. The research project "Society and Archaeological Heritage. Recovery of the Archaeological Heritage of Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife, Canary Islands), in rural and urban areas (PARQ_BVISTA) " is based on this idea. This paper is inserted in this global approach of the project and focus on the elaboration of an interpretative and operational framework, oriented towards the creation of citizen participation networks in management of cultural heritage. The sociological perspective is mixed with concepts from anthropology and touristic studies. Starting questions are related to the definition of a cultural landscape itself. Is it really possible to create a conceptual connection between local identity and tourism? Could cultural heritage be the element of this connection? How can we traduce operationally these concepts in order to improve heritage management and, at the same time, tourism management? It is evident that the elaboration of these answers requires several specific researches. Our proposal is following the path of social perception and social participation. Furthermore, we maintain the focus on the touristic phenomenon, since we consider its role in the interpretation of cultural heritage. Our objective is to approach these questions through the study of the case of Buenavista del Norte, a small town in Tenerife Island. It represents an interesting case because of its geographical position and its natural and social characteristics. The distance from the touristic areas of the island, the importance of natural landscape and the particular rural local identity are necessary elements of the definition of place of study. We add that global transformation of tourism has determined the growth of the number of tourists visiting Buenavista. This phenomenon has accelerated the process of creation of the idea of cultural heritage in the municipality, transforming the definition and regulation of heritage resources by the public administration (top-down), and the perception of local community as well as actions derived from it (bottom-up). This paper considered four issues with the aim to study the particular connection between them, based on the perception of local residents: identity, participation, heritage management and tourism. The method to detect social perception is complex but coherent. The first step is a previous descriptive multidisciplinary study to observe the characteristics of the area form different perspectives (archeology, architecture, geography, touristic studies and sociology). Based on reports of the experts of the research team, we organized two complementary levels of fieldwork. The qualitative part includes focus groups and in-depth interviews. The quantitative part is structured with an articulate survey, representative of the entire population of Buenavista. The paper creates a specific theoretical framework for concepts and challenges proposed, and the corresponded particular methodology. Afterwards, we describe significant aspects of the municipality. The results presented follow the four-element scheme described. The quantitative data together with the analysis of groups and interviews express the social perception of identity, participation, heritage management and tourism. Finally, thanks to the discussion related to our theoretical framework we organize conclusions, without losing practical implications of our study. 1.1. Theoretical Framework A general definition of the identity is always a complex issue. In this case we propose a declination of the concept, considering social and geographical dimensions of our case. Thus, the isolated identity comprehends the self-perception of residents and the environmental position, agreed in terms of distance. The difficulty increases because the construction of a collective identity is elaborated through social features. Values, attitudes and space organization contribute to establish identity (Olmo, 2012), considered through the individual and collective dimension. Related to the context of Canary Island, in his analysis, Estévez (2011) elaborates two couples of categories, two couples of archetypes in order to study the “Canarian” identity, crossing the historical development of the archipelago. These four elements have to be read in their relation, continuously mutable. Thus, the representations of native (Guanche) of Canary Island is a discussed element for the origin of local identity as well as the model of the ancient farmer (Mago) is the construction of local “authentic” rural culture. On the other hand, the tourist is the external element, sharing his expectation, built on this particular culture. So, in our particular case, the isolated identity could be possibly defined by these three elements: the connection and the encounter between two different local archetypal dimensions (Guanches and Magos) and one of the external elements (Tourists). Behind this interpretation stands the idea of contact zone: “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power” (Pratt, M.L., 1991; 23). Therefore, the isolated identity is not a monolithic identity, but a changing relational concept based on the cultural meeting, in a specific context, a social space. We will see that the contact zone is parallel to the heritage management participation arena, a concept based on contradiction (Castaingts, 2004). The second dimension of the definition of isolated identity is geographical context. The case studied is located in remote region north of Tenerife. In this case we can consider a double distance: one from the most populated areas of the island (metropolitan area of Santa Cruz but also the “Sur”-Las Americas and Los Cristianos) and the other, more general, due to the position of Canary Island… With the aim to maintain the idea of a relational identity, we can read this sort of island territorial regime, and use the perspective of Minca: “The ‘Island’ regime is indeed an exceptional regime that applies to both tourists and workers, united here by the fact that ‘the Island’ is regulated by extraterritorial rules and codes” (Minca, 2009: 95). We can extend this concept beyond the well- known resorts area and set it on an isolated scenario: a rural area, far from

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