Commodification of Cultural Identities And/Or Empowerment of Local Communities: Developing a Route of Nuclear Tourism

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Commodification of Cultural Identities And/Or Empowerment of Local Communities: Developing a Route of Nuclear Tourism SOCIETY. INTEGRATION. EDUCATION Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference. Volume V, May 25th-26th, 2018. 145-158 COMMODIFICATION OF CULTURAL IDENTITIES AND/OR EMPOWERMENT OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES: DEVELOPING A ROUTE OF NUCLEAR TOURISM Natalija Mažeikienė Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania Eglė Gerulaitienė Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania Šiauliai University, Lithuania Abstract. Research presented in the paper focuses on commodification of cultural identities and community empowerment strategies of cultural tourism in Visaginas. One of challenges in developing tourism is orientation toward profit and commodification of culture, which becomes a problem in regard to practicing authentic identities. The article presents efforts of researchers working in the project EDUATOM to scientifically substantiate construction of new educational nuclear/ atomic tourism route in the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) region. The authors discuss what diverse parameters and elements of place identity could be included and represented in the tourism in Visaginas and how community empowerment and involvement of different stakeholders might contribute to practicing various commodification strategies. The article analyses commodification of cultural identities and community empowerment strategies of educational, cultural, nuclear/atomic tourism in Visaginas, using research strategy of case study, including methods of document analysis, conversations (formal and informal) with stakeholders, secondary data analysis, construction of Post-Soviet identities and empowerment of local communities. Keywords: cultural identities, commodification of cultural identities, self-commodification, cultural tourism, Visaginas, Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, nuclear tourism, atomic tourism, empowerment. Introduction The article presents efforts of researchers working in the project EDUATOM1 to scientifically substantiate construction of new educational nuclear tourism route in the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (hereafter, INPP) region in Lithuania by applying new approaches in STEM education and seeking to 1 The project ‘The Didactical Technology for the Development of Nuclear Educational Tourism in the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) Region (EDUATOM)’ (No. 01.2.2-LMT-K-718-01-0084/232) is funded by the grant from the Research Council of Lithuania. © Rēzeknes Tehnoloģiju akadēmija, 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.17770/sie2018vol1.3381 Mažeikienė & Gerulaitienė, 2018. Commodification of Cultural Identities and/or Empowerment of Local Communities: Developing a Route of Nuclear Tourism empower local communities of town Visaginas which was created and built as a satellite-settlement for the workers of the INPP. It is envisaged by the researchers, social partners and stakeholders participating in this initiative that the new route will be consistent with the idea and practice of similar nuclear/ atomic tourism museums, expositions and sites existing in other countries. Atomic tourism route under construction will embrace an exposition of Information Centre at INPP which will be adjusted to the new conception of so called ‘Movement of Science Centres’ (Beetlestone, 1998), when science communication expositions (science centres, science museums, and etc.) include elements of edutainment (entertainment + education). Referring to the new concept of Science Centre the exposition at the INPP will be based on interactivity, application of IT technologies, and will rely on visitor's sensory experience and educational needs of different groups of visitors. The future exposition will stick to the idea of science museums and tourist centres to combine the exposition with other activities, i.e. lectures, creative laboratories, camps, events, performances, traveling, temporary exhibitions. Current explosion of Information Centre at the INPP is dedicated mostly to technological and security aspects of decommissioning. The first block of the INPP was suspended in 2004, the second in 2009. Decision on decommissioning was made upon Lithuania’s accession to the EU. The completion of the INPP decommissioning works is planned for the year 2038. It is worth mentioning that the current exposition presents the historical and social development of identity of the town of Visaginas quite poorly and fragmentarily. Apart the Information Centre at the INPP, the future nuclear tourism route will include other objects and sites in Visaginas town. In this way science communication on atomic energy will be complemented by elements of cultural tourism by exposing multicultural and multilingual identity of local community, specific and unique demographic profile of Visaginas and identity of the town. The town was built in 1975 and before 1992 it had the name „Sniečkus“ which was a surname of leader of the Lithuanian Communist Part. The future workers, most of whom were of Russian origin, arrived (were sent by Soviet authorities) from various places in the Soviet Union to build the town. Today most of the inhabitants of the town are Russian-speaking inhabitants (e.g., there are 15 % of Lithuanians and Belarusians equally). Initially designed by Soviet authorities as a satellite-settlement for the workers of the plant, Visaginas is still isolated from the rest of the country both culturally and geographically. According to Baločkaitė (2010), Visaginas represents a complex and specific development of post-soviet identity in a mono industrial urban site (‘a migrant island’), which is very difficult to position in the post-Soviet cultural, political and economic context. From cultural and heritage tourism perspective, Visaginas becomes a site of Soviet 146 SOCIETY. INTEGRATION. EDUCATION Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference. Volume V, May 25th-26th, 2018. 145-158 industrial and urban heritage, ‘a showcase of socialism’ (Freimane, 2014) and in this way turns into dissonant and contested heritage. All the above mentioned aspects suggest a specific collaborative and empowering approach for the development of nuclear tourism route while involving local and national stakeholders, negotiating and mediating ways and strategies of local identity building within the framework of more democratic politics of identity and memory. The aim of the paper is to analyze commodification of cultural identities and conceptualize community empowerment strategies of educational, cultural, nuclear tourism in Visaginas. The article focuses on the following objectives: 1) Disclose the concept of commodification in representing cultural identities; 2) Identify dissonant strategies of Post-Soviet identities, discuss strategies and practices of Post-Soviet urban identities in tourism and envisage nuclear tourism conditions in the development of this type of tourism in Visaginas; 3) Reveal community empowerment strategies and the role of stakeholders in developing nuclear tourism in Visaginas. The article analyses commodification of cultural identities and community empowerment strategies of educational, cultural, nuclear/atomic tourism in Visaginas, using research strategy of case study, including methods of document analysis, conversations (formal and informal) with stakeholders, secondary data analysis, scientific literature review, analyzing concepts of commodification, construction of Post-Soviet identities and empowerment of local communities. Commodification of identities as commercialised hospitality in cultural tourism One of the challenge in developing tourism is orientation toward profit and commodification of culture which becomes a problem in regard to practicing authentic identities. Scholars stress ambiguity of “sharing culture” in tourism industry when culture and identity, traditions and cultural practices are ‘sold out’, transformed into tourism products, and representations, commodity and alienable products for consumption and for the benefit of tourists (Bunten, 2008; Cassel & Maureira, 2017). In this case a distinction between the acted identity and the ‘real’ identity not presented to tourists could occur (Stronza, 2008). It is discussed by scholars whether such creation of tourist product and commodification lead to a loss of cultural authenticity or it could help to reinforce cultural identity and strengthen the culture (Bunten, 2008; Cassel & Maureira, 2017). 147 Mažeikienė & Gerulaitienė, 2018. Commodification of Cultural Identities and/or Empowerment of Local Communities: Developing a Route of Nuclear Tourism Cultural tourism is defined here not just as ‘monumental tourism” which is aimed on visiting monuments and cultural sites (museums, monuments, archaeological and historical sites). We rely on the broader notion of cultural tourism which is mentioned by N. Galı-Espelt (2012) and refers to the definition provided by International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS): ‘Cultural tourism may be defined as any activity that allows visitors the experience of discovering other people’s ways of life, allowing them to experience on the one hand their customs, traditions, physical environment or ideas, and on the other, access to places of architectural, historical, archaeological or any other type of cultural value’ (Ibid., p. 47). Representatives of culture as cultural tourism workers in order to sell a tourist product perform a self-commodification which ‘can be broadly defined as a set of beliefs and practices in which an individual chooses to construct a marketable identity product while striving to avoid alienating him- or herself’ (Bunten, 2008: 381). The self-commodification
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