Heritage Tourism as Secular Pilgrimage Jennifer de Freitas A Thesis in The Department of Communication Studies Presented in Partial FuifiIlment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at Concordia University Montréal, Québec, Canada May 1998 Q Jennifer de Freitas, 1998 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. nie Weltington OîtawaON K1AON4 OttawaON KtAON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Librruy of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or elecironic formats. la fome de microfichelnilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. 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Signed by the &al exarnining cornmittee: Examiner Supervisor Approved by Chair of Depamnent or Graduate Program Director Dean of Faculty Date: Abstract HERITAGE TOURISM AS SECULAR PILGEUMAGE by Jennifer de Freitas This thesis sets out to improve our understanding of heritage tourisrn by articulat- ing this type of tourism with what is known about pilgrimage as a social process. A critical discussion of Victor Turner's conaibution to the field of pilgrhage studies establishes a theoretical fiame for this discussion. The longstanding relationship between pilgrimage and religion is saipped away, redrawing pilgrimage as a multi- levelled social process. The historical and discursive connections between heritage tounsm and pilgrimage are established. The expbration of the problematic that heritage tourism is a fonn of secular pilgrimage ends with an instrumental case study of The Pointe-du-Moulin Histoncal Park The spatial and interpretive strate- gies of the park are discussed as a social drama, using Kenneth Burke's Pentad as an analytical tool. iii For Juüiin, Nicolis, and Rodolfo HERITAGE TOURI[SM AS SECULAR PILGRIMAGE CONTENTS ... Abstract .......... iu Chapter 1: KEY TERMS AND METHODOLOGY 1. Introduction .......... 1 IL Key Terms.......... 3 Ritual.......... 3 Pilgrimage.......... 5 Tourism ......... -7 Heritage .......... Il Landscape and Place ..........14 III . Methodology.......... 16 Participant Observation.......... 16 Dramatism.......... 17 V: Summary.......... 20 Chapter 2: PLGRIMAGE AS A SOCIAL PROCESS 1. Introduction .......... 21 II . Victor Turner's Mode1.......... 21 Motive: Obligation or Optation.......... 25 Cornmunitas .......... 27 The Liminal and the Liminoid.......... 31 Rinial Topography (Spatial LiminaIiv).......... 34 III . Summary.......... 39 Chpter 3: TOURISM AS SECULAR PEGRIMAGE 1. Introduction........ ,.41 II . The Hïstoricai Continuum: Roots and Routes.......... 41 III . Authenticity.......... 48 The Authentification of Space.......... 49 The Authentic Experience.......... 53 N. Summary.......... 58 Cbapter 4: CASE STUDY: POINTlZ-DU-MOULN HISTORICAL PARK 1. Introduction......... -59 II . Heritage Sites.......... 61 III . Policy Environment ..........66 W. Pointe-du-Moulin Histofical Park as Social Drama .......... 68 The Approach: Breach and Crisis.......... 70 The Interpretation Centre: Adjusmient Mechanisms of Redress .......... 74 The Miller's House: Redress through Cornmunitas.......... 78 The Wmdmill: Symbolic Landscape.......... 80 The Point: Redemption and Reaggregation.......... 84 V. Summary-. ......... 85 Chapter 5: SUMMARY AND SPECULATION 1. Summary.......... 87 II . Further Research.......... 93 IE Conclusion .......... 95 Appendices.......... 106 Cbapter 1 KEY TERMS AND METHODOLOGY 1. Introduction This thesis sets out to improve the understanding of heritage tourism by articu- lating this type of tourism with what is known about pilgrimage as a social process. 1believe that looking at the distinctive aspects of heritage tourisrn as a form of pilgrimage is a useful speculative instrument with rich implicative power. My interest in heritage tourkm developed out of rny professional practice in graphic design. In 1993 1 pamcipated in the creation of an interpretation centre on the site of a seventeenth-century fishing seigneury at Pabos in the Gaspé, Québec. This experience took me into the back regions of heritage tourism and the preservation and diffusion of material culture in Québec. The award win- ning interpretation cenae is the architectural manifestation of a govemment mandate for heritage sites in Québec to "lay facts on the landn.lThe huge semi-transparent exhibition panels function as a didactic filter on the landscape (see photo appendix A). 1 was stmck by the effectiveness of the interpretive machinery in the legiti- mation and location of historical narrative at this particular site and I began to look for other examples of this phenomena in Québec and farther afieid, geo- graphically and conceptually. The search for a more sustained argument led me to investigate hentage policy-, the different histoncal roots of tourism, and the theoretical models of tourism, in different classes and course work during my years in the Communication Studies program at Concordia University. In chis chapter I begïn by establishing working definitions of the key terms of this interdisciplinary discussion, and then turn to a discussion of my rnethodolo- gy-a complex mixture of professional experience and academic interest The ana- Iytical tems associated with Kenneth Burke's theory of Dramatism will be inao- duced and linked to Victor Turner's theoretical heworkof social &ma. The organization of this thesis in some ways parallels my actual experience. My original interest in a specific heritage site developed into a theoretical and his- torical investigation of larger, overlapping fields. Chapters two and three can be seen as theoretical interruptions, reflecting my quest for a class, a generalization, an existing theory to understand the process of Iegitimation and location of histor- ical narratives at heritage interpretation cenaes. In chapter two a cnticd discus- sion of Victor Turner's contribution to the understanding of pilgrimage as a social drama establishes a theoretical fi-amework for the thesis. Turner's idealization of religious experience is peeled away to reveal the sedar aspects of pilgrimage, through an analysis of the key concepts of pilgrimage as a social process: motive, cornmunitas, lirninality, and ritual topography. Piigrimage is redrawn as a multi- levelled social process deeply connected to the secular realm. In chap ter three the relationship between pilgrirnage and heritage tourism is established through a discussion of the ways in which the original key concepts of pilgrimage resonate in the field of tourism. The historiai and discursive connec- tions between the two are established. The speculative mode1 which develops is articulated in the title of the thesis: "Heritage Tourism as Secular Pilgrimage." The exploration of this problematic ends with the insmunental case snidy in chapter four. A case study advances our understanding of the hypothesis in terms of depth, contes, and detail (Stake237). The role of this case study is to refhe the concept of heritage tourism as secular pilgrimage, to provide furthes insights into . the activity of heritage tourism, to explore the ramifications of this hypothesis, and to indicate areas for further speculation. Adrnittedly, the choice of a single insau- mentd case study is ofien simply a reflection of the interests of the researcher. In order to avoid the pitfails of insaumend case studies, in panicular the tendency to overgeneralize, my approach to the case study centres around the specXc fea- tures of the site iaelf. The analysis of Pointe-du-Moulin illustrates the specific qualities and emerging thematic concems of the site, while advancing our under- standing of heritage tourisrn as secular pilgrimage. II. Key Terms The interdisciplinary quality of this thesis calls upon concep tual terminology from the fields of co~nmunicationstudies, religious studies, cultural smdies, rhetoric, and geography. Ritual, pilgrimage, tourism, heritage, landscape: these terms are contingent and contested, but in this section 1 will attempt to pin them down, if only rnomentarily for the purposes of this discussion. Ritual Although 'ritual' remains a contested expression, the importance of ritual as a social process has been recognized in all of the areas of study implicated in this thesis. In his 1975 essay, "A cultural approach to communication" James Carey argues for a model of communication which recognizes the importance of ritual, in order to break the smanglehold of the transmission model on communication studies in America. Although both modelç arguably descend 6rom