Indigenous Heritage

Michelle Whitford, Lisa Ruhanen, Michelle Whitford, Lisa Ruhanen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000404555
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Sustainable Development
• Index: Economics

History shows that travellers sought to experience the unfamiliar and exotic cultures and traditions of Indigenous peoples, with early examples of Indigenous tourism in the United States, Canada, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and countries throughout Asia and Latin America. Similarly, contemporary travellers demonstrate a desire to seek out opportunities to experience Indigenous peoples and their cultures. Thus, we are witnessing worldwide growth in the awareness of, and interest in, Indigenous cultures, traditions, histories and knowledges.

Engagement in the tourism sector is regularly advocated for Indigenous peoples because of the socio-economic opportunities it provides; however, there are a range of cultural benefits including the maintenance, rejuvenation and/or preservation of Indigenous cultures, knowledges and traditions for Indigenous peoples who choose tourism as a vehicle to showcase their cultures. Consequently, tourism is regularly acknowledged as a means for facilitating the sustainability of tangible and intangible Indigenous cultural heritage including languages, stories, art, dance, rituals and customs. Importantly, however, the history of Indigenous peoples' engagement in tourism has provided a range of examples of the threats to Indigenous culture that can accrue as a result of tourism (i.e., cultural degradation, commercialisation and commodification, authenticity and identity, among others). This book presents an exploration of the intersection between tourism and Indigenous culture.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Heritage Tourism.

Cultural heritage and Indigenous tourism

Lisa Ruhanen and Michelle Whitford

ABSTRACT

Tourism is acknowledged as a vehicle that can help sustain both tangible and intangible elements of Indigenous cultural heritage, including languages, stories, song, art, dance, hunting methods, rituals and customs. Often, cultural heritage products developed for tourism promise to provide many socio-economic opportunities for the communities involved, however, tourism can also present a challenge as the self-management of Indigenous cultural product and cultural identity can be problematic. Given the pivotal role culture plays in the sustainability of Indigenous tourism products, it is time for a twenty-first century examination of the nexus between cultural heritage and Indigenous tourism. This paper reflects upon tourism and contemporary Indigenous cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible. Through a review of the current literature on Indigenous tourism and cultural heritage, the authors identify key areas for future research and aim to stimulate further discussion around the ways Indigenous tourism may be developed to sustain Indigenous cultural heritage.

Introduction

The worldwide Indigenous population is estimated to be around 370 million (United Nations, 2017). Indigenous peoples, who represent a significant part of the world’s vast cultural and linguistic diversity and heritage, possess unique knowledge systems and are the keepers of most of the world’s intangible cultural heritage (The World Bank, 2018; United Nations, 2017; Warnholtz & Barkin, 2017). Indigenous peoples make up only five percent of the global population yet they account for about one-third of the global poor and fifteen percent of the extreme poor (The World Bank, 2018; United Nations, 2017). Additionally, an estimated 65% of the world’s land is under Indigenous customary ownership (Rights and Resources Initiative, 2015); however, many governments around the globe only recognise a fraction of land as formally or legally belonging to Indigenous peoples (The World Bank, 2018). Further, the social, economic and political marginalisation of Indigenous peoples remains pervasive in all the regions of the world even though Indigenous knowledge systems are recognised as crucial for ongoing sustainable development (United Nations, 2017),.

As governments continue to focus on improving the socio-economic disadvantage experienced by too many Indigenous peoples, tourism has long been advocated as a social intervention that can be used to address a range of social, economic and political issues and as a possible trigger for the development of local host communities (de Kadt, 1979a, 1979b). The possibility of attracting investment, foreign currency, creating jobs and eventually creating the opportunity for economic growth for host communities has also led to the incorporation of tourism into the poverty reduction, sustainable development and social enterprise agendas, especially for communities with strong natural and cultural assets, both intangible and tangible (Korstanje, 2012; Warnholtz & Barkin, 2018). For those Indigenous peoples who choose to share their culture through touristic endeavours, tourism is often lauded for its potential to provide a range of benefits including the maintenance, rejuvenation and/or preservation of Indigenous cultures, knowledges and traditions. Tourism has also been acknowledged as a vehicle that can help sustain intangible elements of Indigenous cultural heritage, including languages, stories, song, art, dance, hunting methods, rituals and customs (Burns, 2006; Einar Johansen & Mehmetoglu, 2011; Warnholtz & Barkin, 2018; Whitney-Squire, 2016).

As a growing number of Indigenous communities around the world engage with tourism as a vehicle for reforming their economies, consideration needs to be given, not only to the optimistic predictions regarding the benefits of tourism but also to the negative impacts tourism can inflict upon communities’ tangible and intangible cultural assets. Indeed, the history of Indigenous peoples’ engagement in tourism provides numerous examples of the threats to Indigenous culture that can accrue as a result of tourism. For instance, cultural degradation, commercialisation and commodification of intangible cultural heritage and loss of identity are but some of the ways tourism continues to negatively affect Indigenous cultures (McIntosh, Hinch, & Ingram, 2002; Ranasinghe & Cheng, 2018). Consequently, threats to intangible cultural heritage are problematic, not only for the maintenance and preservation of the culture but also for the commercial sustainability of the ‘cultural product’ and any long-term socio-economic benefits tourism may bring to a community and/or a region, yet they are increasingly being seen as unique tourism ‘assets’ (Nielsen & Wilson, 2012).

Thus, the increasing propensity for governments around the globe to utilise Indigenous tourism ‘assets’ as a socio-economic growth strategy for Indigenous communities and/or regions has given rise to an increasing number of academics focusing their research in this field. For example, recent overviews of this research (for example: Carr, Ruhanen, & Whitford, 2016; Nielsen & Wilson, 2012; Whitford & Ruhanen, 2016) revealed that while a wide range of topics are addressed in the literature (i.e. social enterprise and entrepreneurship, employment, self-determination), there is arguably a clear interest in the socio-economic agenda of development that is reflective of the wider development agenda.

Given the pivotal role culture plays in the development of sustainable Indigenous cultural tourism products, and the increasing significance governments are placing on the development of Indigenous tourism, an examination of the nexus between cultural heritage and Indigenous tourism is timely. As the opening paper of this special issue on cultural heritage and Indigenous tourism, this paper reflects upon contemporary Indigenous cultural heritage and tourism, both tangible and intangible. By highlighting key themes within the literature, this paper seeks to identify key areas for future research and stimulate further discussions around the ways Indigenous tourism may be developed to sustain Indigenous cultural heritage.

Labelling tourism as ‘Indigenous’

Historically, the term Indigenous peoples was used to refer to descendants of those who occupied a given territory that was invaded, conquered or colonised by white colonial powers (Saugestad, 2000; Weaver, 2016) and as such, the object (and increasingly the subject) of Indigenous tourism has widely come to be seen as consisting of a group of culturally differentiated people who lived and occupied territories before the existence of the nation state (Saarinen, 2013). More recently, however, there has been a process of inclusion of Africans in the global Indigenous movement (Giblin, 2017; Kagumba, 2013; Saugestad, 2008). In some cases, such as the Maasai in Kenya, the labelling of African groups as ‘Indigenous’ has been undertaken in an attempt to access Indigenous tourism markets established elsewhere, such as in Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada. In other cases, such as the Batwa in Uganda, it has been done to align with the Indigenous rights movement to protest, for example, eviction from cultural territories (Giblin, 2017). Interestingly, the use of the terms ‘Indigenous’ and ‘Indigenous tourism’ in the African context, and the extent to which these terms are applicable and relevant, is a topic of much debate, not only amongst scholars and researchers but also between African governments (Kagumba, 2013).

Such debate, however, is not a new phenomenon. Since the emergence of Indigenous tourism in the 1970s, there has been a variety of definitions pertaining to what constitutes Indigenous tourism (for an overview of these definitions see Pereiro, 2016). However, fundamental to these definitions is the centrality of Indigenous culture and identity. Many researchers also agree that a second crucial definitional element is the locus of control (Hinch & Butler, 2007; Pereiro, 2016; Zeppel, 2010). That is, Indigenous peoples should not be the focus of the tourism attractions/products per se, but rather tourism attractions/products should be ‘based on the group’s land and cultural identity and controlled from within the group’. Thus, the expectation is that Indigenous peoples will have control of the way their culture (tangible and intangible) is portrayed and accessed through tourism endeavours. It has been suggested, however, that in reality, Indigenous tourism actually works to uphold neo-colonialist attitudes (Korstanje, 2012) resulting in too many Indigenous communities/regions still being subjected to ethnocentric treatment, which includes ‘protection’ (from tourist consumption), by outsiders who believe they know better than Indigenous peoples (Richards, 2018). Indeed, in too many instances, Indigenous tourism ventures are developed according to the needs and priorities of non-Indigenous people (Nielsen & Wilson, 2012; Williams & Gonzalez, 2017), who often forget or neglect the very people(s) from which the tourism attractions/products are constructed (Tomaselli, 2012). Therefore, if the goal is to ensure Indigenous tourism cultural products develop sustainably, as we increasingly draw upon Indigenous culture to develop Indigenous tourism attractions/product, at the very least, we must seek to gain a more wholistic understanding of the role Indigenous cultural identity and cultural representation plays in the sustainable development of cultural Indigenous tourism products.

Identity, authenticity and the commercialisation of Indigenous culture

Tourism has the capacity to shape/or transform the culture of an Indigenous community (Ranasinghe & Cheng, 2018) by influencing the way individuals in a community see themselves and how they perceive their identity and in particular, their intangible cultural heritage (Heldt Cassel & Maureira, 2017). For instance, as a result of tourism, cultural practices and traditions are increasingly transformed into tourism products (Maraud & Guyot, 2016; Ryan & Aiken, 2015) and in the process, Indigenous identity is often reconstructed to satisfy tourist expectations (Coronado, 2014; Heldt Cassel & Maureira, 2017; Pereiro, 2016; Ryan & Aiken, 2015). Thus, while tourism presents an array of opportunities for Indigenous communities to increase awareness and appreciation of, their intangible cultural heritage, concomitantly tourism poses a challenge for those same communities to preserve and maintain the integrity of their intangible cultural heritage and associated ‘tourism assets’ (Ranasinghe & Cheng, 2018). Arguably, a cost benefit analysis is required in this instance to determine if the gain outweighs the cost.

For instance, due to modernisation, changes in lifestyle, livelihood and spiritual inclination, some Indigenous peoples have apparently lost connection with their culture and their identities (Ona & Solis, 2017). Tourism practices, however, can play an essential role in providing opportunities for Indigenous peoples (and others) to reconnect, discover, rediscover and/or reinforce their identities through engagement with their cultural heritage (i.e. traditional dance, crafts and art) (Burns, 2006; Espinosa Abascal, Fluker, & Jiang, 2015; Stronza, 2008). Involvement in tourism can also provide individuals with opportunities to learn Indigenous languages and consider or reinforce the importance of belonging to an Indigenous community (Heldt Cassel & Maureira, 2017). Moreover, tourism can be used to help support the development, revitalisation and/or preservation of vulnerable and critically endangered languages (Whitney-Squire, 2016). Indeed, the progressive loss of Indigenous languages globally is a serious threat to sustaining Indigenous peoples’ identities and intangible cultural heritage.

Similarly, income generating activities such as handicrafts and food security (i.e. traditional activities such as hunting) present a range of opportunities for Indigenous communities to develop entrepreneurial and/or social enterprise tourism ventures (Ona & Solis, 2017). In Australia, for example, modern Aboriginal art is an intrinsic part of a cultural revival. Community art centres, owned by Aborig...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• 1 Cultural heritage and Indigenous tourism
• 2 Evolution of indigenous tourism among the Lacandon of Chiapas: an application of Weaver’s model
• 3 Cultural sustainability – a framework for Aboriginal tourism in British Columbia
• 4 Developing indigenous tourism in the bomas: critiquing issues from within the Maasai community in Tanzania
• 5 Settler colonialism, Indigenous cultures, and the promotional landscape of tourism in Ontario, Canada's ‘near North’
• 6 Authenticity as a compromise: a critical discourse analysis of Sámi tourism websites
• 7 Indigenous tourism in Australia: understanding the link between cultural heritage and intention to participate using the means-end chain theory
• 8 The interpreter as researcher: ethical heritage interpretation in Indigenous contexts
• Index