Perhaps seen as the most spectacular development of the early 20th century Ethiopia, was the introduction of a modern railway transport system. The line was built by the French between 1897-1917 to ...connect port Jibuti (Djibouti) to Addis Ababa crossing through Dire Dawa. Besides the basic and long-serving transport function, the railway certainly played a vital role in the political, social, economic, and cultural developments of the region in the years that followed. Since recent times however, railway services have become paralyzed and most of the line is now being abandoned. This is mainly due to organizational and management related problems of the managing company and advancement in rail technology which surpasses old rail systems. Nonethless, there is no doubt that it is repository of history and old rail technology, and this in turn could be an opportunity to boost tourism at major stations. Dire Dawa’s station is located almost half-way between Port Jibouti and Addis Ababa and considered the largest of all stations in Ethiopia. The research explores both tangible and intangible elements of this station as railway-heritage tourism resources to be developed in the future. Storytelling, various types of railway technologies and the historical and cultural landscape of the scene created as a result of the introduction of the railway into the area, are found to be vital tourism resources to be developed into visitor appeal. Interviews, site observation and document analysis were carried out exhaustively from January-June, 2018 to gather the required research data which will hopefully boost heritage tourism around railways in Ethiopia.
The Anzac story, originally associated with the 1915 battle of Gallipoli, is considered an important part of Australia's national identity, and for many Australians has come to represent a number of ...the collective values of the nation. This research, undertaken in Australia and Turkey, explores the impact of a visit to the Australian War Memorial (660 participants) or Gallipoli battlefields (282 participants) on visitors' national identity and broadly-defined learning outcomes. Findings indicate that a visit to either site had some impact on national identity, but other learning outcomes were stronger. It is concluded that war heritage interpretation has the potential to evoke inclusive rather than exclusive responses, facilitating reconciliation rather than highlighting division.
•War heritage interpretation has a small but positive impact on national identity.•War heritage interpretation has the potential to impact on reconciliation.•Reflection on the human qualities of the Anzac spirit has a powerful impact.•Stories, objects and places help visitors connect past, present and future.•Emphasising similarity rather than difference supports reconciliation and inclusion.
Currently, heritage is challenged in the Indian city of Surat due to diverse pressures, including rapid urbanization, increasing housing demand, and socio-cultural and climate changes. Where rapid ...demographic growth of urban areas is happening, heritage is disappearing at an alarming rate. Despite some efforts from the local government, urban cultural heritage is being neglected and historic buildings keep being replaced by ordinary concrete buildings at a worryingly rapid pace. Discussions of challenges and issues of Surat’s urban area is supported by a qualitative dataset, including in-depth semi-structured interviews and focus groups with local policy makers, planners, and heritage experts, triangulated by observation and a photo-survey of two historic areas. Findings from this study reveal a myriad of challenges such as: inadequacy of urban conservation management policies and processes focused on heritage, absence of skills, training, and resources amongst decision makers and persistent conflict and competition between heritage conservation needs and developers’ interests. Furthermore, the values and significance of Surat’s tangible and intangible heritage is not fully recognized by its citizens and heritage stakeholders. A crucial opportunity exists for Surat to maximize the potential of heritage and reinforce urban identity for its present and future generations. Surat’s context is representative of general trends and conservation challenges and therefore recommendations developed in this study hold the potential to offer interesting insights to the wider planners and conservationists’ international community. This paper recommends thoughtful integration of sustainable heritage urban conservation into local urban development frameworks and the establishment of approaches that recognize the plurality of heritage values.
Within tourism studies, there has been limited attention to the concept of World Intangible Cultural Heritage, its discursive normalisation and its effects at the level of the nation or public ...sphere. Through a discourse analysis of a public institutional document on intangible cultural heritage in Scotland, we demonstrate how Foucault's power/knowledge dyad unfolds at one of its points of application. Our key findings include that discursive strategies of conviction (such as inventorying) are deployed to frame intangible cultural heritage within an existing discursive field of relationship that articulates with Scotland's contested political position within the United Kingdom; and that notions concerning the importance of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage have been constructed through discourses of its fragility and immateriality.
•Foucauldian insights used to understand intangible cultural heritage.•Vernacular domain of intangible cultural heritage is an absent presence.•Intangible cultural heritage discourse reflect Scotland's political positioning.•Intangible cultural heritage as a programmatic, functional object of knowledge.•Discursive construction of intangible cultural heritage as fragile and immaterial.
Cultural Heritage is a crucial socioeconomic resource; yet, recurring degradation processes endanger its preservation. Serendipitous approaches in restoration practice need to be replaced by ...systematically addressing conservation issues through the development of advanced materials for the preservation of the artifacts. In the last few decades, materials and colloid science have provided valid solutions to counteract degradation, and we report here the main highlights in the formulation and application of materials and methodologies for the cleaning, protection and consolidation of works of art. Several types of artifacts are addressed, from murals to canvas paintings, metal objects, and paper artworks, comprising both classic and modern/contemporary art. Systems, such as nanoparticles, gels, nanostructured cleaning fluids, composites, and other functional materials, are reviewed. Future perspectives are also commented, outlining open issues and trends in this challenging and exciting field.
This mixed-methods study conceptualized and developed a scale to measure vicarious nostalgia in heritage tourism. Based on a comprehensive literature review, vicarious nostalgia was conceptualized ...with three dimensions: past-oriented cognition, evoked positive, and negative emotion. Rigorous scale development procedures were followed using six studies that involved multisample totaling 1,020 subjects. Besides content, discriminant and convergent validity, this study also assessed the scale’s nomological and external validity by testing a nomological model in different cultural contexts. It was revealed that vicarious nostalgia is driven by authenticity seeking; past-oriented cognition results in both evoked positive and negative emotion, which strongly predict tourists’ visit intentions. This study is believed to be the first to develop a scale for measuring vicarious nostalgia in tourism.
In higher-education world heritage sites, the conservation and energy retrofitting of heritage buildings (HBs) is an important vector for their development, competitiveness and welfare. To guarantee ...their ongoing use, these buildings must be adapted to face current and emerging societal challenges: (i) the conservation of cultural heritage and the maintenance of their original characteristics and identity; (ii) the transformation of heritage sites into tourist centers that energize the local economy, generating revenue and jobs; (iii) the adaptation of the buildings to new uses and functions that demand energy retrofitting strategies to satisfy today’s standards of thermal comfort, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and energy efficiency; (iv) tackling impacts of climate change, particularly global warming and extreme weather events; and finally, (v) the implementation of strategies to mitigate the impact of a growing number of tourists. The combined implications of these challenges require a comprehensive approach with interrelated measures strongly reliant on the use of technology and innovation. This work aims to discuss how higher-education cultural HBs can be rethought to serve these expectations. Moreover, a multidisciplinary intervention framework is provided to discuss how HBs can respond to the challenges and risks of rehabilitation, energy retrofitting, climate change and increasing tourism.
The designation of World Heritage Sites (WHSs) by UNESCO strengthens the international and national image of heritage destinations in the growing market of cultural tourism. Understanding how ...different stakeholders interpret the value of cultural heritage is one of the most important assets for balancing the promotion and protection of WHSs. This study draws on the case of the Altamira Prehistoric Cave WHS (Spain), whose preservation is under threat and constant debate. It explores factors determining the social value of heritage, namely: existence, aesthetic, economic, and legacy value. In doing so, this paper contributes to emerging debates on heritage management and tourist destinations. Data were collected using two surveys, one focused on visitors, with a total of 1047 valid surveys, and another on the Spanish population as a WHS host community, with a total of 1000 valid surveys. The analysis of these surveys shows how the existence, aesthetic, economic and legacy value dimensions of cultural heritage can build up brands around WHSs. The social-value dimension of cultural heritage therefore affects the market potential of WHSs, whose market potential is closely related to the education levels of a given society. These findings provide valuable information and insights for academics, destination managers and policy-makers in the debate about the preservation and tourism branding of Altamira. This will allow different stakeholders to identify opportunities to develop synergies between tourism promotion and heritage preservation, to both strengthen the brand image of a WHS and preserve its heritage.
•Investigates the social-value dimension of cultural heritage.•Explores the promotion-preservation dichotomy and tourism branding of WHSs.•Draws on the case of the Altamira Prehistoric Cave WHS (Spain).•Identifies opportunities to strengthen WHS's brand image and preservation.•Social value contributes to strengthening the image of heritage destinations.
At the current time, turning to historical facts is a matter of great significance for the public life of Kazakhstan. It is known that in the Middle Ages the rich heritage of the Qypchaks, who had ...founded the Desht-i-Qypchak state in Eurasia and contributed to world civilization and culture, was written in different alphabets at certain periods of history. Historical documents, written in Armenian graphics in Qypchak, are based on knowledge of religion, literature, history, law, philosophy, natural sciences and talk about the political, economic, historical and cultural spheres of the life of the ancient state. Since the 20th century, the Armenian-Qypchak heritage, has been the subject of in-depth study by scientists, and, published in foreign academic editions, transcribed, supplemented by dictionaries and translations, its secrets are being revealed day by day. The term «Armenian-Qypchak» was introduced by scientists, and the life and cultural ties of the medieval Qypchaks and Armenians became the basis for their research. Today there is a need for more detailed study of the linguistic features through comparative analysis of the Armenian-Qypchak heritage set out in different genre texts.
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