Carlosfortuna - Heritage,Tourismandemotion

CarlosFortuna - Heritage,TourismandEmotion

UniversityofCoimbra,Portugal– Single comments to consider

Welivein a time of manifestuncertainty, whereanyattempttodescribetheworldhas become trulycomplex - andit can be expected thatwemayfinditdifficulttodefinewhatheritageisorisnot.

Wevalue things inaccordancewithourownvaluesystems, andinthiswaywetransferavariety of meaningsontoobjects,placesandpractices.

Theattributionofmeaning then is linked both to thespecificnatureoftheheritageitemsinquestion – what they mayhavebeen or used for - and the differinginterpretations given by different role players today:

Experts will judge according to academic, technical and scientific principles, while the publicatlargespontaneouslyvaluewhattheydeemtobehistoricallyrelevanttotheirparticularcommunity.

So the definitionofculturalheritage would be the outcomeofaprocesswherebythese differing meaningsarenegotiated – and an important tool in thisnegotiation, is to look at the emotion that is generated by preserving the heritage, and what is is that creates that emotion:

Theantiquityofthings and places has the ability to fosterafeelingof a shared past, aclosenesstoa real or imaginedcommunity that was marked byawell-balancedcoexistenceof resources and nature; thisfeelingprovesto be bothreassuringandmovingwhencomparedtoourmessypresent.

The emotions people feel depend on thespecificwaysinwhich they areconnectedtotheirrespectivecommunities,andtheirsenseofcollectiveparticipationinthose communities.

Originality and rarity are qualities that are appreciatedintoday'srepetitive,copycatconsumerculture.

Continuity, sequence and finality render a feeling of stability and theabilitytoseeaprojectthroughitsfullcompletion- asopposedtothefeelingofguiltoveranunfinishedwork,initselfasignofpresentdisorderandofacompromised,ever-postponedfuture.

Authenticity: Real artifacts, no matter how trivial, will triggeremotion and memory of thatperson or community who happened to make use of it.

Beauty.

The emotional effect of all these qualities in heritage objects can be profound: 1896PierredeCoubertinrecordedinhisjournalthe"overwhelmingsensations"elicited inhimbytheruinsofOlympia – and how the modern OlympicGamessaw the light.

It has been noted that the drive towards theconservationofheritage seemstointensifyintimesofcrisis; the reason is that in our current consumerculture, itistheso-calledtraditional objects,placesandsocioculturalpractices that conserveus,nottheother wayaround.

Ignoranceaboutour heritage createsfeelingsofindifference and the community needs to be taughtonthehistoryand the heritage: withoutsuchaneducationcollectivememoryseemstoceasetoexist.

What people need, is hope: In 2010 when 33minerswererescuedintheAtacamaDesert inChile after 69 days in a mine, the whole world celebrated the joy, the relief, the communitysolidarityandthe humanresilience. That is the type of narrativethattoday'ssociety,facedwithallkindsofchallengesandseeminglyinsolublecrises, needs topassontothefutureasatoken of what can be done.

In conclusionheritageisalwaysaselectionandachoice, it is based on thevaluethatisattributedthroughnegotiation - by parties who show the abilityandreadinesstobothacknowledgeandembracetheculturalgoodsofotherswithwhomwesharethisexistenceofoursinthetroubledworldofcontemporaryculture.