Paradigm or predator? Eco- and community museums in Scotland and Costa Rica
Abstract
Recent decades have seen a rise in scholarship on the tourist imagination relating to the western gaze towards other cultures. In this essay, my theoretical standpoint is located in a nexus between museum studies, tourism studies, and anthropology, wherein the dynamic between the visitor and the heritage encountered can no longer be accepted as an innocent one. The contemporary examples I draw on from Scotland and Costa Rica – Skye Ecomuseum, and the Boruca and Rey Curré museos comunitarios – attract diverse international visitors, and tourism to both destinations is showcasing a life lived at a remove from the western world of capitalism and modernity, one experienced within, and at one with, stunning natural surroundings. However, as I will elucidate, both communities are concurrently experiencing the homogenising influences of globalisation while striving to maintain and strengthen their distinctive local identities in the response to predatory tourism.
Citation
Brown , K E 2017 , ' Paradigm or predator? Eco- and community museums in Scotland and Costa Rica ' , ICOFOM Study Series , vol. 45 , pp. 23-36 . https://doi.org/10.4000/iss.293
Publication
ICOFOM Study Series
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2306-4161Type
Journal article
Rights
© International Committee for Museology of the International Council of Museums (ICOM/UNESCO). Published by ICOFOM, Paris. This work has been made available online with permission from the publisher. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at http://network.icom.museum/icofom/publications/icofom-study-series/
Description
The research for this project received funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh Small Grants scheme. The development of this research is being supported by the European Union’s Horizon2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 693669. ISBN: 9789290124290Collections
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