Archaeology of the Silk Road: Challenges of Scale and Storytelling

Franklin, Kathryn

doi:10.1007/s10814-023-09188-w

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 119 publications

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“…Franklin (2023) used allegory to draw attention to the tension involved in positioning the Silk Roads as both universally appealing attractions and culturally specific places. The findings underscore the need for equitable promotion of tourism while preserving heritage diversity [ 57 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Belt and Road Initiative’s impact on tourism and heritage along the Silk Roads: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

Dayoub,

Yang,

Omran

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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This is a systematic review of the literature on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its impact on tourism and heritage in participating countries along the Silk Roads. China launched the BRI in 2013 with the aim of promoting global trade and stimulating economic growth through the development of infrastructure and cultural cooperation. This review examines studies for the period from 2013 to 2023, focusing on key themes such as tourist flows, destination development, urban renewal, heritage preservation, and cultural route revival. The systematic review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, incorporating 56 relevant documents that cover both tourism and heritage domains. The findings highlight substantial potential for the development of new tourism products and destinations, improved urban renewal, and the preservation of cultural heritage, provided that integrated policies, public-private collaboration, and equitable community participation frameworks are implemented with attention to ecological limits. However, the review also identifies significant challenges, including financial imbalances, uneven access to benefits, social disruption, cultural commodification, and environmental degradation. Addressing these issues requires careful, context-specific planning. The study concludes with a proposal for a future research agenda that includes exploring underrepresented regions, developing sustainable tourism models, and fostering interdisciplinary research to ensure a balanced approach to economic development and heritage preservation. This review’s findings provide valuable insight for policymakers, tourism officials, and cultural heritage managers, guiding the development of policies that balance economic growth with the preservation of cultural and natural heritage sites. This research contributes to the academic discourse by elucidating the complex interplay between the BRI and the Silk Roads’ tourism and heritage, offering a pathway for sustainable and inclusive growth.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Belt and Road Initiative’s impact on tourism and heritage along the Silk Roads: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

Dayoub,

Yang,

Omran

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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“…However, promoting sustainable and inclusive cultural tourism along the Silk Roads within the BRI framework presents various challenges, such as balancing the interests of conservation and development, engaging local communities [51,52], and acclimating to changing consumer preferences and technologies [67][68][69]. In this context, the Metaverse is a potential tool for improving cultural tourism experience, supporting heritage preservation, and fostering cross-cultural understanding along the Silk Roads (see Table S1).…”

Section: Cultural Tourism Along the Silk Roads And The Belt And Road ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Silk Roads: Leveraging the Metaverse for Cultural Tourism within the Belt and Road Initiative Framework

Dayoub,

Yang,

Omran

et al. 2024

Electronics

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The advent of the Metaverse, a convergence of virtual and physical realities, presents unprecedented opportunities for promoting cultural tourism along the historic Silk Roads within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework. However, this emerging technology’s potential remains largely unexplored in the context of cultural heritage preservation and its promotion. The aim of this study is to address this gap by empirically examining how the Metaverse can be harnessed to improve tourists’ experiences, support sustainable tourism development, and promote cultural exchange along the Silk Roads. In this study, we employed a mixed-methods approach grounded in attribution theory, using both surveys and semi-structured interviews with Silk Road tourists who had been exposed to Metaverse applications. To investigate the relationships between Metaverse features, tourists’ attributions, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions, we used structural equation modeling and thematic analysis. The findings revealed that perceived immersion, avatar identification, and cultural authenticity significantly influenced tourists’ internal, stable, and controllable attributions. Interviews further highlighted the Metaverse’s potential to promote accessibility, interpretation, and engagement with Silk Road heritage, while also raising sociocultural and ethical considerations. This paper also showcases the development of Metaverse digital twin prototypes for several iconic Silk Road cities to demonstrate the potential for participatory virtual environments to promote cultural heritage preservation, accessibility, and sustainable tourism. The study’s findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of Metaverse tourism and the application of attribution theory, offering practical insight for the responsible and effective harnessing of this transformative technology. This research provides actionable recommendations for policymakers, destination managers, and technology providers to optimize the Metaverse’s potential for cultural tourism along the Silk Roads. This has great potential in promoting the BRI’s connectivity and cooperation objectives. This paper lays the foundation for future research and responsible innovation at the intersection of emerging technologies, cultural heritage, and sustainable tourism development.

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“…It incorporates narratives born in the USSR, when iterations of Marxist historical materialism dominated the development of archaeological paradigms, and Anglo-American and European archaeology, which navigated processualist and post-processualist approaches influenced by broader trends in Western scientific and humanistic traditions. Theoretical trends that portend significant changes for central Eurasian archaeology include posthumanism, post-colonialism and post-Sovietism, which all invite new avenues for research (Koplatadze 2019;Franklin 2023). However, some of these terms have lingering political connotations that can create tension between colleagues of different nationalities and backgrounds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The continued use of general terminology similarly divides historical and archaeological perspectives on the past. Moreover, blanket terms such as nomads, civilization and Silk Roads diminish the spectrum of varied lifestyles in central Eurasia's past and present (Frachetti 2008;Chang 2018;Rouse et al 2022a;Franklin 2023). Within the intellectual circles of central Eurasian archaeology, a key place to initiate change is in the lecture hall with the aim to unpack standard narratives and build new epistemologies situated in diverse regional discourses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

[Re]Integrating a dispersed agenda: advancing archaeological research in Central Eurasia

Rouse,

Doumani Dupuy,

Abdykanova

et al. 2024

Antiquity

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Amid resurgent geopolitical fissures and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a growing awareness in the sector of the need for, and concern about, national and international collaboration in archaeological projects. This article reflects on present-day challenges for international collaboration in central Eurasian archaeology and furthers a much-needed discussion about (re)integrating local narratives with inter-regional trends in future research. Responsible and practical proposals for bridging collaborator differences in institutional or publishing obligations, language capacities and access to resources are discussed.

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Archaeology of the Silk Road: Challenges of Scale and Storytelling

Cited by 4 publications

References 119 publications

The Belt and Road Initiative’s impact on tourism and heritage along the Silk Roads: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

The Belt and Road Initiative’s impact on tourism and heritage along the Silk Roads: A systematic literature review and future research agenda

Digital Silk Roads: Leveraging the Metaverse for Cultural Tourism within the Belt and Road Initiative Framework

[Re]Integrating a dispersed agenda: advancing archaeological research in Central Eurasia

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