Symbolic estates: community identity and empowerment through heritage

Drivers of community participation in heritage tourism planning: an empirical investigation

“…Given that community WTP should not be taken for granted, it is proposed that the management of heritage through community-based research could form a paradigm of practice towards a more community-inclusive heritage tourism planning. This paradigm positions communities and their aspirations at the heart of its enquiry, emphasizing questions that revolve around the public understandings of heritage, the identification of community needs and the accommodation of these needs through community involvement (Atalay, 2010;Stephens & Tiwari, 2015). It is held that such an approach is better positioned to balance expert with local knowledge from the very beginning, address community-specific demands more effectively and make collective actions that would be more relevant to destination hosts.…”

Heritage, identity and community engagement at Dunluce Castle, Northern Ireland

“…In developing this project, both the CMS and the Northern Irish universities came to recognise the potential of community projects of this kind to build social capital and empower both community groups and individuals (Mansuri and Rao 2003). Projects of this nature also intrinsically contribute to sustainability through the enhancement of the social and cultural health of these community groups (Stephens and Tiwari 2015). As with other parts of the UK and the Republic of Ireland community, archaeology (in all of its facets and manifestations) has developed rapidly over the past decade.…”

Bridging cultural heritage and communities through digital technologies

“…Over the past fifteen years, the institutionalisation of the concept of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) [69] has gradually led to an expansion of the importance of broader human engagement in any aspect of cultural heritage's identification, collection, and management [13,57,61,64,72]. The search for wider and deeper community engagement in the heritage sector has been fostered by the new opportunities offered through the advancement of digital technologies, which have greatly enhanced the opportunities for dissemination and access, as well as leading to frameworks for facilitating grassroots engagement [1,14].…”

“…This can be particularly beneficial for the people that have been marginalised from the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) sector [25] or are dissatisfied with the heritage interpretation provided by the institutional heritage sector [7,47]. Besides, evidences show how the participation in heritage-related activities can enhance community empowerment and development [19,30,44,[49][50][51]64]. Apart from the barriers related to the deployment of digital technology identified above, the use of digitally-mediated approachessuch as ethnocomputing [21,40], corrective technologies [24], and digital storytelling [73] -and social networks [74] can lead to the creation of positive outcomes for communities at risk of exclusion participating in cultural and heritage-related activities, including fulfilling educational goals [21,40], increasing of participation in the public sphere [73], and strengthening social cohesion [24] and cultural identity [74].…”