The Legacy of Mining: Visual Representations and Narrative Constructions of a Swedish Heritage Tourist Destination

Abstract

This article examines the marketing and management efforts that have been undertaken to make the Falun World Heritage Site a successful tourist destination in terms of hegemonic, visual representations, and narrative constructions. Visual representation is assumed to be a vital aspect of the construction of narratives used to promote tourist destinations. The idea of a narrative as something that constructs sites as comprehensible places through visual representation can be used to illuminate the logic of heritage tourism and branding destinations. The article argues that representations of a heritage site that are closely related to hegemonic ideas of the site's history are not necessarily the most profitable ones. If the heritage site is to contribute to local development and tourism, it is essential to understand what the representations of heritage communicate. Using the Falun World Heritage Site as a case study, the article aims to show how the attraction of a site can be hindered by hegemonic assumptions of its history, and therefore of its most interesting and valuable aspects. Analyses of Falun's marketing, as well as the site itself, show that the constructed hegemonic narratives about the Falun Mine primarily concern men, masculinity, and nationalism. Visitors are offered an opportunity to take part through narratives of the Swedish Great Power Period, as constructed and experienced by male geniuses and male mineworkers. These are the stories that correspond to the hegemonic view of those who manage and market the site.

Politics of Heritage Promotion: Branding the Identity of the Greek State

“…This is especially the case in discussions about so-called World Heritage: for example, the Falun World Heritage Site in Sweden where the promotional material asserts a primordial past (Cassel & Mörner, 2011); the museums dedicated to robert Burns in Scotland where the brochure language similarly asserts a primordial past (Bhandari, 2010); the portrayal of Berlin in tourist postcards-with a limited sample of cultural and heritage attractions within the wider historical, economic, political, and social context of the city (Milman, 2012). Other researchers have illustrated the importance of implementing marketing strategies that are targeted at international tourists, including promotion and product development, on the basis of nationality and/or cultural background as was the case with the tourist images of Taiwan (Chang, 2012).…”

“…Visual representation is assumed to be a vital aspect of the construction of narratives used to promote tourist destinations. The idea of a narrative as something that constructs sites as comprehensible places can be used to illuminate the logic of heritage tourism and branding destinations (Cassel & Mörner, 2011).…”