Culture and Value Tourism, Heritage, and Property [Hardcover]

When heritage becomes a commodity, when culture is instrumental in driving tourism, and when individuals assert ownership over either, social, ideological, political, and economic motivations intertwine. Bestowing value on culture is itself a culturally rooted act, and the essays gathered inCulture and Valuefocus on the motivations and value regimes people in particular times and contexts have generated to enhance the visibility and prestige of cultural practices, narratives, and artifacts.

This collection of essays by noted folklorist Regina F. Bendix, offers a personal record of the unfolding scholarly debate regarding value in the studies of tourism, heritage, and cultural property. Written over the course of several decades, Bendixs case studies and theoretical contributions chronicle the growing and transforming ways in which ethnographic scholarship has observed social actors generating value when carrying culture to market, enhancing value in inventing protective and restorative regimes for culture, and securing the potential for both in devising property rights. Bendixs work makes a case for a reflexive awareness of the changing scholarly paradigms that inform scholars research contributions.

Regina F. Bendix is Professor of Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology at the University of G?ttingen, Germany. Her books includeIn Search of AuthenticityandBackstage Domains. She is author (with Kilian Bizer and Dorothy Noyes) ofSustaining Interdisciplinary Collaboration, and editor (with Aditya Eggert and Arnika Peselmann) ofHeritage Regimes and the State. Together with Ulrich Marzolph she edits the journalNarrative Culture.

1. This book is the first collection of essays by noted folklorist, Regina F. Bendix, that explore how cultures create, give, and maintain value for cultural elements and artifacts.

2. Bendix's work seeks to transcend specialized perspectives on cultural heritage and intelã-