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Cultural Heritage is an issue that has recently been receiving more attention from institutions, specialists, professionals and the general public in all areas since public authorities have promoted the access to artistic heritage, documentary, historical monuments, archaeological, ethnographic and other kind of heritage to the population and the media, instead of keeping it only for the intellectual elite. This fact linked to active tourism is the key element in the development of tourism products, not only as the main attraction, but also as a complement to other services.
Below is a short explanation of some of the core concepts and what they mean in a practical rural context.
Ethnography and Ethnographic Heritage: the origin of the word means "writing about civilizations", making a descriptive study of human societies. Ethnographic studies do not compare or make theories: they are descriptive compilations of traditions, customs, and information, etc. of one or several culture(s).
Ethnography should be distinguished from ethnology. The second refers to a study of civilization where the comparative method is used. The regularities of behaviour are observed and investigated, in order to understand general rules of how they are influenced by environmental or historical reasons. It differs from ethnographic study because it seeks to provide explanations that go beyond mere description.
Cultural Heritage: Ethnographic and ethnological heritage are part of cultural heritage.
Social Anthropology is a combination of ethnographic and ethnological disciplines from the perspective of human interaction and behaviour. Therefore, social anthropology studies the relationships between people, groups of people, social institutions like family, kinship, political organization, law and economic activities.
The ethnographic heritage within the legislative framework:
What are main criteria for selecting the ethnographic assets to be used?
If
culture cannot be preserved as a living and dynamic part of life, it can at least
frequently be conserved and remembered through documented knowledge about it (at
least partly). This is an obligation to ourselves and to future generations, despite
the difficulties we may have to face, and it is what anthropology has been doing
over the history of recent centuries.
In
the case of Andalusian cultural heritage, the following topics are of particular
interest:
1 . Popular religion: Festivals and pilgrimages
2 . Popular religious events: Christmas and Easter
3 . The festival of Moors and Christians
4 . The life cycle and its rituals
5. Traditional and popular oral literature
6 . Folklore
7 . Vernacular architecture
8 . Industrial heritage
9 . Crafts and trades
10. The culture of water
11. Interaction of agriculture, irrigation, biodiversity, and landscape.
The
objective is to value the Ethnographic Heritage through explanations („interpretation”)
to facilitate the understanding of the visitor of something that is not any longer
part of daily life. It is an educational resource, a tool to ensure the maintenance
of heritage and to be valued in all its importance for the future generations.
In case of rural areas, it is a challenge not only to preserve the heritage, but also to promote the understanding of the rural life, as the urban population has lost all contact and direct link with it.
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Introduction | Summary |
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