THE CULTURAL MOMENT IN TOURISM

Edited By Laurajane Smith, Emma Waterton and Steve Watson

 CONTENTS

Introduction: Moments, Instances, Experiences

Steve Watson, Emma Waterton and Laurajane Smith

The Moment in Theory

1. Meaning, Encounter and Performativity: Threads and Moments of Spacetimes in

Doing Tourism
David Crouch
2. The Somatic and the Aesthetic: Embodied Heritage Experiences of Luang
Prabang, Laos
Russell Staiff

The Moment Performed

3. Finding Dracula in Transylvania

Duncan Light
4. Touring Heritage, Performing Home: Cultural Encounters in Singapore
Desmond Wee
5. The Commemoration of Slavery Heritage: Performance, Tourism and
Resistance
Ann Reed
6. Engagement and Performance: Created Identities in Steampunk, Cosplay and
Re-enactment
Jeanette Atkinson
7. Publics Versus Professionals: Agency and Engagement with ‘Robin Hood’ and
the ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ in Nottinghamshire
Anna Scott

Moments and Others

8. Shades of the Caliphate: The Cultural Moment in Southern Spain

Emma Waterton and Steve Watson
9. ‘You No Longer Need to Imagine’: Bus Touring Through South central Los
Angeles Gangland
Scott Magelssen
10. The Cultural ‘Work’ of Tourism
Laurajane Smith
11. The Numen Impulse in Heritage Tourism
Catherine M. Cameron and John B. Gatewood

The Moment Transformed

12. The Truth of the Crowds: Social Media and the Heritage Experience
Ana María Munar and Can-Seng Ooi
13. The Lingering Moment
Garth Lean

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: [TOP, from left to right] Gold Bas-relief sculpture depicting scenes from
the Vessantara Jataka, the story of the last reincarnation of the historic Buddha. Wat
Mai Suwannaphumaham, Luang Prabang; View of Luang Prabang from across the
Mekong with the sacred Mt Phousi at the ritual heart of the historic town; Wat Xieng
Mouan, the monastery at the heart of the ban (village) named after it. The novices here
are taught traditional arts and crafts to do with temple decoration; [BOTTOM, from left
to right] Cafe overlooking the Nam Khan; Foe (rice noodle soup) and dragon fruit juice
at the Big Tree Café overlooking the Mekong, Luang Prabang. © Russell Staiff
Figure 2.2: [from left to right] Novice monk cleaning on the eve of Buddhist Lent. Wat
Xieng Mouan, Luang Prabang; Monk walking past a chapel with Buddha images in the
grounds of Wat Sene, Luang Prabang. © Russell Staiff

Figure 3.1: Bran Castle in southern Transylvania

Figure 3.2: Dracula and horror souvenirs on sale outside Bran Castle

Figure 4.1: Self-portrait in Little India as part of Shooting Home project. © Desmond
Wee
Figure 4.2: ‘10 places to see in little India’ by Tay (2009). Source: The Straits Times
© Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Reprinted with permission.
Figure 4.3: Backpacker in Little India as part of Shooting Home project. © Desmond
Wee
Figure 4.4: Self-portrait in Chinatown exhibited in ‘Tourist from Here’. © Desmond
Wee
Figure 4.5: Lady in Kampong Glam exhibited in ‘Tourist from Here’. © Desmond Wee
Figure 4.6: Lady in Little India exhibited in ‘Tourist from Here’. © Desmond Wee
Figure 4.7: Lady in Chinatown exhibited in ‘Tourist from Here’. © Desmond Wee

Figure 5.1:

Figure 7.1: Significance according to rankings for seven researcher-derived heritage

themes for the Bassetlaw region, from the total sample.
Figure 7.2: Respondents' rankings for the theme 'Pilgrim Fathers' according to sample
group and membership of a heritage organization.
Figure 7.3: Respondents' rankings for the theme 'Robin Hood' according to sample
group and membership of a heritage organization.

Figure 8.1: The Mesquita at Cordoba © Steve Watson

Figure 8.2: The Madinat al-Zahra, Cordoba © Steve Watson
Figure 8.3: The Madinat al-Zahra Visitor Centre © Steve Watson
Figure 8.4: The Arch as Icon at the Visitor Centre Museum, Madinat al-Zahra © Emma
Waterton

Figure 9.1: Scorpio interprets Watts Towers for LA Gang Tours participants, August,
2010. © Scott Magelssen

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Figure 9.2: A graffiti artist at the Pico Union Graff Lab, Los Angeles, August, 2010. ©
Scott Magelssen
Figure 9.3: Tourists try their hand at tagging. Pico Union Graff Lab. August, 2010. ©
Scott Magelssen
Figure 9.4: Scorpio and Tourists at the Pico Union Graff Lab. August, 2010. © Scott
Magelssen
Figure 9.5: The author and LA Gang Tours. August, 2010. © Scott Magelssen

Figure 10.1: Exterior view of the Old Melbourne Goal, Melbourne CDB, Victoria,
Australia. © Laurajane Smith
Figure 10.2: The Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre, Longreach,
Queensland, Australia. The bronze statue entitled ‘The Ringer’ (1988, by Eddie
Hackman) in the foreground is an iconic image, against which many visitors pose for
their picture to be taken. © Laurajane Smith

Figure 11.1: ENHANCE Taxonomy.

Figure 11.2: SEEK Taxonomy.
Figure 11.3: Average Ratings for the Seventeen Adjectives.
Figure 11.4: Histogram of the Numen-index Scores for the Gettysburg Sample.

Figure 13.1: Water Buffalo in East Timor (Photo: Dan Harris with permission)

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 LIST OF TABLES

Table 7.1: Amalgamated results for data in Figure X.1 - summary of responses ranking
seven heritage themes for all respondents (f = frequency).
Table 7.2: Results for data in Figure X.2 - summary of responses ranking ‘Pilgrim
Fathers’ theme according to sample group and heritage membership status (f =
frequency).
Table 7.3: Results for data in Figure 3 - summary of responses ranking 'Robin Hood'
theme according to sample group and heritage membership status (f = frequency).

Table 11.1: Components of the Numen-seeking Index from Gettysburg Survey.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank all of the contributors to this book who have worked through
successive drafts of their essays, responding with patience and equanimity to our
requests for additional ‘clarity’ and nit-picking editorial demands. Such is the nature of
our role and we hope that the end has justified the means. It is our wish, however, that
this book is not read simply as another collection of individual essays contrived into a
theme, but rather as a genuine and coherent expression of something important in the
scholarship of cultural tourism: that it is due the kind of rigorous examination that we
have presented here.

Like all books of this sort, this one began with a small idea that grew into a bigger one,
over coffees, dinners and other convivial encounters. It grew not just through
conversations between the three of us but with colleagues, and in moments of reflection
about what culture means in the context of tourism, and what tourism means in the
context of culture. As editors, the experience made us all deeply uneasy about the
uncritical use of both terms and their use uncritically together. We hope that unease
becomes apparent to the reader and we are grateful to those friends and colleagues who
encouraged us to pursue this unconventional line of thought.

Special thanks go to the series editor Professor Stephen Page, who saw the potential at
an early stage and helped us to advance it as a project. We also gratefully acknowledge
the permissions granted for the use of copyright images in the book.

Any errors and omissions are ours alone.

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