Names are all around us. Woven into the fabric of everyday life, they are taken for granted, self-evident. Yet, they may build, or rather be used to build, a thick network of paths leading to several configurations of meanings. This multi-layered dimension of names stands at the core of the present book, which stems from the idea that working at the intersections of naming, identity and tourism can bring fresh insights into the study of names. The underlying argument is that also in the context of tourism, names and identities are entwined. Drawing attention to the role that names may play makes it possible to better understand how tourist attractions—be they topographical or metaphorical locations—are promoted, as well as how tourism is involved in the multifaceted process of identity-formation. Introducing naming concerns into the study of identity and tourism provides a further lens for understanding how economic interests, political agendas and cultural traditions are involved in the construction of tourist maps of meaning. Although, technically, names have no sense, i.e. no content which contributes logically to the linguistic meaning of utterances containing them (Coates 2006; 2009; 2012), they bear a considerable potential for taking on meanings depending on their contexts and co-texts of use and can therefore effectively be turned into vehicles of human goals and agendas (Azaryahu 1996; 2011; 2012; Berg and Vuolteenaho 2009). In this respect, the politics of names is about naming as the allocation of meaning resulting from the manipulative use of names for ideological purposes. This is also true of the world of tourism where names may play a strategic role in branding places and traditions in virtue of their ability to suggest distinction, originality, or authenticity. In other words, a name can become a tool to (re)create tourist attractions and (re)shape the identity of places, communities and their heritage. So-called heritage tourism, which has become an increasingly large sector in the economy of many countries, can be taken as an example of the commodification of uniqueness and tradition whereby cultural continuity is legitimized through a storytelling process that grants authenticity to specific sites (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983; Chhabra and Healy 2003). Part of the narrative relies on the resourcefulness of names, which, in the interaction with their discursive environment evoke/invoke associations or evaluative positioning that ends up adding a subjective dimension to their alleged “meaning” (Caiazzo 2017; 2018). Moreover, one of the basic features of tourism—past and present—is the experience of “other” places, markedly far from the routine of everyday life. In this very basic sense, tourism is about exploring and shaping maps of meanings where names of all kinds play a crucial role in directing and shaping tourists’ perception of the identity of the places that they visit. This sense of “Other” is also at the heart of the very complex notion of identity (see Coates, this volume) in that it marks the border between what we share where we belong and those-out-there: “identity is always particular, as much about difference as about shared belonging” (Gilroy 1997, 301). It is such a complex knot to disentangle that the popular and academic appeal of the word “identity” suggests that it is a word at risk of being perceived as an empty signifier. Interestingly, in the 1960s the term appeared in conjunction with crisis, namely “crisis of identity,” as shown by the title of Erik H. Erikson’s influential collection of essays Identity, Youth and Crisis published in 1968. In contemporary western discourse, the notion of crisis has largely disappeared. Currently, a reference to “identity” entails a quest for identity, namely the felt need to preserve and empower distinctiveness. Whereas crisis of identity is about a blurring or even the absence of self-awareness, the present use of the word highlights individuality—of a person, a community and a place—as distinctiveness. In a context where identity reigns supreme, a name is a key, since the primary function of a name is to facilitate individuality and distinctiveness. Although the intriguing interplay of names, identity and tourism outlined so far has largely evaded academic scrutiny, it is worth mentioning that in his semiotic analysis of tourism MacCannell (1999) identified naming as one of the markers in the process that he dubs “sight sacralisation” whereby objects, places or landscapes are legitimised as worth visiting (see also Light 2014). In this process, names are certainly the “simplest” markers, yet inversely related to their apparently simple role is the network of associations stemming from them. The present volume showcases an eclectic choice of issues as it collects original contributions that trace different trajectories in this emerging field of interdisciplinary enquiry. Starting from diverse perspectives, all the chapters converge into the web that weaves together naming, identity and tourism. The contributions to this edited collection range from theoretical issues to case studies and methodological reconsiderations aimed at shedding light on the connections that names may trigger in the tourist world of meanings. The resulting picture encompasses not only a varied geographical scope that covers locations the world over but also a broad time span ranging from the Maya civilization to present day. Very varied are also the names tackled: names of places, people, poets, historical events, popular traditions, archaeological sites, museums, documentaries, food, restaurants and more. By pointing to how naming practices affect tourism discourses, the narratives conveyed by names, the cultural geography of identity-formation and the commodification of places, the present collection brings together the works of both leading and emerging scholars from several research traditions and domains who share an interest in the ways in which the naming of places intersects with identity and tourism issues.

Naming, Identity and Tourism

Luisa Caiazzo
;
2020-01-01

Abstract

Names are all around us. Woven into the fabric of everyday life, they are taken for granted, self-evident. Yet, they may build, or rather be used to build, a thick network of paths leading to several configurations of meanings. This multi-layered dimension of names stands at the core of the present book, which stems from the idea that working at the intersections of naming, identity and tourism can bring fresh insights into the study of names. The underlying argument is that also in the context of tourism, names and identities are entwined. Drawing attention to the role that names may play makes it possible to better understand how tourist attractions—be they topographical or metaphorical locations—are promoted, as well as how tourism is involved in the multifaceted process of identity-formation. Introducing naming concerns into the study of identity and tourism provides a further lens for understanding how economic interests, political agendas and cultural traditions are involved in the construction of tourist maps of meaning. Although, technically, names have no sense, i.e. no content which contributes logically to the linguistic meaning of utterances containing them (Coates 2006; 2009; 2012), they bear a considerable potential for taking on meanings depending on their contexts and co-texts of use and can therefore effectively be turned into vehicles of human goals and agendas (Azaryahu 1996; 2011; 2012; Berg and Vuolteenaho 2009). In this respect, the politics of names is about naming as the allocation of meaning resulting from the manipulative use of names for ideological purposes. This is also true of the world of tourism where names may play a strategic role in branding places and traditions in virtue of their ability to suggest distinction, originality, or authenticity. In other words, a name can become a tool to (re)create tourist attractions and (re)shape the identity of places, communities and their heritage. So-called heritage tourism, which has become an increasingly large sector in the economy of many countries, can be taken as an example of the commodification of uniqueness and tradition whereby cultural continuity is legitimized through a storytelling process that grants authenticity to specific sites (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983; Chhabra and Healy 2003). Part of the narrative relies on the resourcefulness of names, which, in the interaction with their discursive environment evoke/invoke associations or evaluative positioning that ends up adding a subjective dimension to their alleged “meaning” (Caiazzo 2017; 2018). Moreover, one of the basic features of tourism—past and present—is the experience of “other” places, markedly far from the routine of everyday life. In this very basic sense, tourism is about exploring and shaping maps of meanings where names of all kinds play a crucial role in directing and shaping tourists’ perception of the identity of the places that they visit. This sense of “Other” is also at the heart of the very complex notion of identity (see Coates, this volume) in that it marks the border between what we share where we belong and those-out-there: “identity is always particular, as much about difference as about shared belonging” (Gilroy 1997, 301). It is such a complex knot to disentangle that the popular and academic appeal of the word “identity” suggests that it is a word at risk of being perceived as an empty signifier. Interestingly, in the 1960s the term appeared in conjunction with crisis, namely “crisis of identity,” as shown by the title of Erik H. Erikson’s influential collection of essays Identity, Youth and Crisis published in 1968. In contemporary western discourse, the notion of crisis has largely disappeared. Currently, a reference to “identity” entails a quest for identity, namely the felt need to preserve and empower distinctiveness. Whereas crisis of identity is about a blurring or even the absence of self-awareness, the present use of the word highlights individuality—of a person, a community and a place—as distinctiveness. In a context where identity reigns supreme, a name is a key, since the primary function of a name is to facilitate individuality and distinctiveness. Although the intriguing interplay of names, identity and tourism outlined so far has largely evaded academic scrutiny, it is worth mentioning that in his semiotic analysis of tourism MacCannell (1999) identified naming as one of the markers in the process that he dubs “sight sacralisation” whereby objects, places or landscapes are legitimised as worth visiting (see also Light 2014). In this process, names are certainly the “simplest” markers, yet inversely related to their apparently simple role is the network of associations stemming from them. The present volume showcases an eclectic choice of issues as it collects original contributions that trace different trajectories in this emerging field of interdisciplinary enquiry. Starting from diverse perspectives, all the chapters converge into the web that weaves together naming, identity and tourism. The contributions to this edited collection range from theoretical issues to case studies and methodological reconsiderations aimed at shedding light on the connections that names may trigger in the tourist world of meanings. The resulting picture encompasses not only a varied geographical scope that covers locations the world over but also a broad time span ranging from the Maya civilization to present day. Very varied are also the names tackled: names of places, people, poets, historical events, popular traditions, archaeological sites, museums, documentaries, food, restaurants and more. By pointing to how naming practices affect tourism discourses, the narratives conveyed by names, the cultural geography of identity-formation and the commodification of places, the present collection brings together the works of both leading and emerging scholars from several research traditions and domains who share an interest in the ways in which the naming of places intersects with identity and tourism issues.
2020
978-1-5275-4286-0
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