Memory tourism in a contested landscape : exploring identity discourses in Lviv, Ukraine
Author
Summary, in English
The study explores divergent representations and cultural identity in a historically contested landscape. The first form of representations includes politically amended place marketing. It is analysed how public discourse on a city’s development and regeneration articulate inscriptions of local authorities to pursue political-economic agendas. The second form of representations is diaspora’s imaginary of a pedigree place that derives from genealogical research and travel. In this way, genealogy enables counter-memories to uncritical marketing and ‘alternative’ voices in recast of local history. A contested landscape is conceptualized in the framework of politics of past to reflect stakeholders’ present-day preoccupations. Two forms of representations conceptualize spaces of dominance and resistance in Lefèbvre’s (1991) production of space. The empiric study is conducted in Lviv, a city with complicated past and national identity due to interchangeable powers. The fieldwork comprises the ongoing marketing campaign in Lviv launched in connection to Euro-2012, and the Polish, Jewish, and West Ukrainian diasporic representations. The findings show how the national and the Eurocentric meta-narratives embed the identity discourses of the official élite, and how diasporic texts suggest a genre of resistance to the marketing scripts.
Department/s
Publishing year
2018-10-13
Language
English
Pages
1690-1709
Publication/Series
Current Issues in Tourism
Volume
21
Issue
15
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Topic
- Social and Economic Geography
- History and Archaeology
Keywords
- identity
- place marketing
- diaspora
- historiographic representations
- Lviv
- Critical Discourse Analysis
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1368-3500