Fuori Luogo. Rivista di Sociologia del Territorio, Turismo, Tecnologia

Editorial

2023-09-13T12:20:47+00:00

Roots Tourism and Emotional and Sustainable Enhancement of Places. An Introduction

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Rebuilding Hometowns: Religious Worship as an Identity and Tourist Strategies of Place-making

2023-09-13T12:22:48+00:00

In a globalized world in which the paths of life project the subjects even in places distant from the birth one and in which the feeling of identity is pluralized and becomes more and more complex, new and stronger mechanisms of resistance and preservation of ties and sense of belonging are generated. The roots tourism represents an answer realized by the emigrants of first, second or even successive generations, able to preserve the link with the territory of origin and, through this, their own identity. This specific form of tourism is therefore, more than any other, a journey into its own history, characterized by the desire to (re)find places connected to its own past or family history. It seems that the identity sought a spatial, physical roots and, in experiencing those places, a sort of confirmation of the fullness of identity.

In some cases, however, the return, even when periodic, to the country of origin or to which people feels to belong, is not felt as sufficient to bridge a distance experienced as a lack of identity.

This complex dynamic sometimes takes the form of the choice to reproduce in the territory of arrival and in which subjects have consolidated their presence, especially religious traditions that reproduce, in form and manner, those of the city of origin. The aim, more or less consciously pursued, is to build and strengthen an individual and, at the same time, shared imaginary and an identity continuity that prescinds from the material distance that separates the places to which subjects feel to belong.

A significant example is represented by the celebration of Mary SS. of Buterrito, also venerated as Madonna del Campo and whose feast falls on August 15, the day of the Assumption of Mary. This is an important celebration for the identity of the inhabitants of Ceglie del Campo, not only an historical place of the city of Bari but its original nucleus, is represented in an identical way also by the community of Ceglie emigrants who now lives in the city of Chicago in Illinois.

The contribution aims to analyze these practices in their identity value.

This first object will be flanked by a second one that will show, once again but in different forms, how much the re-proposal and especially the reproduction of religious rites is functional to build and maintain an identity bond with the place of origin.

The proposed analysis will be enriched by a photographic apparatus that will not only make clearer the overlap and the coincidence of the forms of the religious ritual, but will be an integral part of the analysis itself.

Roots Tourism History and Experiences in France

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Roots tourism is developing in Italy, both in the field, through the intermediary of companies that host and supervise it, and in terms of training, with the creation of a master's degree in roots tourism at the University of Calabria at the end of 2020, and finally thanks to the political support and encouragement of the Italian state. What is the situation in France? This paper will try to compare our two countries in terms of the organization of tourism and its development structures. Roots tourism is a relatively recent concept which, in France, seems to be in its infancy, while the pool of tourists concerned is very large. To understand this apparent contradiction, we will look at a form of tourism that in some ways masks the real weight of 'family' roots tourism in France: this is remembrance tourism, which is omnipresent, developed and well-regulated in France, particularly around the battlefields of the two world wars. We will then show that two types of roots tourism can be developed in France: an endogenous type, perhaps the most obvious (linked to the rural exodus of the 19th century and the rediscovery, today, of the countryside for a return effect) and an exogenous type linked to the longer history of France and its links with Quebec and its former African colonies. In contrast, genealogical tourism and roots tourism seem to be still underdeveloped, whereas their supervision (private or public) could generate a new tourism economy that is still in its infancy. According to some specialists, roots tourism is said to be much more inclined to discover 'authentic' territories and their cultures, and would provide an alternative to mass tourism, to 'classic' tourism, which is now criticized as depredatory and polluting. The conclusion of this paper will show how the current post-Covid-19. context favors this more personalized and perhaps more intimate type of travel. Thus, there is no doubt that roots tourism is becoming a promising part of the tourism economy.

Multiple Identities: the Perception of the Root Tourist in the Host Communities

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With the expression “Root Tourism”, one commonly intends the social phenomenon that leads emigrants and/or their descendents to return, frequently or occasionally, to their place of origin, on the basis of motivation linked, in a rather predominant way, to strengthen and/or to deepen one’s family identity (Perri, 2020). In this form of tourism, the decisive and absolutely dominating factor that drives the decision to make the journey is, therefore, connected to the knowledge and reconstruction of the person’s family history.

The recomposition of identity which is targeted through the roots journey, in the case of the traveler who is an emigranted first generation, see satisfaction in visit the physical, social and cultural spaces that are already known and experienced. When, however, a descendant of emigrants takes on this journey, such as a relative (children, grandchildren, etc.), that is a person ahead in the generational line, will find satisfaction, by visiting in places where one’s ancestors were from, where theese worked and lived, and where they’re buried, adding up the information acquired by consulting records useful in the reconstruction of their family tree, through experiential interviews with the local population (relatives, friends, etc.).

We define this type of travel experiences as “touristic”, as it is based on a temporary and non-instrumental stay, and on travelers who take on daily behaviors and visitation methods that essentially make them indistinguishable from other ranges of tourists (Romita and Perri, 2009), and where the absence of a daily relationship and physical presence renders the subjects as “other”, just as by definition all tourists are (Romita, 2021; Cohen, 1979), placing them in an alienating condition from the eyes of the local host community, which increases over time (Simmel, 1998; Schutz, 2013).

However, the very aims of the trip make the root tourist, as it is perhaps easily understandable, a rather particular type of tourist, almost unique. The load of expectations and the emotional intensity that accompany the departure, transit and arrival are experienced with anxiety, as the experience that will be created could also lead to not only the “simple” desired identity reconstruction, but also to perhaps a partial redefinition of one’s own family’s identity situation.

Whatever the case may be, the condition of alienation that we mentioned earlier belongs to all tourists, in the case of the root tourist, this alienation brings with it an identity that is the fruit of a flexible subjectivity. Identities develop and shape through everyday life and through the narration of family history linked to cultural origins. Therefore, identities, more or less hybrid or multiple, sometimes manifest in crises, as they are torn between the prevalent belonging to the original culture or to that of the places where one lives, or through languages resulting from a semantic compromise (between the original language and the acquired language), and which, from time to time, are defined through social relationships, the contingencies in which they find themselves and the consequent contaminations. People for whom the concept of “place” brings a constant redefinition to the notions of belonging, citizenship, frontier.

The specific condition of the root tourist’s alienation has significant repercussions in the perception that the local host communities have of this social figure. The results of over ten years of research dedicated to the study of tourism and the root tourist, which we will use to develop this work, brings to conclusion that what we call "root tourism" for the local host communities is only partly so, and that this perception depends on the process of breaking down the multiple identities of these travelers.

Roots tourism, Second Homes and Terraphilia in a Portuguese Context

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One of the main feature of roots tourism is the visitation of the place of origin by people who have established their residence elsewhere. One of the most frequent manifestations of roots tourism has to do with the establishment of a second home. This home becomes the mark of a relationship that, at one time, derives from the search for better living conditions in other geographical contexts and, at the other, lingers in the memory of those who stayed there as a demonstration of the success of those who departed.

This phenomenon incorporates different forms and intensities of manifestation of connections to that the root place. These connections ranges from the simple relationship that values, above all, the more physical aspects of the natural and social environments, to the existence of family members and the need to affirm social and economic success. This last connection can induce greater levels of interaction, material and immaterial, with the place. In this way, degrees of involvement with the root community can be reflected in different transforming effects of that very same community.

Topophilia and terraphilia are two basic theoretical concepts that will help to understand this involvement, which is framed, in large part, by the desire to recover the lost territorial identity. Topophilia is more related with place attachment anchored in the physical and social characteristics of the place, whilst terraphilia adds up a pro-developmental attitude to that concept. In other words, terraphilia is measured by the willingness of people to directly contribute to the development of a place or territory.

In Portugal there are no known studies on roots tourism. Despite the abundance of tourism studies that place foreigners at the main level of demand, those dedicated to the study of Portuguese travel and, even less, on the part of those who descend from them are less frequent or in-depth.

In the absence of statistical or other information derived from other direct or indirect sources related with roots tourism, the phenomenon is contextualized in the more general problem of second homes, for which the results of a surveys conducted by the authors during 2019 and 2020, using the internet and the services of a marketing firm, are available and never published.

The Dilemma of Tourism Moral Economy and the Turismo delle Radici: Reflections on the Italian Diaspora in Brazil and Experiences of the Italianità as Authenticity

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Roots tourism is noteworthy for a strong emotional bond between the tourist and the “place of destination” even before the trip takes place. It is also important to point out that the roots tourism is related to the mobility regime of diaspora, qualifying the so-called “diasporic tourism” and many other markers of mobility related to genealogical and affective ties with an original community. It can be assumed that the roots tourism (specifically the Turismo dell Radici – TdR) is a type of mobility and tourism practice integrated broadly in a social system of multiple space-time scales (the regime mobility across the globe). We believe that TdR can be understood as an analytically privileged sociological phenomenon, since it is a regular fact that is increasingly widespread in the liquid modernity, contributing in a decisive way to think about the mobile lives of contemporary tourism and its embeddedness in a globalised regime of mobilities. In this study we seek to investigate the sociological “mechanisms” that characterize the tourist experiences of TdR through an exploratory case study about the relation of the tourism experiences and the consolidation of the Italian diaspora community settled in Brazil. First, we organized the text with the conceptual problematization of the TdR and its consequences for our understanding of the phenomenon of tourist practices and the constitution of communities and identities affected by the regime of mobilities across the globe (the formation of a transnational community and a very particular identity – the representation of the “Italianity”). In a second part, we discuss the TdR and the debate on authenticity and the performance in the tourism space, highlighting the importance of understanding the interaction between people, places, goods, services, scales and distances under the framing of a “tension” provoked by the new moral economy in Modernity. The persistent reflections on the TdR tend to put a relational bias in the sense of focusing on the point of view of the “origin”, assumed in the analyses as a fixed and homogeneous territory of “return”. However, TdR should not focus only on the perspective of the “original place”, real or imaginary. Another analysis must be attempted, considering the relational and re-dimensioned aspect of territorial scales according to the historical processes that interconnect origin and destination, local and global, constructed and imagined space, hot and cold. To this end, we planned an exploratory case study related to the formation of the Italian diaspora communities in Brazil and the accelerated growth of projects characterized as Turismo delle Radici connecting both local associations (of transnationalised identities) founded in Brazilian territory to their original communities in the Italian peninsula (comuni and regione). We highlight the social mechanisms of this moral economy that implies roots tourism as a vector of the Italianità – Italianity – that generates self-sustainability at different levels (local-global) balancing authentic experience out of the massive tourism industry. We suggest that associationism contributes for strong ties among Italian communities and exert a decisive role in the promotion of tourist experiences of "return" in a transnational social field. Then, travelling experiences in the place of destination strengthen the sense of “atemporal” belonging, the Italianità feeling that protects one against overtourism while simultaneously preserving the moral field of dense ties and transactions to homeland. Methodologically, the case study of the Italian diaspora in Brazil and the formation of the sense of belonging as Italianity makes it possible to problematize the phenomenon of TdR through the paradoxes of the authenticity of tourism practices in the moral economy of the globalised world.

The Ethnic Tourism for the Preservation and Valorisation of the Identity of Cross-Border Territories and as an Opportunity for the Development of the Roots Tourism

2023-09-13T12:20:47+00:00

The north-eastern border areas have experienced continuous and significant identity transformations. The presence of different cultures (Italian, Friulian, Slavic, German, etc.) has enriched the identity of the places, but their abandonment by choice, by compulsion (e.g., the Giuliano-Dalmatian exodus) or, simply, by natural demographic decline have risked dispersing a significant cultural heritage. In recent years, thanks to the role of ethno-linguistic communities and cross-border cooperation programmes, projects for the enhancement of linguistic and cultural heritage have been launched, thematic historical-naturalistic itineraries created, opportunities for wine and food cooperation promoted, cross-border mobility fostered, etc. The European funding programmes involving these areas are diverse and have had a considerable impact on the planning of territories, the creation of networks involving institutional, economic and cultural operators and the promotion of increasingly sustainable approaches. Not only has these programmes enhanced the area's rich natural and cultural heritage, but it has also supported, through dedicated associations (e.g., Fogolârs furlans, Julians in the world Association, etc.), a tourism aimed at those who have left these lands and their descendants to rediscover the places thus regenerated, the traditions recovered, and the flavours safeguarded belonging to family memories and narratives. The article focuses on what the various cross-border programmes on Italy's eastern border have achieved to promote a roots tourism in terms of sustainability, recovery of traditions, renovation of the architectural heritage, involvement of ethnic-linguistic communities, and creation of multi-sensory itineraries. The keywords of roots tourism addressed here are those linked to personal and collective memories, to village festivities and religious rituals, to friendships, to the familiarity of places, to the pride of territorial and community belonging, to cultural identity, to local knowledge and flavours, to relevant architectural and landscape heritage, etc. The cross-border projects have thus increased the tourist attractiveness and visibility of cross-border areas through sustainable models, innovative products and marketing of cultural heritage and ecotypes of planned landscapes through green technologies.

The Sacred Value of the Root’s Journey

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Scientific literature on tourism has given a considerable amount of attention to the study of the touristic experience. During modernity, the discussion, branded as critical studies on tourism, has underlines the heterodirect nature of tourism, and as a consequence the banality of the touristic experience as it is manipulated by the tourism industry (e.g.: Morin, 1965; Ezenberger, 1962; Boorstin, 1962; Turner and Ash 1975).

However, in addition to this view, there is another in the literature, that although recognizes the predominantly superficial character of the tourist experience, focuses on the value of travel and its meanings. Among these studies, we find the one proposed by MacCannell, which argues that all tourists seek an authentic travel experience, and that their goal in any case is the search for the Sacred. For the scholar, the search for authenticity is a constant feature of social life, and tourism is an almost perfect example of this, similar to religious pilgrimages. The problem, MacCannell states, is that tourists are offered the proscenium (which is called the front region), while being denied access to the back region, that is, to the real life of the host community (MacCannell, 1976).

Indeed, the extensive literature available on religious pilgrimage (Jackowski and Smith, 1992; Simonicca, 1995; Shinde, 2008; Nyaupane and Budruk, 2009), considers the pilgrim to be a person who travels towards what is sacred, or towards a spiritual center. At this point the important study by Cohen (1979) comes into play, which identifies different types of tourists, based on the level of alienation compared to the society to which they belong, ranging from those who fully identify with the society to which they belong, to those who select a society or culture different from their own as their “spiritual center” where they take shelter, when needed, precisely to draw spiritual support, as in the case of pilgrimage.

In this sense, the journey of roots presents human and psychological characteristics that render it, therefore, comparable to the pilgrimage: just like the pilgrim, the root tourist also embarks on a journey towards a place (the one of origin) which is considered “sacred” for the purpose of personal enrichment (Romita and Perri, 2009; Perri, 2020). To this we must add that demoralizing situations for the root tourist could arise when the search for authenticity which is taken for granted guides the roots journey, it ends in an artificial tourist experience (MacCannell, 1976), or in a discrepancy between expected authenticity and subjective perception of the experience made, or, finally in the way which authenticity manifests with reference to the way in which the individual recognition of one’s identity takes place, in relation to what is considered an authentic expression of the culture of the community and territory of one’s origins (Wang, 1999).

Here we intend to propose a reflection on the sacred value that tourists assign to the roots journey. In this case, we will use part of the results obtained from the field research activities carried out in a handful of southern Italian communities.

Cultural and Archaeological Heritage, Landscapes and Root Tourism Building the Enhancement of Territories

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This paper emphasizes the development of cultural heritage in order to construct a planned, emotional and sustainable use.

Starting from a general reflection on the value and use of cultural heritage for the recognition of the territories and their culture, this work, wants to contribute to the debate on tourism of the roots and on the methods by which it is possible to construct a functional cultural offer for the development of this particular form of tourism, by analysing the territory of Calabria.

Although certain subjects are common to those currently discussed in the specific cultural sphere, the tourism of roots may usefully define perspectives, operating practices and methods based on cultural heritage or consolidate and clarify those already in place. Actually, it can draw new attention to cultural heritage by generating the so-called "place attachments", to help identify new approaches and models for 'culture oriented' development.

Particular emphasis is placed on the archaeological heritage of the region, analysing the evolution of scientific research through the work of Paolo Orsi (First Calabrian Superintendent) carried out between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. However, all the organisation results in terms of usability have been achieved since the 1980s of the last century. By analysing the current system of valorisation of Calabria composed by museums, archaeological zones and parks, of state or local jurisdiction, taking into account the entries of state structures in the area along the limited evidence available, we will attempt to define what of type interest can activate the tourism of the roots on the archaeological heritage or how much the latter can contribute to consolidate the sense of belonging to the territory, evident in the tourism of the roots.

In many Italian towns not characterised by over tourism, the enhancement of cultural heritage, especially archaeological, implies a new awareness in the territories where community participation can contribute to cultural, environmental, political and economic transformation.

The stakes associated with the tourism of the roots converge towards a new logic of valorisation of the archaeological heritage, which is no longer only passive and detached.

The new trend is now to make every visitor from any origins and social background actors in knowledge transfer and awareness of the value of cultural heritage; and even more the tourist of the roots could usefully participate in this process of re-appropriation, rediscovery and enhancement through what is called "public archaeology" form , which appears to be the most appropriate tool for creating new synergies and linkages between the territory and the communities, including the Rootists

Emigrazione giovanile e viaggio delle radici. Intervista a S.E.R. Mons. Vincenzo Bertolone

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Letture a 3T

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Life at the Margins: Chronicles from Inner Areas of Calabria

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The logics that govern contemporary societies and economies produce increasing forms of marginalisation and new types of peripheral territories (Harvey 2003). The phenomena of polarisation of economic activities generate social changes of enormous magnitude that are reflected in complex and differentiated forms on local territories.
Inner areas, as they have been identified within the innovative public policy dealing with development and territorial cohesion, are peripheral areas, distant from the offer of essential services of mobility, health and education, often characterised by strong depopulation, but at the same time they are custodians of an enormous environmental and cultural heritage (Partnership Agreement, 2013).
Through the territorialist prism, inner areas will be read in order to describe the opportunity to define settlement models that can ensure the lasting sustainability of contemporary places, taking communities and their relationships with their environments as reference points.
For the sustainable planning of inner areas, this paper will explore the present narratives to strengthen a systemic vision worthy of a possible future.

When Tourism is Too Much. Tourist Carrying Capacity of the Vesuvius National Park

2023-09-13T12:22:48+00:00

The territory of the Vesuvius National Park is a concentrate of natural riches, history of volcanology, breathtaking landscapes, centuries-old crops, and traditions that make the Vesuvius area one of the most fascinating and one of the most visited places in the world. The attractiveness of the Park generates serious congestion problems especially in high season, compromising the natural balance of the area. To assess the degree of balance between the environmental and economic sustainability of the Vesuvius National Park, we propose a Tourist Carrying Capacity Index (TCCI) based on the years 2019-2020. Unlike the previous analyses, we obtain a range of TCC to identify an area of compromise between environmental and socio-economic sustainability of tourism. The results suggest management interventions capable of spreading the tourist flow in a homogeneous way during all months of the year in this area.