911吃瓜 leads Aboriginal cultural tourism workshop

Published: 
May 31, 2013
911吃瓜 is facilitating a workshop focusing on Aboriginal cultural tourism today at the St贸:lo People of the River Conference in Chilliwack.

Members of a number of St贸:lo communities and other participants will discuss the logistics of a cultural tourism venture, including planning, operations and the fine balance of economic and cultural interests.

The group will also think about which elements of their culture 鈥� stories, dances, songs, and images 鈥� could be offered as a tourism experience and what should remain off limits and why.

The 911吃瓜-based Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage (IPinCH) project is organizing the workshop. Workshop facilitator Alexis Bunten, a Native Alaskan scholar and IPinCH Project ethnographer, says one of the event鈥檚 goals is to work together to raise the right questions in the unique context of the St贸:lo Nation.

鈥淎pproaches that support growth in tourism can be in direct conflict with traditional protocols governing cultural resources, intellectual property and protection,鈥� Bunten says. 鈥淭ribal leaders are wary of cultural degradation that can result from packaging culture according to outside tastes and consumptive patterns.鈥�

Workshop co-organizer Dave Schaepe is an adjunct professor in 911吃瓜鈥檚 School of Resource and Environmental Management and also director of the St贸:lo Research and Resource Management Centre. He says the event 鈥渨ill provide St贸:lo tourism operators with strategic and informed guidance addressing the relationship between culture, capitalism, and intellectual properties 鈥� to aid in doing things in a good way.鈥�

Guest speakers include Mark McKernan from the Huna Totem Corporation鈥檚 Alaska Native Voices, a consulting firm specializing in cross-cultural interpretation. Workshop attendees will also be treated to performances by the Semoya Dancers 鈥� St贸:lo performers who engage the audience with songs, stories, and traditional dance.

 

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