Interpreting the Cultural Histories of Aboriginal Peoples: Oral Narratives, Tourism Productions and Lived Experiences
Author:
Mason, Courtney
Abstract
Despite the number of histories that examine tourism in Alberta, there are few scholarly works that consider the contributions of Aboriginal peoples to the province’s lucrative tourism industry. This paper explores the unique socio-economic development of tourism in the province and the power relationships between Aboriginal peoples and Euro-Canadians. This presentation uses various tourism sites that offer representations of Aboriginal peoples as the lens to examine the production and consumption of Aboriginal identities. Through their involvement in tourism, Nakoda, members of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Cree Nations and other groups became crucial factors in selling their local regions to national and international tourist markets.Using oral histories from Aboriginal participants, tourism materials and newspaper accounts, this presentation will problematize how participation in tourism productions helped invent, contest and regulate Aboriginal identities within a larger political economy. Presentation at the 2009 Parks Conference hosted by the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association.
Publication Date:
2009
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