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ABSTRACT
Heritage as a category reflects diverse political positions. All heritagisation processes imply the creation of hierarchies, selection, ranking, and categorisation of what is worthy or unworthy of being heritage, and all heritage creation involves certain disciplinary processes that confer legitimacy. As a modern invention, heritage was built on two closely related cornerstones: the distinction between nature and culture and the difference between normalised knowledge and marginal knowledge. As a result, refining processes were applied which became strategies to legitimise political domination. In this paper the constituent process of heritage creation and its links to normative knowledge are analysed, illustrating the various relationships between types of knowledge in the heritagisation process with the case of the Albufera Natural Park in Spain. A particular focus is placed on the processes that affect territories and natural resources, modifying the material conditions of the local population. Beyond giving rise to a mere acceptance of imposed expert knowledge, the analysed dynamics reveal the responsiveness of the local actors, as they make use of this knowledge in the context of a counter-hegemonic discourse.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The Servicio Devesa-Albufera del Ayuntamiento de Valencia and the Oficina Técnica de Gestión del Parque de Natural de la Albufera de la Generalitat Valenciana.
2. Further on we will delve into de transformations of the area, which will help us understand why after the 1960s and 1970s the younger people did not continue with the fishing activities which had been so common until then.
3. Identity, as an open process, is neither solid nor permanent (Bauman Citation2004; Hall Citation2003). In this paper will not discuss the controversial and idealised term community (Bauman Citation2001)
4. Of the 57 municipalities entirely or partly affected by the park, El Palmar is the only one specifically mentioned in PORN for its cultural and landscape values.
5. Elver is the flagship species of the El Palmar fishermen and has been one of the most valued catches along with prawn and sea bass. Elver has given rise to several culinary creations associated with the lake. The annual volume of catch in 1950 was around 120,000 kg while today it barely reaches 9000 kg.
6. In almost two centuries 85% of the lake has been lost to cultivation. The change in the environment to adapt it for agricultural needs – silting – has had important ecological and socioeconomic repercussions.
7. Sanmartín (Citation1979, Citation1982) has published an extensive ethnographic study on the location.
8. We will later focus on the role played by the Fishermen Community, since it went beyond the strict limits of the fishing activities ruling with its norms the whole life of the local society.
9. In recent years, women have fought to win a place within the Community. After a long litigation that ended up in Court, they were admitted in a formal basis. Nowadays they have surrender this right out of social pressures. For further information in this conflict and other gender related issues in El Palmar see Díez (Citation2003) and Vizcaíno (Citation2007, Citation2008, Citation2011).
10. All the quotations come from various men from El Palmar over the age of 70, who during a lengthy part of their life had worked only in fishing.
11. For our research we gained access to all the documentation kept in the Community of Fishermen premises. We consulted the files of the Junta de Capítols, the Junta de Redolins, and the Junta de Conters, as well as those of the Governing Board and the advisory council. In addition we examined books relating to Artículos, de Préstamos, y de Derechos y Regalías del Patrimonio. We have consequently screened and analysed these documents. We would like to express our thanks for the generosity of the El Palmar Community of Fishermen for giving us access to the documents and for the trust they placed in our work.
12. It has to be emphasised that this body has functioned historically as the institution which regulates not only fishing but the entire social organisation of El Palmar (Sanmartín Citation1982). Together with the Tribunal de las Aguas, it is the oldest institution in Valencia governed by Common Law.
13. A traditional fishing technique.
14. A traditional fishing technique, similar to hopper trawl fishing.
15. A type of funnel for eel fishing.
16. Literal translation from Valencian.
17. The potentiality of local practices to sustain natural resources is a discourse frequently expressed uncritically by anthropologists. However, there is a need to take a more nuanced approach adapted to each case when speaking of the break which modernity has imposed on traditional systems of environmental management systems with its intensive exploitation and its impact on ecosystems.
18. According to data from the Valencia City Council there are a total of 46 establishments related to commerce or hotels and restaurants for a total of 788 inhabitants. Although at the end of the twentieth century the number of restaurants saw meteoric growth, almost one a year, at the beginning of this century the number has leveled off due to the saturation of the local gastronomic market.
19. Cucó (Citation2009) and Gómez Ferri (Citation2004) provide an analysis of these movements.
20. In their wide-ranging website (http://www.cabanyal.com/) there is an important database of documents and numerous expert reports (architectural, legal, sociological, cultural, etc.)