Navigating global and local attitudes toward heritage initiatives in Southern Costa Rica.

Summary

This paper explores the dynamic between local and foreign perceptions towards cultural and environmental exploitation and stewardship, presenting recent reactions to medium to long term initiatives that have been started by national and international institutions in southern Costa Rica. It reviews how researchers are attempting to better integrate themselves with local communities and national organizations in a more sustainable and responsible manner, presenting the current challenges encountered while trying to implement a bio-cultural tourism and education model in the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. The variable acknowledgement of precontact cultural resources and environmental corridors, tension between what is often perceived as foreign versus local priorities, and differing attitudes within Costa Rican society are central to understanding the range of meaning among multiple stakeholders. Using the Osa region as a case study, the paper reviews the multivocal definitions of heritage, identity and landscape that have produced varying levels of cooperation, collaboration as well as tension and resistance. Addressed within a general historical ecological approach, it summarizes the evolving nature of research and conservation methodologies and its implications for global and local economic and cultural interactions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16855