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CREATED TRADITIONS: THE CASE OF THE ESTRADA REAL, A CULTURAL ROUTE IN BRAZIL Author(s): Leonardo Castriota Source: Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, INTERROGATING TRADITION: Epistemologies, Fundamentalisms, Regeneration, and Practices: Twentieth Anniversary Conference of the International Association for the Study of Traditional

Environments, December 12-15, 2008, United Kingdom: Conference Abstracts (FALL 2008), p. 95Published by: International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41758688Accessed: 29-12-2015 18:59 UTC

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mereiai and recreational hub of the Gulf. Historically, Bab-al- Bahrain (Bahrain Gate) once faced the city's port and served as was the main entrance to Manama souq ; however, land reclama- tion has removed it from the water's edge. The paper will focus on the area of Bab Al- Bahrain and its urban and architectural adja- cencies to illustrate Bahrain's efforts to promote its historical and cultural heritage as a vehicle for tourist development.

Two major new projects are aiming to help Bab Al-Bahrain regaining its historic importance. These are the new waterfront development, Bahrain Financial Harbor, and the renovation of the old market, Souq Al-Manama. Because these are located on opposite sides of the gate, they construct poles of development in this unique context. The two case studies will be juxtaposed and analyzed.

The paper will also investigate the legitimacy and the com- plex dynamism of transforming historical heritage into a hyper- tradition, a sort of "authentic fake," in order to facilitate touristic consumption of Bahraini culture. It argues that tourism has changed the host community and influenced the process of creat- ing fake authenticity.

TRADITION OF CONSUMPTION, CONSUMPTION OF TRADITION Catherine Sckerl

This essay investigates the question, "What impact does the tradition of consumption have on the definition of tradition as it relates to the making of traditional goods, services and environ- ments?" The paper first explores the role of consumption in the everyday. It explains that consumption has expanded beyond eco- nomic definitions to inform the logic within everyday life. The paper goes on to propose that everyday consumer contexts emerge as places where the definition of tradition is most fluid, as both producers and consumers reciprocally inscribe tradition's defini- tion when products are manufactured, marketed and consumed. The paper preliminarily identifies an example of an everyday con- sumer context, a new-town development in the United States, which illustrates the negotiations that occur between producers and consumers as new traditions are formed.

CREATED TRADITIONS: THE CASE OF THE ESTRADA REAL, A CULTURAL ROUTE IN BRAZIL Leonardo Castriota

Cultural routes constitute a new and highly innovative field within the theoretical framework of cultural heritage conservation. The concept inextricably combines material and immaterial aspects of culture that have previously only been considered sepa- rately. Toward this end, the Council of Europe launched, in 1987, the Cultural Routes program, intended to visibly demonstrate, by means of a journey through space and time, how different coun- tries in Europe share a common cultural heritage. The "Routes" project implemented by UNESCO is similar, aiming to promote mutual knowledge among civilizations, cultures and religions

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through an enhanced presentation of their mutual interactions and influences.

This paper will examine this important idea, which can per- fectly exemplify the dialectical process of identifying/creating tra- dition. It will show how a cultural route is, in many cases, a created tradition, a mental image that is fabricated to unify dis- parate historic facts, places, and cultural traditions. At the same time, it will demonstrate that this very simulation can become the reality itself, creating a refashioned tradition, and serving perfectly to assert specific economic and cultural policies.

As a case study, the paper examines the Estrada Real (King's Road), a cultural route in Brazil. Dating to the seventeenth centu- ry, this was originally a 900-mile road for moving gold and dia- monds from Minas Gerais to Brazil's ports and then on to Portugal. Rediscovered recently, it has been an object of great attention by the government and civil society which wish to estab- lish it as a cultural route to promote tourism in the region.

The paper will also discuss the influence of the pop mystic and Brazilian homeboy Paulo Coelho's best-selling book about the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, which has led Brazilians to compare the Estrada Real to Spain's religious path.

THE FUTURE OF THE BAYT ARABI: PRESERVING OR RE- CREATING A SYRIAN TRADITION Faedah Totah

The increase in heritage tourism around the world has led investors in Damascus to reimagine the bayt arabi, the vernacular courtyard dwelling, as an "authentic" tradition, not only for its spe- cific architecture but for the history it has come to embody. Although other forms of traditional dwelling exist in Damascus, the bayt arabi has recently become a focus of opportunity in the intramural Old City. Bayt arabi continue to be habitable, but they have long been considered inferior to modern apartments as a place of residence. But this is not an obstacle to investors, who want to render them as heritage, and therefore unsuitable for modern living. Official policies, which protect the Old City from extensive modernization and promote it as a tourist destination also encourage viewing the i bayt arabi as tradition. As a result, in some cases the preservation of bayt arabi has resulted in nonresi- dential use, as the houses are transformed into tourist establish- ments, either as restaurants and/or hotels.

This paper will elaborate on how investors have refurbished courtyard houses into tourist establishments. This is a process that, in their opinion, preserves a vernacular tradition for future generations. At the same time, it generates profit and removes the bayt arabi from the local to the global context. The conversion to nonresidential use also raises questions as to what is being pre- served and for whom.

Through a description of the historical architectural features of the bayt arabi, I will illustrate how a dwelling form of a certain historical period has come to stand for an entire local tradition. I will describe the conversion process of the bayt arabi into a restau-

This content downloaded from 128.173.127.127 on Tue, 29 Dec 2015 18:59:04 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions