Abstract
This chapter examines modern consumption of heritage through the lens of culturally motivated tourism in the Pousadas de Portugal, a state-owned chain of tourist accommodations created in 1939. Located primarily in rural areas, installed in historic fabric, and associated with upper-class taste, Pousadas provide a catalog of modalities of representing and consuming rurality, history and exclusivity. Grounded in anthropological fieldwork, the chapter analyzes the centrality of different cultural repertoires in the Pousadas’ guests’ motivations and the depth of their tourism experiences. It argues that Pousadas have become heritage attractions in themselves, not only disclosing postmodern understanding of the past but also confirming tourism consumption as a learning skill within classificatory struggles, where upper and new middle classes strive to assert cultural capital and social differentiation.
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Notes
- 1.
The approximate translation of Pousadas de Portugal is Inns of Portugal, but these are different categories and kinds of tourist accommodations in Portugal.
- 2.
Research grant from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BD/27556/2006).
- 3.
This data was collected from the former management’s internal archives. Data subsequent to 2003 is not available because it is considered sensitive information by the current private management.
- 4.
Data referring to the 160 guests includes results collected from questionnaire, interviews and informal conversations that took place in the four Pousadas during anthropological fieldwork.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) for its support in the form of a postdoctoral research fellowship (SFRH/BPD/75978/2011) and all the informants that contributed to this study.
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Prista, M.L. (2013). Mediating Rurality, History and Exclusivity in Pousadas de Portugal . In: Silva, L., Figueiredo, E. (eds) Shaping Rural Areas in Europe. GeoJournal Library, vol 107. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6796-6_8
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