Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Ethnographic Study of Memory Entrepreneurship and Community

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The research supported by this award investigates how communities navigate the heritage travel industry. Non-business travel contributed $7.6 trillion dollars to the global economy and $500 billion dollars to the United States economy in 2016. However, for some communities, heritage travel can be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it promises needed economic support and cultural preservation. Yet, these economic opportunities may require sometimes demeaning commodification and standardization of local identities. Understanding why people participate in heritage travel and the strategies they use to channel its opportunities productively, will inform programs and policies to represent more justly the diverse economic, social, and cultural interests of local communities in the United States. Findings from the research will also help social scientists better understand the effects of heritage entrepreneurship and the future of American cultural diversity. The research will be undertaken by Indiana University doctoral student Douglas D. Peach, with the support and oversight of Dr. Daniel B. Reed. The research will be conducted in coastal South Carolina, where non-business travel is the region's largest employer. The researcher will focus on Gullah Geechees, a community of African Americans with a unique culture and language, and will use music and its performance as the primary lens of investigation. To understand the relationship between Gullah Geechees and the emergent heritage travel industry, the Co-PI will focus on the following questions: What are the performative strategies (such as, branding, aesthetics, historical narratives) used by Gullah Geechees for identification in heritage entrepreneurship? What factors shape how Gullah Geechees participate in initiatives surrounding their cultural heritage? The research will also investigate how African-American travelers and visitors from Africa, as well as national, state, and local political authorities influence the contexts of heritage travel in which Gullah Geechees participate. The research uses three methods for gathering data: participant observation, interviews, and the collection and analysis of media. This ethnographically informed study will explain how a minority community manages their heritage, amidst shifting discourses and culturally appropriate means, for social, economic, and political mobility. The research will contribute to theories of cultural diversity as a deliberately constructed rather than a static or given feature of contemporary societies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.