Seeds, blossoms and in bloom : explorations of identity and plurality of meanings in the growth of cultural tourism and the Aboriginal Heritage Gardens

Abstract

This thesis explores, through authorial voices, contents and meanings of an Aboriginal tourism initiative in Eel River Bar First Nation, New Brunswick. Such meanings are constructed and are intimately linked with endogenous cultural tourism development. Built on a syncretic approach that views notions of identity, self and culture as creative composites, this thesis moves beyond dualisms and dichotomizations that emphasize either oppositional or essential conceptions of identity. By investigating what the Aboriginal Heritage Gardens mean to the community of Eel River Bar First Nation, this thesis shows that our identity is informed by both core and relational elements and the meanings attached to the Gardens are multiple and varied. Symbols and signs, both past and present, indigenous or invented, are treated as important resources to exploring identity and the self. An exploration of these subjective meanings through a socio-economic development initiative is one way of establishing how the process of cultural construction and revitalization is taking place.