Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
This article was downloaded by: [University of Newcastle (Australia)]On: 29 August 2014, At: 11:05Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Current Issues in TourismPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcit20
Capital cities as open-air museums: alook at Québec City and TunisHabib Saidi a ba Department of History , Laval University , Local 5322, DKN,Sainte-Foy, Quebec, G1K7P4, Canadab Department of History , CELAT , Local 5322, DKN, Sainte-Foy,CanadaPublished online: 18 Nov 2011.
To cite this article: Habib Saidi (2012) Capital cities as open-air museums: a look at Québec Cityand Tunis, Current Issues in Tourism, 15:1-2, 75-88, DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2011.634896
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2011.634896
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever orhowsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arisingout of the use of the Content.
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
Capital cities as open-air museums: a look at Quebec City and Tunis
Habib Saidia,b∗
aDepartment of History, Laval University, Local 5322, DKN, Sainte-Foy, Quebec, G1K7P4Canada; bDepartment of History, CELAT, Local 5322, DKN, Sainte-Foy, Canada
(Received 15 October 2010; final version received 20 July 2011)
This paper presents the results of a comparative study of the national capitals of Quebecand Tunisia, Quebec City and Tunis, respectively, both of them being recognised WorldHeritage Cities and internationally renowned tourist destinations. For the purposes ofthis paper, our analysis deals specifically with heritagisation and touristificationpolicies in these two cities, especially with policies that lead to their museumificationthrough the promotion of practices and aesthetic values that transform them intoopen-air museums. These practices and values include outdoor exhibits, walkingtours and historical circuits, day- and night-time festivals, and celebrations, with anemphasis put on ‘the old town’ in the creation of national and historical frames ofreference for those activities. We draw on this perspective to examine the identity-and nationalism-based discourse that underlies such practices, together with theirresulting representations. This leads us to conclude that in a context of globalisationand interactions alternating between local and global realities, national capitals makesignificant use of their tourist clienteles to assert their particular identity and sodemonstrate to their own community, and to others outside, the role they play as‘symbolic capital’ assets.
Keywords: tourism; globalisation; capitalness; heritage; Quebec City; Tunis
Introduction
The idea that each and every city in the world is trying to distinguish itself as a populartourist destination has almost become a truism. Following the example of authors whohave studied the realities and perspectives of the ‘urban condition’ (Mongin, 2005) inthis era of international tourism and globalisation (Duhamel & Knafou, 2007; Giovanni& Serreli, 2009, Maitland & Newman, 2009; Meethan, 1996; Smith, 2005), we proposetwo main characteristics that distinguish those cities ranking among the highest in theworld in terms of economic development and international reputation as major destinations.The first is their ability to attract tourists, whether they are geographically close or far away.The second is the way in which they highlight those aspects of their heritage that are likely,on the one hand, to act as distinguishing tourism markers that set them apart at the inter-national level and, on the other hand, act as sources of pride that provide the means of inte-gration and cohesion in local communities (Chang, 1999; Chang, Milne, Fallon, &Pohlmann, 1996; Pretes, 2003; Russo, 2002; Saidi, 2006, 2008).
ISSN 1368-3500 print/ISSN 1747-7603 online
# 2012 Taylor & Francishttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2011.634896
http://www.tandfonline.com
∗Email: [email protected]
Current Issues in TourismVol. 15, Nos. 1–2, January–March 2012, 75–88
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
In this parade of cities showing off their wares to their own and other cities’ citizens,capital cities must put in even more effort to remain different and maintain a certain sym-bolic primacy. This battle for distinction is fought on two fronts: a local front, where theymust perpetually differentiate themselves from other cities in the same regional or nationalmarket, and an international front, where they must play the role of a star city or, at least, beknown and acknowledged as one of the more attractive destinations in the world.
What makes this battle all the more intense and risky is that the title of ‘capital’ cannotbe taken for granted. Rather, it is an acknowledgement and even a privilege that is neverirreversible and, indeed, can be lost by being awarded to a competitor (Schatz, 2004).The furious competition fought by capital cities to distinguish themselves, and therebyattract more tourists, cannot be limited to a simple obsession for differentiation. Forthese cities, it is a question of symbolic life or death.
This paper will thus focus on the resistance and seduction strategies of capital citiesthrough the study of two cases, namely Quebec City and Tunis. We are referring mostnotably to strategies concerning the heritagisation and touristification processes that aretransforming each of these two cities into open-air museums. These practices take theform of urban shows, night- and daytime festivities, pedestrian circuits, and the centralplace attributed to the ‘old’ city in the historicisation and nationalisation of such activities.Emphasis is laid on the identity-based and nationalist discourse that underlies these prac-tices and on the resultant representations, particularly those that concern the image of thecapital in the eyes of its inhabitants.
We will accordingly concentrate on three aspects of the triad formed by tourism, globa-lisation, and capital cities. The first aspect concerns the integration of tourism in the pro-duction of identity-based images. In particular, this means that the enhancement ofhistorical centres and the objectification of a capital city’s past embrace a national time per-spective that is perpetuated in the present and projected into the future. The second aspectinvolves interpreting heritage, not only in terms of objects and monuments to be contem-plated but also in the form of performances and activities that tourists and local populationstake part in. The third concerns ‘capitalness’ as a symbolic value that makes a capital citymore attractive to national and international tourists because its local specificity resists andeven survives in the face of global homogeneity.
From head city to network city
A capital’s status as the head city1 placed above the other cities in a given national orregional territory ensues from a hierarchical urban order that is delimited by national fron-tiers and regulated by a national, sovereign state (Friedmann, 1986, 1995; Friedmann &Wolff, 1982, Sassen, 1991). This ordering contributes to an organic interrelated configur-ation of the urban centres, peripheries, and counties located in a national territory. It like-wise contributes to a hierarchical representation of cities at a global scale in that theyare, in one way or another, ranked according to their political, military, economic, or demo-graphic importance.
This ordering, which is generalised at the world scale under the title of national capitals,is no longer appropriate in this era of globalisation. Globalisation has led us to a new worldorder marked by the creation of an interconnected, de-hierarchical structure in which cities,neighbouring and distant, use new means of communication to establish networks that areintrinsically reconfigured as situations evolve (Castells, 1996; Sassen, 1991; Storper, 1997).The way in which the urban space is represented, practised, and experienced has alsoevolved. The urban space has become ‘ageographic’ (Sorkin, 1992) and formless and
76 H. Saidi
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
has given rise to cities of different sizes and profiles, ‘where flow takes precedence overplace’ (Castells, 1999; Mongin, 2005, 2009; Sassen, 2000). Capitals have consequentlybecome one element among many in a new globalised, networked, urban landscape. Thede-hierarchicised organisation and representation of this landscape call into question thecapital city’s primacy, supremacy, and centrality. Supranational organisations such asthe UN and UNESCO are playing an increasingly important role in diversifying and com-plexifying ‘capitalness’ by awarding newly conceived titles such as cultural, tourism, orsport capital to cities that were in no way capitals beforehand.
Even though these new titles have not completely brushed aside the distinction of the‘old’ capital, they have nonetheless altered the meaning of the word ‘capital,’ such that itno longer exclusively applies to politics and administration. What is more, they havepushed the idea of competition and rivalry between cities to an extreme, whether this beintra- or internationally. The competition between cities is no longer a simple issue of pol-itical and historical pre-eminence, but rather one of vitality, influence, and attractiveness.Sexy star cities (Canclini, 2005) have joined the race for differentiation that pushes themall to define themselves as premier destinations and centres of attraction.
Tourism as the mega-globalising motor par excellence (Teo & Li, 2003) has played adetermining role in the establishment of a city star system at the world scale. In doingso, it has strongly contributed to the ever-increasing uniformity of the global urban land-scape (Beaverstock, Smith, & Taylor, 2000). At the same time, however, it is pushingthe same cities to differentiate themselves from each other by highlighting their respectiveparticularities, in particular, those referring to their heritage and local cultures.
It can consequently be said that capital cities draw a certain benefit from tourism, in par-ticular, cultural and heritage tourism. This is particularly true of those capitals that havebeen acknowledged as historic heritage sites, as is the case with Quebec City and Tunis.Tourism allows such capitals to shine in two different ways: first, as cities whose capitalnesscan itself attract tourists, since it is often represented in the form of monuments and symbolsthat focalise the aura of power invested in the men and institutions that govern (Pearce,2007; Smith, 2007) and, second, as a place where the collective memory is incarnatedand periodically revitalised through commemorative and ceremonial activities that cele-brate the birth and unity of the nation under the watchful eye of national and internationaltourists. In such cases, capitalness goes above and beyond monumental structures, givingrise to experiences shared by local and foreign tourists alike. As will be shown furtheron, these participatory and experiential aspects of heritage tourism predispose capitals tostand out as cities where the local meets the global at the junction of the tourism andnational imaginaries.
Methodological elements
This study is part of a three-year field research concentrating on Quebec City and Tunis ascapitals, World Heritage Sites, and tourist destinations. The methodology involved obser-vations during visits to the studied sites, an examination of the websites of both cities’tourism offices, and semistructured interviews with their managers. The data analysedhere were for the most part the fruit of both direct and participant observations. Their eth-nographical description took the form of a textualisation of this field work. We accordinglytried to describe how the two capitals were expressed and represented in the studied activi-ties. In other words, we tried to explain how the fact of being a capital is inscribed not as astate but rather as a process in a spatial and temporal context (Laplantine, 1996) unique toeach city.
Current Issues in Tourism 77
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
We hence opted for a qualitative analysis. This approach was more appropriate for thisstudy in so much as it allowed us to better understand and articulate ‘blurred genres’(Denzin & Lincoln, 2005) as they came up in our work. By this we understand the numer-ous subjects encountered and diverse data gathered, this being all the more true given thatour study was conducted in two cities that were quite far apart and that had two distinctlydifferent contexts. Our approach consequently drew inspiration from multisite ethnographyfor our field study and data processing. As explained by Marcus (1995, 2002), this approachmakes it easier to move from one site to another. This is particularly true when the subject tobe studied is likely to be dominant at the world level, even though its form differs from oneregion to another, as is the case here with both tourism and globalisation. In this sense, mul-tisite ethnography allows researchers to act somewhat like ‘smugglers’ (Clifford, 2003)who cross the borders separating regions and disciplines by employing various approaches,research methods, and levels of interaction, asking different questions, and trying to pindown shifting subjects.
This flexible and mobile approach leads ethnographers to literally and conceptuallyfollow people, objects, tales, metaphors, and the like through time and space. The specificgoal of this study was to understand the capitalness of Quebec City and Tunis as adistinguishing aspect of these cities that pushes them to be more competitive touristvdestinations in a globalisation context. In other words, we attempted to determine theimplications of this aspect, its implicit and explicit articulation, its expression and metamor-phosis in cultural and tourism activities, its evolution in time and space, and the represen-tations and demands of national identity that it encompasses.
Nonetheless, one can only go so far in understanding such a subject from this perspec-tive. Making the capital city the field of study was certainly not enough to fully grasp thesecapitals as a research subject. In both cases, the cities’ capitalness remained an intangiblevalue that was difficult to examine, circumscribe, and describe, particularly when studyingit as a tourist attraction.
Tunis and Quebec City: issues and challenges of national capitals
Quebec City and Tunis naturally have different historical and cultural contexts. Therelationship with their history and memory reveals several similarities however: reconcilingthe present with the past is still a debated topic in both cities. In the case of Quebec City,heritage policies often tend to cultivate the art of ‘getting along’ and the peaceful coexis-tence of the French, British, American, and indigenous legacies. In the case of Tunis,similar policies are generally applied to the Punic, Roman, Islamic, and Franco-Europeanheritage. Furthermore, both these cities are French speaking, bear the title ‘World HeritageSite’, and have given their names to the states that they govern.
They thus constitute two telling examples which can be compared in terms of the glo-balisation challenges – accentuated by tourism issues – that they must meet.
The historical, cultural, and geopolitical elements that underlie these challenges andexplain each city’s particular policies and strategies, most notably in matters of tourismand heritage, are described in the following paragraphs.
Let us begin with the more ancient of the two, Tunis, whose origins reach back to thefourth century B.C. (Sebag, 1998). Located on a gulf of the same name, Tunis was succes-sively conquered by the Berbers, Phoenicians, Romans, and Arabs (Decret & Fantar, 1981).The latter built the Old City – which is now known as the Medina (city in Arabic) – in 698of the present era. Despite its age, the city only became the capital in the thirteenth centuryduring the reign of the Hafsids. It was the Hafsids who, for the first time in the history of the
78 H. Saidi
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
country, dared to take away the central power from Kairouan, the holiest Islamic city in theMaghreb, a power that it had held since its foundation in 670 A.D. Conquered and invadedin the last five centuries by the Spanish, Turks, and French, Tunis has nonetheless suc-ceeded in keeping its regal title (Abdelkafi, 1989).
Nonetheless, the battle to keep this privilege is far from over. The city that has given itsname to the country2 and to the metropolitan area of Greater Tunis, which now has morethan three million inhabitants, must meet two main challenges. The first, which is historicalin nature, is linked to political issues. The city of Tunis, which is the ancient city known asthe Medina, is situated just a few short kilometres from that of Carthage, which administra-tively constitutes one of its suburbs. The latter, however, may soon offend the formerby taking away its title of capital: first, because Carthage was once the capital of theCarthaginian Empire, which was the rival of the Roman Empire, and is now the verysymbol of Tunisian nationalism (Fantar, 1993, 1995) and, second, because it has beenhome, since the country’s independence in 1956, to the presidential palace, where boththe current and two preceding presidents have lived and governed.
Consequently, Tunis, where both the national government and city hall are located,suffers from a lack of interest on the part of local media, which for the most part belongto the State. Concentrating primarily on the activities of the Republic’s President, themedia put Carthage in the spotlight by citing and showing it to Tunisians every day(Saidi, 2008). It is likewise worth noting that while both cities are on the World HeritageList, this recognition by UNESCO is much more to the advantage of Carthage, whichalready holds a considerable place in the imagination of international tourists.
The second challenge that Tunis faces ensues directly from tourism and calls into ques-tion the Tunisian capital’s position as a travel destination. Tunis is far from being a primechoice in a country that has invested so heavily in the development of seaside resorts in thelast 50 years (Jedidi, 1986; Poirier, 1995).
Even though it is located close to the coast and has several beaches where Tunisians andforeigners go in the summer, the State did little for the capital when it launched its tourismpolicy in the 1960s. The State concentrated rather on other coastal cities such as Hammametand Sousse, which have become, over the years, very popular in the eyes of the local andforeign tourists.
Some 50 years later, these two seaside resorts are now casting a shadow over Tunis atboth the economic and political levels. Ben Ali, the former Tunisian President,3 like severalmembers of his government, kept his secondary residence in the city of Hammamet, whichthe media have baptised as the country’s tourism capital. By staying there, particularly inthe summer, the Chief of State made it an emerging political power. Sousse has almostcaught up with Tunis as well. Like Hammamet, the media have proclaimed this city asthe capital and jewel of the Tunisian Sahel, the region where the main leaders of theparty in power, including the President of the Republic, came from. Moreover, it is becom-ing the country’s main port of entry. Indeed, the country’s largest airport will soon be inSousse, exactly in Ennfidha. The Tunis–Carthage airport, located in proximity to Tunis,will drop to a lower status, as will Greater Tunis for which it acts as a showcase.
The status of Quebec City as a capital is no less controversial than that of Tunis.Founded in 1608, this Canadian city recently celebrated its 400th anniversary. It firstbecame the capital of New France before being proclaimed the capital of Canada in1763 when New France became part of the British Empire. It was superseded as the coun-try’s capital by Ottawa in 1865 at the creation of the Canadian Confederation, but kept itstitle as the capital of the Province of Quebec. Moreover, the historical events that underlieQuebec City’s status as the capital city of a province rather than of a sovereign state are
Current Issues in Tourism 79
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
more than somewhat related to it having been declared a ‘national’ capital (Bernier, 2007;Blais, 2008; Lachance, 2010).
The city’s uncertain status is but one aspect of the identity-based tensions, demands, andcontroversy that arise from the divergent interpretations surrounding the question of thenation in Quebec and Quebec’s situation within Canada. As such, the title ‘nationalcapital’4 does not have the same meaning for all Canadians and not even for all Quebecers.For the latter, particularly the sovereignists who are struggling for an independent Quebec,calling Quebec City a ‘national capital’ is a way of foretelling the independence of Quebec.In other words, it is a question of claiming independence by presenting the term as a found-ing title of the Quebec nation, which has only recently been recognised as such by Canada.5
This title is largely employed in the city and across the province as an incessant, sub-liminal call to sovereignty. It comes in different forms: publicity slogans, tourism labels,transportation and insurance company names, etc. It is a symbolically rich word used in pol-itical discourse. It is moreover to this end that the Government of Quebec created the Com-mission de la capitale nationale in 1995, a public institution whose primary mission is topromote the capital ‘as the centre of Quebec’s political and administrative power and as thenational symbol that brings all of its citizens together’.6
The city must also deal with other complex paradoxes such as the management of itscultural heritage. For example, several of the historical sites and monuments in QuebecCity fall within Canadian national heritage jurisdiction and are, therefore, managed byfederal organisations such as Parks Canada, the National Battlefield Commission, andthe Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.
Several of these sites and monuments supervised entirely or partially by these organis-ations are worthy of mention, namely the Citadel, a historical fortress built by the Englishand the residence of the Governor General of Canada, the British Queen’s representative inthe country; the Plains of Abraham, where perhaps the most memorable North Americanbattle between the French and English took place; and a part of the Parliament ofQuebec and another in Old Quebec, which is the city’s pride and joy and which receivedthe title of World Heritage Site in 1985 (Evans, 2002; Turgeon, 2009).
These historic and political considerations, which have left one capital (Quebec City)partially under the control of another (Ottawa), are complicated by yet another major chal-lenge. We are referring here to the intense competition between Quebec City and Montreal,a much larger urban centre regarded as the economic capital of the province. The metropolisattracts a much greater number of immigrants and tourists than Quebec City does. This isdue in large part to its two international airports, which are among the main ports of entry inCanada, its strategic geographical position as a central point between Quebec City, Ottawa,and Toronto, and its status as the most bilingual of the Canadian cities.
Visiting the capital: returning to one’s roots on a guided tour
In their efforts to meet the above-mentioned challenges, Tunis and Quebec City have devel-oped, each in keeping with its own context, urban, economic, and cultural policies whichaim to ensure its permanent status as first city. The fact that both cities are open to inter-national tourism and inscribed on the World Heritage List has led them, particularly inthe last two decades, to use heritage as a focal point for the policies (Apostolakis, 2003).In both cases, these choices do not simply echo the growing planet-wide interest in heritage.They also stem from a particular tendency to juxtapose their growing openness to the worldand other people – brought about in part by tourism and globalisation – with their continu-ing efforts to revive and strengthen the nation’s memory by heritagising and idealising their
80 H. Saidi
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
historical figures, objects, and places. What is now called heritage tourism engages capitalssquarely in a double process of heritagisation and touristification. This is all the more truegiven that globalisation is pushing capitals, as cities that constitute and represent the collec-tive identity, to stand out not only as city objects that are passively admired by others butalso as city subjects that actively seduce their residents and visitors. A city subject, as notedby Mongin (2005), invites its own and other citizens to come and explore it with all theirsenses, thereby turning it into a collective body.
Seen in this light, these processes have given birth to heritage practices (Smith, 2006)and commemorative activities that are intended for both national and international tourists.These activities most often take place in or around historical centres; their staging andinterpretation incorporate segments and images from the past (Bagnall, 2003). Theyinvite the public to travel to and experience an authentic temporal and spatial elsewhere(Saidi, 2010; Steiner & Reisinger, 2006; Wang, 1999) while having the triple pleasure ofseeing, touching, and walking in the very heart of history (Montpetit, 2005). In doing so,they transform the city into an open-air museum.
The Old City as a place of memory
Let us examine some of the aforementioned practices and activities, beginning with QuebecCity. Since 2008, the city has been host to a large number of historic and artistic pro-grammes and shows celebrating its 400th anniversary. Three free street shows havebecome quite popular. The first is the gigantic multimedia show The Image Mill, directedby Robert Lepage. The immense outdoor screen for the show is thought to be thebiggest of its kind in the world being 30 m high and 600 m long. The 50-minute screeningtells the history of Quebec by recounting the genealogy of the Old Capital. The show hasbeen so successful that it will be presented for six consecutive years, from 2008 till 2013. Itis shown outdoors all summer long on the waterfront silos of a grain-processing company.The site is somewhat off on its own and far from being a tourist attraction, even though it isclose to Quebec City’s Old Port and the historic neighbourhoods.
Holding this show at this site and on a screen of this size has turned the surroundingspace into the terraces of a natural amphitheatre where thousands of spectators7 come towatch. These terraces comprise the quays in the Old Port, the small pedestrian bridgesover the river, the small parks beside the marina, the sidewalk cafes and restaurants, the bal-conies and roof decks of neighbouring homes and hotels, those of the upper town, etc.
The second show was produced by the Cirque du Soleil under the title Chemins invisi-bles (invisible paths). It is performed in the evenings in the Saint-Roch neighbourhood,which is likewise in the vicinity of the Old City. It is presented in a series of sceneswhere dance, acrobatics, singing, and theatre mix. At the beginning of the show, thepublic is invited to stroll through the city streets in one of four groups, each one followinga ‘tribe’ of artists along a path marked in chalk on the sidewalks. The four paths converge atthe meeting point located under the overpasses that mark the end of the expressways leadinginto the Old City.
In the same vein, the contemporary dance company Le fils d’Adrien created a walking,participatory show choreographed by Harold Rheaume, under the title Le fil de l’histoire(the thread of history).8 Inspired by the ancient Corpus Christi processions, the show isled by 14 dancers carrying a sizable red cable (the thread in question) that they hold outto the spectators so that the latter can hold on and follow in single file. The show thustakes the form of a collective march, stopping in front of monuments and heritage sitessuch as the Old Seminary, the walls of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Place Royale, and
Current Issues in Tourism 81
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
the Museum of Civilization. At each stop, the dancers detach themselves from the thread toperform a dance inspired by the site or to incarnate social figures who have marked thehistory of Quebec City, such as priests, soldiers, workers, and nurses.
These three creations share, to various degrees, a participatory approach. The approachis twofold in that it makes the city both the stage and the story (Gibson, 2005) and treats thepublic as ‘spect-actors’ (Saidi, 2006) who both watch and participate in the show. The factthat this approach hinges on heritage sites and objects, in particular, those within and aroundOld Quebec, gives a tangible historical depth to the stories that each one of these showstells. The approach adopted in these creations draws on the memory of these sites toconfer a clear symbolic meaning to the public’s active participation. The meaning is accen-tuated even more by the desire of visitors – this being especially true for Quebec spectatorswho represent the majority of the public – to undertake a tour that is firmly anchored inhistorical soil, more specifically in the form of a return to the Old Capital, the cradle ofthe nation.9
The reconfiguration of the urban space in The Image Mill is accomplished by using thepublic heritage sites to strike a personal chord in Quebec spect-actors and thereby create analmost physical union between them and their national capital. They often go to the show infamily groups, filling up almost all of the considerable space available to the public. Theycome with their folding chairs, gather around picnic tables, sit on the ground, or set up shopon their own balconies. They relax during the show, exchanging comments with oneanother, teasing the children, petting the dog, sipping on drinks, snacking, and so on andso forth.
In doing so, they give the impression that they are revisiting the capital as if it werethe family’s ancestral home where they have all come together (Nelles, 2003) – alongwith their guests, the tourists – to watch their collective history projected onto a giantscreen. The house metaphor is all the more evocative in the present context in that itallows us to compare Quebec City’s Lower Town10 to the basement of a Quebechouse where people store and accumulate personal objects and mementos over thedecades.
The exploration of the collective substratum that occurs in the above-mentioned eventsor during the Quebec City Carnival or New France Festivities encourages Quebecers toconduct a self-excavation (Nandy, 2001, p. 34). In other words, these activities takethem on a cohesive, collective voyage into the corners and rooms of their past, as is wellillustrated by the public marches of the two shows Le fil de l’histoire and Les cheminsinvisibles.
These activities and others like them11 are heritagefying and touristifying the city in anew way which is based on a growing tendency among public and private sectors, includingartists, to transform every corner, object, and vestige into a specific place worthy of beingvisited and celebrated as a heritage element. This tendency is merging with another in whichlocal and foreign tourists come to visit heritage cities such as Quebec City and Tunis to takepart in existential and performance experiences that combine the physical effort spent invisiting the cities with the emotional states engendered by the direct contact with theobjects and environment.
These two tendencies are leading to heritagisation and touristification of the whole cityand an expansion of its historical centre. In addition to representing a ‘summary of commonreferences’ (Benhamou, 2010) for the elite and political authorities, the historical centre actsas a focal point for the other sectors of the city by serving as a departure, arrival, and refer-ence point for most of the city circuits. The Old City helps to connect the other nearby
82 H. Saidi
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
historical, artistic, and commercial points of interest, which can be compared to an archipe-lago of sidewalk exhibits.
Monuments, statues of famous people, facades of historical buildings, parks, publicsquares, trendy hotels and restaurants, and outdoor exhibits expand these circuits beyondthe historical centre. They encourage tourists to examine other qualities of a city whichare presented with well-known museographical techniques: signs, lights, interactivestations, and sidewalk pictograms. For example, let us cite the example of the VivaCiteTrail that resulted from a collaboration between shop owners, business people, the Cityof Quebec, and its tourism office. Taking its cue from the Boston Freedom Trail, thecircuit was marked out with green and blue circles on the sidewalks for walkers tofollow. VivaCite combines less well-known points of interest located in the residentialand commercial areas outside the Old City, such as the Saint-Roch and Saint-Jean Baptisteneighbourhoods, with other major attractions such as Place Royale, Parliament Hill, andGrande Allee. There are likewise small museums dedicated to chocolate and furs alongthe trail and bigger, busier museums such as the Musee de la civilisation and its variousbranches.
The Old City as a convivial place
Encouraging tourists to leave behind the beaten paths of the Old City while keeping it as afocal point of the city’s network of tourism circuits has also been characteristic of the heri-tage landscape of Tunis over the last few years. Nonetheless, the main circuit that is mostfrequented by tourists is still Zitouna12 Street, which is the central route through theMedina. It is a narrow street – though wider than the other alleys of the Old City – thatpasses through souks, contains the main craft bazaars, and unites the Casbah and theGate of France, which are, respectively, located at the northern and southern poles of theMedina.
The heavy concentration of tourists in this sector has relegated all the other sectors ofthe historical centre, and even those of Greater Tunis, to ‘shadow zones,’13 with the excep-tion of Carthage, Sidi Bousaid, the Bardo Museum, and the chic neighbourhoods of ElMenzah, Ennasr, and the Berges du Lac. For a long time, this situation resulted in arather degrading image of the Medina, one of an archaic city in ruins, deserted by itsown inhabitants, massively invaded by rural migrants, and reduced, as a destination, to asimple passage taken by tourists in search of superficial kitsch objects and orientalstereotypes.
This picture of the Old City, which expressed a rather crude reality, has undergone somemajor changes since the new rulers came into power in 1987. The government at the timebased its cultural policies on a political discourse of ‘a return to the society’s roots by recon-ciling its modernity with its heritage’. The goal was to distinguish itself from the previousBourguiba government, which was accused – particularly by the fundamentalists – ofhaving uprooted the country from its culture and origins through its modernisation policiesand openness to the West.
This political discourse on Tunisia’s heritage and roots has generated a growing interestin the Medina, particularly among the Tunisian elite.14 The well-to-do classes have pro-gressively returned to the Medina. This was the case, for example, with the young house-holds that had descended from the beldi15 families, who returned to the houses deserted bytheir parents and grandparents long ago, whether this be to reside there or to transform thehouses into restaurants and guest houses. This was also the case with businessmen who con-verted ageing palaces into art galleries, key salons, and small upscale hotels.
Current Issues in Tourism 83
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
These transformations were supported by other urban renewal projects conducted by theCity of Tunis and the ASM (ASM, Association de sauvegarde de la Medina), a non-govern-mental organisation bringing together architects and urban planners who came, for the mostpart, from the city’s elite and its prominent families. The city has seen an increase in tourismin the last 10 years that has resulted in the creation of three new sightseeing circuits goingbeyond the main sector mentioned above and even outside of the historical, old centre.
The first circuit moves perpendicularly away from Zitouna Street towards the westsector of the Medina. The other two circuits cross the northern and southern zones of theMedina before heading to the working-class and poor neighbourhoods outside of the OldCity’s ramparts. Several sites and monuments are visited: traditional houses, mosques, mau-soleums, hammams (public bathhouses), palaces, art galleries, cultural clubs, restaurants,small upscale hotels, and so on.
The neighbourhoods these circuits wind their way through, in particular the first, havebeen given a facelift, including repair work to the facades of all the buildings the visitorsmight see, the burial of electric wires, and the museographical marking of the sidewalks.As in Quebec City, these circuits have been adjusted to favour a more direct and interactivecontact between the tourists and sites. These sites often have circuit signage and lightingthat serve, among other things, to highlight particular objects near the sidewalks, such astraditional doors and windows in the Medina.
It is worth noting that these circuits are less frequented by foreign tourists than by visi-tors from Tunis and Tunisia. The latter belong for the most part to the middle and upperclasses. They are university graduates, lawyers, doctors, businessmen, etc. whosecommon motivation is to rediscover the Medina through conference visits organised byspecialists of the Old City.16 The tours take the form of a collective revisiting of the tra-ditional family homes that have been renovated and converted into cafe restaurants orsmall hotels (Binous, 2001).
At the end of each visit, around noon every Saturday, these visitors carry on togethertowards one of the traditional restaurants in the square to share in a meal. The walkingtour continues in the form of culinary exploration, convivial conversations about thevirtues of life in the Medina, memories about wonderful restaurants and recipes, and meet-ings with long-lost friends. Like Old Quebec, the Medina of Tunis gives the elite who returnthere the chance to witness the rebirth of the houma arbi, the Arab quarter, the noisy andanarchic but also inviting, sociable, convivial, and supportive neighbourhood of theiryouth.
Conclusion
Though they might seem ordinary, the activities examined above are important in that theyallow us to go beyond the political, institutional, and monumental representations that areoften the object of study when investigating capitals. Quebec City and Tunis have tended toemploy these activities to remind people of their status as capitals. They have adopted aparticipatory rhetoric in which local and foreign tourists are invited to discover their capi-talness through performances that incorporate both spatial and temporal elements. Thevarious activities draw further support from all the festivities, commemorations, proces-sions, walks, and guided tours that, through pre-established routes and circuits, arelinked to the historical centre.
Acknowledged as the site that harbours the capital’s original foundations, therebyensuring its symbolic pre-eminence, the Old City historicises and nationalises these activi-ties by covering them with what could be called the prestige of its capitalness. A capital
84 H. Saidi
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
acquires this aura by virtue of its primacy, not only because it has been officially designatedas such by the powers that be, but also because the myth of its foundation is associated withand perhaps even central to that of the nation. In the case of the two cities portrayed here, theold centre represents a temporal fountain from which national time springs forth, symboli-cally expanding out over the capital and the nation-state (Porter, 2000). As we have seen,the influence of this spatial–temporal core extends outward over the other areas of the city.The city’s image is thus displayed and fostered over a widening circle, transforming the cityinto an open-air museum. By doing so, the city both literally and figuratively portrays itselfas a national capital, that is to say, the place that incarnates the nation’s unity, that actualisesits past, and that opens it up to the future.
Though this museum metaphor is applied here to both cities, this does not signifythat the two cities display their capitalness in the same way. Quebec City could be qua-lified as an ‘extroverted’ capital (Saidi & Sagnes, 2009) that explicitly and exuberantlydisplays its capital status. It states and emphasises its capitalness in the most ostentatiousfashion, from advertisements and road signs to large festivals and giant events. Tunis ismore introverted, leaning towards the unarticulated and inexpressible. Outside of the OldCity’s walls and monuments, Tunis’ status as capital goes virtually unspoken. It is pri-marily expressed in terms of small homecoming stories that the recently gentrified eliteof Tunis tell to create an idealised image of the past. In this image, the Medina isdepicted as the place where the identity and collective memory of all Tunisians aremost perfectly incarnated.
Despite the differences arising from the geopolitical context of each capital, QuebecCity and Tunis do nonetheless have certain similarities. There is, for example, theirintent to use their capitalness to attract tourists and to use tourism to reinforce and highlighttheir status as national capitals (Smith, 2010). This common trait can be seen in their effortsto nationalise the tourism imaginary by basing it on national symbols and to touristify thenational imaginary by putting it on display for local and foreign tourists (Kavoura, 2007;Palmer, 1999).
Let us conclude with the idea of the capital/tourism/globalisation triad discussed earlier.Even though a capital’s status as first city is never entirely guaranteed, the primacy of itsrole in displaying the nation’s symbols to attract tourists cannot be contested. Withoutgoing so far as to postulate that the capital is the place where the people’s nationalism isreassessed and crystallised through the prism of tourism (Pretes, 2003) and globalisation,we can nonetheless acknowledge that it is a unique place where the national imaginaryand the tourism imaginary meet, shape, and entice each other in an ongoing process. Atthe same time that globalisation has stripped the capital of its status as the throne ofpower and centre of authority, tourism has crowned it as the city that, among all thenation’s cities, best represents that nation’s identity and symbols.
AcknowledgementThe author thanks the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for its financialsupport in the completion of this study.
Notes1. The word capital derives from the Latin word caput, which designates the head and attests to
the hierarchical status of the capital and its organisational attachment to the body of the ruler(Raffestin, 1993).
2. Tunis is the name of both the city and country in Arabic and is pronounced ‘Toonis.’
Current Issues in Tourism 85
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
3. Deposed on 14 January 2011, in a popular revolution.4. The use of the term national capital in Quebec is based on one of the French meanings of the
word nation, namely that of a people rather than that of a country.5. It was only in 2006 that the Canadian federal government proposed a motion to the House of
Commons recognising Quebecers as a nation, under the condition that they remain in aunited Canada.
6. Section 14, An Act respecting the National capital commission, Government of Quebec, 1995.7. The number of spectators is estimated to be 3000 per night.8. The show was given for free during the day in the summers of 2008, 2009, and 2010.9. According to the statistics of the Quebec Ministry of Tourism, approximately 80% of tourists
who visited the capital in 2008 lived in the Province of Quebec (see Ministere du Tourismedu Quebec, 2010, p. 34).
10. The City of Quebec is divided into two large sections known as the Upper Towns and LowerTowns, with important symbolic sites and monuments of Quebec history found in both.
11. We are thinking particularly of costumed and ghostly visits conducted, respectively, by the com-panies Les Six-Associes (the six associates) and Les Visites fantomes (Ghost Tours of Quebec).
12. This is also the name of the Great Mosque, which was built in the Medina by the Arabs at thetime of the city’s foundation. The theological university that arose out of this mosque also goesby the same name. Zitouna is Arabic for olive tree, which is a sacred tree in the Quran.
13. This expression is employed in political discourse and media coverage to designate poor sectors,in particular, those outside of tourism zones.
14. The former Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba had tried to subject the Medina of Tunis to thesame kind of substantial modernisation project that he had conducted in his own native city,Monastir. It was intended to be a large boulevard that would cross the old city from north tosouth. This project provoked a torrent of criticism and strong opposition from the city’sleaders and intellectuals, including the members of the ssociation for the Protection of theMedina (ASM).
15. This Arabic expression literally means city dweller. In this case, it refers to the families of theTunis bourgeoisie that lived in the Medina before leaving it for the city’s richer suburbs.
16. These conference visits are primarily organised by a historian and a journalist. Each one organ-ises one visit per week lasting about four hours and bringing together some 20 visitors.
ReferencesAbdelkafi, J. (1989). La Medina de Tunis: espace historique. Paris: Presses du CNRS.Apostolakis, A. (2003). The convergence porcess in heritage tourism. Annals of Tourism Research,
30(4), 795–812.Bagnall, G. (2003). Performance and performativity in heritage sites. Museum and Societies, 1(2),
87–103.Beaverstock, J.V., Smith, R.G., & Taylor, P.J. (2000). World city network: a new metageography.
Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 90(1), 123–34.Benhamou, F. (2010). L’inscription au patrimoine mondial de l’humanite : la force d’un langage a
l’appui d’une promesse de developpement. Revue Tiers Monde, 202(2), 113–129.Bernier, S. (2007). Quebec: ville militaire, 1608–2008. Montreal: Art Global.Binous, J. (2001). Maisons de la Medina de Tunis. Tunis: Dar Achraf Editions.Blais, C. (2008). Quebec: quatre siecles d’une capitale. Quebec: ANQ.Canclini, N.G. (2005). Villes-spectacles et villes paranoıaques. Sociologie et societes, 37(1),
151–170.Castells, M. (1996). The rise of the network society. Oxford: Blackwell.Castells, M. (1999). The information age: Economy, society and culture (Vol. 1). Cambridge, MA:
Blackwell.Chang, T.C. (1999). Local uniqueness in the global village: Heritage tourism in Singapore. The
Professional Geographer, 51(1), 91–103.Chang, T.C., Milne, S., Fallon, D., & Pohlmann, C. (1996). Urban heritage tourism: The global-local
nexus. Annals of Tourism Research, 23(2), 284–305.Clifford, J. (2003). On the edges of anthropology. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.Decret, F., & Fantar, M. (1981). L’Afrique du Nord dans l’antiquite : histoire et civilisation des ori-
gines au Veme siecle. Paris: Payot.
86 H. Saidi
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (2005). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. London: SagePublications.
Duhamel, P., & Knafou, R., dir. (2007). Mondes urbains du tourisme. Paris: Belin.Evans, G. (2002). Living in a world heritage city: Stakeholders in the dialectic of the universal and
particular. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 8(2), 117–135.Fantar, M. (1993). Carthage : approche d’une civilisation. Tunis: Alif-Editions.Fantar, M. (1995). Carthage: la cite punique. Tunis: Alif-Editions.Friedmann, J., & Wolff, G. (1982). World city formation: An agenda for research and action.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 6(3), 309–344.Friedmann, J. (1986). The world city hypothesis. Development and Change, 17(1), 69–83.Friedmann, J. (1995). Where we stand: A decade of world city research. In P.L. Knox & P.J. Taylor
(Eds.), World cities in a world system (pp. 21–47). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Gibson, T.A. (2005). La ville et le ‘spectacle’: commentaires sur l’utilisation du ‘Spectacle’ dans la
sociologie urbaine contemporaine. Sociologie et societes, 37(1), 171–195.Giovanni, M., & Serreli, S. (2009). Enhancing the city: New perspectives for tourism and leisure.
Dordrecht: Springer.Jedidi, M. (1986). Croissance economique et espace urbain dans le Sahel tunisien depuis
l’independance. Tunis: Publications de l’Universite de Tunis.Kavoura, A. (2007). Advertising of national identity and tourism bureaucracy. Current Issues in
Tourism, 10(5), 397–414.Lachance, A. (2010). Vivre a la ville en Nouvelle-France. Montreal: Libre expression.Laplantine, F. (1996). La description ethnographique. Paris: Nathan.Maitland, R., & Newman, P. (2009). World tourism cities: Developing tourism off the beaten track.
Oxon, UK: Routledge.Marcus, G. (1995). Ethnography in/of the world system: The emergence of multi-sited ethnography.
Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 95–117.Marcus, G. (2002). Au-dela de Malinowski et apres Writing Culture: a propos du futur de l’anthro-
pologie culturelle et du malaise de l’ethnographie, ethnographiques.org, Numero 1, Avril 2002.Retrieved from http://www.ethnographiques.org/2002/Marcus.html (consulte le 15 septembre2010).
Meethan, K. (1996). Consuming in the civilized city. Annals of Tourism Research, 23(2), 322–340.Ministere du Tourisme du Quebec (2010). Le tourisme en chiffres Edition 2010. Quebec: Bibliotheque
et Archives nationales du Quebec.Mongin, O. (2005). La condition urbaine: la ville a l’heure de la mondialisation. Paris: Seuil.Mongin, O. (2009, November). Face a l’affaiblissement des Villes-capitales : quel patrimoine pour Le
Caire, Paris et Bogota ? Communication presentee au colloque Capitales et patrimoine auXXIeme siecle, Quebec, Canada.
Montpetit, R. (2005). Expositions, parcs, sites: des lieux d’experiences patrimoniales. Cultures etMusees, 5, 111–128.
Nandy, A. (2001). The village and other odd ruins of the self in the Indian imagination. Oxford:Oxford University Press.
Nelles, H.V. (2003). L’histoire en spectacle : le cas du tricentenaire de Quebec. Quebec: Boreal.Palmer, C. (1999). Tourism and the symbols of identity. Tourism Management, 20(3), 313–321.Pearce, D.G. (2007). Capital city tourism. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 22(3), 7–20.Poirier, R. (1995). Tourism and development in Tunisia. Annals of Tourism Research, 22(1),
157–171.Porter, G. (2000). The city’s many uses: cultural tourism, the sacred monarchy and the preservation of
Fez’s Medina. Journal of North African Studies, 59(2), 59–88.Pretes, M. (2003). Tourism and nationalism. Annals of Tourism Research, 30(1), 125–142.Raffestin, C. (1993). Une capitale est-elle l’expression d’une semiosphere nationale ou le lieu de mise
en scene de pouvoir? In J. Taylor, J.G. Lengelle, & C. Andrew (Eds.), Les capitales: perspectivesinternationales (pp. 7–29). Ottawa: Carleton University Press.
Russo, A.P. (2002). The ‘vicious circle’ of tourism development in heritage cities. Annals of TourismResearch, 29(1), 165–182.
Saidi, H. (2006). Vadrouilleurs, dervishes and tourists: Going between frontstage and backstage inTunisia. The Journal of North African Studies, 11(4), 409–420.
Saidi, H. (2008). When the past poses beside the present: Aestheticising politics and nationalisingmodernity in a postcolonial time. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 6(2), 101–119.
Current Issues in Tourism 87
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
Saidi, H., & Sagnes, S. (2009, November). Introduction: Elements sur la capitale et le patrimoine,Communication presentee au colloque Capitales et patrimoine au XXIeme siecle, Quebec,Canada.
Saidi, H. (2010). Touristes Quebecois en Tunisie et patrimoine du soi authentique. Ethnologie fran-caise, XL(3), 469–476.
Sassen, S. (1991). The global city: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UniversityPress.
Sassen, S. (2000). Cities in a world economy (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.Schatz, E. (2004). What capital cities say about state and nation building. Nationalism and Ethnic
Politics, 9(4), 111–140.Sebag, P. (1998). Tunis: histoire d’une ville. Paris: L’Harmattan.Smith, A. (2005). Reimaging the city: The value of the sport initiatives. Annals of Tourism Research,
32(1), 217–236.Smith, A. (2007). Monumentality in ‘capital’ cities and its implications for tourism marketing: The
case of Barcelona. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 22(3/4), 79–93.Smith, A. (2010). The role of national identity and tourism in city planning: The case of Valletta.
Urban Research & Practice, 3(1), 63–84.Smith, L. (2006). The Uses of heritage. New York: Routledge.Sorkin, M. (1992). Variations on a theme park. New York: Noonday Press.Steiner, C.J., & Reisnger, Y. (2006). Understanding existential authenticity. Annals of Tourism
Research, 33(2), 299–318.Storper, M. (1997). The regional world. Territorial development in a global economy. New York: The
Guilford Press.Teo, P., & Li, L.H. (2003). Global and local interactions in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research,
30(2), 287–306.Turgeon, L. (2009, November). Quebec, capitale nationale et ville du patrimoine mondial,
Communication presentee au colloque Capitales et patrimoine au XXIeme siecle, Quebec,Canada.
Wang, N. (1999). Rethinking authenticity in tourism experience. Annals of Tourism Research, 26(2):349–370.
88 H. Saidi
Dow
nloa
ded
by [
Uni
vers
ity o
f N
ewca
stle
(A
ustr
alia
)] a
t 11:
05 2
9 A
ugus
t 201
4
