Interpretation in National Parks

Some Critical Questions

Bibliographic Data

ID5846239
AuthorsRussell Staiff, Robyn Bushell, Peter Kennedy (0000-0003-2615-3892)
Year2002
Volume10
Issue2
Pages97-113
Publication date2002-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Sustainable Tourism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-9582 • E-ISSN: 1747-7646
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09669580208667156
OpenAlexW1970290988
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited11

This paper notes an increasing cultural diversity in visitation patterns to protected areas/national parks, and goes on to question a series of assumptions that underpin conservation education and approaches to interpretation in protected areas. It is concerned with content rather than interpretational techniques; it questions the central role of Western, science based ecological thinking in interpretation. The paper stems from research in Minnamurra Rainforest Centre in New South Wales, Australia, which was carried out in a context of multi-culturalism in a postcolonial society, where it is widely acknowledged that Indigenous Australian peoples have significant moral and legal claims regarding the custodianship of natural landscapes. A dialogue between the worlds of museology and protected areas interpretation is developed, which leads to five critical questions for interpretation praxis: Who are the owners/custodians of the areas? How are they and the areas represented? Who speaks for them? What is spoken and why? Who is listening to the messages? There is a description of how the Minnamurra Centre is reacting to the changing conceptual context of its work

Custodians · Indigenization · Praxis · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Environmental Philosophy and Ethics · Geographies of human-animal interactions