Rural places versus naturalized spaces. The logic of knowledge and acknowledgement in protected heritage areas

Abstract

New policies on nature heritage reorganize and redefine space by introducing new concepts, practices, managers and recipients. The imposition of a neoliberal conservation model generates tensions and resistance in local communities. This process involves appropriations, real and discursive, and reinventions on identity and territory. In this paper, we present the tensions derived from a statutory designation affecting a small town located in the region of Camp de Turia, Valencia (Spain). The town has swiftly gone from an economy based on traditional models for the exploitation of forest and agricultural resources, to a process of natural environment patrimonilization (The Sierra Calderona Nature Park, 2002) that has reshaped the territory. We believe the Natural Areas Protection Act clearly tends towards reductionism. The regulation defines new practices, with prescriptions and prohibitions, and implements a management model where the participation of affected population is more symbolic than real. In this sense, we want to analyse how new conservationist policies, based on the governing principles of the modern constitution, imply a hierarchic practice in which scientific-technical knowledge ‘legitimately’ displaces the local knowledge. This process involves physical, geographical or administrative changes as a means of transforming the usage and perception of the area.

Keywords

• Heritage
• Natural Areas
• Identity
• Appropriation
• Reinvention