Ich habe lange überlegt, ob ich dieses Thema aufmachen soll, denn ich will keine Endlosdiskussion lostreten. Ich habe mich aber nun entschieden, meinen Text hier reinzusetzen, weil ich selbst sehr froh bin, dass ich diese Informationen erhalten habe und sie darum nicht vorenthalten will.
Sollte es aber zu einer Diskussion der "gewissen Art" kommen, werde ich mich dazu nicht äußern
Folgendes habe ich für eine andere Reiseseite geschrieben (Virtual Tourist) und kopiere es einfach, weil ich nicht so viel Zeit habe.
***
The Tourist Trap
At first I want to say that I absolutely did not create this tip in order to damage Tjapukai park or to tell people they should not go there. I have been there twice myself and quiet enjoyed it. I only want to make visitors a bit more aware of that sometimes not everything you see is what it looks like.
My tip is based on the studies "Tourists and Aboriginal people" by Ryan/Huyton and "Tourism impacts on an Australian indigenous community: a Djabugay case study" by Dyer/Aberdeen/Schuler. I read both studies for my university degree.
The studies are really huge and have a lot of content, that's why in this tip I will only concentrate on things that I consider to be really important for tourists.
In the first place, Tjapukai Cultural Park seems to be a perfect tourism venture: It says it is the only authorised representation of the Djabugay people, and that it is owned and run by them, thus giving a true authentic experience and having only advantages for them. Well, this is not 100% the case.
* Djabugay people own less than 50% of the park
* there is no cultural commitee or anything of Djabugay people that authorises what is shown there - it's true that there is no other representation of Djabugay people, but that is because it's forbidden by contract. So they are not allowed to open any other tourism attraction representing their culture.
* there are a lot of employees that are no Djabugay and there are no Djabugay people in management positions
* Djabugay community has not much profit from the park as most money gets to the non-Djabugay managers
* Djabugay people have only a little voting power
* the cultural displays are changed according to what the tourists want. Thus, the managers changed the dances so now they are not what the elders were told by their elders. There are a lot of shortcuts taken. So the question is: Is it really showing Djabugay culture?
* They play the didgeridoo in the park although this has never been played by Djabugay traditonally - again, how does this fit to "we show the culture of our ancestors"?
* Djabugay employees themselves say they believe what they show is inauthentic
* the art sold in the shop is mainly not created by Djabugay people, but imported from other parts of Australia
As said above, I don't want to prevent anybody from visiting the park. I just want people to bear in mind that what you see there is a show, and it does not show contemporary Indigenous life world or experience.
I also think that if you already know a lot about Aboriginal culture and history, you will learn nothing new as what you learn there is not much. Still, if you don't know so much already, it is worth a visit, as the the Creation theatre and the History theatre are very good.
If you have to go to the tourist trap, at least do this...
Bear in mind it is a show and not what it pretends to be. Consider it as entertainment rather than a reliable source for information.
The Alternative:
Do a trip to Cooya Beach with the Walker brothers
Sollte es aber zu einer Diskussion der "gewissen Art" kommen, werde ich mich dazu nicht äußern
Folgendes habe ich für eine andere Reiseseite geschrieben (Virtual Tourist) und kopiere es einfach, weil ich nicht so viel Zeit habe.
***
The Tourist Trap
At first I want to say that I absolutely did not create this tip in order to damage Tjapukai park or to tell people they should not go there. I have been there twice myself and quiet enjoyed it. I only want to make visitors a bit more aware of that sometimes not everything you see is what it looks like.
My tip is based on the studies "Tourists and Aboriginal people" by Ryan/Huyton and "Tourism impacts on an Australian indigenous community: a Djabugay case study" by Dyer/Aberdeen/Schuler. I read both studies for my university degree.
The studies are really huge and have a lot of content, that's why in this tip I will only concentrate on things that I consider to be really important for tourists.
In the first place, Tjapukai Cultural Park seems to be a perfect tourism venture: It says it is the only authorised representation of the Djabugay people, and that it is owned and run by them, thus giving a true authentic experience and having only advantages for them. Well, this is not 100% the case.
* Djabugay people own less than 50% of the park
* there is no cultural commitee or anything of Djabugay people that authorises what is shown there - it's true that there is no other representation of Djabugay people, but that is because it's forbidden by contract. So they are not allowed to open any other tourism attraction representing their culture.
* there are a lot of employees that are no Djabugay and there are no Djabugay people in management positions
* Djabugay community has not much profit from the park as most money gets to the non-Djabugay managers
* Djabugay people have only a little voting power
* the cultural displays are changed according to what the tourists want. Thus, the managers changed the dances so now they are not what the elders were told by their elders. There are a lot of shortcuts taken. So the question is: Is it really showing Djabugay culture?
* They play the didgeridoo in the park although this has never been played by Djabugay traditonally - again, how does this fit to "we show the culture of our ancestors"?
* Djabugay employees themselves say they believe what they show is inauthentic
* the art sold in the shop is mainly not created by Djabugay people, but imported from other parts of Australia
As said above, I don't want to prevent anybody from visiting the park. I just want people to bear in mind that what you see there is a show, and it does not show contemporary Indigenous life world or experience.
I also think that if you already know a lot about Aboriginal culture and history, you will learn nothing new as what you learn there is not much. Still, if you don't know so much already, it is worth a visit, as the the Creation theatre and the History theatre are very good.
If you have to go to the tourist trap, at least do this...
Bear in mind it is a show and not what it pretends to be. Consider it as entertainment rather than a reliable source for information.
The Alternative:
Do a trip to Cooya Beach with the Walker brothers