Abstract
The newly anointed American cities of the late capitalist moment appear preoccupied
with the reconstitution of urban space. More accurately, select parcels of urban America have been
reconfigured into multifaceted sport, leisure and tourism environments designed for the purpose of
encouraging consumption-oriented capital accumulation. Within this paper, the focus is a critical
exploration of the ways in which tangible and intangible forms of heritage have been employed,
utilized and exploited within these urban transformations. Through focus on a city emblematic of the
processes that have molded downtown cores under US capitalism – Memphis – the paper points to
the role of heritage in the reconfiguration of the Memphian ‘tourist bubble’. In particular, discussion
centers on the often problematic selection of histories and historical elements, forms and practices
within the interests of capital space and thus raises a host of localized questions about whose collective
memory is being performed in the present, whose aesthetics really count and who benefits.
Conclusions address how such urban space is imbued with power relations, that is, how increasingly
leisure-oriented spaces can be seen as important sites of social struggle in which dominant power
relations can be constructed, contested and reproduced.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 253-277 |
Number of pages | 25 |
Journal | Leisure Studies |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2007 |
Keywords
- late capitalism
- urban space
- power struggles
- heritage