Why Has Cultural Awareness Become Crucial? (People Are Culture Website - Interview)

In February 2024, the cultural journalist Ms. Ma?na Durafour - People Are Culture website - interviewed me, as a heritage management professional and a founder of HeritageForAll Initiative, and other international practitioners and experts about the definition and technicalities of cultural awareness. They generated a new critical investigation under the title "Why Has Cultural Awareness Become Crucial?"

People Are Culture is a revolutionary eLearning platform that was founded by Ms. Meg Pier . It brings the social studies curriculum to life with personal stories and interviews about different cultures around the world. We bring you firsthand accounts of people from all corners of the globe, who share their lifestyles, traditions, and heritage, showcasing how they embrace and live their culture in their everyday lives. For more information, you can review their website.

What is cultural awareness?

Cultural awareness is generally a tool that you can formulate regarding the purpose you want. For instance, in the business field, it might be used to define and introduce a proposed/new product to the targeted audience. In the field of tourism development, it might be invested to attract the attention of a specific target group or segmentation to a new touristic attraction (e.g. touristic village, facility, or service).

Regarding cultural heritage, it is a significant tool to raise the perception of local and international communities to their human cultural and natural heritage and identity which affect their daily social practices among each other. Moreover, it might be used to upgrade the technical results of the projects or the skills of the young professionals through e.g. capacity-building activities.

Furthermore, cultural awareness is an important part of the mission I am trying to fulfil. Since 2017, I have digitally?founded and strategically managed the HeritageForAll initiative as an international initiative. I could deliver a solid and consistent international image and work. The initiative may provide a convenient space - through the website and other social media devices?- for the young professionals to share their overviews and recommendations?exchanging their experiences with the international community and organizations.?Applying e-communication methodology, HeritageForAll hosts three international internship programs - e.g. “Rural Heritage and Traditional Food” (2019) and “Musealization of Cultural Identity” (2021) - which EuropeNostra and ICOMOS Australia appreciated. Many universities and organizations support our initiative by recommending our programs and activities for their students and other young professionals through their websites and social media such as Deakin University (Australia), BTU Cottbus-Stenfenburg (Germany), and Tartu University (Estonia). Moreover, I could communicate and coordinate with various cultures, and host and guide multiple interns from Europe (France, Netherlands, Italy, and Kosovo), Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and China), Minor Asia (Turkey), America (USA and Mexico), and Arab region (Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon) as well.

From a personal perspective, what's your definition of cultural awareness? why it is important?

Cultural awareness could be defined as a process of upgrading the level of perceiving the differences and similarities between multiple forms of heritage, cultures and identities. Thus, it allows you to introduce your thoughts and sociocultural or socioeconomic requirements by communicating or interacting with members of other cultural groups. In sum, it contributes to emancipating the level of community engagement to inculcate authentic values and knowledge and raising the level of respect towards various traditional cultures, religions, languages, costumes and social practices.

Cultural awareness improves "the level of respect towards various traditional cultures, religions, languages, costumes and social practices". Can you explain simply why? Could you give a quick example of that?

From my overview, while cultural heritage is a common good for all humanity, cultural awareness might be a part of heritage marketing techniques recognizing the requirements of various target segmentations geographically (local visitors, short-distance visitors, long-distance visitors, and international visitors); demographically (age, sex, family size, family income, education, occupation, religion, race, and ethnicity); psycho-graphically (social class, lifestyle, and personality characteristics), socio-economically and socio-culturally.

How does cultural awareness participate to emancipate the level of community?

The Italian project Discover Valtellina (Valtellina, Sondrio–Lombardy (Alpine) - ten years project - could be taken as an example of good practice, based on creative and collaborative cultural awareness. Seeking to enhance the sociocultural aspect, the project interlinks tangible and intangible heritage in their territorial development. It focuses on three fundamental keywords: community, cooperation, and creativity to invest sustainably in cultural, social, and economic values. The project develops the region by representing the manifestations of the local cultural identity for the visitors by emancipating the role of community engagement. Therefore, the 54 corners/local entrepreneurs were unified, under the tourism product “Valtellina Corners”, to promote community-based tourism and valorise the impact of the cultural identity on the sociocultural commemoration of the community and their involvement level.

Basile, M. (2018). Local Food, Wine Heritage and Destination Marketing: Relaunching Valtellina Alpine Destination.?Economia della Cultura,?28(1-2), 213-220.

Daldanise, G., Oppido, S., & Vellecco, I. (2018). Creative Adaptive Reuse of Cultural Heritage for Urban Regeneration. In?Proceedings of the 11th INU Study Day, Interruptions, Intersections, Sharings and Overlappings. New Perspectives for the Territory: Naples,?278, 6-10.

How people can improve their cultural awareness?

No one can individually raise his/her cultural awareness, but s/he can upgrade his/her cultural background and knowledge towards a kind of science or community. So, cultural awareness should be taken into consideration while marketing agencies prepare the advertisements of public products and packaging, especially these in association with food and beverage.

I would like to remind my international colleagues to share ...

Online Training Course "Beyond Marketing Cultural Tourism: Heritage Site and Community" (Here)