Striking Ybor Gold Heritage Marketing in a Latin Quarter of Tampa, Florida

Kate Irwin

Date of Award

2005

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Baram, Uzi

Keywords

Heritage Marketing, Ybor City, Anthropology of Tourism

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

This thesis deals with heritage marketing, and uses Ybor City, a Latin enclave in Tampa, Florida, as its case study. Ybor City has been marketed as a heritage site and its past has been commodified in order to attract tourists. The thesis examines this commodification by using participant observation to learn about the Columbia Restaurant Museum, the Centro Ybor Museum, and the Ybor City State Museum in depth. The thesis also examines two events in Ybor City, the weekly Fresh Market and the annual Fiesta Day. Through this examination, it has been found that Ybor City capitalizes on notions of heritage at the expense of some elements of its past that may be considered unsavory. The representations of the past conceal class and racial inequalities as well as a history of labor struggles. However, these representations have also allowed Ybor City to begin revitalization as an area, and have made it possible for the area to become a vital, thriving community once again. By using heritage marketing, it is ensured that the past of Ybor City, despite the revisions, does remain remembered as a past worth knowing. Due to the increasing desire for tourism, Ybor City along with many other historic areas uses heritage, as opposed to more traditional disciplines such as archaeology or history, as the way to know and exhibit the past.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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