Item Detail
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22804
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1
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0
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English
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Building the Kingdom : The Mormon Church's Production of Heritage Tourism Sites
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Provo, UT
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Brigham Young University
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Master's thesis
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"Heritage tourism sites fulfill a number of purposes in society including filling a collective need and a form of social solidarity in which people join with others who are different but remember the same beliefs and ideas about the past, helping a society or group make sense of its past, present, and future. How heritage sites are produced to create a sense of group identity and cohesiveness is the purpose of this paper. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has built and currently maintains many heritage tourism sites dedicated to the meaning of the Church's pioneer members. These places, objects and narratives have become symbols through the production, process and function to strengthen Church members and produce a type of group identity for them as the memory of the pioneers is embedded in the landscape. While the production process is able to create symbols of identity, at Mormon heritage tourism sites, a second purpose is accomplished by the sites' producers. The heritage tourism places are constructed to teach and educated visitors about the doctrine and beliefs of the Church in addition to the historical and cultural history. By construction heritage tourism sites the LDS Church is able to inform visitors about the Church and inspire members simultaneously. This is an important accomplishment for the Church and a valuable research topic about heritage tourism sites' production process and the ability of such sites to fulfill two separate functions at the same time." [Author's abstract]