Emerging Approaches
Touring the Palate Palette: Agritourism as Art and Rural Development in Ghana's Volta Region View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nathan Crook, D. Rose Elder
Agritourism is a form of rural tourism that focuses on rural intangible culture. Typically, tourism specialists plan a collection of adventures and activities to make their area a destination and capture much needed currency from tourist spending but frequently overlook the value of the agricultural sector. This presentation outlines our collaborative efforts with local producers in Ghana’s Volta Region to develop an agritourism trail as an artistic performance of local food traditions, culture, and cuisine. From the sight of the delicate pinks of the cocoa blossom to the tangy taste of the slimy flesh surrounding the cocoa bean, the senses hum. Saunterers on the Asogli Agritourism Trail encounter traditional production of cocoa, as well as coffee, palm, groundnuts, casava, honey, rice, cowpeas, and more. Through agritourism, food traditions become an artistic performance where participants engage with producers in creating and experiencing foods, colors, textures, flavors, aromas in a vivid display as varied as a painter’s palette. Self-identified representative foods are recognized as culinary strengths of the community. They provide a way to express oneself and their community identity, to be seen, to be recognized, and to be appreciated. At an intersection of agriculture, cuisine, and tourism, agritourism grants access to communities that are not typically considered touristic destinations where farmers generously share their lived experience and Intangible Cultural Heritage. The experience has the power to create an artistic output that engages, humanizes, and values traditional peoples and products.
On the Consideration of the ‘Ākhir al-Nahr’ Metaphor: Detouring to a More-than-Human-Centered Perspective View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Juhri Selamet
This paper critically explores the potential of local cultural metaphors in informing contemporary art and design practices, specifically through the celestial metaphor of Ākhir al-Nahr (آ ﺧ ﺮ ا ﻟ ﻨ ﮭ ﺮ), historically significant in Arab cultural narratives. Positioned at the symbolic intersection of earthly journeys and celestial guidance, Ākhir al-Nahr inspires a reconsideration of urban transportation via sensitive art and design perspective, particularly in Dubai's technologically advanced yet connectivity-challenged environment. Advocating for a shift toward a more-than human-centered perspective, the paper argues for infrastructure that emphasizes ecological sensitivity, hospitality, and resilience. By utilizing Ākhir al-Nahr's themes of culmination, renewal, and interconnectedness, it proposes urban transportation retrospections characterized by seamless integration and adaptive fluidity. Moreover, employing constellations as metaphors underscores the interconnectedness and systemic coherence required in urban planning. Finally, this reflective exploration seeks to enrich current art and design discourses, presenting sensitive frameworks that harmonize human mobility needs with ecological hospitality, aiming for interconnectedness futures.
