Identifier

etd-07112007-000114

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Geography and Anthropology

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

This is a comparative study between the historic preservation in two countries – the United States (New Orleans) and China (Changting). The main questions are how the voices of different groups become foregrounded or effaced in the dynamics of the political process. Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts -- social capital, cultural capital, and symbolic capital – are applied. The historic preservation in the United States is distinct from that in China. First, the national structures of governments are different, and the historic preservation systems are established in dissimilar ways. Second, at the local level, the question, that who take part in historic preservation, has different answers. However, the dynamic of capital flow in historic preservation is similar. Property rights based on ownership, tax money, tourism income, and developmental capital are four forms of influential economic capital. Social capital includes the direct political power of governments, personal connections, access to Mass Media, and the indirect political capital derived from them. Academic knowledge and professional skills in urban planning and architecture are powerful cultural capital, which can possibly be transformed in to indirect political capital. Mass Media is a tool that can be used in favor of cultural capital as the voices of “authorities”.

Date

2007

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Jay D. Edwards

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.3201

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