Between cairns and pyramids: conflicts of cultural appropriation and passive resistance to reinterpretation for tourism in Tenerife (The Canary Islands)

Abstract

This paper analyses the conflicts of cultural appropriation in the case of the Pyramids of The Güímar Ethnographic Park (Tenerife), highlighting the tension between the local narratives and those presented to tourism. While the complex presents the structures as possible connections between ancient civilisations, the local population recognises them as majanos, agricultural constructions used to clear land or dry fruit. After application of an ethnographic approach, it is evident that the reinterpretation for tourism has produced a double appropriation: symbolic, in that it imposes new narratives, and physical, through the fencing off and transformation of space. Although some residents, especially those with economic interests, have partially assimilated the narrative presented to the tourists, the majority perceive the park as an exogenous development , totally unrelated to their identity, which produces passive resistance and detachment. The study concludes that the lack of local participation in the design of tourism limits its acceptance and reinforces the conflict of cultural legitimacy.