E-mail: evgenya.litvin@gmail.com Tel.: +7 (499) 956-99-99
84, Vernadskogo av., Moscow, 119571, Russian Federation
Senior Lecturer, Institute of Social Sciences, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
The article focuses on the methods of territorial “branding” in villages of the Salentian Peninsula (Southern Italy) by examining musical, theatrical and poetic performances that contain texts in the local Greek dialect. The presence of an ethnolinguistic enclave in the region is one of the factors attracting tourists, provided that the latter are aware of its existence; the strategy for representing this ethnolinguistic minority at various cultural events directly depends on the target audience.
The fieldwork held on the Salentine Peninsula. The goal of holding an event for the local community is to strengthen the ties among its members. Here the main emphasis is put on the connections between past and present, and the local area and its inhabitants. In addition, such events serve as a way for language activists to remind fellow countrymen about the need to maintain local culture. During performances aimed at an “outside” audience, the main strategy is to inform them about the presence of Greek elements in the region and demonstrate their cultural heritage. If the event is held in a place geographically remote from the Salentine Peninsula, there is a tendency to use more familiar images, using musical and choreographic traditions of the Greek motherland.
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