Globalna i lokalna plaža na primjeru dubrovačkih gradskih plaža i plažnih kultura
The Global and Local Beach: Dubrovnik Town Beach and Beach Cultures as Case Study (Abstract)

Summary/Abstract: The beach is usually considered to be a “liminal space/zone”, an “anomalous category” in between land and sea, nature and culture.The dynamics of the economy, the environment, politics and social relations can be traced through it. This paper analyzes global and local beaches and their various representations, including correlations with touristic understandings, with a focus on the promotion and branding of destinations. Global beaches are presented in terms of a standardized description of places, landscapes, objects and activities relating to holidays and leisure, irrespective of coastal settlements, residents and their life and culture.The global beach stands in contrast to perceptions of the beach as a “cultural arena” (Löfgren 2002) and a “kaleidoscope of culture” (Lenček and Bosker 1998). Local, town beaches are an important symbol in the geographic landscape which local communities recognize as the area of daily and seasonal activities, cultures, lifestyles, history and specific traditions. In tourist areas there is a contradiction, with the coexistence of these two notions of beach. We analyze Dubrovnik's town beaches, as resources, spaces of fantasies, desires and expectations, and as places of belonging and of life, in which the visions, needs and traditions of local communities are met, such as the Wild League, an amateur water polo contest which takes place in the inlets and beaches of Dubrovnik.

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