Love at Second Sight - The Touristification of Landscape and Heritage of Gilgit Baltistan

Presenter:

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Abstract

Touristic advertisements, development reports, and government sources in Pakistan readily use Gilgit-Baltistan’s natural beauty, above all lavish shots of mountain peaks, to showcase the country’s hospitality and global appeal. Since the public sphere is full of promotional material for the region, local populations have also started posing in front of newly discovered sights for photos to upload on Facebook and WhatsApp. Through visual examples I will show how consumption and engagement with social media feeds back on people’s (self-)perception of their natural and cultural environment. Popular representations of the region’s landscape even serve as form of self-othering: looking at Gilgit-Baltistan’s assets through the eyes of outsiders lets many young people appreciate things they previously took for granted or even saw as obstacles, such as remote valleys, steep slopes or gravel roads. Moreover, by actively contributing to public discourse, locals reclaim the represented and disseminated imagination of their homeland.