Power Intervention and Identity Negotiation: Cultural Reconstruction of June 6 in Phoenix County under the Integration of Culture and Tourism

Abstract (English)

Using Richard Schechner's performance theory as an analytical framework, this paper focuses on two modes of practice of the June 6 festival in Fenghuang County, Hunan Province, namely, the traditional performance in Gouliang Miao Village and the modernization and reconstruction of WoKu community, and explores how power intervention and identity negotiation can promote the cultural reproduction of ethnic festivals. The study explores how power intervention and identity negotiation contribute to the cultural reproduction of ethnic festivals. The study found that the “June 6” festival in Gouliang Miao Village has undergone a transformation from a traditional folk festival to a cultural performance in the process of tourism development and government intervention, and that the power intervention has changed the main body, content and form of the festival, and that the traditional Miao culture has faced the dilemma of inheritance in the process, and at the same time, identity negotiation has been carried out in the process of collision with modern culture; Wo Ku community has undergone identity negotiation in the process of modernization. In this process, traditional Miao culture faces the dilemma of inheritance, and at the same time, identity negotiation is also carried out in the collision with modern culture; the “June 6” festival of WoKu community has been developed due to the relocation for poverty alleviation and the integration of culture and tourism, and has gradually evolved from the cultural and recreational activities to promote community integration to the tourism-oriented festivals, and this cultural reconstruction process has been driven by the government, enterprises and residents based on the demands of economic interests. In short, the “June 6” festival in Phoenix County has realized the innovation of form and content through the intervention of power, but it also faces the challenge of cultural authenticity. Shekner's theory of “social drama” reveals that the festival is not only a cultural performance, but also a stage for power relations: the government adjusts the festival culture through slogans, stage design and other “performance frameworks,” businesses invest in reshaping the festival, and villagers are left out of the “participation” process. The villagers, on the other hand, are caught between “participation” and “alienation” - relying on external resources to maintain their traditions, but also anxious about the distortion of their culture. The study points out that the essence of cultural reconstruction under the integration of culture and tourism is the competition of multiple powers for the performance script, and only by balancing the interests of all parties and focusing on the subjective status of culture holders on the basis of reasonable intervention of power can we realize the sustainable development of festivals and the dynamic balance of identity.