Paper short abstract:

This presentation explores the interaction of different representations and 'uses' of place and nature through the focal point of mastiha, a natural monopoly commodity of the Eastern Aegean island of Chios.

Paper long abstract:

Τhis presentation exploreσ the interaction of different representations and 'uses' of place and nature through the focal point of mastiha, a natural monopoly commodity of the Eastern Aegean island of Chios. It examines how realities and senses of place certify and maintain distinctiveness in a context of global flows of commodities, ideas and information. A central focal point relates to the content (meanings) attributed to the concepts of 'local' and 'place' by powerful discourses that inform entrepreneurial initiatives as well as tourist representations. Furthermore, the case made in the presentation concerns the definition and construction of the "authentic" and the "natural", as abstract representations, a set of resources and qualities existing both within and outside of space and time, which are drawn upon in both discursive practices and visual images.

The paper poses questions such as: how is place-specificity constructed with regard to a regionally distinct product that has in the last several years been transformed into a global commodity? Are varied natures produced through the indirect processes of different 'expert' (knowledge and information) systems? Another related issue the analysis opens up for discussion concerns the ways of hierarchizing and allocating time and space by agents involved in or mediating the interaction between the 'global', the 'national' and the 'local' as expressed in unequally empowered discourses. Overall, the case study offers material that "is good to think with" by critically questioning of taken-for-granted statements about 'nature" and "place" and their 'appropriate' uses (representations) by different agents.

These agents are:

• the prefecture of Chios and a long-established Chian newspaper, both of which have published tourist guide books for Chios,

• the Union of Mastic Growers Cooperatives, which has turned to the manufacturing and trading of a large variety of eatable and health-care mastiha products in the last several years, and

• a private Chian firm that specializes in the production of toiletries and cosmetics containing mastiha