Territorial labelling: holding onto heritage and innovating? Putting "distinction" to the test of time

Today there is an increasing focus on territorial labelling (or certification). These labels have been extended to all sorts of tangible and intangible objects (quality seals on products, tourism brands, cultural, patrimonial and ecological labels, etc.) that are requisitioned as markers of the territoriality's distinction. The phenomenon has become particularly visible in mountain regions, where these markers have sometimes been established in a highly innovative manner. If we consider the processes involved in territorial distinction on the basis of the "identification, characterisation of the places, to obtain protection and/or notoriety at various scales" (Fournier 2015), these phenomena can be observed as early as the 19th century as a cultural rapport with places and with time. They have been accentuated since the second half of the 20th century with the proliferation of measures for protecting natural and built spaces, and the adoption of competitive reasoning by these territories. In mountain areas, as elsewhere, the quest for distinction is expressed in terms of competitiveness and renewed attractiveness as much as it is in terms of heritage and identity. Now and then, both arguments are called upon within the same projective intention.

This session should serve to confront different analyses of these labelling/certification processes in the light of contemporary changes and their prolonged time frame. The issue of the projective intentions behind these labels and certificates, and the methods adopted to maintain or renew them over time will be central to the session. The underlying objective is therefore to better understand the meaning of developments, and the present craze for acquiring territorial singularity.

We will give preference to:

• Approaches centred on labelling projects and the players involved: their characterisation, their interaction to bring these projects to life, their intentions, their representations of the place and its practices, their expectations in terms of recognition of territorial singularity (expected changes must be qualified), as well as studies on how these processes of distinction are perceived.
• Methodologies for interpreting the current processes of territorial distinction in the long term (e.g. does a labelling approach follow on from older forms of distinction for that same territory, or for a part of it? what are the relationships between these processes in terms of the stakeholders, the objects actually distinguished, intentions, expectations, etc.?).
• Diverse fields of study to obtain a panel of mountain situations, where none are excluded; here the status "mountain territory" is understood as a phenomenological and/or conventional consideration. Attention will be paid to elements which, as part of the processes for distinction and of the underlying territory projects, can identify this "mountain" aspect more specifically.

For this purpose, studies via which these processes can be compared in mountainous and non-mountainous regions will be welcome.