Archeological Tourism and Community Participation: A Study on National Monument Engenho São Jorge dos Erasmos Ruins Madalena P. Aulicino and Beatriz H. Barbosa Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades of the Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Email: mada.lzt@usp.br, bez.lena@gmail.com Patricia A. Coutanceau Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France Email: patricia.aulicino@gmail.com Abstract—This paper discusses the relation between archeological tourism and community participation, focusing on Engenho São Jorge dos Erasmos Ruins in the City of Santos, State of São Paulo. The central issue was to identify changes arising from the presence of University of São Paulo through actions of the Culture and Extension Rectory at the Site, in regard to leisure and tourism activities developed at the site, in addition to community participation in the process. Considerations were made on relevant themes, such as tourism, leisure, culture, heritage, archeology and community participation, and the very history of the Engenho (Sugar Mill) and a field survey was developed using interviews with groups of residents, workers, visitors and a manager. Among other things, the authors concluded that the presence of the University of São Paulo contributed to developing leisure and tourism activities at the Engenho and efforts were made to involve the community via local public schools. Index Terms—archeological tourism, community participation, and historic/cultural heritage I. INTRODUCTION The relations among leisure, tourism, historic sites and local communities are multiple and complex, involving issues of use, exploration and preservation, especially in the case of Brazil, a country that still seems to build its identity, based on its history. In that sense, this survey was developed with a view to identifying the relations between USP and the daily life of Vila São Jorge residents in the City of Santos (State of São Paulo) in the process of decision making/implementation of activities connected to the valuation of historic/archeological heritage, combined with policies of preservation, leisure and tourism of Engenho São Jorge dos Erasmos Ruins. Two assumptions were established: the first is that the presence of University of São Paulo has contributed to encouraging the development of leisure and tourism activities with the participation of the local community in the planning and use of the space where the ruins are Manuscript received February 12, 2014; revised June 4, 2014. located. The second is that leisure and tourism activities combined with education proposals are developed at the Engenho with a view to preserving archeological heritage. The bibliographic survey focused on themes such as leisure, tourism, culture, heritage, archeology and community participation, and the field survey included interviews with four groups of people connected in any manner to Engenho dos Erasmos: two residents, two sugar mill workers, two visitors and a University of São Paulo manager. Results show that the presence of University of São Paulo was a watershed moment in regard to leisure and tourism activities developed at the ruins, but that local community participation is still limited, with efforts mainly in the sense of involving public schools in the region. On the other hand, the presence of investigators of the most diversified areas, such as historians, archeologists, architects, geographers and educators with the most varied backgrounds is constant. II. TOURISM, LEISURE AND CULTURE Tourism and leisure areas are closely connected and related to the cultural dimension and both provide people with different experiences from those of daily activities or family environment; tourism is an integral part of leisure and a fundamental contemporary element to discuss such sphere of human life [1]. On the other hand, leisure should be understood as culture experienced during periods of time that are free from obligations to which we are usually subjected, such as family, professional, and social obligations, among others [2]; leisure has been historically generated and is also a period of time that focuses on experiencing values that contribute to changes of a moral and cultural nature, combining aspects of time and of attitude. Leisure is then seen as a comprehensive, but also specific, phenomenon, because it goes beyond daily and usual dimensions/restrictions, and involves free time for free- choice actions. 67 Journal of Advanced Management Science Vol. 3, No. 1, March 2015 ©2015 Engineering and Technology Publishing doi: 10.12720/joams.3.1.67-73