Tourist Valorisation of the Cultural Identity of Galați County, Romania

The concept of cultural identity encompasses a sense of belonging to a human group with cultural traits such as customs, values, traditions, and beliefs mutually shared. Identity is not a truly fixed concept; it is analytical, ambiguous, and filled with many contradictory meanings. According to Cooper and Brubaker (2000), the concept is fluid and constantly renegotiated, being recreated individually and collectively through continuous external influences. Identity is directly linked to history and cultural heritage. According to anthropological, ethnographic, and sociological studies, identity emerges in opposition and as a reaffirmation of the other. Although the concept of identity transcends borders (as in the case of migrants or refugees), the origin of this concept is often linked to a territory. In an anthropological sense, territory is considered a “living environment, of action, and of thought of a community, associated with processes of identity construction†(Tizon, 1995).