Anthropology of Tourism (UW-Madison, Fall 2016) (original) (raw)
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Anthropology of Tourism (encyclopedia entry)
Encyclopedia of Tourism, 2nd edition, ed. Jafar Jafari and Honggen Xiao., 2015
Leite, Naomi and Margaret Swain. Encyclopedia of Tourism, 2nd ed., ed. Jafar Jafari and Honggen Xiao. London: SpringerReference, in press (2015). Anthropology is the study of human commonality and diversity, past and present, anywhere in the world. It addresses human origins, cultural practices, societal structures, communication and meaning, and applies anthropological knowledge to solving human problems. Rooted in the era of European exploration and colonial expansion, initial studies devised unilinear evolutionary rankings of the world's peoples and cultures. Emphasis soon shifted to documenting the sites and lifeways of indigenous groups threatened by Western expansion before they disappeared.
Anthropological interest in tourism has been slow to develop, but is now well-established and there are hopeful signs for further development. Most anthropological work has been linked to acculturation involving Western tourists and non-Western hosts, but some interest in tourists' experiences has also been evident. An apparently fertile line of research that takes different forms of tourism as superstructural manifestations has only begun. A number of studies guided by practical questions show that applied anthropological interests and theoretical concerns can proceed together. The contribution of a cross-cultural, holistically oriented anthropology to the broader endeavor of social scientists to understand tourism is also considered.
(Un)Doing Tourism Anthropology: Outline of a Field of Practice
Journal of Tourism Challenges and Trends (Vol VI (2): 13-38), 2013
The idea of ‘doing’ tourism anthropology is one that prompts reflection on a number of issues relating to this so-called sub-discipline, not least those that invites us to consider the merits of its negation: of ‘undoing’ some of the shibboleths that have attached themselves to the subject area. In this paper we argue the case for a critical re-evaluation of a discourse and state-of-the-art that is often re-drawn through recourse to the navigational tropes of ‘turn’ or ‘new directions’. While we are in no way suggesting that new analytical frameworks in the anthropological study of tourism should somehow be resisted, or that their ‘novelty’ precludes them from having intrinsic value and efficacy, couching debates in the language of ‘turns’ or ‘re-orientations’ can at times inhibit consideration of the benefits of consolidating, re-evaluating, or re-situating anthropological perspectives on tourism. Accordingly, there is a need to delineate more clearly a sense of intellectual lineage and methodological specificity, and to bring into sharper relief what it is that distinguishes (or aligns) the anthropology of tourism from (or with) perspectives developed in fields of cultural geography, for example, or business and marketing studies, disciplines that have all sought to claim purchase on ethnographic approaches to the study of tourism. The flipside of the ‘doing’ coin is the related problem of delineating what it is that constitutes the object of study itself: tourism and the tourist. (Un)doing tourism anthropology, therefore, also entails a process of ‘undoing’ the tourist: of paying greater recognition to the ways in which tourism mobilities converge, overlap, rub up against, or dissolve into the landscapes, spaces and everyday practices that anthropology more broadly has long set out to explore. Drawing on a lineage which, theoretically and ethnographically, encompasses developments in experiential and phenomenological anthropology, we argue that doing or undoing tourism anthropology is in part the practice of reinforcing the anthropos while at the same time looking critically askance at the category of ‘the tourist’.
The Future of Tourism Anthropology: New Problems, Old Solutions After the New Normal
The Future of Tourism Anthropology: New Problems, Old Solutions After the New Normal - Maximiliano E. Korstanje 2024.In Anthropology of Tourism, AAP-CRC. Unlike other disciplines, anthropology has evolved from ethnography and the concept of alterity as its tug of war. From its inception, anthropology has made efforts to emphasize reflexivity in describing exotic human worlds. In this context, the "Other" was primarily an object of curiosity and reflexivity, if not a mirror for the ethnographer. In line with this, tourism anthropology has focused on the relationships between hosts and guests. The turn of the century has shifted this focus while challenging the concept of alterity like never before. If the "Other" was a subject of curiosity for ethnographers, it is now seen as a potential enemy that needs to be scrutinized-if not eradicated. This essentialized "Other" raises a significant question for the future and the survival of tourism anthropology. The future of tourism anthropology relies on what it has to offer in the "new normal." Just after COVID-19, the "Other" is not only feared but also denied.
Anthropological contributions to tourism studies
Annals of Tourism Research, 2019
What have we learned since anthropologists first realized that tourists alter the societies they study? Intended for non-anthropologists, this paper explores this question and critiques the hegemony of business perspectives in tourism studies. It discusses tourism as a complex and fluid set of phenomena that cannot be reduced to one dimension, highlighting five points: (1) Tourism is one of the names of power. (2) The complex nature of tourism cannot be understood without studying socio-cultural processes. (3) The socio-ecological processes that construct territory determine and are determined by social space. (4) The industries of seduction create a corpus of desires through which socio-cultural groups forge their own identity. (5) Anthropological studies allow researchers to propose alternative forms of tourism development.
Anthropology contribution in tourism
Anthropology can be defined as a scientific study of the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans. So, the task of an anthropologist is to try to understand what makes us human by studying human ancestors through archaeological excavation and by observing living cultures throughout the world. By the end of twentieth century, Anthropologists start to be shown few interests in the anthropology of tourism. But now, there are more and more anthropologists who orient their researches on tourists. The first reason which could explain this infatuation is the fact that, tourism often involves face-to-face encounters between people of different cultural backgrounds.
ANTH 316 (Anthropology of Tourism)
2020
As a mode of travel, interaction, and experience, tourism has become an integral part of all societies, eliciting poignant, complex responses. The course will go through interactions and mobilities to examine the categories and meanings by which tourism impacts people’s lives. While we are maintaining a Hawaiian, Pacific Island focus, case studies are taken from around the world in particular from Europe to explore the social, ethical, cultural, semiotic and ecological outcomes of such touristic processes, including the psycho-cultural motivations, and issues related to globalization, economic development, cross-cultural communication, ethnicity, nationalism and gender. Tourism is a uniquely situated prism through which we can examine a fascinating range of issues such as cultural representation, identity, space/place, embodiment, development, inequality, globalization and cultural and environmental change. This stacked course offers students an opportunity to critically examine these contexts primarily using theoretical frameworks from anthropology, geography, and cultural studies. ANTH 316 Highlights 1) writing-intensive; 2) weekly blogs; 3) zero-textbook-cost. In addition to theorizing tourism practice, the participation of graduate students in this stacked course will allow undergraduate students to consider these issues in relation to ethnographic fieldwork—the cornerstone of cultural geography and anthropology—and the study of touristic phenomena. Graduate students not just will act as mentors to undergraduates and facilitate discussions throughout the semester but will be presenting to the class their ethnographic research project on a topic related to their interests. ANTH 610 Highlights 1) ethnographic research; 2) critical précis; and 3) peer-reviewed academic publishing.