UNIT 3 TOURISM THROUGH AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL LENS REVISION NOTES

 Introduction to Anthropology and Tourism

• Anthropology: Study of human beings and their societies.
• Tourism in Anthropology: Began in the 1970s to explore human behaviors and societal changes due to tourism.

Key Aspects of Anthropology of Tourism

1. Initial Focus:

   • Life and behavior of hosts (natives of tourist spots).
   • Provided a new base for expanding anthropological knowledge (Holden 2005).

2. Expanded Focus Over Time:

   • Societal Change: How tourism influences individuals and society.
   • Interactions: Dynamics between tourists and hosts.
   • Mobility: Movements and migrations due to tourism.
   • Identity Creation: New identities and self-characterization from tourism.
   • Emerging Meanings: New meanings from these interactions (Di Giovine 2017).

Branches of Anthropology in Tourism

1. Socio-Cultural Anthropology:

   • Studies social organizations, history, cultural transformations, migration, environment, gender, stratification, rituals, and identities.

2. Archaeological Anthropology:

   • Collaboration with archaeologists to maintain heritage sites, monuments, and museums.
   • Known as “archaeo-tourism” collaboration.

3. Linguistic Anthropology:

   • Studies communication between tourists and hosts.
   • Analyzes language and symbolic exchanges to build trust and understanding.

4. Physical Anthropology:

• Design Anthropometry: Uses body measurements to improve tourist services (e.g., vehicle seating).
• Health Studies: Analysis of diseases like AIDS in sex tourism (e.g., in Thailand).

History of the Study of Tourism in Anthropology

Origins and Early Development

• Accidental Start: Valene Smith, while teaching at Los Angeles City College in 1946, was asked to develop a course on Tourism, leading to her seminal work Hosts and Guests (1977) (Smith 2015).
• Smith’s Influence:
  • Conducted and assisted academic visits globally.
  • Invited interest via the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in the early 1970s.
  • AAA session in 1974 in Mexico City: 35 delegates presented, leading to the book Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism (1977).

Key Contributions and Publications

• Notable Figures:
  • Theron Nunez: Early contributor with "Tourism, Tradition and Acculturation: Weekendismo in a Mexican Village" (1963).
  • Valene Smith: Organized another session in 1975 with the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA), Mérida, Mexico.
  • Nelson Graburn, Dennison Nash, Oriol Pi-Sunyer, Erik Cohen: Contributed to theory building and cultural studies.
• Dean Mac Cannell: Focused on semiotic aspects of tourism in The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class (1976).
• Dennison Nash and Nelson Graburn: Explored tourism as modern-day imperialism and a transformative journey.
• Annals of Tourism Research: Dedicated an issue to anthropological work on tourism in 1983.

Evolution and New Directions

• Hosts and Guests Revisited (2001):
  • Updated with new chapters to reflect changing concerns and interests.
• Amanda Stronza (2001):
• Introduced ecotourism in anthropology, emphasizing its interdisciplinary nature focused on political economy, social change, and development.
• Followed by other anthropologists like Paige West, James Carrier, Jim Igoe, Stocker, and Robert Fletcher.

Ethnography and Tourism

Introduction to Ethnography

• Methodology: Essential for anthropological research, involves prolonged engagement, and local language use for authentic cultural insights.
• Challenges in Tourism: Complex due to the dynamic interactions among tourists, hosts, and the tourist space.

The Field Site/The Tourist Spot

• Historical Significance: Tourist spots often hold romanticized or idealized images from literature and media.
• Expectations: Tourists seek to experience the past of a place more than its present reality.
• Local Response: Locals cater to these expectations to maintain the imagined reality, influencing their behavior and interactions.

The Tourist/The Guest

• Tourist Perspective: Ethnographers study how tourists perceive and interact with the place.
• Role Comparison: Debate exists on similarities and differences between ethnographers and tourists in representing cultures.
• Impact: Tourists influence local culture through their presence and expectations.

The Native/The Host

• Impact on Host Communities: Study focuses on how hosts adapt to meet tourist demands.
• Types of Cultural Change:
  • Cultural Drift: Slow changes due to interaction but reversible.
  • Acculturation: Permanent changes where hosts assimilate aspects of tourist culture.
• Examples: British influence on Indian hill stations as a result of colonial tourism.

Reflection

• Cultural Dynamics: Insights into cultural drift and acculturation provide depth to understanding tourism impacts.
• Scholarly Contributions: Works like Tourism Imaginaries: Anthropological Approaches (Salazar and Graburn, 2014) delve into these complexities.

Ethnography in Tourism: Vital for studying complex interactions between tourists, hosts, and tourist spaces.

Historical and Cultural Context: Tourist spots influenced by romanticized imagery affect both tourists and hosts.

Cultural Impact: Tourism can lead to both reversible (drift) and permanent (acculturation) cultural changes in host communities.             

Pilgrimage in Anthropology

Historical Context

• Van Gennep (1908): Introduced Rites de Passage, foundational for understanding social transitions.
• Victor Turner (1969): Expanded on Van Gennep, focusing on rituals and pilgrimage as transformative journeys.
  • Three Stages: Separation, Liminality, Reintegration.
  • Communitas: Shared experience of spontaneity and social togetherness during liminal phases.

Parallels with Tourism

• Turner’s Theory: Applied to pilgrimage and tourism experiences.
• Communitas in Tourism: Shared experiences and emotional connections during events like festivals or visits to themed attractions (Nash and Smith 1991).

Views on Pilgrimage and Tourism

• Graburn (1983): Views tourism as essential for breaks from structured daily life, likening modern tourism to traditional pilgrimage.
• Contrasting Views: Some anthropologists argue for distinct purposes; pilgrimage for religious/spiritual growth vs. tourism for leisure without structured intent (Leite and Graburn 2009).

Ethnographic Perspectives

• Badone and Rosemon (2004): Suggest evaluating pilgrimage and tourism within their respective cultural contexts rather than strict theoretical distinctions.
• Identity Tourism: Examples like "roots pilgrimage" (Basu 2007) and "queer pilgrimage" (Howe 2001) highlight emotional connections to ancestral or cultural roots and LGBTQ+ heritage sites.

Conclusion

• Significance: Pilgrimage and tourism intersect in cultural and emotional aspects despite differing purposes.
• Anthropological Study: Emphasizes understanding the transformative and communal aspects of both phenomena.
• Future Directions: Continued ethnographic research needed to explore evolving meanings and impacts of pilgrimage and tourism globally.

• Issues of Authenticity in Tourism: Theoretical Perspectives

  Introduction

  • Authenticity in Tourism: Conceptualized as genuine, real, or true, but often shaped by tourist expectations and desires rather than objective reality.

  Theoretical Approaches

  1. Objectivist Theory

     • Definition: Authenticity exists inherently within the visited object or site, independent of tourists' perceptions.
     • Boorstin (1964): Criticized tourism as seeking the pseudo-event, emphasizing that authenticity is often manufactured and inauthentic.
     • MacCannell (1976): Contrarily viewed by MacCannell as seeking the natural and untouched, labeling such tourists as "religious pilgrims."
     • Conclusion: Both agree that what tourists perceive as authentic is often manipulated or constructed.

  2. Constructivism Theory

     • Erik Cohen: Argued that authenticity is socially constructed and negotiated, not a fixed attribute of the object.
     • Emergent Authenticity: Describes how experiences can become authentic over time as perceptions and cultures change.
     • Urry (2002): Discusses how modern mass media influence perceptions of authenticity through time-space compression.

  3. Post-modern Theory

     • Existential Authenticity (Wang, 1999): Focuses on the existential state achieved through tourist experiences rather than the authenticity of the object.
     • Engler: Debates the practical application of post-modern theories in tourism, noting the persistence of objectivist practices in the industry.
     • Critique: Challenges the traditional notions of authenticity tied to objects, highlighting the importance of experiential authenticity.

  Application and Debates

  • Evolution: Authenticity became a prominent discourse in the 1950s, influencing travel motivations and tourism practices.
  • Practicality: While constructivist views dominate academic discussions, objectivist practices remain prevalent in tourism marketing and operations.