Global Tourism

Cultural Heritage and Economic Encounters

Edited by Sarah M. Lyon, E. Christian Wells

Publication date:

15 March 2012

Length of book:

320 pages

Publisher

AltaMira Press

ISBN-13: 9780759120914

Global tourism is perhaps the largest scale movement of goods, services, and people in history. Consequently, it is a significant catalyst for economic development and sociopolitical change. While tourism increasingly accounts for ever greater segments of national economies, the consequences of this growth for intercultural interaction are diverse and uncertain. The proliferation of tourists also challenges classic theoretical descriptions of just what an economy is. What are the commodities being consumed? What is the division of labor between producers and clients in creating the value of tourist exchanges? How do culture, power, and history shape these interactions? What are the prospects for sustainable tourism? How is cultural heritage being shaped by tourists around the world? These critical questions inspired this volume in which the contributors explore the connections among economy, sustainability, heritage, and identity that tourism and related processes makes explicit. The volume moves beyond the limits of place-specific discussions, case studies, and best practice examples. Accordingly, it is organized according to three overarching themes: exploring dimensions of cultural heritage, the multi-faceted impacts of tourism on both hosts and guests, and the nature of touristic encounters. Based on ethnographic and archaeological research conducted in distinct locations, the contributors’ conclusions and theoretical arguments reach far beyond the limits of isolated case studies. Together, they contribute to a new synthesis for the anthropology of tourism while simultaneously demonstrating how emerging theories of the economics of tourism can lead to the rethinking of traditionally non-touristic enterprises—from farming to medical occupations.

1- Ethnographies of Global Tourism: Cultural Heritage,
Economic Encounters, and the Redefinition of Impact, by Sarah Lyon and E. Christian Wells

Part I: Cultural Heritage
2- Shifting Values and Meanings of Heritage: From Cultural Appropriation to Tourism Interpretation and Back, by Noel B. Salazar
3- Mayanizing Tourism on Roatán Island, Honduras: Archaeological Perspectives on Heritage, Development, and Indigeneity, by Alejandro J. Figueroa, Whitney A. Goodwin, and E. Christian Wells
4- Shaping Heritage to Serve Development: Bureaucratic Conflict and Local Agency at Two Chinese Heritage Sites, by Robert Shepherd

Part II: Economic Encounters in Touristic Spheres
5- Of Sales Pitches and Speech Genres: Peddling Personality on the Riverfront of Banaras, by Jenny Huberman
6- Tourism as Transaction: Commerce and Heritage on the Inca Trail, by Keely Maxwell
7- Spiritual Spaces, Marginal Places: The Commodification of a Nalú Sacred Grove, by Brandon D. Lundy
8- Becoming Tongan Again: Generalized Reciprocity Meets Tourism in Tonga, by Patricia L. Delaney and Paul A. Rivera
9- Women, Entrepreneurship, and Empowerment: Black-Owned Township Tourism in Cape Town, South Africa, by Katrina T. Greene

Part III: Redefining Tourism’s “Impact”
10- Sacrificing Cultural Capital for Sustainability: Identity, Class, and the Swedish Staycation, by Cindy Isenhour
11- Reproductive Tourism: Health Care Crisis Reifies Global Stratified Reproduction, by Amy Speier
12- The Uses of Ecotourism: Articulating Conservation and Development Agendas in Belize, by Laurie Kroshus Medina
13- Who Owns Ecotourism? The Ecoturismo Seri Case, by Diana Luque, Beatriz Camarena, Patricia L. Salido, Moisés Rivera, Eduwiges Gomez, María Cabral, and Rubén Lechuga
14-The Effects of Tour ism and Western Consumption on the Gendered Production and Distribution of Bogolan: Development Initiatives and Malian Women as Agents for Change, by Sarah Lockridge

Index
About the Editors and Contributors

Lyon (Univ. of Kentucky) and Wells (Univ. of South Florida) deliver a well-put-together collection of essays centered on the anthropology of tourism. Not since Valene Smith and Maryann Brent's edited Hosts and Guests Revisited (CH, Apr'02, 39-4654) has such a volume been written that captures the essence of tourism using ethnographic methods. The 14 chapters are situated within three parts: "Cultural Heritage," "Economic Encounters in Touristic Spheres," and "Redefining Tourism's 'Impact.'" One of the best things about this work is the empirical support for the assertion that self-commodification of tourist goods and services is indeed a dual process, "both an economic response to the global expansion of the service sector and a politically motivated expression of identity." In addition to offering various interesting case studies, the collection seeks to bridge anthropology with the field of tourism....The edited volume will be a good addition to library collections specializing in the anthropology of tourism. Summing Up: Recommended.