Comments on: Around the Web http://savageminds.org/2008/06/15/around-the-web-17/ Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog Fri, 25 May 2012 22:34:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: LFB http://savageminds.org/2008/06/15/around-the-web-17/comment-page-1/#comment-397756 LFB Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:22:28 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1274#comment-397756 No problem. And yes, my feeling is the tensions are very much alive and well, especially when academic job markets dwindle and anthropologists encounter other academics who feel their vacations in Bali, or Ghana, or Mexico qualify them to speak authoritatively about the cultures found there. Enjoy your study abroad. Check out the article(s) on study abroad students in Sharon Gmelch's excellent reader on tourism if you haven't already. It will encourage you to do some "deep hanging out", interrogate authenticity, and to get the most of it. No problem. And yes, my feeling is the tensions are very much alive and well, especially when academic job markets dwindle and anthropologists encounter other academics who feel their vacations in Bali, or Ghana, or Mexico qualify them to speak authoritatively about the cultures found there.

Enjoy your study abroad. Check out the article(s) on study abroad students in Sharon Gmelch’s excellent reader on tourism if you haven’t already. It will encourage you to do some “deep hanging out”, interrogate authenticity, and to get the most of it.

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]]> By: Jennifer S http://savageminds.org/2008/06/15/around-the-web-17/comment-page-1/#comment-397481 Jennifer S Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:21:55 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1274#comment-397481 LFB-- Thanks so much. I've read a little into the literature and seen the tensions you mentioned, but it's sometimes hard to tell whether those sorts of tensions are still alive or fading. I appreciate your insight. Unfortunately, I'll be on a study abroad program next fall (hopefully not for the sole purpose of snapping photos), but I'll definitely look into the other resources you suggested. Maybe I can catch the panel the following year. Thanks again. LFB–

Thanks so much. I’ve read a little into the literature and seen the tensions you mentioned, but it’s sometimes hard to tell whether those sorts of tensions are still alive or fading. I appreciate your insight. Unfortunately, I’ll be on a study abroad program next fall (hopefully not for the sole purpose of snapping photos), but I’ll definitely look into the other resources you suggested. Maybe I can catch the panel the following year.

Thanks again.

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]]> By: LFB http://savageminds.org/2008/06/15/around-the-web-17/comment-page-1/#comment-396332 LFB Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:17:43 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1274#comment-396332 Jennifer, there is a listserve for tourism studies which has a lot of anthro people on it. Sign up for it here: http://www.h-net.org/lists/subscribe.cgi I don't know about savageminds' treatment of it, but anthro in general has a tense relationship with the study of tourism. (I think it was Vincent Crapanzano who attributed this tension to the fact that tourists fancy themselves as amateur anthropologists, and anthropologists find tourists often make a mess of field sites for actual scholars. Think of study abroad programs that send people to live in another country for a year and feature outings to local rituals, etc. where they snap no end of pictures.) There is also the problem that tourism is a very boujie undertaking, and some folks think that makes it a boujie topic to study despite its enormous importance to and impact on local economies and lives. There's a fair amount of anthropological literature that directly addresses (and tends to affirm your suspicion) of anthropologists avoiding tourism studies. (Though I think there has been serious headway made in the last 5 years or so about this.) If you go to AAA this Fall, you should check out Quetzil Castaneda's annual workshop on tourist studies. He has great resources. In fact, you might want to write to him just as a networking thing. (He's quite friendly and helpful.) He'd also be good for directing you to good bibliographic stuff, and would know which programs to target if you apply to MA/PhD programs (apart from his own U Washington.) Jennifer, there is a listserve for tourism studies which has a lot of anthro people on it. Sign up for it here: http://www.h-net.org/lists/subscribe.cgi

I don’t know about savageminds’ treatment of it, but anthro in general has a tense relationship with the study of tourism. (I think it was Vincent Crapanzano who attributed this tension to the fact that tourists fancy themselves as amateur anthropologists, and anthropologists find tourists often make a mess of field sites for actual scholars. Think of study abroad programs that send people to live in another country for a year and feature outings to local rituals, etc. where they snap no end of pictures.) There is also the problem that tourism is a very boujie undertaking, and some folks think that makes it a boujie topic to study despite its enormous importance to and impact on local economies and lives. There’s a fair amount of anthropological literature that directly addresses (and tends to affirm your suspicion) of anthropologists avoiding tourism studies. (Though I think there has been serious headway made in the last 5 years or so about this.)

If you go to AAA this Fall, you should check out Quetzil Castaneda’s annual workshop on tourist studies. He has great resources. In fact, you might want to write to him just as a networking thing. (He’s quite friendly and helpful.) He’d also be good for directing you to good bibliographic stuff, and would know which programs to target if you apply to MA/PhD programs (apart from his own U Washington.)

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]]> By: Jennifer S http://savageminds.org/2008/06/15/around-the-web-17/comment-page-1/#comment-396092 Jennifer S Wed, 18 Jun 2008 21:47:10 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=1274#comment-396092 Has there been a discussion on the anthropology of tourism on SM? As an undergrad student thinking of grad school in anthropology and working on a senior thesis on culture and tourism, I have appreciated discussions of methodology and other issues related to anthropology research that I've read about here. However, I keep hoping for tourism to pop up as a topic and this is the first time I've seen it. Can anyone direct me to earlier discussions on the topic? Or any insight on why it sometimes seems to be a less-talked about topic in anthropology in general (if that is even true?) Thanks! Jen Has there been a discussion on the anthropology of tourism on SM? As an undergrad student thinking of grad school in anthropology and working on a senior thesis on culture and tourism, I have appreciated discussions of methodology and other issues related to anthropology research that I’ve read about here. However, I keep hoping for tourism to pop up as a topic and this is the first time I’ve seen it. Can anyone direct me to earlier discussions on the topic? Or any insight on why it sometimes seems to be a less-talked about topic in anthropology in general (if that is even true?)
Thanks!

Jen

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