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Paper No. : 16 Applied Anthropology Module : 12 Tourism Anthropology

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Paper No. : 16 Applied Anthropology Module : 12 Tourism Anthropology Paper No. : 16 Applied Anthropology Module : 12 Tourism Anthropology Development Team Principal Investigator Prof. Anup Kumar Kapoor Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Dr. Rashmi Sinha Paper Coordinator Faculty of Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, IGNOU, Delhi Subhamay Kisku Content Writer Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta Dr. Satwanti Kapoor (Retd Professor) Content Reviewer Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi 1 Tourism Anthropology Anthropology Description of Module Subject Name Anthropology Paper Name Applied Anthropology Module Name/Title Tourism Anthropology Module Id 12 Contents: Tourism is a form of Imperialism Themes of anthropology of tourism Necessity of anthropological study of tourism Approaches of anthropology of tourism Tourism as religion and ritual: is tourism a modern form of religion or pilgrimage? Tourism as Social Change: Does Tourism Damage Culture? Tourism as symbolism and mythology: can tourism offer ‘Paradise on earth’? Tourism in local-global relationships: will tourism bring development? Summary Learning Objectives: To learn about the subject matter of anthropology of tourism To learn about the theoretical origin of anthropology of tourism To learn about the themes of anthropology of tourism To learn about the issues of anthropology of tourism 2 Tourism Anthropology Anthropology Introduction Tourism is a rapidly growing industry in the world. It is ubiquitously present all over the world. With the improved communication system, this industry has got pace and this has made this industry profitable. Large numbers of people are being involved in this industry. This is a source of huge amount of revenue for any country. It gives the opportunity to interact between ‘hosts’ and ‘guests’ and it influences each other. As a result of tourism, cultures of both of these groups are being influenced by each other. So, anthropology has a strong relation with the study of tourism. The subject matter of anthropology and tourism are relevant to each other. This is the beginning how anthropology of tourism has been evolved. Anthropology The word ‘anthropology’ has been derived from two Greek words; anthropos (man or human) and logos (study). Anthropology is a scientific discipline that study humankind. It thinks that human being is composed of both biological and cultural components. They not only inherit biological qualities but also cultural qualities. Culture, that makes human unique in the animal kingdom. Anthropology deals with three basic aspects of human being, i.e. human origin, evolution and diversity. According to Haviland (1990) there are five key themes in Anthropology. These are the nature of culture, culture and survival, the formation of groups, the search for order and change and the future. Apart from there are applied aspect of anthropology where anthropological knowledge can be useful to solve the practical problems. Applied and practicing anthropologists put anthropological methods, information, and results to use, in efforts to solve practical problems (Ember, Ember and Peregrine, 2002:2). Not only that, earlier anthropologists mainly concentrate on local life, but anthropologists now study all kinds of societies and also because the methodological repertoire has become more varied (Erisen 2008). It has several branches like Biological Anthropology, Social Cultural Anthropology, Prehistoric Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology and Applied Anthropology. It is also consist of lots of other sub disciplines. Anthropology of tourism is one such sub discipline of Anthropology. 3 Tourism Anthropology Anthropology Key themes in cultural anthropology Source: after Haviland. 1990 Anthropology of Tourism If we look back to the history of mankind, we could find that human nature is to roam from one place to another. There are number of reasons that are responsible for which man arrange tour for a particular place. Tourism is now considered as for pleasure making. So, tourism can be defined as the ‘combination of multiple facts, which make this matter as a complex phenomenon and it means travelling to a place which is away from home staying there for a certain period of time’ (Smith 1989 and Przeclawski 1993:11). Through the process of tourism at least two cultural groups come in contact with each other. Therefore, tourism is a subject matter of anthropology. According to Burns and Holden (1995) anthropology and tourism have an obvious synergy. Both seek to identify and make sense of culture and human dynamics. Tourism is a global set of activities crossing many cultures, there is a need for deeper understanding of the consequences and interactions between the generating and receiving tourism societies. Anthropology has important contributions to offer to the study of tourism, especially through…basic ethnography…as well as the acculturation model and the awareness that tourism is only one element in culture change (Smith 1981:475). 4 Tourism Anthropology Anthropology Burns (1999: 67) has pointed out that the major themes of anthropology can be applied in the study of tourism. This may be possible like following ways. • Its characteristic comparative framework (studying a variety of phenomena in different locations in order to identify common trends); • A holistic approach (taking account of social, environmental and economic factors and the links between all three); (and) • Pursuit of deeper level analysis (i.e. what causes tourism). Nash (1981) pointed out that the cross cultural encounters and the consequential social transactions are the result of tourism ‘that provide the key to the anthropologic understanding of tourism’. According to Nash (1981) process of recognizing anthropology of tourism as a unique sub-discipline was not quite frictionless. Because earlier it was considered that tourism is the domain of economists, geographers or business managers. On the other hand anthropologists were reluctant to recognize themselves with tourists, as they consider themselves as expert in fieldwork. Not even this, anthropologists were not capable enough to understand the significance of social-cultural significance of tourism. Apart from this anthropologists were not interested on modern or post-modern phenomenon like tourism. Lastly, anthropologists were not considered tourism as a serious scholarly issue of study. Theoretical origin of anthropology of tourism The theoretical origin of anthropology of tourism was based on the ideas of some renowned social scientists like Emile Durkheim, Arnold Van Gennep and Victor Turner. Durkheim in his essay The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1915) has referred that society constantly creating sacred things among the ordinary things. In the process of creating sacred things rituals and religion have important roles. These rituals and religion provide society more social solidarity. Sacred is something which is above the real thing. Religious thoughts bring into a certain degree of intensified psychic conditions. Nelsion Graburn (Graburn, 1989:24) used the concept of ‘Durkheim’s notion of the sacred – the non- ordinary experience – and the profane’. Similarly Van Gannep (1960) theorized the transformation of the individuals during their life cycle and analyzed the rites of passage. He further put forwarded that rites of passage consist of three elements. These are separation, liminality and incorporation. 5 Tourism Anthropology Anthropology Separation is a ritual through which a person is separated from society and ‘ordinary’ life. Liminality is a period of isolation or seclusion after the period of separation. Incorporation is a period of re- integration into the society with a new social status. The rituals under rites of passage have the capability of strengthen the collective sentiments. From here Victor Turner (1967:30) developed the idea of transitions. According to him in social rituals, norms and values are ‘saturated’ with emotions. At the same time gross and basic emotions become ‘ennobled’ through the norms and values. There are certain behaviours which are not accepted in ‘normal’ life, but in special situation these behaviours accepted by the society. For instance drinking of alcohol is not accepted in Indian society. But in ceremonial time it is accepted to some extent. In case of a traveler, when he move out for travel trip he had to pass through series of rituals before leaving of home. This period may be considered as separation. When he roams in his trip this period is known as liminality. At the end of his trip when he returns back to his home and get involve in his daily life, this period is known as incorporation. Tourism may be considered as sacred. It is worshipped like totem as described by Durkheim. Tourism might be seen as totem of freedom. Thus worshipping of tourism is a symbol of social and economic freedom. Tourism is a form of Imperialism: Tourism is considered as an incursion of the urban culture into the rural culture. It has been damaging the rural culture wrought by the urban culture for the sake of tourism. Even this destruction process goes on unconsciously and unintentionally by the super-ordinate culture over sub-ordinate culture. According Nash (1989:37) there are several themes which have influenced the study of tourism from social science perspective. Following are the summaries of those themes (Burns 1999:74): Touristic development should not be analyzed without considering productive centres that are responsible for generating surplus to enable leisure tourism and
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