Marija Anteri}, Richard Clarke: (British) anthropological tourism in Slovenia 1932-2007 (British) anthropological tourism in Slovenia 1932–2007 Marija Anteri} Centre for European Protected Area Research,
[email protected] Richard Clarke University of London,
[email protected] ABSTRACT For three quarters of a century, Central and Eastern Europe has been the target for British ‘anthropological’ area studies conducted by adult amateur as well as university groups, with Slovenia as a particular focus. Two earlier studies of Sol~avsko, in 1932 and 1970– 71 based on the Le Play Society’s analytical troika ‘Place, Work and Folk’ (which prefigured the normative ‘environment, economy and society’ of present-day sustainability discourse) have provided a historical background to recent (2004–07) joint Ljubljana-London univer- sity fieldwork in the area. The ethos of this early anthropological tourism emphasised mutuality (surveys were to be participatory, undertaken with rather than of local peoples) and diversity (the variety of ways that the relationships between environment, economy and society were manifest in different places). The ethos is perhaps best manifest in the elaboration of management strategies and governance structures for European protected landscapes (as exemplified by the proposed new Kamniško-Savinjske Alpe regional park). The issue of tourism and sustainability provides a link between past, present and future. KEYWORDS: Le Play Society, anthropological tourism, area studies, protected landscapes, Sol~avsko Introduction The following study of a Slovene community in an Alpine valley is, I believe, an honestly made brick for the palace we are rearing. (Sir Halford Mackinder in the Foreword of L.