ANTH 328 Final 1a. I think there were quite a few themes brought up in this class, ranging from the very generalized to the hyperspecific and everything in between. One of the biggest themes I noticed was the adaptability of modern culture as it relates to the eyes of globalization and tourism. With the rise of modern technology, came the rise of rapid communication, which brought about globalization as we know it today. The instantaneous process of retrieving information in the current age is unparalleled in human history and cannot be overstated in the impact it’s had on how countries present themselves. Tourism is a service and the countries and regions within them are the companies that sell it. These “companies” strive to bring in as much income as possible and they lean into whatever foundations already exist to do it. The Maasai, a people that live in Kenya primarily, made use of the popular narrative surrounding their history. The proud Maasai warrior in his primitive attire is a tourist attraction because it’s allegedly authentic (Bruner). They’ve been marketed by their history for hundreds of years. Tourism in that way is a direct antithesis to globalization. Whether this is a positive or negative is debatable. By utilizing these notions they tie themselves to this preconceived idea of what their culture is. On the other hand they are making money off the ignorance of the descendants of the people who colonized their ancestors. Regardless of the morality (a sentence I don’t like typing) their modern economy is heavily influenced by tourism (Bee). A second theme I noticed during the course was a human desire for short term change and a strong dislike for long term systemic changes. The desire to go on vacation to break up the monotony of life is an understandable one, and perhaps more inclination that humans really weren’t designed for our past few millennia of non hunter gathering. Although seeing as even people who regularly travel for work go on destination vacations, perhaps the location is only a factor in said monotony. As Gmelch points out “The reasons people travel and where they decide to go are complex. While some people travel primarily for a change of scene or simply to find a place to relax, others seek out different people, places, and experiences.” The idea of traveling for different experiences is one that kept cropping up throughout this semester for me. Which makes some sense, intuitively to experience something new you go far away from the familiar. But the insistence that this be a physical change is interesting to me, perhaps because I’m from a modern generation where I can have two very different experiences in the exact same physical location depending on what app I’m using or video game I’m playing. Obviously I can appreciate the difference between a vacation and switching apps but I bring this point up more so to raise the question on why this is different for humans. A final theme I think I learned this semester is how effective relentless hoards of money is as a persuasion tactic. The tourism industry is vast and its cogs are everywhere even where they don’t seem to be. Enough advertising can put anything on the map. As Löfgren’s The Global Beach touches on, Hawaii was practically turned into a tourist destination by having money thrown at the cause until it forced itself into American culture. Add in the jet fuel (literally) of cheap flights and it became one of the most popular tourist destinations for Americans in the span of a few years. In 2021 65,312,274 visited Hawaii from America. I’ll admit this is a less revealing insight than my other two points but I was surprised about how much money can completely change a culture. There’s plenty of other points I could discuss but I’m not sure I could find as good of a plane pun for the rest to really fly off the page. 1b. Something I think I’ll take with me from this course is the impact of smaller interactions and the contexts surrounding certain situations impacting the way we view other people. Which is a pretty logical conclusion but I think I was able to examine it in a different light in this course. The chapters in Gmelch’s book on Tourist photography were illuminating on this topic specifically. The tourist gaze isn’t really one I’d considered in the sense that tourists would view things differently because of their cultural background. I mean not to say I disagreed with the idea that they would, just that I never thought about it. So I gained a new perspective from the course in that way. I think a huge impact this course will have for me in addition is my focus while I’m traveling. I’m going to be more aware of how I impact the world around me as a tourist. Cognisicant of aiding the local economy rather than giant corporations where possible to an even greater extent then I already do. It’s obviously hard for me to give specifics on how this last semester will impact my life in the long term but I know how it changed my current perspective. 1c. People should just stay put all the time, if they never left where they worked they would be more productive. Which would make more money for Corporation Incorporated Company. Ok but in a more realistic argument, removing the tourism industry would completely disrupt the economy in a lot of countries. That money would have to go somewhere else and a good place for it to go would be into creating a more sustainable world. A world that would preserve itself into something worth visiting in the future. That’s not to say there aren’t many amazing things to see today, but for every great tourist site there are more that used to exist that don’t anymore because of some form of human greed. Extra Credit 1. I think these images present a wide range of topics in tourism. From the extremely problematic (at least from the content shown) picture of women taking photos of the children up close. To the people on a beach, which we discussed in a work I mentioned earlier in these responses by Löfgren. The commodification of the tourism industry represented by the cowboy boots. The negative impacts of ecological tourism shown by the erosion sign. And I’ll be honest, I have absolutely zero clue what the sphinx sunglasses picture is supposed to represent. At least he looks happy. Extra Credit 2. My favorite reading was definitely the one on dark tourism. I think it’s a curious idea and it definitely applies to more than just tourism in its thinking. I don’t know exactly why it appealed to me but it’s definitely the one that sparked my interest the most. I think it’s because I enjoy dark tourism and I can’t really tell myself why, let alone figure out other’s reasoning. Works Cited Bee, Faustine K, et al. Challenges to Traditional Livelihoods and Newly Emerging Employment Patterns of Patoralists in Tanzania. International Labour Organization, 2002. Bruner, Edward M. “The Maasai and the Lion King: Authenticity, Nationalism, and Globalization in African Tourism.” American Ethnologist, vol. 28, no. 4, 2001, pp. 881–908. Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. “2021 Annual Visitor Research Report.” 2022. Gmelch, Sharon, and Adam R Kaul. Tourists and Tourism : A Reader. 3rd ed., Long Grove, Illinois, Waveland Press, Inc, 2018. Löfgren, Orvar. “The Global Beach.” On Holiday: A History of Vacationing, 1st ed., University of California Press, 1999, pp. 213–39. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pnmsw.11. Accessed 3 May 2023.
