An Introduction to Tourism and Anthropology

200 Pages·2005·4.71 MB·English

An Introduction to Tourism and
Anthropology
Tourism is more than a collection of business transactions, a
process, or set of impacts. It is a complex assortment of systems
that includes economic, built and natural environments,
ownership patterns, relationships between generating and
receiving countries, and the relationship between the locale in
which tourism takes place and the wider society.
An Introduction to Tourism and Anthropology explains how
anthropology is the window through which tourism dynamics
may be properly analysed and evaluated. Starting with an
overview of the development of anthropology as a social
science, the author moves on to examine:
• the definition and characteristics of tourism
(cid:127) definitions and typologies of tourists
(cid:127) tourism and culture
(cid:127) key themes and writers in the anthropology of tourism
(cid:127) issues in the anthropology of tourism
(cid:127) globalisation, tourism and anthropology
(cid:127) the relationship between development and
underdevelopment theories and the anthropology of tourism
Featuring a wealth of international examples, figures, key
ideas, guides for further reading and end of chapter questions,
this comprehensive book examines the important issues
surrounding tourism’s human impact and reveals that the
dynamic relationship between tourism and culture is not
necessarily a ‘bad thing’.
ii
Peter M.Burns is Head of Tourism and Leisure at the
University of Luton.
Front cover illustration
Land diving ceremony on the island of Pentecost (Vanuatu).
This complex ceremony has been performed by men and
boys of Pentecost island for hundreds of years. Its purpose has
been twofold. First, to prove manhood and to provide an
initiation focus for boys, and secondly, through the diver’s
head brushing the soil at the end of the jump, to symbolically
fertilise the earth for the next season’s yam crop. Tourism, and
the desire to generate cash income for village projects, has
given a third reason. Perhaps the dive now symbolically re-
fertilises next year’s crop of tourists.
Each diver selects their own vines, cuts them and binds the
end with damp leaves so that they will not dry out. The length
is decided according to where the person will dive from and
their weight. This has to be done very carefully as the desired
effect is to dive and just touch the earth with the head. The tower,
constructed out of branches and saplings, can be as tall as twenty
five metres. It symbolises the shape of a man, and the diving
platforms are placed strategically to coincide with ‘knees’,
‘waist’, ‘shoulders’ etc. The person who organises the practical
elements of the dive (the ceremonial aspects remain in the
hands of the chiefs) dives from the ‘head’ and the dive is
named after him. The dance is accompanied by chanting and
singing from the village women. This photograph was taken by
the author in May 1988, and was the first dive to be organised
jointly by the National Tourist Office of Vanuatu, Tour
Vanuatu (a tour operator owned by the government) and the
chiefs of southern Pentecost. The ceremony was conducted
entirely in accordance with tradition, although we found out
iv
later that some of the money was allegedly diverted to a local
politician and not the promised village project. The paradox
for any aspiring anthropologist would be trying to resolve the
extent to which this event was ‘authentic’. The tourists I talked
to on the trip back all thought the whole event was better than
their wildest expectations: for them (and me) there was no
doubt about the value of this amazing cultural experience.
An Introduction to
Tourism and
Anthropology
Peter M.Burns
London and New York
First published 1999 by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or
Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to
www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
© 1999 Peter M.Burns
The right of Peter M.Burns to be identified as the Author of this Work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Burns, Peter (Peter M.)
An introduction to tourism and anthropology/Peter M.Burns,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Anthropology. 2. Tourist trade. I. Title.
GN27.B95 1999
301–dc21 98–37417
ISBN 0-203-20151-5 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-26587-4 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-18626-9 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-18627-7 (pbk)
Contents
List of figures ix
List of tables xi
Preface xii
Acknowledgements xiv
PART I Anthropology, tourism and tourists 1
1 Anthropology 3
2 Tourism 21
3 Tourists 35
4 Culture 49
PART II Anthropology of tourism, globalisation and 63
development
5 The anthropology of tourism 65
6 Issues in the anthropology of tourism 87
Tourism as religion and ritual: is tourism a 90
modern form of religion or pilgrimage?
Tourism as social change: does tourism 94
damage culture?
Tourism as symbolism and mythology: can 103
tourism offer ‘paradise on earth’?
viii
7 Globalisation, tourism and hospitality 115
8 Charting development thinking 129
Special annex to Chapter 8: theoretical 142
perspectives on development
Notes 153
Bibliography 167
Index 177
Figures
1.1 Issues in mid nineteenth century Western society 6
1.2 Themes in early anthropology 10
1.3 Themes that unify cultural anthropology 12
1.4 Key themes in cultural anthropology 18
1.5 Elements of corporate culture 18
2.1 Primary elements of tourism 23
2.2 Tourism system (i) 24
2.3 Tourism system (ii) 24
2.4 Tourism system (iii) 25
2.5 Tourism system (iv) 25
3.1 Motivation: the forces which direct and underlie 37
behaviour
3.2 Psychological determinants of travel demand 38
3.3 Changing nature of tourism and its consumption 43
4.1 Components of culture 53
4.2 Tourism and culture 54
5.1 Anthropologists in denial! 68
5.2 The early social science roots of tourism 69
5.3 An anthropological view of a tourism system 75
5.4 Why anthropologists should study tourism 77
5.5 Social motivation and tourism consumption 83
6.1 Some broad themes in the anthropology of tourism 90
6.2 Pressures on host-guest relationships 96
6.3 Bi-polarities in tourism’s global-local relations 109
6.4 The PRESERVING approach for a better tourism 112
future
8.1 Sustainable Human Development model 137
8.2 Some key thoughts in development 138