Tourism, Power and Culture

This groundbreaking book examines the relationship between power, culture and tourism in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Australia and South East Asia. It illustrates how culture shapes tourism development, is commodified, and becomes a tool in political and economic strategies and struggles.

Tourism as an experience and an industry is infused by culture in its various dimensions, and influenced throughout by relationships of power; this is particularly apparent at the destination site. Anthropological investigations give rich insights into power and culture through ethnographic fieldwork, comparative analysis and theoretical explanation. Within this timely and groundbreaking book case studies come from Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Australia and South East Asia. It is divided into two sections dealing with tourism and the power struggle for resources; and tourism and culture: presentation, promotion and the manipulation of image. Chapters explore issues as diverse as terrorism, ethnicity and World Heritage Sites, and the role of the analysis of power in tourism studies. They illustrate how culture shapes tourism development, is commodified, and becomes a tool in political and economic strategies and struggles.

1. Tourism, Power and Culture: Insights from Anthropology - Donald Macleod and James G. Carrier

Part I Tourism and the Power Struggle for Resources - Donald Macleod

2. Water Sports: A Tug-of War over the River - Veronica Strang

3. Heritage and Tourism: Contested Discourses in Djenne, a World Heritage Site in Mali - Charlotte Joy

4. Power, Culture and the Production of Heritage - Donald Macleod

5. Cultural Perspectives on Tourism and Terrorism - Michael Hitchcock and I Nyoman Darma Putra

Part II Tourism and Culture: Presentation, Promotion and the Manipulation of Image - James G. Carrier

6. Tourism in the Political Economy of Indigeneity: The Case of Embera Cultural Presentations in Panama - Dimitrios Theodossopoulos

7. On ‘Black Culture’ and ‘Black Bodies’: State Discourses, Tourism and Public Policies in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil - Elena Calvo-Gonzalez and Luciana Duccini

8. Tourism and the Making of Ethnic Citizenship in Belize - J. Teresa Holmes

9. Tourism and its Others: Tourists, Traders and Fishers in Jamaica - Gunilla Sommer and James G. Carrier

Epilogue

10. Power in Tourism: Tourism in Power - C. Michael Hall