Tourism Anthropology

Dear Colleagues,

The two main intersecting subjects for discussion in this Special Issue are disciplinarity and regional anthropologies. What is special about tourism anthropology and how does it overlap with other disciplines, and what are the special features of the geographically and politically different world regions as they practice tourism anthropology? The Guest Editors all have experience in these topics, and other contributors could consult these sources: disciplinarity[1–3]; regional versus global approaches [4,5].

The key questions devolve from the historical and contemporary socio-political contexts of the development and foci of national and regional concerns with tourism. For instance, the European and global development of anthropology was worldwide, but focused at first on the “non-Western” peoples, often in “underdeveloped” (the “Third World”) and colonized (“Fourth World”) contexts. Therefore, the growth of tourism anthropology has focused mainly [6] on the development and impacts of tourism in non-metropolitan places and the neo-imperial relationships between the tourists and the host destinations [6,7]. Recent anthropological and related research still tends to focus on inequalities, but with the added dimensions of socio-political critiques and active searches for solutions is emerging as critical tourism anthropology, heavily influenced by multidisciplinary cultural studies [8]. Though France had a similar (post)colonial position regarding tourism development, more focus was given to the French nation itself, probably because of its world leadership as a tourism destination, and the prime discipline for this research was geography [9]. Central and Eastern European tourism anthropology is contextualized by the historical domination of Russia and the invasions of Germany [10].

Historically, (social) anthropology in China is overwhelmingly ethnology, whereas folklore and sociology mainly focus on the majority Han society [11]. Consequently, the rise of tourism anthropology in China is almost entirely limited to looking at the majority Han visiting ethnic minority communities, promoted by governmental policies of economic development and unification of political consciousness [12]. Another uniquely Chinese focus is on Red tourism, memorializing the rise of Communism and the Long March [13].

We therefore invite contributions from authors who use research cases to illustrate and explain the topical and methodological limits and overlaps of tourism anthropology, and the topical focus of the researcher(s) in the particular national or regional academic tradition. While tourism anthropology is an ever-expanding field, we may pay attention to the stronger and newer developments across the world. However, we must also consider interdisciplinarity and the end goals of tourism anthropology.

Suggested Topics:

• Climate change and sustainability;
• Critical tourism anthropology;
• Media, virtuality and netnography;
• Staging, heritage and the (re-)emergence of “authenticity;
• Trans/regional tourism;
• Post-COVID-19 tourism.

References

1. Gravari-Barbas, M.; Graburn, N.H.H. Tourism imaginaries at the disciplinary crossroads : place, practice, media; Ashgate: Burlington, VT, 2016; pp. pages cm.
2. Leite, N.; Swain, M. Anthropology of Tourism. 2015.
3. Tribe, J. Indisciplined and unsubstantiated. Annals of Tourism Research 2000, 27, 809-813.
4. Salazar, N. Conceptual histories of “tourism”: A transcultural dialogue (Invited plenary speaker). In Proceedings of 18th IUAES World Congress, Date: 2018/07/16-2018/07/20, Location: Florianópolis, Brazil.
5. Banaszkiewicz, M.; Graburn, N.; Owsianowska, S. Tourism in (post) socialist Eastern Europe. Taylor & Francis: 2017; Vol. 15, pp 109-121.
6. Smith, V.L. Hosts and guests: The anthropology of tourism; University of Pennsylvania Press: 2012.
7. Daher, R.F. Tourism in the Middle East: Continuity, change and transformation; Multilingual Matters: 2006.
8. Jamal, T. Justice and ethics in tourism; Routledge: 2019.
9. Stock, M. Progress in French Tourism Geographies; Springer: 2021.
10. Graburn, N. Inside and Outside the Anglophone Snake. Anthropology of tourism in Central and Eastern Europe: Bridging worlds 2018, 27.
11. Graburn, N; Jin, L. The Rise of Chinese Tourism Anthropology. Qinghai Journal of Ethnology 2011, 22, 1-11.
12. Graburn, N. Ethnic tourism in rural China: cultural or economic development? Ethnic and Minority Cultures as Tourist Attractions, Channel View Publications 2015, 176-187.
13. Ruiguang, Z. Red tourism, memorializing the rise of Communism and the Long March. Tourism Science 2008, 22, 1-6.

Prof. Dr. Nelson H. Graburn
Dr. Magdalena Banaszkiewicz
Dr. Lusha Sa
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Tourism and Hospitality is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.