ANTHROPOLOGY OF ECOTOURISM AND HERITAGE CONSERVATION
ANT 495c/533
COURSE SYLLABUS
3:00-3:50 MWF, WN110
Instructor: Tim Wallace
Telephone: 919-515-9025 (o); 919-815-6388 (c)
Office: 120 Winston Hall
Office Hours: call for appointment
Box 8107, Raleigh, NC 27695-8107
Fax No. 919-513-0866
Email: tmwallace@mindspring.com
Web Page: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~twallace
Secretary: Bruce Cheek
Secretary Telephone: 919-515-2491
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
Anthropology is a key discipline for understanding the development of both ecotourism and cultural tourism. Both are seen by tourists and many environmentalists and cultural resource managers as critical strategies for the preservation and conservation of unique environmental and cultural features. The issues and problems underlying the conservation of irreplaceable natural resources and distinctive artifacts, historical settings and cultural practices are quite similar and often overlap. In this course students will be exposed to and analyze the world views, concepts, ethics, laws and preservation techniques of conservationists, local and indigenous communities, tour operators, museum specialists, and applied anthropologists as they apply to key natural and cultural resources. The course draws upon a wide range of theories, methods and case studies to understand how culture and conservation interact in the conceptual and situational contexts of environment and/or heritage. Finally, it is important to realize that what we are embarking on is a journey of discovery, and that the most important aspect of the course is the journey itself. In the journey we will discover interesting ideas, concepts, thoughts and frameworks to better understand the complexities of the forest of symbols within the world in which we find ourselves. There are few answers, but there will be many questions. The certitude that leaves the mouths of politicians about the world will not be found here, but we will find useful ideas that will help us understand a bit better what and who we are in relationship to our heritage and our environment.
Objectives
Upon completion of this course, students will:
1. Identify the domains of environment, place, heritage and ecotourism and outline the history of environmental and cultural tourism;
2. Explain how race, nationalism and ethnicity affect the concept of environment and heritage;
3. Explain the political origins for the globalized meaning of environmental and heritage conservation;
4. Identify the environmental impacts of ecotourism;
5. Outline the conservation management models and their effects on indigenous peoples;
6. Outline the distinctive world views on conservation that exist among environmentalists, conservationists and local indigenous peoples; and,
7. Identify and apply current heritage and environmental management techniques and practices through examination of case studies and formulate situations and practices in which applied anthropologists and archaeologists can assist local communities in the design of culturally appropriate representations and/or tours of unique environmental or heritage sites.
Principal Texts
Edward M. Bruner. Culture on Tour: Ethnographies of Travel. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2004. $19
Erve Chambers. Heritage Matters: Heritage, Culture, History and Chesapeake Bay. College Park, MD: Maryland Sea Grant, 2006, $10.
Jim Igoe, Conservation and Globalization: A Study of National Parks and Indigenous Communities from East Africa to South Dakota. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004. $27
Candace Slater, ed. In Search of the Rainforest. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003. $24
Course Outline and Readings
Weeks 1 and 2
I. Introduction to the course and the Anthropologies of Tourism and Conservation
A. What the course is about
B. The development of the interplay between tourism, environment, heritage and conservation
C. Tourism as an industry
D. Tourism and political economy
E. Anthropologists as tourists and tourists as anthropologists
F. Readings:
1. Dennison Nash, Anthropology of Tourism, ch. 1
2. Wall, Is Ecotourism Sustainable?
3. Bruner, “The Balinese Borderzone” (ch. 7)
4. Igoe, Ch. 1
5. Alina Tănăsescu, Tourism, Nationalism and Post-Communist Romania: The Life and Death of Dracula Park
6. Wallace, Introduction to "Tourism and Applied Anthropologists" (optional) NAPA Bulletin #23
Week 3
II. Defining environment and sustainability within the tourism context
A. What is nature?
1. Concept of “wilderness” and related terms- “wild”, “savage”, etc.
2. Location of “wilderness within culture-specific world views
3. The rainforest as a contemporary icon of “wild” nature
B. Environmentality: Government and the theater of environmental controls
C. Environmental and Cultural Impacts of Tourism
D. Readings:
1. Ingles, "More Than Nature" (NAPA Bulletin No. 23, Anthrosource)
2. Slater, ch. 1 (pp.3-40) (In Search of the Rainforest)
3. Mowforth and Munt, ch. 4, (Tourism and Sustainability)
4. James C. Clad, "Conservation and Indigenous Peoples: A Study of Convergent Interests." in National Parks and Resident Peoples, P. C. West and S. Brechin, eds. Tucson: University of Arizona P., 1985.
Week 4
III. Place, identity and sacred heritage
A. The culture-specific meaning of “heritage”
1. Identity and heritage
2. Place and meaning
B. Brief review of types of heritage tourism
1. Cultural tourism
2. Ethnic tourism
3. Historical tourism
C. Readings:
1. Chambers, Heritage Matters, all
2. W. M. Bryan, Appropriate Cultural Tourism _ Can it Exist? Three Arizona Case Studies. In The Culture of Tourism, the tourism of Culture: Selling the Past to the Present in the American Southwest. H.K.Rothman, ed. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2003,140-163.
3. Tim Edensor, Sensing Tourist Spaces. In Travels in Paradox: Remapping Tourism. Edited by Claudio Minca and Tim Oates. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2006: 23-45
4. E. M. Bruner, "Abraham Lincoln as Authentic Reproduction," Ch. 5.
Week 5
IV. Ecotourism and heritage tourism in historical perspective
A. Pilgrimages and Venice
B. The Grand Tour
C. Landscapes collection and tourists
D. “Phileas Fogg” type of cultural heritage tourist versus the “Robinson Crusoe” environmental heritage tourist
E. Ecotourism and gender
F. The concept of “Wilderness”
G. The idea of national parks as exclusion zones
H. Readings:
1. Bruner, Introduction: Travel Stories, Told and Re-told
2. Davis & Martin, Venice, the Tourist Maze, Intro and Chapter 1, City Built on the Sea
3. Davis & Martin, Venice, the Tourist Maze, ch. 2, Trumpets and Strumpets
4. Igoe, ch. 3, Fortress Conservation: A Social History of National Parks
5. Bruner, ch. 6, Dialogic Narration and the Paradoxes of Masada
Week 6
V. Museums/festivals/guided tours/archaeological sites as focus of heritage representation
A. Contested narratives and control of heritage sites
B. Archaeologists: research/conservation/protection
C. Ethnicity and identity through tourism
D. Commodification and authenticity
E. Festivals and performances in establishing and maintaining heritage
F. Readings:
1. Bruner, ch. 1, Maasai on the Lawn
2. Bruner, ch. 2, The Maasai and the Lion King
3. Davydd J Greenwood, Culture by the Pound
4. Davis and Martin, Venice, the Tourist Maze, ch. 9, Ships and Fools
5. Cameron Walker, Archaeological Tourism: Mayan Riviera
6. National Geographic. com Machu Picchu, Peru, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/04/0415_020415_machu.html
7. Carol McDavid, "From 'Traditional' Archaeology to Public Archaeology to Community Action," in Places in Mind: Public Archaeology as Applied Anthropology. P.A. Shackel & E. J. Chambers, eds. NY: Routledge, 2004, 35-56.
Week 7
VI. Animal encounters, ecotourism and conservation
A. Zoos and circuses
B. Animals as ambassadors for conservation
C. Sea World: dolphins and Whales
D. Marine protected areas
E. Wildlife conservation organizations and ecotourism
F. Readings:
1. Chilla Bulbeck, Facing the Wild. London: Earthscan, 2005, Animals as Ambassadors for Conservation (Ch. 2)
2. Slater, Bio-Ironies of Fractured Forest: India's Tiger Reserves (Greenough), pp. 167-04
3. Martha Honey, Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise? Washington, DC: Island Press, 1999, ch. 7 Galapagos and Tourism
4. J. Desmond, Staging Tourism: Bodies on Display from Waikiki to Sea World, Ch. 9 (Performing Nature: Shamu at Sea World)
Weeks 8 and 9
VII. “Fortress conservation” and indigenous peoples: The consequences of the National Park Movement
A. Clashing conservation models
1. Native models of conservation and stewardship
2. National parks
B. Native peoples, conservation and the politics of exclusion
C. Case studies:
1. Exclusionary model: Maasai - Tanzania
2. The US National Park Service and Western indigenous peoples
3. Indigenous people as endangered species: Amazonia and Xingu National Park
4. Co-management models: Alaska, Australia and Nepal
5. Ownership - Puerto Maldonado, Peru
D. Readings:
1. Igoe, ch. 2 (Clash of Conservation Models),
2. Igoe, ch. 4 (Maasai NGO Movement)
3. Igoe, ch. 5 (National Parks and Indigenous Communities)
4. Stronza (Peru), NAPA Bulletin No. 23 (ER)
5 Slater, Weapons of the Wild (Nancy Peluso), pp. 204-245.
Week 10
VIII. The problem of authenticity
A. Definitions
B. Staged authenticity
C. Art, artists and authenticity
D. Native art and ownership
E. Readings:
1. Cohen, “Authenticity: Natural and Contrived”
2. Steiner, “African art and authenticity”
3. Slater, Fire in El Dorado, or Images of Tropical Nature...(Slater), pp. 41-68
4. West and Carrier, “Ecotourism and Authenticity”
5. Pauliina Raento and Steven Flusty, "Three Trips to Italy: Deconstructing the New Las Vegas," in Travels in Paradox: Remapping Tourism. Edited by Claudio Minca and Tim Oates, Lanham, UK: Rowman and Littlefield, 97-124.
Week 11
IX. Race and heritage; heritage and nationalism
A. Native American struggles for control over symbols
B. African Americans and who controls and manages history
C. Touristic representations of minorities in multi-ethnic societies
D. Readings:
1. Brown, “Native Heritage in the Iron Cage"
2. Bruner, ch. 3, Return of the Black Diaspora: Tourism in Ghana
3. Harrington, http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/afrburial/
4. Crist and Roberts, http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/19-10/19-10-2.pdf
5. Slater, The Voice of Ix Chel: Fashioning Maya Tradition... (Green, pp. 101-132)
Week 12
X. The politics of environmentalist management practices
A. World nature and wildlife NGO’s - setting the agenda
B. First World privilege and environmentalist control
C. The scientific foundations of environmentalist control of ecological “protection”
D. Archaeological reconstructions and the road to ruin
E. Readings:
1. Mac C. Chapin, “Challenge to Conservationists” http://www.worldwatch.org/node/565
2. Susan C. Stonich, NAPA Bulletin 23
3. T.Wallace and D. Diamente, NAPA Bulletin 23
4. Janice Harper, Endangered Species: Life & Death among Madagascar's People of the Forest, [PART1], [PART2] Durham, NC: Carolina Academic P., 2002, selected pages
5. Slater, "Subterranean Techniques: Ecuador and Oil" (Sawyer), pp. 69-100.
Week 13
XI. Public archaeology, heritage management and applied anthropology
A. NAGPRA and its consequences
B. Museums and participatory research and representations
C. Heritage development through archaeological projects
D. Indians and the gaming industry
E. Readings:
1. Louise Lamphere, The Convergence of Applied, Practicing and Public Anthropology in the 21st Century, Human Organization, 63(4), 2004:431-443.
2. G. Ellis Burcaw, Introduction to Museum Work, Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira P., 1997, ch. 18
3. Michal T. Lucas, "Applied Archaeology and the Construction of Place at Mt. Calvert, Prince George's County, Md.," in Places in Mind: Public Archaeology as Applied Anthropology. P.A. Shackel & E. J. Chambers, eds. NY: Routledge, 2004, 119-134
4. John J. Bodinger de Uriarte, “Imagining the Nation with House Odds: Representing American Indian Identity at Mashantucket”
Weeks 14 and 15
XII. Rethinking and redesigning “green” ecotourism and heritage development
A. The problem of all-inclusive resorts
B. Understanding resort development planning
C. Empowerment in local communities to plan sustainable strategies
D. Standards and enforcements issues for “eco” development
E. Environmental impact assessments
F. Participatory action development in ecotourism planning
G. Readings:
1. David Harrison, Cocoa, Conservation and Tourism: Grande Riviere, Trinidad, Annals of Tourism Research, 34,(4):919-942, 2007 .
2. William T. Hipwell, Taiwan Aboriginal Tourism: Tanayiku Natural Ecology Park. Annals of Tourism Research, 34(4):896-897, 2007.
3. Tilman Freitag, “For Whom the Benefits Roll (Dominican Republic)” Annals of Tourism Research, 1994.
4. David Griffith, “Writing the Coast,” (from David Griffith, The Estuary’s Gift, ch. 7)
5. Diana D. Wall, et al., "The Seneca Village Project: Working with Communities in Creating the Past," in Places in Mind: Public Archaeology as Applied Anthropology. P.A. Shackel & E. J. Chambers, eds. NY: Routledge, 2004, 101-118.
6. Jeffery H. Cohen, The Shan-Dany Museum: Community, Economics and Cultural Traditions in a Rural Mexican Village, Human Organization, 60(3), 2001:272-280.
7. Brent Berlin and Elois Ann Berlin, Community Autonomy and the Maya ICBG Project in Chiapas, Mexico: How a Bioprospecting Project that Should Have Succeeded Failed, Human Organization, 63(4): 472-486.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
ANT495c Requirement Percent of Grade Due Date Participation and Presentations 10% throughout the semester Term Paper 25% December 3 Heritage site report 15% November 1 Mid-Term Exam 25% October 19 Final Exam 25% December 14
1. Classroom participation, attendance and class presentations (10%): Participation includes attendance. It is a given that you will volunteer your participation in classroom discussions and contribute ideas about readings and classroom presentations. In addition, each student will be expected to present in class at least one or two of the course readings and provide a brief summary of the reading to be shared with classmates. Attendance will be noted each class day. Classroom discussion means that you must come to class and answer questions when called upon and participate in group discussions and do your assignments. For undergraduate students, if you miss more than 2 classes, your final grade for participation will suffer (5% off of your participation grade for each subsequent class missed.) Graduate students are expected to attend all problem sections, and if you miss more than one, you will lose 20% of your participation/attendance grade for each subsequent missed class. University policy on class attendance is clear and you may check it by going to the following URL: http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/courses_undergrad/REG02.20.3.php. So, please keep me informed if you must miss a class! You can also use my e-mail address (tim_wallace@ncsu.edu) (919-781-8655 - home phone; 919-515-9025 - office; 919-815-6388) to contact me about emergencies.
2. Term Paper 25%. Each student will have to write a term paper on a topic of her/his choosing. Some topics are suggested below. Each paper must be at least 10-15 double-spaced pages in length, follow American Anthropological Association bibliographic citation norms, and turned in prior to the second-to-last week of class. Topics must be cleared with the professor first.
Some possible term paper topics are:
Cultural creation of heritage places and identity
The concepts of public and private heritage and how they affect cultural identity
Stakeholders: Who owns the past?
Globalism and the politics of World Heritage sites
Ecological and environmental perspectives
Contested landscapes: the politics of heritage
Preservation, conservation, stewardship
Ecotourism, access and control
Reconstruction, preservation and control over archaeological and heritage sites
The ethics of “heritage development”
Documenting place digitally and non-digitally
Re-presentation of Cultural Heritage: interpretive centers, publication, museums, virtual heritage
Displacement of mobile and indigenous peoples to preserve or create sustainable environmental resources
Sustainability and ecotourism development
Marine protected areas: their development, management and control
3. Visit a local heritage site and write a brief description (15%) of the locale and a reflective narrative on the meaning of the site for both the community who constructed it, the intended audience(s) and your own perspective of its meaning to you. Examples of local sites are: Old Salem, NC Museum of History, Stagville Plantation. Farther afield are places such as Beaufort, NC, and Williamsburg, VA. Please clear the location with the instructor prior to visiting.
4. Mid-Term Exam (25%): October 19
5. Final Exam (25%): December 14, 1PM
GRADUATE STUDENTS ONLY: Graduate students will be expected to write a ten page critical assessment of two ethnographies focusing on environment and heritage in consultation with the professor. Guidelines for the assessments will be distributed in class. The assessment is worth 10% of the final course grade. Graduate students will attend and participate in a weekly, one-hour, discussion session about the course readings, to be scheduled at a convenient time. Students will prepare two written questions for each discussion to be turned in at the start of the meeting. Each student will lead at least one discussion session during the seminar.
Requirements for graduate students are summarized below:
1. 10%-- Assessments of ethnographies
2. 5% -- Problem section and class leadership and participation
3. 15%-- Heritage site visit report and narrative
4. 25%-- Term Paper (must be minimum of 15 pp.)
5. 20%-- Mid-Term
6. 25%-- Final Exam
ANT533 Requirement Percent of Grade Due Date Participation, class leadership and class presentations 5% throughout the semester Term Paper 25% December 3 Ethnographies assessment 15% October 5 Heritage site report 15% November 1 Mid-Term Exam 20% October 19 Final Exam 20% December 14
Grading Scale: A+ = 97-100; A=96-93; A-=92-90; B+= 89-87; B=86-83; B-=82-80; C+=79-77; C=76-73; C-=72-70; D+=69-67; D=66-63; D-=62-60; F= <60
Other Important Information
Exams and missed tests: The mid-term and final exams are essay. If you miss a test due to an excused absence, you will be given the opportunity to take a make-up test at a mutually convenient time. There will be no make-ups for unexcused absences. Extra credit activities will be suggested from time to time.
Incompletes: Incompletes will only be given if the student meets the university requirements outlined in the following document: http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/pols_regs/REG205.00.13.php
In rare cases, a grade of In(complete) can be given due to an extended, excused absence or special problem. These must be mutually agreed to in advance with the student providing a schedule for completing the missed work.
End of Course Evaluations:
Online class evaluations will be available for students to complete during the last two weeks of class (November 26-December 9). Students will receive an email message directing them to a website where they can login using their Unity ID and complete evaluations. All evaluations are confidential; instructors will never know how any one student responded to any question, and students will never know the ratings for any particular instructors.Evaluation website: https://classeval.ncsu.eduStudent help desk: classeval@ncsu.eduMore information about ClassEval: http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/UPA/classeval/index.htm
Academic Integrity Statement: Cheating will not be tolerated. Any form of cheating results in an automatic "F" for the test/assignment/homework with which it is connected. Violations of academic integrity could even result in an F for the course. For a clear statement of NCSU’s Academic Integrity policy, please visit this website: http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/student_services/student_discipline/POL11.35.1.php
Violations of the Student Honor Code will be reported to the appropriate person in your department/College (advisor, Dean, etc.). Pay particular attention to assignments that require word processing. Everything turned in should be individual work. NCSU has a policy on academic integrity found in the Code of Student Conduct and you should consult it. Note that this policy includes an Honor Pledge. This means that on tests and other individual student assignments that the teacher expects that the student understands that she or he neither gave nor received unauthorized aid.
Students with Disabilities: In accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 ("Rehab Act"), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ("ADA"), and state law, North Carolina State University (hereinafter NC State) is required to accommodate an otherwise qualified individual with a disability by making a reasonable modification in its services, programs, or activities. This regulation addresses the eligibility of students for academic accommodations in educational programs, services, and activities at NC State, as well as the provision of such accommodations to students with various types of disabilities. Students desiring special assistance because of any permanent or temporary disability may be eligible for these services. See: http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/courses_undergrad/REG02.20.1.php Contact Disability Services for Students at 513-7653, and consult the website: http://www.ncsu.edu/provost/offices/affirm_action/dss/.
Harassment: The role of all employees and students is to create and maintain a supportive and harassment-free working environment for all members of the campus community. All faculty, staff and students are responsible for understanding and complying with harassment policies: these policies can be viewed at: http://www.ncsu.edu/equal_op. Also, all faculty, staff and students are responsible for knowing where to obtain assistance for resolving concerns. Members of the campus community are encouraged and should feel free to seek assistance, information, and guidance from their department head, supervisor, the Office for Equal Opportunity (513-1234), Human Resources (515-4300) or the Office for Student Conduct (515-2963).
Additional Reference Bibliography
Simone Abram, Jacqueline Waldren and Donald V.L. Macleod, eds. Tourists and Tourism: Identifying with People and Places. New York: Berg, 1997.
David G. Anderson and Eva Berglund, eds. Ethnographies of Conservation: Environmentalism and the Distribution of Privilege. New York: Berghahn, 2004.
Michael F. Brown. Who Owns Native Culture?” Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003.
Erve Chambers. Heritage Matters: Heritage, Culture, History and Chesapeake Bay. College Park, MD: Maryland Sea Grant, 2006, $9.95.
Clare A. Gunn. Western Tourism: Can Paradise Be Reclaimed? New York, Cognizant Communications, Corp., 2004.
Alison M. Johnston. Is the Sacred for Sale: Tourism and Indigenous Peoples. London: Earthscan, 2006.
Deborah McLaren. Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel, 2ed., West Hartford, CN: Kumarian Press, 2003, $23.95.
Martin Mowforth and Ian Munt. Tourism and Sustainability: New Tourism in the Third World. London: Routledge,1998.
David Picard and Mike Robinson, eds. Festivals, Tourism and Social Change: Remaking Worlds. Buffalo: Channel View Publications, 2006.
Donald G. Reid. Tourism, Globalization and Development: Responsible Tourism Planning. London: Pluto Press, 2003.
Diane Russell and Camilla Harshberger. Groundwork for Community-Based Conservation. Walnut Creek, CA: AtlaMira Press, 2003.
Paul Shackel and Erve Chambers, eds. Places in Mind: Public Archaeology and Applied Anthropology. London: Routledge, 2004.
Christopher B. Steiner. African Art in Transit. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Susan C. Stonich. The Other Side of Paradise: Tourism, Conservation and Development in the Bay Islands. New York, Cognizant Communications Corp., 2000.
Luis A. Vivanco. Green Encounters: Shaping and Contesting Environmentalism in Rural Costa Rica. New York: Berghahn Books, 2006.