Abstract

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.

It is always a pleasure to review a tourism text written or edited by anthropologists, as it is inevitably fascinating and deals with some of the most poignant issues in tourism studies. The work also tends to be thoroughly researched and well-written. This book is no exception and provides a very enjoyable but challenging read, as it deals with some difficult and disturbing issues relating to the subject of power.

This rich volume of case studies will be of use to those interested in the study of tourism as well as social and cultural anthropology. It will likely be of most benefit as a reference text to specialist researchers and in advanced undergraduate and postgraduate teaching...Tourism, Power and Culture: Anthropological Insights is a valuable contribution to the expanding knowledge base concerning issues of power as they intertwine with tourism, and with its addition of culture as a level of analysis, it should be well received.

Donald Macleod trained in anthropology at Oxford University and is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Glasgow where he has run two research centres. He has researched in the Caribbean, the Canary Islands and Scotland, and published widely on tourism impacts, cultural change, globalisation, identity, sustainable tourism development and heritage. His books include Tourism, Globalisation and Cultural Change (2004), Niche Tourism In Question (2003 - editor), Tourists and Tourism (1997 - co-editor).

James G. Carrier began studying tourism, environmental conservation and economy in Jamaica and the Caribbean in the middle of the 1990s. He has supervised or co-supervised projects dealing with these topics in Montego Bay, Negril and Port Antonio, all in Jamaica. He is currently Senior Research Associate at Oxford Brookes University, and Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at the University of Indiana.

This book is something of a landmark in the tourism literature by strengthening the sometimes tenuous links between tourism and anthropology through a series of fascinating cases. It focuses on issues of power but also demonstrates the power of fieldwork in getting nuanced responses to the sometimes fractious relationships between hosts and guests.