Write a 1500-word essay that is properly structured, cited and documented, and is written in polished English. Make sure that you utilize concrete examples drawn from the assigned, recommended and/or other readings to support your case as set out in the question.
The offered topics share a similar intellectual task: first, choose a theoretical concept we have studied this semester (such as glocalisation, authenticity / tradition, soft vs. hard power, ethical IP, cultural appropriation, and so on). Then, we ask you to explore the concept using a grounded case study of your choice – for example, if you are interested in China, you can choose to place your discussion of soft vs. hard power in China. You could discuss issues in tourism in Thailand or in Bali; the cultural appropriation of rap music in Indonesia; or the vanishing traditions of rural Japan. Whichever path you take, each topic will require an introduction that defines key terms; the presentation of a case study; a discussionconnecting the case study to the theoretical concepts in a nuanced way; and a conclusion.
1) Can a tourist experience be a truly ‘authentic’ experience? If so, what makes for an authentic tourist experience? Or, what prevents tourists from experiencing authenticity? Make sure to
· Draw on the assigned and other readings to provide a reflective account of the problems of authenticity in the contemporary ‘hyper-mediated’ era.
· Construct your paper around a single case study (an established tourist site) that supports your position.
· Related concepts: tradition and identity, structure and agency, intersectionality of race and class.
· helpful hint: like the topic above, choose your tourist site based on the availability of quality information (academic as well as popular media sources).
READINGS:
Mackie, Vera. 2000. “The Metropolitan Gaze: Travellers, Bodies and Spaces”, Intersections, vol. 4. http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue4/vera.html
Hendry, Joy. (2000). ‘Foreign Country Theme Parks: A New Theme or an Old Japanese Pattern?’, Social Science Journal Japan, 3(2):207-220.
Hendry is a British anthropologist who looks at the possibility of creating foreignness within domesticity as leisure in Japan.
Hiwasaki, L. (2000). ‘Ethnic Tourism in Hokkaido and the Shaping of Ainu Identity’, Pacific Affairs, 73(3):393-412.
This article on ethnic tourism is mentioned in the lecture.
Larsen, Jonas (2014) ‘The Tourist Gaze 1.0, 2.0, 3.0’ from the Wiley Companion to Tourism
This is an interesting updated read after understanding Urry’s take on tourism.
Urry, John. 2002. The Tourist Gaze. London: Sage, pp. 1-15.
John Urry is a British sociologist who has written extensively about travel and mobility in postmodern society. This book was originally published in 1990 and it had a great impact on the way scholars viewed tourism as an intellectual topic.
Yamashita, Shinji. (2003). “Space and Time Under the Tourist Gaze” in Bali and Beyond: Explorations in the Anthropology of Tourism, New York and Oxford, 13-22.