Culture on Tour: Ethnographies of TravelRecruited to be a lecturer on a group tour of Indonesia, Edward M. Bruner decided to make the tourists aware of tourism itself. He photographed tourists photographing Indonesians, asking the group how they felt having their pictures taken without their permission. After a dance performance, Bruner explained to the group that the exhibition was not traditional, but instead had been set up specifically for tourists. His efforts to induce reflexivity led to conflict with the tour company, which wanted the displays to be viewed as replicas of culture and to remain unexamined. Although Bruner was eventually fired, the experience became part of a sustained exploration of tourist performances, narratives, and practices. Synthesizing more than twenty years of research in cultural tourism, Culture on Tour analyzes a remarkable variety of tourist productions, ranging from safari excursions in Kenya and dance dramas in Bali to an Abraham Lincoln heritage site in Illinois. Bruner examines each site in all its particularity, taking account of global and local factors, as well as the multiple perspectives of the various actors—the tourists, the producers, the locals, and even the anthropologist himself. The collection will be essential to those in the field as well as to readers interested in globalization and travel. |
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1990s New Salem Abraham Lincoln African Americans agency anthropology asked audience authenticity Bali Balinese barong Baudrillard become Bomas of Kenya British brochure Bruner Cape Coast ceremonial chapter colonial constructed context culture dance dialogic narration diaspora discourse display dungeons Elmina Castle ethnic groups ethnic theme parks ethnographic European experience festival fieldwork foreign tourists Geertz Ghana Ghanaians Handler heritage Illinois Indonesia interpreters Jane Javanese Kichwa Kichwa Tembo Kikuyu Kirshenblatt-Gimblett lawn living located Maasai MacCannell manyatta Masada Masada story Mayers Ranch meaning museum professionals Nairobi narrative North Sumatra object original person perspective photographs political postmodern present produced Ramayana reconstructed ritual Salem Samburu sense slave social Sumatra Sundowner Taman Mini tell tion Toba Batak told tour group tour guide tourist attractions tourist performance tourist production touristic borderzone tourists traditional tribal trip University urban village visitors warriors Western writes Xishuangbanna