The Relevance of Anthropology
The Relevance of Anthropology
The Relevance of Anthropology
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Already Wells (1903) claimed that anthropology can be compared to a great region, which has
been perceived as unique indeed as within the sphere of influence of science, but unsettled
and un-subdued. He further adds, that all such basal sciences, anthropology is a favoured
environment for adventurers. Over the past century, anthropology has become a discussed
science and its importance and relevance has been frequently questioned (Hoye, 2006;
Korstanje, 2010). As tourism is generally perceived as the largest industry in the world, this
question of relevancy can be applied. The aim of this paper is therefore to discuss the extent
of relevancy of anthropology to the business of tourism and adventure. This will be done
through a thorough analysis of definitions and particular travel and tourism industry examples
of each. First of all, anthropology as science will be defined, with focus on society and
examined, specifically emphasising the importance of ethnic tourism and authenticity. Further
on, the phenomena of globalisation and neo-colonialism will be discussed, with reference to
sex and film tourism. Subsequently, the concept of adventure as a mind set in the context of
tourism will be analysed. Finally, the inter-connection of these phenomena will be briefly
According to Olson (1991), anthropology has not been defined yet as a distinct subject matter,
and because it seems not to have a pragmatic method, there is a significant anxiety over its
attempts for definition. Marcus & Fischer (1999) attempt this by defining it as a science
which is supposed to offer worthwhile critique for the society, to enlighten people about
unexamined assumptions created by encounters with members of other cultures, i.e. societies.
More updated definition is by Merriam-Webster (2011) who state that it is a study of humans
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in relation to social relations and culture, as well as it deals with their origin, nature and
destiny in more theological sense. Both definitions clearly establish this science to be of a
humanistic nature and within both of them a clear link with tourism can be traced, as justified
further on. As widely recognized, tourism has become a universal phenomenon among middle
classes of society. According to Harkin (1995) and Schwimmer (1979), it can be perceived as
a primary mode of reciprocity between classes, regions, ethnic groups and even countries.
strategy of exotopy (Fussell, 1980; Smith, 1989). This can be seen from Harkin’s (1995)
semiotic square model of tourism ideology (see Appendix - Figure 1). This complex of
amphibious reality represents tourist’s motivations both narrative and cognitive (Jameson,
1987). Nash (1977, cited in Smith, 1989), Schwimmer (1979) and Harkin (1995) agree that
one of the most important elements of this model is the concept of leisure. As leisure is not
only a distinction between activity and passivity, but also between production and
consumption; hence can be in this context labelled as tourism. Rosa (2001, p.449) identifies it
concept is to demonstrate the ability of tourism to temporary raise social classes, as can be
(Harkin, 1995). According to MacCannell (1976), ethnic tourism has two idiosyncratic
concepts: authenticity and organic solidarity. This can be illustrated on an instance of Yunnan
province in China, which is one of the first destinations of ethnic tourism (Li, 2004). The
number of visitors grew from just over 5,000 in 1985 to nearly 2.8 million in 2005 (Banna
Statistics Bureau, 2006) and resulted in Yunnan to become one of the most economically
developed provinces, but the dependency on tourism increased as well. However, according to
Banna Statistics Bureau (2006), Figure 2 (see Apendix) shows that the number of inbound
tourists slightly decreases, which proves Harkin’s (1995) argument that the class and poverty
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elevation is only of a temporary nature. As it can be seen from Figure 3 (see Appendix),
ethnic tourism development faces various tensions and issues which can be demonstrated
within the semiotic square framework. Yunnan province is frequently being offered as an
authentic destination, i.e. traditional minority cuisines and witnessing the minority ethnicities
(China Odyssey Tours, 2011), illustrating the phenomenon of authenticity as a key concept of
over a long period of time, this may become a vivid issue. For instance on Trip Advisor
(2010a, 2010b), Yunnan Minority Museum and Stone Forest are frequently described as
authenticity quest can be apprehended as a one of the fundamental parts of Harkin’s (1995)
The explanation for this may lie in the concept of globalisation. According to UNWTO
(2010), if services exports were analysed exclusively to overall exports, the share of tourism
exports would be almost 30% of global account. Murdock (1982) states that even though
globalisation of tourism could be considered as “cultural universals”, the original merit comes
from historical affluence, i.e. colonialism and neo-colonialism tendencies. As tourism has
apparently become a vital part of particular destinations’ economies, for instance Montero
(2011) reports that particular regions of Caribbean have their economies formed by the
aforementioned tendencies. As it can be seen from Figure 4 (see Appendix), Antigua and
Barbuda’s travel and tourism percentage of GDP accounts for more than 80% and similarly
Bahamas’s and Barbados’s one accounts for more than 50%. Nevertheless, this apparently
leads to leakages in economies; particularly UNEP (2006) reports 55% as an average leakage
in Caribbean region, while the maximum reported leakage is up to 90%, with only 10%
remaining for the locally based investors or only governments. With respect to this, it is
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apparent that anthropological accounts of Caribbean tourism seem to be less prominent. This
tourism defined as “economic panacea for low-income states” (Gregory, 2003, cited in
Montero, 2011) and consequently, as Montero (2011) argues, leads to homogenising and
segmentation effects. These concepts are however of antithetic nature and may cause
confusion and obstacles for tourist destinations themselves. This links back to the model of
Yang & Wall (2009), identifying tensions of ethnic tourism, such as economic development,
Spanish Costas can used to illustrate the homogenisation concept, as this region distinctly
focuses on mass tourism, with high number of multinational hotel chains and low-cost
airlines, which may subsequently lead to leakages, yet still achieve a high number of visitors;
hence high economic viability (Mintel, 2010). On the contrary, alternative tourism, such as
ethnic tourism development, particularly “intimate” tourism in Tibet may lead to niche
tourism segmentation, with focus on preserving of cultural heritage (Cultural Survival, 2011).
balance and harmonise the industrial proclivities of capitalist neo-colonialist society and
Grünewald (2001) argues that this is course of study represents an apparent paradox within
imposing to global capitalism causes possible decline. Therefore the whole globalisation
globalisation should be apprehended more as a process than the actual outcomes. As Legrain
(2002) defines, the focus of modern world should be on how human lives are becoming
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gradually more interweaved with those of distant people and remote places all over the world
in all terms: economical, cultural and political as well. This can be illustrated on an example
of GATS (General Agreement on Trade and Services), which as stated by WTO (1995),
enables developing countries to have free market access to developed countries; hence
introducing fairer trading practices between nations. Nevertheless, Tourism Concern (1996)
argues that this is only a secluded point of view and the reality differs considerably. As a
result of restrictive trading policies, immigration policies, expensive set up costs and
uncompetitive business practices, developing countries are unable to access the markets of
developed countries (ibid) and as Eriksson et al (2009) reports, people at the bottom of
societal class ladder do not understand their value and therefore do not try to negotiate a fair
deal. This may all lead to pure loss of authenticity, commodification as well as
commodification not only of cultural assets but of indigenous people as well; hence breakage
of human rights in general. Scheeres (2001) reports that in low season, Dominican women
dress in traditional bright dresses and attract male sex tourists to “love motels”. According to
UNICEF (2009), this commercialisation of sex results in one of the highest rates of HIV
transmission in the world, particularly 66,000 people living with HIV. As this can be seen as
anthropologists, as even sex tourism is “an experience of the other”, to use terminology of
Grünewald (2001).
According to Littlejohn (2010), the tourists become a ubiquitous feature of all destinations
and regions over the world and this phenomenon of “the global village” has subsequently
created a sense of crisis, questioning the fact that societies lose sense of localisation,
authenticity and particularity. The modern society seems to shift traditional relationships
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and imaginaries. This perspective links back to the semiotic square model of Harkin (1995)
and MacCannell’s (1976) concept of organic solidarity and authenticity. This social
cohesiveness is seen as a prevention of staged experiences created by locals for the sake of
Nevertheless, the segmentation effect, as aforementioned by Yang & Wall (2009), can in
According to Singh (2002), anthropology concepts lack the focus on analysis of emotions;
therefore the phenomenon of adventure seems little investigated. While adventure tourism has
been defined self-containedly as a leisure activity, adventure as such can be defined in various
ways. According to Miles & Priest (1999), the independent term of adventure delineate risk
and any activity with uncertain outcome. He further adds that this evokes challenging
emotions for the individual as they tend to apply personal competencies to resolve the arisen
uncertainty. Mortlock (1994) argues that rather than simple risk taking, adventure is a state of
mind, substantially of psychological and emotional nature. This seems to be closely linked to
the concept of motivation, and can be therefore demonstrated on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
in Figure 5 (see Appendix). It is apparent that basal needs, safety and security need to be
fulfilled in order to be able to experience positive risks that can be provided by adventure
taking. These can be either categorised as esteem needs, as claimed by Mortlock (1994) or as
self-actualisation, as stated by Haddock (1993). Both of these however match the motivations
for travel and tourism. Therefore the link between the emotion of adventure and tourism can
be traced within for instance film tourism. Film tourism has been growing constantly and
rapidly increases numbers of visitors to the destinations. For instance the Wallace Monument
in Stirling reported an increase in visitors from 66,000 to 167,000 a year after the release of
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Braveheart (Mintel, 2003). The national parks of Sydney, where Mission Impossible 2 was
filmed, reported a 200% increase in visitor numbers in 1999 (ibid). According to Littlejohn
(2010), the deserts of South Tunisia as location of Luca’s Star Wars have become one of the
most unexpectedly popular film tourism destinations. In the movie, the Berber granary Ksar
Ouled Soltane (see Appendix – Figure 6) served as a spaceport Mos Espa (see Appendix –
Figure 7) and the hotel Sidi Driss was used as interior for Luke Skywalker’s home. This can
be on one hand seen as an intrusion of American society and culture into the Tunisian one and
hence great deal of inauthenticity. On the other hand, however, this can be also seen as an
authentic experience for film tourists, possibly consuming American experience in Tunisia.
From postmodernist point of view, the real landscape of Tunisia has been replaced by
fictional simulation of Star Wars and therefore nearly fully replaced the original. However,
according to Littlejohn (2010), this “hyper-reality” was reported to create higher satisfaction
and higher adventure-feel of the destination then the original Tunisian culture. It can be
therefore stated that the “hyper-reality” has become more authentic than the original
perceived higher in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (esteem and self-actualisation needs)
than usual state of mind and travel, such as mass tourism, which is apparently more concerned
essential part of popular culture and its expression therefore can be perceived as an essential
It is apparent from the previous discussion that there is a close link between anthropology and
tourism; however the link between these two and adventure as a state of mind seems to be less
prevalent. Singh (2002) however defends this argument relatively strongly by interlinking the
actual anthropologists and tourists in his work. He claims that there is a thin difference
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cultures and cling onto them. Both come close to the societies and create relatively lasting
relationships, as reported by Singh (2002). This links back to the guest-host relations
mentioned formerly in the paper, as anthropologists are perceived to study humans and the
society as such, travel and adventure seem to be an essential part of the research.
Subsequently, Hoye (2006) claims that this research is supposed to result in an integration of
To conclude, it can be stated that there is certain relevance between anthropology, tourism
general and fundamentally their behaviour within the society. As tourism is a human activity
of interfering into other societies and therefore “experiencing the other”, as defined by
Grünewald (2001). Tourism should be therefore treated as a social phenomenon rather than
appears to be an essential part of both anthropology and tourism, however is little research as
a psychological state of mind, rather than within the travel and tourism context. It should be
also noted that to create a balanced society of modern world under heavy influence of
harmonize economical development and tourism with needs of societies and cultures, because
as Hoye (2006) anthropology has got the potential to integrate its findings to solve various
sociological and psychological issues and seems to be relevant to majority of human actions.
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List of References
Banna Statistics Bureau (2006). Banna Statistical Yearbook 1986-2006. China Statistics
Cawelti, J.G. (1977) Adventure, Mystery, and Romance: Formula Stories as Art and Popular
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/china-tibet/close-
Eriksson, J., Noble, R., Pattullo, P., Barnett, T. (2009) Putting Tourism To Rights. A
Challenge to Human Rights Abuses in the Tourism Industry. Tourism Concern, London. UK.
Fussell, P. (1980) Abroad: British Literary Travelling Between the Wars. Oxford University
Grünewald, R.de A. (2001) Tourism and Ethnicity. Horizontal Anthropology. Vol.1. Porto
Alegre. Spain.
Haddock, C. (1993) Managing Risks in Outdoor Activities. New Zealand Mountain Safety
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Harkin, M. (1995) Modernist Anthropology and Tourism of the Authentic. Annals of Tourism
Hoye, L.F. (2006) Linguistic Anthropology and Pragmatics. Journal of Pragmatics. No.38.
Pp.944-967.
Korstanje, M.E. (2010) Exploring the Connection between Anthropology and Tourism:
Legrain, P. (2002) Open World: The Truth about Globalization. Abacus, London. UK.
Li, J. (2004) Molding Dai-ness on China’s Periphery: Ethnic Tourism and the Politics of
Pennsylvania. USA.
Littlejohn, A. (2010) The Quest for Authenticity. Exposition Magazine. Oxford University,
Oxford. UK.
MacCannell, D. (1976) The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class. University of
Marcus, G.E. & Fischer, M.M.J. (1999) Anthropology as Cultural Critique: An Experimental
Maslow, A.H. (1954) Motivation and Personality. 3rd Edition. Harper & Row Publishers Inc,
NY. USA.
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Miles, J. & Priest, S. (1999) Adventure Programming. Venture Publishing, PA. USA.
Montero, C.G. (2011) Heritage, Identity and Globalisation: The Case of Island Tourism in the
Mortlock, C. (1994) The Adventure Alternative. 2nd Edition. Cicerone Press, England. UK.
Murdock, G. (1982) Outline of Cultural Materials. Human Relations Are Files, New Haven.
USA.
Rosa, R. (2001) Business as Pleasure: Culture, Tourism and Nation in Puerto Rico in the
Netherlands.
Singh, S. (2002) Love, Anthropology and Tourism. Annals of Tourism Research. Vol.29.
No.1. Pp.261-264.
Smith, V.L. (1989) Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism. 2nd Edition. University
Tourism Concern (1996) Trading Places: Tourism as Trade. Tourism Concern, London. UK.
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http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g298558-d379322-Reviews-
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298558-d321177-r77931682-Stone_Forest-
21/03/2011.
WTO (1995) GATS and Tourism – Agreeing on Trade and Tourism. WTO, Madrid. Spain.
Yang, L. & Wall, G. (2009) Ethnic Tourism: A Framework and an Application. Tourism
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Appendix
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Bureau, 2006)
Figure 3: A Conceptual Framework: Planning for Ethnic Tourism (Yang & Wall, 2009)
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Figure 4: Travel and Tourism Economy of GDP in %in 2004 (Trade Europa, 2007)
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