Ethnic tourism has emerged as a means that is employed by many countries to facilitate economic and cultural development and to assist in the preservation of ethnic heritage. However, while ethnic tourism has the potential to bring economic and social benefits it can also significantly impact traditional cultures, ways of life and the sense of identity of ethnic groups. There is growing concern in many places about how to balance the use of ethnicity as a tourist attraction with the protection of minority cultures and the promotion of ethnic pride. Despite the fact that a substantial literature is devoted to the impacts of ethnic tourism, little research has been done on how to plan ethnic tourism attractions or to manage community impacts of tourism. This research addresses the need for more research on planning for ethnic tourism by exploring the status and enhancement of planning strategies for ethnic tourism development. Drawing upon existing literature, a conceptual framework was developed and adopted to study ethnic tourism in a well-known ethnic tourist destination in China – Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The research analyzes how ethnic tourism has been planned and developed at the study site and examines associated socio-cultural and planning issues. The framework is employed to compare and evaluate the perspectives of four key stakeholder groups (the government, tourism entrepreneurs, ethnic minorities and tourists) on ethnic tourism through on-site observation, interviews with government officials, planners and tourism entrepreneurs, surveys of tourists and ethnic minority people, and evaluation of government policies, plans and statistics. Economic advantages have been a driving force in ethnic tourism development. The government and tourism entrepreneurs are the main powers in developing ethnic tourism, but most of them are not ethnic members. Their administrative and commercial involvement in tourism strongly shapes the ways of staging, packaging and representing ethnic culture in tourism sites. Authenticity of attractions is not determined by the resource providers, the ethnic minorities, but is shaped by decisions of government and entrepreneurs. The commodification of ethnic culture and the production of cultural events and other tourist products are manipulated to fit the interests of business and political mandates. Minority people are usually marginalized or disadvantaged economically and politically because they have limited control over tourism resources and activities. Most minority people employed in tourism hold only low-paying jobs. The findings show that the production and commodification of ethnic culture is often accompanied by tensions among economic, political and cultural goals. Economic motives often outweigh other goals in tourism development. Thus, the balance between the use of tourism as a form of economic development and the preservation of ethnic culture should be addressed in tourism planning. More effective planning is required to mitigate negative impacts and to reinforce the positive aspects of ethnic tourism.

Ethnic tourism has emerged as a means that is employed by many countries to facilitate economic and cultural development and to assist in the preservation of ethnic heritage. However, while ethnic tourism has the potential to bring economic and social benefits it can also significantly impact traditional cultures, ways of life and the sense of identity of ethnic groups. There is growing concern in many places about how to balance the use of ethnicity as a tourist attraction with the protection of minority cultures and the promotion of ethnic pride. Despite the fact that a substantial literature is devoted to the impacts of ethnic tourism, little research has been done on how to plan ethnic tourism attractions or to manage community impacts of tourism. This research addresses the need for more research on planning for ethnic tourism by exploring the status and enhancement of planning strategies for ethnic tourism development. Drawing upon existing literature, a conceptual framework was developed and adopted to study ethnic tourism in a well-known ethnic tourist destination in China – Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The research analyzes how ethnic tourism has been planned and developed at the study site and examines associated socio-cultural and planning issues. The framework is employed to compare and evaluate the perspectives of four key stakeholder groups (the government, tourism entrepreneurs, ethnic minorities and tourists) on ethnic tourism through on-site observation, interviews with government officials, planners and tourism entrepreneurs, surveys of tourists and ethnic minority people, and evaluation of government policies, plans and statistics. Economic advantages have been a driving force in ethnic tourism development. The government and tourism entrepreneurs are the main powers in developing ethnic tourism, but most of them are not ethnic members. Their administrative and commercial involvement in tourism strongly shapes the ways of staging, packaging and representing ethnic culture in tourism sites. Authenticity of attractions is not determined by the resource providers, the ethnic minorities, but is shaped by decisions of government and entrepreneurs. The commodification of ethnic culture and the production of cultural events and other tourist products are manipulated to fit the interests of business and political mandates. Minority people are usually marginalized or disadvantaged economically and politically because they have limited control over tourism resources and activities. Most minority people employed in tourism hold only low-paying jobs. The findings show that the production and commodification of ethnic culture is often accompanied by tensions among economic, political and cultural goals. Economic motives often outweigh other goals in tourism development. Thus, the balance between the use of tourism as a form of economic development and the preservation of ethnic culture should be addressed in tourism planning. More effective planning is required to mitigate negative impacts and to reinforce the positive aspects of ethnic tourism.

This essay looks at cultural commoditization by indigenous people in Third World countries in response to tourism. The common assumption is that commoditization invalidates a culture and that it somehow becomes inauthentic. I show that even though the Indians of the Peruvian highlands sell their “Indianess” for tourists to photograph, the real commoditization takes place by mestizos who appropriate Indian culture: their dress, rituals, handicrafts. The Indians and mestizos are both trying to maximize their share of tourism revenue, little of which actually gets to the highlands. Neither culture, however, becomes inauthentic in the process. While the meanings of cultural products may be altered over time, no culture is static and fixed in time: new meanings are relevant within the context of contemporary society.

This essay looks at cultural commoditization by indigenous people in Third World countries in response to tourism. The common assumption is that commoditization invalidates a culture and that it somehow becomes inauthentic. I show that even though the Indians of the Peruvian highlands sell their “Indianess” for tourists to photograph, the real commoditization takes place by mestizos who appropriate Indian culture: their dress, rituals, handicrafts. The Indians and mestizos are both trying to maximize their share of tourism revenue, little of which actually gets to the highlands. Neither culture, however, becomes inauthentic in the process. While the meanings of cultural products may be altered over time, no culture is static and fixed in time: new meanings are relevant within the context of contemporary society. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

O reconhecimento político da comunidade do Campinho da Independência é enunciado nos interstícios das situações cotidianas, podendo adquirir uma diversidade de significados, dependendo do lugar daquele que fala. Apresento o ritual da experiência turística como um lócus de enunciação privilegiado para pensar a relação entre os sujeitos que, envolvidos com o problema da construção da diferença cultural, produzem novas categorizações sobre a cultura e a identidade social do grupo. Esse ritual é entendido como uma metáfora da representação da mediação e da conversão de significados que atualmente se observa no Campinho, diante das transformações sócio-históricas em que a comunidade se vê envolvida. / The political recognition of the community of Campinho da Independência is enunciated in the interstices of the everyday situations, possibly acquiring a diversity of meanings, depending on the place of the speaker. I present the ritual of the touristic experience as a privileged locus of enunciation to think the relation between the subjects that, involved with the problem of construction of the cultural difference, produce new categorizations about the culture and the social identity of the group. This ritual is understood as a metaphor of the representation of the mediation and of the conversion of meanings that are currently observed in Campinho, in face of the social-historical transformations in which the community is involved.

In this thesis I explore the practices of ethnic tourism on three island communities of Lake Titicaca, Peru. I employ ethnic tourism to mean the process whereby communities, peoples, or bodies are produced as sites of tourist attraction (objects of touristic gaze). Through various temporal and spatial processes of othering, these formed objects are produced as performers of a ‘tourable’ difference, primarily defined by a removal from the present space of politics through their representations as objects of the past. Thus the privilege of the mobile tourist is (re)inscribed in the practice of touring the stable difference of the ‘toured’ and appropriating this into the formation of a more cosmopolitan self. This story, which reflects a common concern for touring as a (neo)-imperial/colonial encounter (particularly in the ‘developing’ world) is, however, insufficient for accessing the intensely contested politics of local experiences of the tour. This is particularly the case when we attempt to discuss the meaning of ‘being toured’, how this identity is experienced, and its political implications. Through an exploration of the practices of local tour guides and toured communities on Lake Titicaca, coupled with theoretical concerns for critical approaches to identity, subjectivity, and agency, I begin to explore ways of talking about the toured as constitutive and active negotiators within touristic space. Specifically, I highlight how ‘difference’ is governed and contested through practices of performing and guiding. I also reflect on how these practices (re)articulate or challenge the authorization of particular ‘differences’ as objects of the tour.

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O reconhecimento político da comunidade do Campinho da Independência é enunciado nos interstícios das situações cotidianas, podendo adquirir uma diversidade de significados, dependendo do lugar daquele que fala. Apresento o ritual da experiência turística como um lócus de enunciação privilegiado para pensar a relação entre os sujeitos que, envolvidos com o problema da construção da diferença cultural, produzem novas categorizações sobre a cultura e a identidade social do grupo. Esse ritual é entendido como uma metáfora da representação da mediação e da conversão de significados que atualmente se observa no Campinho, diante das transformações sócio-históricas em que a comunidade se vê envolvida. / The political recognition of the community of Campinho da Independência is enunciated in the interstices of the everyday situations, possibly acquiring a diversity of meanings, depending on the place of the speaker. I present the ritual of the touristic experience as a privileged locus of enunciation to think the relation between the subjects that, involved with the problem of construction of the cultural difference, produce new categorizations about the culture and the social identity of the group. This ritual is understood as a metaphor of the representation of the mediation and of the conversion of meanings that are currently observed in Campinho, in face of the social-historical transformations in which the community is involved.

The long-neck Kayans have long been subjected to scrutiny by both Thai and foreign writers. This study traces the historical existence of the Kayans in Burma and their status as refugees within Thailand. Since the arrival of the first group of Kayans in late 1984, this tribe have been of interest to the provincial government of Mae Hong Son, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, NGOs and tourism developers. All of these groups, in one way or another, claim to be protecting the interest of the Kayans. This thesis investigates the validity of claims that Kayan interests are being protected. It further questions the government’s move to centralise the Kayans into one settlement at Huay Pu Kaeng. I argue that the Kayan race is the most marginal beneficiary of the Kayan ethnic tourism and illustrate how their vulnerability has been exploited both by government agencies and tourism developers.

This practice-based thesis presents the results of experimental research devoted to ethnic tourism among the Kayan minority and has involved the interconnection of artistic and anthropological languages. Known worldwide for the traditional female custom of wearing a long coiled brass necklace aimed at causing a considerable extension to the neck, the Kayan are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group originally from Burma. Due to the prolonged civil war in their own homeland, a large number of Kayan recently fled from Burma to refuge in neighbouring Thailand. Here, over the past years, in response to the “incisive” tourism policy promoted by the Thai government in the northern areas of the country, some families, abandoning the refugee camps where they were hosted, have been resettled in several new villages open to tourists, on payment of a modest entrance fee. Here the Kayan, their culture and their daily life, have been transformed into an authentic tourist attraction capable of drawing about 10,000 visitors a year. Founded on a strictly “visual media primitivist” approach and inspired by its peculiar aesthetics – as systematically presented in the first, theoretical, section of the thesis –, the enquiry involves a multimedia perspective. In such a context, analogue photography and filmmaking, creative writing and sound composition have been combined to give concrete shape to an original artwork firmly grounded in ethnographic practice. The choice, far from being a solely arbitrary and subjective option, has indeed been motivated by the critical employment of specific theoretical assumptions of some of the most recent streams of anthropology and epistemology of the human sciences. The multidisciplinary methodology adopted to develop the research, as well as the multifaceted language employed to display its results, represent an innovative and experimental way of approaching the complex theme of cultural identity in present-day Asian contexts, as well as of highlighting the most aesthetic and philosophic implications connected to the revival of analogue vintage media in contemporary artistic practice.