Description
Book SynopsisWithin tourism studies, the cosmopolitan potentials of tourism have often been situated within a broader conversation about globalization, an approach that implies that cosmopolitanism is a predictable by-product of globalization and becoming more cosmopolitan should be the goal of travel. And yet a fundamental value of a cosmopolitan outlooknamely, to not only to be at home in the world but also to experience the world in an authentic sensedepends on the culturally embedded, parochial, and particular world views which it rejects. In Cosmopolitanism and Tourism: Rethinking Theory and Practice, contributors take this as a starting point. What does a worldly consciousness mean to people situated in different cultural landscapes and to what extent might these intersect with cosmopolitan values? How is cosmopolitanism marketed in tourism and tourist-related industries such as service learning and study abroad? And finally, what roles do social and economic class, educational background,
Trade ReviewThis book is a much-needed intervention into academic debates about the production and consumption of travel, allure, place, otherness, and the multiple registers and resonances of tourist encounters as worldly experiences in the volatile and unsteady worlds of late-capitalist ruins. It is a notable and timely collection that makes an original contribution to the anthropology of tourism, travel, and cosmopolitanism. Using the very rich and distinctive perspectives, ethnographic locations, and subject matters of its authors the book troubles liberal assumptions about cosmopolitanism, as the world rapidly becomes a more complex and traveled place. This superb volume promises to become a key text in the field of tourism and travel studies. -- Kenneth Little, York University
If cosmopolitanism imagines a world where humanity might transcend the fictions of cultural categories—where people are no longer arbitrarily defined (and confined) according to nation, ethnicity, religion, class and gender—then how does tourism conform to this hope? In this collection of compelling case studies among both international travelers and their hosts, constructions of difference stubbornly remain but the complexity of encounters across cultural frontiers also intensifies. A worthy addition to an anthropological exploration of a vital topic -- Nigel Rapport, St. Andrews Centre for Cosmopolitan Studies; author of Anyone, the Cosmopolitan Subject of Anthropology
With its rich ethnographic examples, this volume illuminates the often misunderstood intersection of tourism and cosmopolitanism. It makes a strong contribution to the theoretical discourse in both fields, while remaining accessible and engaging to those unfamiliar with either field. Its wide-ranging ethnographic work alone makes this a useful for volume for undergraduate classroom use, but taken together, they develop a sophisticated understanding of how individuals involved with tourism, both as consumer and producers, construct cosmopolitan identities. -- Simon Hawkins, University of Arkansas, Little Rock
Table of ContentsPart I: Cosmopolitans on Tour Chapter 1: A Cosmopolitan Sense of Place: Busking, Tourism, and Performance in ‘The City of Strangers’ by Adam Kaul Chapter 2: Are We (Still) the World? Service Learning and the Weird Slot in Student Narratives of Study Abroad by Ben Feinberg and Sarah E. Edwards Chapter 3: Striving for Cosmopolitanism: Voluntouristic Encounters in Guatemala by Rebecca L. Nelson Chapter 4: Making the Strange Familiar, but not Necessarily the Familiar Strange: On Tour in China by Robert Shepherd Part II: Encountering Cosmopolitanism Chapter 5: From Bieber to the Buddha: “Friendly Guides” and Cosmopolitanism from Below in Bodh Gaya, India by David Geary Chapter 6: Dirty Work, Glamorous Migrant: Korean Emirates Airlines Female Flight Attendants and Cosmopolitan Racial and National Hierarchies Alex Jong-Seok Lee Chapter 7: The Color Purple: Indigenous Weavers, Heritage Cloth and Interpretations of Cosmopolitanism in Practice by Cherubim Quizon Chapter 8: “Local-politan” Gastronomy and Bolivian Cuisine: How the Cosmopolitan is Forged from the Local by Clare A. Sammells
