Assignment Code: BANS-183/ASST/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: BANS-183

Assignment Name: Tourism Anthropology

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Total Marks: 100

There are two Sections in the Assignment. You have to answer all questions in all the Sections.

Assignment – I

Answer the following in about 500 words each. 20X2= 40

a. Define anthropology. Discuss the role of anthropology in studying tourism.

Ans) The goal of anthropology is to comprehend the lives of people across space and time. Time essentially corresponds to the geological time scale, which is used to study the growth, evolution, and variation of humans. Space examines the ecological and environmental connections between the various human populations that live on earth. The study of ancient cultures and how contemporary cultures are thriving is another aspect of anthropology. In contrast to other subjects where only one aspect of human beings is considered, such as history, which deals with what happened in the past, psychology, which studies the human mind, etc., it is the study of humans as a whole.

The academic field of anthropology first emerged at the turn of the 20th century. The field of anthropology has four main branches: physical or biological anthropology, social and cultural anthropology, archaeological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. These branches look at humankind from both scientific and humanistic perspectives. The 1970s saw the emergence of anthropological interest in tourism, which is now a well-established field of study with encouraging signs of continued growth in both basic and applied research.

As a topic, tourism is a good fit for anthropological concerns because both fields deal with people and their cultures. An anthropological concern with culture contact and culture change gave rise to the study of tourism. Anthropologists started to perceive travellers as "agents of cultural contact and directly or indirectly the cause of change, particularly in the less developed regions of the world". Anthropologists have attempted to define tourists as "leisure travellers" and tourism as a type of "leisure activity" in their research on the subject.

With this basic knowledge, it is now known that tourism is to be viewed as a practise and that tourists are people who travel to other locations and interact with hosts in ways that have an impact on the visitors, their hosts, and their home cultures. Additionally, because it is a part of a larger social context, this tourist activity has the potential to develop into a touristic system.

Anthropologists studied cultural contact and its effects, particularly on the host society, and initially focused on the interactions between tourists and hosts. However, this touristic influence had practical repercussions for host governments and international organisations engaged in development. However, further investigation showed that this conclusion was biased because, from the perspective of the host nation, tourism was perceived to have both positive and negative aspects. As Cohen noted, he initially believed that the influence of tourism on the area was detrimental to the Thai host, but after the completion of his research, he changed his mind and believed that tourism would not have a detrimental effect on the host society in the near future.

Anthropologists have posed a variety of queries through the lens of tourism. For instance, Nash discussed the meanings of work and leisure across cultures, and he suggested that travellers could be viewed as people who are at leisure, and tourism as the activities they partake in while in this state.

b. What is authenticity in tourism? Explain with suitable examples.

Ans) Anthropologists have been curious about and concerned about the idea of authenticity in tourism. Three theoretical schools of thought have been used to study it: constructivism, objectivism, and postmodernism. Authenticity is typically used to mean true, true, real, etc. However, in the context of tourism, authenticity connotes a truth that the visitor wants to see rather than the real truth. The concept of authenticity may be a dream come true for the traveller.

In his article "Authenticity," Gisolf describes a scenario in which people in the west have idealised certain places as having honest workers who produce honest goods in an environment devoid of nuclear reactors, labour unions, and traffic jams. The tourist envisions seeing the past in the present. There are many pictures of "primitivism, strange tribes, and historical stagnation" in it (ibid). These "authentic realities" are created in order for the tourism industry to flourish even though the reality of these locations may have undergone a dramatic transformation. Now let's look at the various ways anthropologists have attempted to comprehend authenticity in tourism.

The Objectivist Theory

According to this theory, authenticity is independent of the mind's eye. Authenticity exists as a factual characteristic because it is inherent to the object being visited and is unrelated to notions of the visitor or tourist. In the 1970s, two American scholars named Boorstin and MacCanell evaluated this objectivist theory. According to Boorstin (1964), a tourist is always on the lookout for the fake item and is aware that the host location is providing a "pseudo-event." The thing that appears to be "authentic" but is actually fake. Boorstin draws the conclusion that tourists actually seek out fakery.

According to MacCanell, who disagreed, "the alienated modern tourist in search of authenticity hence looks for the pristine, the natural, that which is as yet untouched by modernity". He refers to these travellers as "religious pilgrims." They do agree, however, that the final product that tourists see is fake.

The Constructivism Theory

One problem with the Objectivist theory was that it assumed that tourist destinations and their cultures were constant and unchanging. Constructivism theory, another strategy, was used to address this problem. Sociologist Erik Cohen was the main proponent of this theory in relation to tourism. According to this theory, authenticity "is a socially constructed, negotiated concept and is not a permanent property of the toured object" and cannot be observed physically. As a result, depending on one's philosophy or way of thinking, different people may have a different sense of the authenticity of a given object. In order to describe how cultural change causes an artificial or fake experience to eventually be recognised as authentic, Cohen coined the term "emergent authenticity." According to Urry, this is because "modern mass media" uses "time-space compression" to give tourists the impression that their experiences are authentic.

The Post-modern theory

Wang proposed this, which is also known as "activity-based authenticity," and he called it existential authenticity. This theory is different from the previous two in that it is more concerned with the experience the visitor has while visiting the tourist destination. According to Wand, "Existential authenticity refers to a possible existential state of Being that is to be triggered by tourist activities.

Assignment – II

Answer the following in about 250 words each. (Write Short Notes) 10X3 =30

a. What is commodification? Discuss the commodification of religious sites and national parks.

Ans) Tourism can be defined and shaped by a series of questions that typically revolve around three issues: "individual motivation (why do people travel? ), economic gains and losses (who benefits from this travel? ), and tourism's cultural impact (what "cultural" changes does tourism bring?"), according to Shepherd. Thus, the commodification of culture entails the construction of culture through the promotion of cultural traits and objects as symbols of a specific culture. Such a reconstruction may frequently weaken the original cultural component.

Travel literature and travellers (modern tourists) only serve to "preserve the illusion of something that no longer exists," according to Claude Lévi-Strauss in Tristes Tropiques; real travel has been replaced by movement through a "monoculture" in a fruitless search for a "vanished reality." The commodification of culture gives rise to the idea of monoculture itself. What is presented as "real culture" on tourism-related tours is actually a piece of the culture that has been recreated for the visitor's benefit in order to make the experience seem authentic.

Cultural commodification, according to Shepherd, is regarded by many academics as the element of cultural tourism that can aid in the resurgence of local interest in traditional cultural forms, thereby reviving vanishing cultural traits and giving the host country material benefits. Similar signs of commodification can be seen if we look at any religious sites in India that are also popular tourist destinations.

b. Discuss preservation and conservation of two heritage sites in India.

Ans) Today, when we discuss heritage, it is generally assumed to refer to antecedent homes, historical sites, and ageing structures and monuments. However, heritage is more than just "brick and mortar," the appearance of a building, and how old it is. Heritage refers to locations, items, and concepts that have been passed down from one generation to the next and are valued culturally and socially. Both tangible and intangible forms of heritage are listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Buildings, monuments, and tangible items are classified as part of the tangible heritage, along with festivals, languages, music, handicrafts, a particular culinary skill (recipes), textiles, a particular way of life (tribal, nomadic), and performing arts.

UNESCO officially endorsed "safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage with a focus on the non-material cultural heritage" at its convention in 2003. Intangible cultural heritage is defined as "measures aimed at ensuring the viability of the intangible cultural heritage, including the identification, documentation, research, preservation, protection, promotion, enhancement, transmission, particularly through formal and non-formal education, as well as the revitalization of the various aspects of such heritage." This was the convention's key word.

According to UNESCO, intangible heritage includes the following. Communities, groups, and, in some cases, individuals recognise as being a part of their cultural heritage: "The practises, representations, expressions, knowledge, and skills as well as the tools, objects, and artefacts associated there with". The term "intangible cultural heritage" refers to that aspect of culture that is not material, such as values, norms, beliefs, folklore, dance, and music that are a part of our cultural practises but don't have a set form. These factors are maintained by people's daily actions in society because they cannot exist on their own.

c. Describe tangible and intangible heritage with suitable examples.

Ans) Buildings and historic sites, monuments, artefacts, and other items are considered to be tangible heritage and should be preserved for the future. These include items important to a particular culture's archaeology, architecture, science, or technology. The study of human history benefits from objects because they give theories a physical foundation and serve to support them. Their preservation shows appreciation for the value of the past and the items that serve as witnesses to it. Cultural heritage that is tangible has a physical presence.

The term "intangible heritage" refers to customs or ways of life that have been passed down from our ancestors to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social customs, rituals, and festive occasions, as well as knowledge and beliefs about nature and the cosmos and the abilities to create traditional crafts, traditional foods and medicines, and digital heritage.

The absence of a physical presence is a common definition of tangible cultural heritage. The referencing, practise, transmission, and provenance of Indigenous peoples' tangible and intangible cultural heritage have been disrupted as a result of colonial processes and actions. For instance, tangible pieces of Indigenous cultural heritage have been amassed and removed from their original setting, "Country," for a variety of uses, including exhibition in museums. Many times, no information was kept on the location or owners of these cultural heritage objects. Similar to this, the intangible cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples has frequently been misunderstood or ignored because it is "too difficult" to properly acknowledge or record in terms of its context, purpose, or the people or locations from which it first emerged.

Answer the following questions in about 150 words each. 5X6=30

a. Physical anthropology

Ans) The branch of anthropology known as physical anthropology is focused on human diversity, evolution, and origin. The evolution of humans and nonhuman primates, human variation, and its significance (see also race), and the biological underpinnings of human behaviour are the three main areas of study for physical anthropologists.

If you see the words "Biological Anthropology" somewhere, don't worry—those words refer to Physical Anthropology, which is another name for Biological Anthropology. Biological anthropology is a more recent term than physical anthropology, which is an older term. I use the term "physical anthropology," which is what I was taught.

Physical anthropology is equally engaged in researching a variety of tourism-related fields. For instance, Design Anthropometry, a well-known subfield of physical anthropology, uses anthropometric measurements to create plans for improved tourist services. Different human body types of measurements can help in the design of seats for land, air, and sea vehicles so that long-distance tourists can travel in greater comfort.

b. Archaeological anthropology

Ans) Archaeological anthropology is a branch of the larger discipline of archaeology, which is the study of extinct cultures (archaios, which means ancient, and logia, which means study). The main subject of anthropology, man, existed long before the invention of writing. By recovering the remains of ancient men from long ago as well as the tangible remnants of his culture, archaeology is thus able to complement anthropology.

In order to reconstruct the prehistoric era, archaeologists frequently collaborate with palaeontologists, geologists, and chemists. Writing is still a relatively new skill in many parts of the world, including Australia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and the majority of the New World and Africa. Naturally, anthropologists have had to rely on the work of archaeologists in order to learn about prehistoric man and his cultural activities.

The study of classical archaeology combines the fine arts, history, and the classics. It looks for historical relics. Therefore, it cannot be the sole purview of anthropologists, and in order to describe historical humans and learn about ancient cultures that were thriving before 5000 years ago, anthropologists must rely on archaeologists.

c. Types of tourism

Ans) Depending on the region, length, goal, nationality, time of year, and number of visitors, there are various types of tourism. Tourism can be broadly divided into two categories: domestic tourism, which refers to trips taken by residents of the same country, and international tourism, which refers to trips taken by citizens of other countries to take in different customs and cultures while simultaneously meeting new people.

Pilgrimage or Religious Tourism

Anthropologists and sociologists have studied religion, rituals, sacred places, etc. since ancient times. According to Durkheim's Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), even the most basic forms of religion have ritual performances that celebrate society as a whole and foster social cohesion.

Eco and Nature Tourism

It involves travelling to locations well known for their stunning natural scenery and environmentally friendly cultural customs. Only when ecotourism is careful not to upset the ecological balance can it be successful. Anthropologists have investigated how indigenous tribes interact with the natural world and how sustainable tourism has created a win-win situation for protecting both the natural world and indigenous cultures.

d. Local environment versus tourist

Ans) Although it generates income, tourism also has a number of issues. India now has another category of pollution to worry about in addition to the other types: beach pollution. According to a study by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), tourism is the main cause of plastic waste on beaches.

Air pollution is a major issue when it comes to heritage sites like the Taj Mahal, as we had also seen in the earlier examples. However, in the case of the Taj, tourism was what saved it. Air pollution from nearby factories was having a negative impact on the marble's colour, but tourism-related worries and the fact that the monument is now regarded as a national treasure prompted action to stop the pollution from reaching the structure. On the other hand, the Bhimbetka rock shelters are also in danger because frequent tourist visits are putting the artwork on the cave walls in jeopardy. Due to pollution and water contamination, waste is also being dumped on beaches, which causes the loss of some of the valuable undersea (ocean and sea) life.

e. Eco tourism

Ans) Ecotourism is a type of tourism that involves visiting natural areas responsibly (using environmentally friendly transportation), preserving the environment, and enhancing locals' quality of life. Its goals may include educating tourists, raising money for ecological preservation, directly promoting the political and economic empowerment of local communities, and fostering respect for various cultures and human rights.

Environmentalists have viewed ecotourism as a vital endeavour since the 1980s so that future generations can visit places that have largely escaped human interference. With an eye toward ecological conservation, ecotourism may concentrate on educating visitors on local environments and natural surroundings. Some people include creating economic opportunities that make protecting natural resources financially feasible as part of the definition of ecotourism.

Ecotourism typically involves interacting with biotic elements of the environment. The three main focuses of ecotourism are personal development, socially responsible tourism, and environmental sustainability. Traveling on an ecotourism itinerary typically entails visiting places where the local flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the main draws.

f. Edible identities

Ans) Food as Heritage is regarded as a value-added industry as well as a socio-cultural construction that can symbolically represent an identity. It can be argued that the collective heritage of a region or community is made up of all the traditions and knowledge passed down through the generations regarding the production, distribution, and consumption of food. Anthropologists have investigated the various ways that food is connected to travel. Belasco and Scranton examined how consumer tastes are shaped and how cuisines are used to create national identities.

While others concentrated on the historical influence of outside forces in the development of food identity A good example is the history of Kolkata Biryani, which differs from the Awadhi, Luck Navi, and Hyderabadi versions. The Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and his cook are credited with experimenting with the Kolkata Biryani by adding potatoes and boiled eggs. The British rulers of that era flaunted this as evidence of the Nawab's declining wealth, which led him to substitute potatoes for the mutton in the dish.