Robert V. Kemper

Tourism as an Anthropological Subject [and Comments and Reply]

This paper provides a critical evaluationof the growing number of anthropologically oriented studies of tourism and proposes a conceptual framework for future studies. A cross-culturally viable definition of tourism is offered. This definition, which conceives of the tourist as a person at leisure who travels and of tourism as a variety of leisure activity, suggest a transactional view of tourism that involves an encounter between tourist-generating and host societies. Such an encounter may be conceived of as a process or a system. Following this definition, it is possible ot identify tourism at all levels of sociocultural complexity. At present it does not seem possible to discover the causes of tourism, but one can begin to account for intra-or intersocietal touristic variability. Anthropological consideration of this latter is not well developed. Rather, interest has been centered on the consequences of tourism for host societies, particularly in the developing world. So far, thought, these studies have not demonstrated much methodological or theoretical sophistication. Though some variety of exchange theory may ultimately prove the best way of organizing an overview of the touristic process or system, less ambitious perspectives would seem to be, for the moment, indicated.

Tourism in Taos and Patzcuaro: A comparison of two approaches to regional development

Abstract This study examines tourism and regional development in terms of the different institutional structures present in the United States and Mexico. Using the methodology of controlled comparison, the analysis shows that, although Taos and Patzcuaro share many social structural characteristics and have similar tourist sectors, the relatively open institutional structure within New Mexico and the United States contrasts sharply with the relatively closed, “elitist” institutional structure operating in Michoacan and Mexico. As a result, the citizenry of Taos has been possible for the people of Patzcuaro. The different roles of the public and private sectors in Taos and Patzcuaro are particularly significant in this respect and illustrate two quite distinctive approaches, from the national to the regional to the local level, to the problems of tourism and regional development.

The Compadrazgo in Urban Mexico

This paper examines the institution of compadrazgo (co-godparenthood) in urban Mexico. A comparative analysis of twenty-one case studies, ranging from Mexico City to such small towns as Tonald(Jalisco), provides information on the types of (or occasions for) compadrazgo, the choice of compadres, the relative status of compadres, and the quality of inter-personal relations among compadres. On the basis of quantitative and qualitative data derived from this comparative analysis, the author concludes that the compadrazgo flourishes in Mexican towns and cities. Therefore, this institution should not be perceived by anthropologists as primarily associated with rural peasant communities, for it permeates all levels of Mexican society. Moreover, the flexibility of the compadrazgo is especially compatible with the diversity of contemporary Mexican urbanization. This article complements an earlier survey of the compadrazgo, written by Manuel Carlos, that appeared in the Anthropological Quarterly in 1973.

Tourism as a cultural domain the case of Taos, New Mexico

Abstract This paper offers an analysis of tourism as a cultural domain through a combination of hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling procedures not previously used together in touristic studies. The data for the study were gathered from interviews with 89 tourists who completed a card-sorting task for fifty items selected as representative of the range of real behavioral choices available to visitors to the Taos region. The two solutions presented, based on the U-statistic and the KYST program, are in reasonably good agreement and also correlate well with an earlier analysis reported in this journal (Kemper 1979). The approach used here not only enhances ethnographic understanding of tourism as a cultural domain and complements field research carried out using more traditional participant-observation and survey interview methodologies, but also offers a number of valuable applications for conceptualizing and marketing tourism.

Comentario: Ángel Palerm y el trabajo de campo: un legado que perdura

Mexico ha sido el hogar de algunos de los antropologos mas brillantes del mundo durante decadas. A traves de los articulos presentados en este numero de Desacatos tenemos la oportunidad de escuchar a varios autores describir la importancia del trabajo de campo en la carrera de uno de los antropologos mas prominentes de este pais: Angel Palerm. Junto a Margarita Nolasco, Arturo Warman y Guillermo Bonfil Batalla —todos fallecidos—, Palerm fue un actor central en la creacion de algunos de los nuevos centros de formacion e investigacion antropologica mas importantes de Mexico, como los departamentos de Antropologia de la Universidad Iberoamericana (uia) y de la Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa (uam-i), asi como el Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social (ciesas). Con su esfuerzo, Palerm y sus colegas de la decada de 1960 delinearon la antropologia mexicana contemporanea. Escritor prolifico, Angel Palerm publico varios trabajos seminales en aspectos teoricos y otros basados en investigacion empirica. Pero aqui nos enfocaremos en su legado para la ensenanza y la definicion del trabajo de campo. Como vemos en los articulos conjuntados, el alcance de su trabajo no se limita a Mexico, sino que podemos encontrarlo en otros paises, incluyendo Estados Unidos y Espana. Aun mas, al discutir el trabajo de Palerm constatamos que la tradicion mexicana de trabajo de campo bien puede contribuir a mejorar otras antropologias del mundo. Sin embargo, esta tradicion mexicana no surgio de la nada, como demuestra Marisol Perez Lizaur en su articulo. Ella llega hasta Boas con tal de reconstruir las experiencias e interrelaciones que influyeron en la vision de Palerm, en especial su profesora Isabel Kelly, quien fuera alumna de Kroeber. El texto de Perez Lizaur revela otras conexiones, como las que Palerm tuvo con Julian Steward y Eric Wolf. Su analisis pone de manifiesto que los intercambios entre la antropologia mexicana y los antropologos con base en Estados Unidos son significativos, lo cual ilustra claramente que estos intercambios internacionales han sido cruciales para el desarrollo comentario

Ángel Palerm: reflexiones sobre el impacto de su trabajo de campo y docencia

, en el aeropuerto de Nueva Orleans, cuando estaba por salir de la ciudad. Fue un enorme placer encontrar-lo. Como estudiante de George Foster —quien fun-gio como director del Instituto de Antropologia Social en Washington, D. C., antes de ser profesor de antropologia en la Universidad de California en Berkeley—, estaba al tanto del trabajo que Palerm habia desarrollado al lado de Isabel Kelly entre los totonacos del Tajin en las decadas de 1940 y 1950 (Kelly y Palerm, 1952). Nuestra breve platica sirvio para que el se enterara de mi proyecto de trabajo de campo entre los migrantes de Tzintzuntzan en la ciudad de Mexico, asi como de mis mas amplios in-tereses en los temas de urbanizacion y migracion. Se percato de inmediato de que pasaba la mayor parte de mi tiempo en el Distrito Federal y antes de abordar el avion me invito a impartir un seminario de antro-pologia urbana en la Universidad Iberoamericana (Ibero) en el semestre de primavera de 1970 que se avecinaba.

Building Community Capability

tisans is ignored as architectural restoration is professionalized. Joy further claims that the Western notions of authenticity and heritage are “an invisible concern” for most of the living population, whose resistance to the authority of heritage professionals is documented in the 2006 Riot documented in chapter 5. Joy also discusses the history of UNESCO, exploring the limitations of the Western concepts of “universal value” and “culture” as they are projected onto World Heritage Sites around the world. Her view of UNESCO, where she worked as an intern, gives insight into the power relations that (reflecting overall economic and political relations of the participating countries) continue today the overall trend of outsider control of images of Djenné. Discussion of UNESCO’s current interests in “Intangible Cultural Heritage” reveals similar issues as in the institution’s more traditional material focus—a loss of self-determination, the professionalization of event management, and a focus on changes that facilitate commodification by outsiders such as tour operators. Part 2 shifts Joy’s focus from the material to the personal, revealing the ethnographic side of her research project. Here, she gives stage to “counter-voices” to the Western-constructed meaning of the site. An important focus is on the increasing professionalization of heritage. In the name of preservation, processes (such as the crépissage, or remudding, of the Great Mosque) move from being a community labor to the hands of a few “specialists,” alienating Djennenkés themselves from Djenné as a constructed place. Joy’s ethnographic work is impressive, including interviews, apprenticeship to an embroiderer, and brief life histories. Although heritage professionals have a pre-Islamic, monumental focus for the site, for Djennenkés and others in the Islamic world it is religion through which the place is primarily identified. Stories about individual Djennenkés highlight the intense poverty of locals, but also return to the theme of Islam. Accusations of corruption against the heritage elite are particularly hot when the Great Mosque is the focus of heritage activities, whether concerning changes to the structure or access by non-Muslim visitors. The traditional system of marabouts provides an alternate identity to the monumental one and allows some Djennenkés to earn incomes in the “prayer economy,” a much different global connection than heritage tourism. Participation in tourism, such as that by local guides, is locally criticized as non-Islamic. Joy ends part 2 with a discussion of the 2005 cultural festival in Djenné, which brings together the visions illustrated in parts 1 and 2. Ultimately, existing power structures (both regional and international) are what is most reflected in such events. Overall, the text illustrates the problems of Eurocentric visions of heritage being confronted by the global poor. Theoretical arguments concerning historic value, age value, and commemorative value in the end all seem to pale in comparison to the failure to recognize use value when discussing people’s homes in this living site. A lack of positive experiences with heritage management has led to local resistance and resentment from a population whose expectations of development have not been met. The gap between the rich and the poor, the empowered and the disempowered, which is widely documented throughout the literature on globalization, is here instrumental in understanding conflicting visions of how the city of Djenné is standing up to being labeled of “universal value” in its unchanged state.

El inmigrante mexicano: la historia de su vida

más conocido en México por sus estudios en las áreas de la antropología y la arqueología. Entre sus obras principales en estas áreas se destacan los libros Forjando Patria (1916), La población del valle de Teotihuacán (1922), Hacia un México nuevo (1935) y Consideraciones sobre el problema indígena (1948). De hecho, Gamio ha sido visto como uno de los pioneros del indigenismo en México y las Américas en general. En cambio, los trabajos de investigación de Gamio sobre la migración de los mexicanos a los Estados Unidos, que dieron como resultado dos libros editados en inglés –Mexican Immigration to the United States (1930) y The Mexican Immigrant: His Life Story (1931)–, son prácticamente desconocidos en su propio país. La entrada de los Estados Unidos a la Primera Guerra Mundial en abril de 1917 y la incorporación de miles de ciudadanos a las fuerzas armadas estadunidenses provocaron un gran incremento en el flujo de inmigrantes mexicanos al otro lado de la frontera para proporcionar la mano de obra requerida en la agricultura y la industria. Después de una breve recesión a principios de la década de 1920, la economía estadunidense experimentó un fuerte auge, que, a su vez, estimuló todavía más el flujo de inmigrantes provenientes del sur. De 1926 a 1927, durante el apogeo de este movimiento migratorio, el Social Science Research Council, en Washington, comisionó a Gamio para investigar el carácter de esta migración, así como su impacto sobre la economía y la sociedad del país. La razón por la que los dos libros escritos por Gamio sobre la migración no fueron editados en México se debió, como señalan los compiladores, al poco interés por parte del gobierno RESEÑA BIBLIOGRÁFICA