The rose tinted glasses of tourism...some book recommendations
February 19, 2015 11:34 AM Subscribe
I am always facinated by how tourists perceive the lands to which the with visit with rose-tinted glasses...The people are seen as friendlier, the food is nicer, the sights are more interesting, the natives seem more cultured, the transport seems better and even the Coca-Cola tastes nicer.
When in fact, when you dig a little bit deeper, the problems of "tourist land" are often the same if not worse as your home country.
I must admit that I am guilty of this rosy-tinted-tourist syndrome myself but I would really like to read some fiction / non-fiction books or movies that talk about the biased perceptions of tourists.
When in fact, when you dig a little bit deeper, the problems of "tourist land" are often the same if not worse as your home country.
I must admit that I am guilty of this rosy-tinted-tourist syndrome myself but I would really like to read some fiction / non-fiction books or movies that talk about the biased perceptions of tourists.
Searching for books on the Anthropology of Tourism is the place to start. My undergrad degree is in cultural anthropology and I took a class entirely on said topic, so there is a substantial amount of research available.
Native Tours by Erve Chambers is one; also the ethnographic film "Cannibal Tours", and some other good ones are escaping me now, but try looking into liminality as a topic.
posted by nightrecordings at 11:50 AM on February 19, 2015
Native Tours by Erve Chambers is one; also the ethnographic film "Cannibal Tours", and some other good ones are escaping me now, but try looking into liminality as a topic.
posted by nightrecordings at 11:50 AM on February 19, 2015
'The Loss of the Creature" by Walker Percy is partly about this.
posted by nakedmolerats at 11:53 AM on February 19, 2015
posted by nakedmolerats at 11:53 AM on February 19, 2015
I'd definitely suggest both "Abroad" by Paul Fussell and "The Road to Oxiana" by Robert Byron.
posted by Vervain at 11:54 AM on February 19, 2015
posted by Vervain at 11:54 AM on February 19, 2015
It's just an essay, and is more of a subset of what you're looking for, but in 1982, the (decidedly right-wing) pundit P.J. O'Rourke bought a ticket on a cruise in Russia being sponsored by the (decidedly left-wing) Nation magazine. The resultant essay, "Ship of Fools," is in his collection Republican Party Reptile and it's a masterwork of poking fun at the huge gulf between the expectations of the progressive-politic busybodies on the trip, and the realities of not only the Soviet Union, but the Soviet people themselves. (For example - one of the most-quoted sentences pretty much sums it up: “These were people who believed everything about the Soviet Union was perfect, but they were bringing their own toilet paper.”)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:10 PM on February 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:10 PM on February 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
You might like The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. In fact the main thing I remember from the book is his discussion of the opposite scenario to yours - he talks about how we set off on our travels expecting to arrive in the beautiful picture from the holiday brochure and pass our time there blissfully happy, without a care in the world, but in fact we forget about all the irritations of holidays - the long wait at the airport, the fact there's a noisy bar just out of shot in the brochure photo that plays Euro-pop all day, the fact that we get itchy sand in our trunks and argue with our girlfriend etc. But it's a good read.
posted by penguin pie at 3:55 PM on February 19, 2015
posted by penguin pie at 3:55 PM on February 19, 2015
Forster's novels about the British in Italy are rife with fictional examples: I'd particularly recommend A Room with a View but Where Angels Fear to Tread is lovely too, if less about tourists.
posted by kickingthecrap at 8:53 PM on February 19, 2015
posted by kickingthecrap at 8:53 PM on February 19, 2015
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In MacCannell's analysis, it's not about the lenses -- it's about the frame.
posted by feral_goldfish at 11:49 AM on February 19, 2015 [1 favorite]