Agenda 21, sustainability, ecotourism, local participation – you’ve already heard about this, haven’t you? All these new words sound great – but what do they mean? Can it be that tourism (again) is regarded as the solution to many so-called “third world problems”? What is behind all those concepts and theories? How can developmental tourism programs work at all? Do you want to know more about it? Well, we do! And we would like to invite anyone interested as we are to join our regular working group. Initiated by students in spring 2002, the working group “Anthropology & Tourism” is engaged in the phenomenon of tourism. We discuss tourism structures from an anthropological perspective and would like to know, what kind of theoretical approach can help analysing tourism development and its social impact.

This semester we focus on tourism and developmental projects: with which ideas do they work, what are the reactions and problems? Which roles do locals, tourism industry and development aid workers play? Each seminar participant will present one project in one region. The working group is open for discussions, ideas and questions. The dates are not fixed yet – for more information send an email to AKEthnologie-Tourismus@gmx.net.

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