Anthropologies of Tourism: What's in a Name?

In 2001 a group of engaged anthropologists, the majority from Latin America, launched the Red de Antropologias del Mundo—World Anthropologies Network (WAN 2003). Arturo Escobar defines world anthropologies as “an approach intended to de-essentialize anthropology and to pluralize anthropological inquiry by building on non-hegemonic anthropological practices” (2008, 12). The world anthropologies framework is deeply influenced by the awareness of hierarchical relations in knowledge production marked by the historical construction of canons of expertise established by the powers that be (Ribeiro and Escobar 2006). World anthropologies are contrasted with “national anthropological traditions” (WAN 2003, 266) as “other anthropologies and anthropology otherwise” (Restrepo and Escobar 2005). The various contributions to the World Anthropologies section of American Anthropologist and the long bibliography compiled by AAA’s Committee on World Anthropologies (CWA 2016) showcase the various directions in which the ideas of world anthropologies have been taken.What if we would apply this line of thinking to a subfield of the discipline—namely, the anthropology of tourism? Given that (historical) anthropological ideas have greatly influenced contemporary tourism (Salazar 2013), the question is less trivial than it seems. When consulting books that give an overview of the anthropology of tourism (Chambers 2010; Nash 1996), there seems to be general agreement about a canon of authors and works.