Indigenous Peoples, Statesand Development (1): Tourism
Development and Social
Change of Ethnic Minorities
Multi-Ethnic Society (11)（Jun.26, 2014）	
1

Email Assignment	• Effective ways to utilize multiple
languages: not to justify monolingual
dominance• Linguistic rights = from the viewpoint ofusers (speakers): respect to minorities’
languages• Similar as multiculturalism, majority’sunderstanding is crucial (notice oflinguistic imperialism, etc.)2

Arguments in (Ethnic) Tourism• Tourist gaze (Urry 1990): What becomes
tourism resource, how, why?
– Nostalgia of the majority (p.571)• Human relations in tourism: hosts –middlemen – guests＊Cases without intervention ofmiddlemen (just hosts-guests relations)3• Authenticity of cultures– Authenticity/un-authenticity from the perspective ofmajority and tourists– Authenticity/un-authenticity from the perspective ofminority (guests)• Commoditization (Commercialization） of cultures– Something fictional impression （’Pastiche’ p.576）– Gendered (feminized) representation• Agency of minorities (active or passive)4

Conditions Surrounding “EthnicMinorities”• Around 8% of the total population, 55 officiallyrecognized groups• Development in remote areas emphasized inrecent decades• School education: some groups develop its own
letters/orthography, but not all of them, high ratioof dropout• Status change of ethnic culture in historicalcultural system (Takayama 2007: 43)
5

YEFV and other Places as Tourism
Resources• YEFV: state-owned, established in 1992
as the boom of theme parks, primarily
targeted domestic market, peaked in 1999,
faced challenges• Other ethnic tourism spots in Yunnan(outside of the author’s framework)
http://www.china.org.cn/top10/2011-08/19/
content_23241410_10.htm
6Different Views and Expectations
Among Different Stakeholders	• Managers: do they really believe in what
they offer or think just a part of their job?
• Park employees: why do they work here
and why do they leave the job after a few
years?
• Tourists: why are they satisfied?
– If there were more foreign tourists, what would
be different?

• What is the government wish?	
7

Comparison With Other Countries	• ‘Hill tribes’ in Thailand
http://www.hilltribe.org/• Ainu in Hokkaido
http://www.ainu-museum.or.jp/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kank%C5%8D_Ainu

8Discussion	• What are ’tensions’ and how do they appear?
• Author’s contradictory statements: ‘Minority
employees are not passive receivers’ (p.580),‘they have little say in presenting andinterpreting their culture’ (p.581)• What is educational function of YEFV and how is
it operated?
• What is NOT discussed in this article? 	

9

References	• Smith, Valene S. (ed), 1989, Hosts and Guests: The
Anthropology of Tourism, University of Pennsylvania
Press• Takayama, Yoko（高山陽子）, 2007, 『民族の幻影――中国民族観光の行方』東北大学出版会• Urry, John, 1990, Tourist Gaze: Leisure and Travel inContemporary Societies, Sage
• Yang, Li, 2013, “Ethnic Tourism and Minority Identity:
Lugu Lake, Yunnan, China,” Asia Pacific Journal ofTourism Research 18(7)	

10• 【Email assignment】

What do you think of the fact that
cultures and traditions of someethnic groups evolve to tourism
resources?	

11• 【Preparation】

What kind of relations exist
between transnational networkand local development?	

12