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Title: Tourism, Ethnicity, and the State in Asian and Pacific Societies by Michel Picard, Michael Picard, Robert E. Wood ISBN: 0-8248-1911-X Publisher: University of Hawaii Press Pub. Date: August, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.00

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: A solid addition to the literature
Comment: After "The Tourist", by Dean MacCannell and Valene Smith's edited book titled "Hosts and Guests", in the mid-1970s, the field of the Anthropology of Tourism was flung wide open. A large number of writers focussed their attention on this topic which rapidly increased in importance. In this 'new wave' of anthropological writing, Picard and Wood's edited volume on tourism, ethnicity and the state in various societies in Asia and the Pacific stands out for its quality. Wood's introduction is followed by seven well-written, informative chapters, each written by different authors. There are a number of maps, charts, and even black and white photographs, all of which enhance the text. The areas covered by the book include Guizhou in southwestern China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bali and Sulawesi Selatan in Indonesia, and Hawai'i /Western Samoa. The authors chose their own directions and followed their own interests, but unlike many other such compilations that I have read, this one really hangs together in excellent fashion.

In China, Singapore and Indonesia, "ethnic tourism" both reflects state policy towards national ethnic groups and is used by the state to further policy. Tourist development does not operate outside state controls, so we read about showcase visions of ethnic diversity in which ethnicity itself is commodified according to government guidelines. In Bali, tourism has become so much part of the culture that it can no longer be considered an outside force. The author can write of the "culturalization" of Balinese society in which the arts emphasized by cultural tourism have become crucial to Balinese identity. In Thailand, neglect of national minorities and their culture reflects the state policy of trying to 'iron out' differences between small ethnic groups and the large Thai majority (to the detriment of the former). The Malaysian case reflects not so much on ethnic policy in the country as on using tourism and tourist 'precincts' to foster a particular view of national history and culture. The study of Hawai'i and Samoa may be the most diffuse of the seven, plus, the capitalist environment of the "50th State" precludes the state interference found in China and parts of Southeast Asia. Thus this final chapter does not mesh so neatly with the others, yet the author also introduces useful points to show how tourism is intimately linked with ethnicity and how the state used a certain image to foster both tourism and domestic harmony (despite the patent untruth of that image). In short, this is a most useful book for those interested in the anthropology of tourism, in politics (state interference in tourism, state manipulation of ethnic images, ethnic rivalries over tourism receipts), and in the constant revision of what "culture" and "history" really mean in any one society. If I were teaching a course that touched on any of these issues, I would definitely use this book. If I were writing a paper on some aspect of tourism, I would have no qualms about turning to this book for its excellent case studies.