Research Catalog

Title

Resplendent sites, discordant voices : Sri Lankans and international tourism / Malcolm Crick.

Author

Crick, Malcolm.

Publication

Chur, Switzerland ; Langhorne, Pa. : Harwood Academic Publishers, ©1994.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

x, 237 pages : illustrations; 26 cm.

Summary

Resplendent Sites, Discordant Voices is a detailed examination of the development of international tourism in Sri Lanka, from the mid 1960s to the present day. It portrays a highly complex industry on a number of different levels and from a diversity of viewpoints. Its focus shifts from global and comparative concerns to the political, economic and cultural context of national policy formation, then to the regional story of tourism growth in Kandy, and finally to the roles and relationships which exist in the so-called 'informal sector', that large arena of somewhat 'shady' activities beyond the control of national tourism authorities which characterises this industry throughout the Third World. The rhetoric of the industry image-makers is studied, but how tourism is perceived is also presented from the perspective of a range of other social groups, such as those running unlicensed guesthouses, municipal officials, the younger generation about to leave school, and individuals trying to make a living from their encounters with foreigners on the streets of Kandy. From these portraits, international tourism in Sri Lanka emerges as an arena of conflicting, ambivalent and ambiguous voices. This study will be of great value to Sri Lanka specialists, Asianists in general, social scientists with interests in the contemporary Third World, and above all to those interested in the growing field of the anthropology of tourism.

Series Statement

Studies in anthropology and history, 1055-2464 ; v. 8

Uniform Title

Studies in anthropology and history ; v. 8.

Subject

• Tourism > Social aspects > Sri Lanka
• Tourism > Social aspects
• Sozialer Wandel
• Tourismus
• Toerisme
• Culturele aspecten
• Turismo
• Sociologia
• Tourism > Sri Lanka > Social aspects
• Voyages d'affaires > Sri Lanka > Aspect social
• Sri Lanka
• Sri Lanka

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-225) and index.

Contents

• 1. Anthropology and the study of tourism: theoretical and personal reflections. Areas of convergence. Research foci and methods. The structure of the book. An ethical note -- 2. The development of international tourism in Sri Lanka: an economic, social and political portrait. A political and economic framework. A story of growth: 1966-82. The economic balance sheet. Cultural 'pollution'. Neo-colonialism -- 3. Tourism in Kandy: a historical and contemporary portrait. The city and its environs -- past and present. Kandy as a tourist site. Modern tourism growth in Kandy. Socio-economic perceptions. The events of 1982 -- 4. Images and representations of tourism in Kandy -- a study of different viewpoints. Touristic images. The view from the Town Hall. The view from the schools. The view from the streets -- 5. Roles, relationships and representations in the informal sector: street guides and unlicensed guesthouses in Kandy. The informal tourism sector. The unlicensed guesthouses.
• The street guides. Street guides, shopkeepers and guesthouse proprietors: transactions and conflicts. Life in the informal sector: concluding thoughts -- 6. Tourism in troubled times: 1982 to the present.

ISBN

• 3718655640
• 9783718655649

LCCN

94001708

OCLC

• ocm29844689
• 29844689
• SCSB-14214173

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library