The Anthropological Study Tour in China

A Call for Cultural Guides

Bibliographic Data

ID2499263
AuthorsGregory Eliyu Guldin (corresponding author), Gregory Guldin
Year1989
Volume48
Issue2
Pages126-134
Publication date1989-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHuman Organization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-7259 • E-ISSN: 1938-3517
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.17730/humo.48.2.j745j811m274j840
OpenAlexW2042352749
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited14

Anthropological involvement in the tourist industry has been growing; anthropologists are increasingly leading to the locales of their expertise. The anthropologist's new role as tour guide deserves anthropological study and to facilitate this, five anthropologist-led academic study tours to China are analyzed for the effects the tours had on the tourists. Questionnaires and participant-observation techniques reveal that most tourists are similar to introductory anthropology students whose interpretations of the foreign can be influenced significantly by an anthropological guide. With such anthropological aid, tourists lessen their negative prejudices and develop more positive images of China and the Chinese. The difficulties and pitfalls encountered by the tour guides, the locals and the natives in this type of endeavor are numerous and readily lend themselves to ethnocentric misunderstandings. The key anthropological contribution to such tourist jaunts thus lies not so much in conveying th

Archaeology · China · Ethnocentrism · Ethnography · Participant observation · Sociology · Tourism · Anthropology · Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research · History · Museums and Cultural Heritage · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development

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