Of reverie and emplacement

Spatial imaginings and tourism encounters in Nepal Himalaya

Bibliographic Data

ID5780368
AuthorsFrancis Khek Gee Lim (corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume9
Issue3
Pages375-394
Publication date2008-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInter-Asia Cultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9373 • E-ISSN: 1469-8447
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649370802184452
OpenAlexW1992262796
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited23

While the concept of the 'tourist gaze' has been influential in tourism research, the 'counter-gaze' of the host communities and their imagination of the tourists' places of origin have not been adequately addressed. Based on fieldwork conducted in the Langtang National Park of Nepal, and drawing on Simmel's theory of sociation, this paper attempts a simultaneous analysis of the shifting images the visitors and hosts have of each other and how these images shape their experiences of tourism, and argues that a constant shifting of subjectivity between 'reverie' and 'emplacement' characterises the structure of tourism encounters. Keywords: Nepal HimalayatourismSimmelplacedevelopment Notes 1. The Sherpa of Solu-Khumbu have been deemed by some to have suffered the same fate, especially amongst foreigners who have a romantic view of the Sherpa as innocent and non-materialistic (see, for example, Ortner 1999 Ortner, Sherry B. 1999. Life and Death on Mount Everest: Sherpas and Himalayan Mountaineering, Princeton: Princeton University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 248-249). 2. There are notable exceptions. For example, Abbink, in his study of the Suri-tourist encounter in Southern Ethiopia, describes how the Suri continuously refused to conform to set tourist expectations, and how, unaware to the tourists, the Suri see them with a sense of bewilderment and irritation (Abbink 2000 Abbink, Jan. 2000. 'Tourism and its discontent: Suri-tourist encounter in Southern Ethiopia'. Social Anthropology, 8(1): 1-17. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Evans-Pritchard has similarly documented the native Americans' images of tourists within a more general perception of 'the Other' (Evans-Pritchard 1989 Evans-Pritchard, Deirdre. 1989. 'How "They" see "Us": Native American images of tourists'. Annals of Tourism Research, 16: 89-105. [Crossref], [Web of Science (R)] , [Google Scholar]). In her historical approach, she analyses the ways in which historical parodies and critiques of the 'whiteman' influence present day native Americans' attitudes towards tourists, and how the hosts rely on stereotypical images to defend and protect as well as to discriminate. Tourism studies such as Abbink's and Evans-Pritchard's are few and far between, which reflects perhaps a certain bias in tourism research in general. 3. On two other occasions, I myself became the focus of attraction after some tourists got to know that I was an anthropologist conducting research in Langtang. Somehow that made me an exotic spectacle and the tourists took pictures of me lounging. 4. As Langtangpa speak Tibetan as their first language, they would use the phrase 'khamsung bu? Are you well?' for greetings amongst themselves, but will normally use the Nepali term 'namaste' (meaning 'hello', 'greetings') to tourists, for travellers to Nepal would all know what namaste means. 5. In Nepal the English word 'project' is often used to refer to foreign aid project or foreign NGO work. When Ramjee, the teacher from the Tarai (near the border with India) who had been sent by a British NGO to Langtang village to teach, was asked by a soldier at the national park check-post for the reason for his stay in the village, Ramjee replied 'project-ko lāgi ('for project')', and elicited a knowing nod and expression of respect from his interlocutor. For further discussions on various aspects of 'development' (bikās) as a social practice in Nepal, see for example Bista (1991 Bista, Dor B. 1991. Fatalism and Development: Nepal's Struggle for Modernization, Calcutta: Orient Longman. [Google Scholar]); Blaikie et al. (1980 Blaikie, Piers, Cameron, John and Seddon, David. 1980. Nepal in Crisis: Growth and Stagnation at the Periphery, Oxford: Clarendon. [Google Scholar]); Pigg (1992 Pigg, Stacey L. 1992. 'Inventing social categories through place: social representations and development in Nepal'. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 34(3): 491-513. [Crossref], [Web of Science (R)] , [Google Scholar]; 1993 Pigg, Stacey L. 1993. 'Unintended consequences: the ideological impact of development in Nepal'. South Asia Bulletin, 13(1-2) [Google Scholar]). 6. Before tourism came to Langtang, some local men had been to India to work. However, since tourists started arriving a couple of decades ago, only a handful of Langtangpa had gone away to work, either in the Nepalese cities such as Kathmandu or overseas. This is different from the situation in other parts of Nepal. For example, the Khumbu region witnessed large-scale seasonal out-migration as many Sherpa men acted as trekking guides during the tourist seasons, many spending as much as 10 months away from home (Fisher 1990 Fisher, James F. 1990. Sherpas: Reflections on Change in Himalayan Nepal, Oxford, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 118). On the positive side, this outflow of young Sherpa men to work in the tourism industry has brought about a general rising standard of living in the Khumbu. There were, however, adverse consequences of this large-scale migration. In agriculture, for example, fields were abandoned for lack of able locals to cultivate, leading to a decline in agricultural production (Fisher 1990 Fisher, James F. 1990. Sherpas: Reflections on Change in Himalayan Nepal, Oxford, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 122). Watkins has documented the same phenomenon with the Nyeshangte in the northern central hills of Nepal (Watkins 1996 Watkins, Joanne. 1996. Spirited Women: Gender, Religion, and Cultural Identity in the Nepal Himalaya, New York: Columbia University Press. [Google Scholar]: 21). The Nyeshangte have a sizable diasporic population in places such as Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, northern India, and also in Kathmandu and Pokhara in Nepal, as a result of their trading tradition and heavy involvement in tourism. It was usually the Nyeshangte men who travelled, and women were left behind in villages to tend to domestic chores and to cultivate the fields. In recent years, due to the political turmoil and economic crisis in Nepal, more and more Nepalese have left their country to seek job opportunities in places like the United States, Japan, the Gulf States (or 'Arab', as the Nepalese would say), and countries in Southeast and South Asia. According to the Department of Labour estimates in 2002, there were 214,839 Nepalese working overseas, of which 99.5% were unskilled. This was the official figure of Nepalese with proper legal documents; an equal number was thought be working illegally abroad (Poudel 2002 Poudel, K. 2002. "'Foreign labour: pains behind the promise of prosperity'". In Spotlight 7-13 June [Google Scholar]; Dhakal 2002 Dhakal, S. 2002. "'Spiraling downwards'". In Spotlight 22-28 February [Google Scholar]). According to a study by David Seddon and his co-workers for the British Department for International Development (DFID), the remittance of these migrant workers could be as high as Rs. 69 billion, which was equivalent to about 20% of Nepal's gross domestic product (cited in Poudel 2002 Poudel, K. 2002. "'Foreign labour: pains behind the promise of prosperity'". In Spotlight 7-13 June [Google Scholar]). 7. The 'excess characteristics' are not more 'real' than the 'types' with which we perceive others in sociation. Our construction of types, according to Simmel, is the result of the necessary process of generalisation inherent in any particular sociation; we might get to know more about the other's 'excess characteristics' through additional interactions, after which further generalisation is possible based on the additional information we have gleaned

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