Students learn to frame the present environmental crisis in relation with tourism issues. They learn how to analyze the present society using tools from anthropology, philosophy and also natural sciences, focusing on criticalities emerging from travelling, consumption, cultural preservation, environmental preservation, social sustainability.
At the end of the course, students are capable to interpret conceptually complex maps identifying the power relations among the different actors in the tourism sector and in the related societies.
Students are able can discuss the many implications of travelling and their impact on the environment; they can suggest and sketch different types of cultural/ecological managing strategies; they can manage travel issues contextualizing their proposals in a complex framework.
Good knowledge of global history and geography
Lessons with support of audio and video materials.
Class discussions on resources shared via Moodle,
Presentation and analysis of Case studies.
The exam consists in a written test on the Syllabus texts.
For Students attending all lessons:
During the course, some optional intermediate exercises will be proposed on topics covered in class and discussed in the texts of the program. The positive evaluation of all the exercises can replace the written test.
The course provides theoretical and practical tools from the Anthropology of the Contemporary to apply to sustainable tourism contexts:
1. Theoretical bases in Anthropology
Concepts of Culture and Identity, Travel and Migration, Environment and Habitat. Dualism Nature/Culture.The privileged position of the ethnographer. Hegemony and Subalternity in the relation observer/observed.
2. Study of the Anthropology in a global world.
The end of colonization and the development of tourism as a reward: UNWTO. Non/sustainable tourism. The role of tourism in the Anthropocene. The Great Acceleration. The UNESCO-COMPACT model. Local communities and cultural complexity.
3. Theoretical bases in Complexity
Complexity in Natural and Social Sciences. Non-linearity and fractals. Reasoning with metaphors. Examples of Anthropocenic crises. Environment as a non-linear system. Emerging local solutions.
The course takes place in the 2nd sub-term.
