Antropologia e turismo

abordagens e perspectivas

Abstract

This theoretical text intends to systematize some of the main approaches to tourism from the perspective of anthropology. Initially, it describes some movements that occurred in the scope of anthropological theory after World War II and how, from a pragmatic, reflective and critical attitude, the Anthropology was incorporated the tourism as an object of investigation in a disciplinary scope, from the 1970s onwards. The work also indicates why, despite the theoretical and methodological advances, there is still some resistance regarding the anthropological studies of tourism within the discipline. Subsequently, are systematized the main approaches and theoretical developments of anthropological studies that have tourism as their object, considering two major paradigms, that of free time or political-economic and the semiological one. While for the first theoretical model, the emphasis is on political-social asymmetries between visitors and visitors, for the second model the focus is the symbolic effects generated by the tourist activity. Next, are addressed the most recurrent research themes in the anthropology of tourism, such as social relations in the tourist destination, the effects of the activity on host communities, the formation of the tourist image, the issue of authenticity and the ritual dimension of tourism.