Are we all tourists now?

[Federica]

Some of you discussed pictures of themselves as tourists in this week's seminars.

Here is the reference to the article I mentioned:

Bauman, Z. (1996). From Pilgrim to Tourist. In: Hall, S. and Du Gay, P. (eds) Questions of Cultural Identity. London: Sage, pp. 18-36.

I recommend this brief essay to everyone, since it helps situating Gergen's theory in the broader context of 'post-modern' multiple identities. It also raises ethical questions (although you might or might not agree with Zygmunt Bauman's views).

(See also reading suggestions for the Masked Subject, http://www.cyberchimp.co.uk/U75184/masked.htm)

[Tea and Cake]

I can't seem to find this article. It's not on the VLE or in the library databases....??? Do you know how I can get hold of it?

[@liveJ]

Hello. Tea and Coffee.

We can access this article from this link.

(Thanks Google Scholar & New York University)

[Tea and Cake]

Great! Thank you.

[gamst12]

In reference to being a tourist, I do agree with this statement in part because I recently went to London and I was staggered by the diversity of the people I encountered, walking through the centre of London allowed me to understand just how diverse our country has become. The infulx of immigration has obvioulsy had a direct impact on this, where ever you go in relation to most big cities there will be ethnic areas predominatly inhabited by foreigners be it Italain's, Chinese or Asian.
Feeling like a tourist in my own country I think is not a good thing, when walking through some parts of London I could have been anywhere in the world, as a result I think we lose an element of our identity and what it means to be British.

[dell_boi]

I agree that we are becoming tourists to our own country, in a sense. I recently went to Cape town in South Africa and found that i felt less like a tourist there, than I did just travelling to the Isle Of Wight. I found that people did not approach or try and make you buy things unless you were in a market Place in SA. But in the Isle Of Wight it seemed as if i was a foreign coming into a different country. It is part of britain and for some reason or other it sells a vast amount of tourist goods. Not just on the streets but as soon as you get on a ferry, there is a vast amount of 'touristy goods'.

I believe that because of the ease of travelling has increased rapidly meaning that the art of creating wealth out tourism has boomed. Meaning that most places you go in britain there is some sort of attraction to bring people to spend money.

I disagree with some tourist ideals, but at the end of the day it is helping the economy.