My Unit 6 assignment about the Mapuches by Jeremiah, Claire, Ata, and Ashley.
As we have previously discussed in past units, tourism involving Indigenous people comes with both pros and cons. The positive effects of tourism involve participation in the world economy and additional sources of income from the sale of indigenous art. The downside of tourism is that not all indigenous people benefit from it. In Unit 2 we learnt about the exploitation of ayahuasca and how some Shipibo-Konibo people were no longer able to go to their shamans for healing as many shamans became too expensive for locals, and others moved to bigger cities. Discussions about tourism also made us question the meaning of “authenticity”, as we learnt that Shipibo-Konibo people often make kené that is designed for tourists and is different from the traditional kené that holds more meaning to them. The lecture about Mapuches highlighted a benefit of tourism I had not previously considered- for Mapuches tourism has helped them preserve and revitalize their culture. As a result of tourism, some Mapuche people have regained pride in their identity and there is more unity between community members. What I found most interesting is that tourism has enabled the transition of knowledge to younger generations which is so important for the preservation of a culture. Although there are many positives to tourism for Mapuches, there are also negatives, and some members of the community often consider tourism to be a new form of colonization.
Thank you Jeremiah, Claire, Ata, and Ashley for teaching me about the Mapuches, I really enjoyed reading the lecture!
Hello Camila,
I really like your reflection and how you emphasize the positives and negatives of tourism. I completely agree with you. Tourism can be either bad but also very beneficial in some ways. Firmly, I believe it is very hard to find a middle ground between these two. At one point tourism helps but that help can come at a cost of some people or cultures. One of the saddest things I think come with globalization thanks to which tourism originated is that with our world getting more and more interconnected cultures keep disappearing and clash together. generation by generation we lose a little bit more of our cultural background and traditions. Not only that Mapuche culture is experiencing this extinguishment but I can also feel it in regards to my own culture.
Thank you so much for your post! I really enjoyed reading it! 🙂
I completely agree with the idea of Tourism have an ambiguous affect on indigenous cultures. There is much grey area that encompass the negative and positives of international travel. It is wonderful to see how indigenous culture is being more acknowledged and appreciated by outsiders from around the world, and it is also great to see how traveling enriches individuals cultural perspective. Indigenous communities have incorporated tourism into their lives as a creative, and necessary way to make a living. However, i wanted to point out a negative that may be relevant given the current circumstances with the pandemic. Tourism and travel is also the reason why the virus spread world wide. And in consideration of indigenous communities, they don’t all have access to advances medical care needed in order to fight the virus. Indigenous communities run the risk of being critically affected by foreign viruses brought by influences of travel and tourism and it sometimes seem like it often a factor that is overlooked when we considered globalism and travel.