Heritage, Environment & Tourism

Posted by on March 18, 2005

HERITAGE, ENVIRONMENT & TOURISM
Meetings of the Society for Applied Anthropology
La Fonda Hotel, Santa Fe, New Mexico
April 5-10, 2005

The Santa Fe meetings provide an excellent locale for exploring the closely related themes of Heritage, Environment & Tourism. In its own right, heritage has become a major focal point for national, regional and local development initiatives. As heritage is seen to have both external and internal value, how can we participate in such areas as heritage development and resource management while still defending the rights of communities and other groups to control how their heritages are represented? In a similar manner, the environment is increasingly being viewed as a kind of ?natural heritage,? implying a strong association between environmental conservation and human associations with the environment. What does this tendency suggest in terms of understanding and negotiating different stakeholder interests related to particular acts of environmental decision making? How are different ideals associated with natural heritage reflected in environmental and natural resource management policies and practices? How do environmental issues relate to health concerns? Finally, tourism, as one of the world?s largest industries, is increasingly being cast in the terms of both cultural and natural heritage. What does the increased popularity of such tourism ?niches? as heritage tourism and ecotourism imply for the conservation of local heritage practices and the preservation of popular ?natural? places? What are the roles played by museums in the presentation of heritage and the promotion of cultural tourism?

For more information, visit: http://www.sfaa.net/sfaa2005.html