IGD

Institute of Geography and Sustainability of the University of Lausanne
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Rural Tourism and Local Perceptions of Change

Research fields Cultures and natures of tourism
Keywords Tourism
Identities
China
Development studies
Environmental governance
Environmental politics
Ethnography
Empowerment
Funding University of Lausanne
Duration April 2015 >
Website
Researchers Clivaz Christophe (Supervision) [web] [email]
Hürlemann Seraina (Doctoral student) [web] [email]

This dissertation project analyses local perceptions of change related to tourism development in Lashi Hai, a wetland conservation area in north-west Yunnan (China). My research is located in the field of social and cultural anthropology. By exploring local narratives that create places for tourists and at the same time recreated them for the narrators themselves, this research aims at understanding processes of social, economic or cultural change from an inside (emic) perspective. To contextualize this understanding the narratives are analysed within the geographic and historical settings of the area. Thus regional, national as well as international discourses on environmental conservation or ethnic minority issues for example are taken into account. A special interest of this research is to find out how local perspectives are related to those narratives produced by different government levels, international organisations or NGOs. Hence it aims at better understanding how different narratives interact, create discourses and influence (and are influenced by) local changes.