AFS Fellows Sponsor Salon Discussion of 2021 Utley Panel on “Heritage, Tourism, and Community”

The AFS Fellows are presenting an online salon on Friday, December 3, 12:00–1:30 pm EST for anyone interested in joining in dialogue concerning the issues raised in the 2021 AFS Fellows Utley Panel, “Heritage, Tourism, Community: A Conversation with Owe Ronström.”

Ronström underlined the importance of involving ethnologists/folklorists in efforts to develop heritage tourism as a tool for contributing to the cultural and ecological sustainability of host communities.  He discussed the innovative approaches to tourism on the island of Gotland, Sweden that he has been instrumental in developing.  Recognizing that heritage tourism is inevitable in many communities and the damage it so often inflicts on local culture, he underscored the necessity to transform current tourism practices.  During the panel at the AFS meeting, many attending wanted to explore further ways in which a “tourist” can be transformed into a “visitor” and approaches that enable the host communities to be served on their own terms,  preventing them from being erased from their own lifeworlds.  The salon will extend this conversation through small group discussions.

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If you missed the original presentation, or to refresh your memory, log onto the 2021 Annual Meeting hub and access the Francis Lee Utley Memorial Panel:  https://afsannualmeeting.org/virtual-program/tuesday-october-19/event3507190000002592013/.  

It’s not too late to register for the 2021 Annual Meeting and get access to ALL of this year’s recorded presentations. Alternatively, those who register for the Salon will be granted access to the Utley Panel recording the week before the salon date.

 If you have any questions, please direct them to Amy Shuman ([email protected]).