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Behind the Smile: The Working Lives of Caribbean Tourism | 
 enlarge | Author: George Gmelch
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $11.00
You Save: $8.95 (45%)
New (6) Used (11) from $11.00
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 625786
Media: Paperback
Pages: 192
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.6
ISBN: 025321615X
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.479172981
EAN: 9780253216151
ASIN: 025321615X
Publication Date: September 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"Behind the Smile" is an inside look at the world of Caribbean tourism as seen through the working lives of twenty-one men and women who work in the tourist industry in Barbados. The workers come from every level of tourism, from maid to hotel manager, beach gigolo to taxi driver, red cap to diving instructor. Moving through the various sites in which "hosts" and "guests" meet - airport, hotel, beach, and tourist attractions - these highly personal accounts offer insights into complex questions surrounding tourism. The narratives touch on issues, such as how race shapes interactions between tourists and workers, how tourists may become agents of cultural change, the meaning of sexual encounters between locals and tourists, and the real economic and ecological costs of development through tourism. George Gmelch offers an engaging introduction to the history of tourism in the Caribbean and recent research on tourism, development, and cross-cultural communication. This lively book will intrigue students, scholars, and all readers interested in the social and cultural aspects of travel.
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| Customer Reviews:
The Anthropology of Tourism: A Delightful Read for Cruise Travelers March 25, 2008
E. Drake (Northeast, USA)
I read this book for a research paper on Barbados, that I chose to write for an undergraduate anthropology class called Caribbean Ethnography. The book is written by Professor George Gmelch of Union College in Schenectady, NY. It is a very simple book with little to no anthropological analysis on the surface. However, upon completing this book you will realize Gmelch's perfect and unintentional introduction to the anthropology of everyday life. That is to say, the Gmelch gives us 20 snapshots of people working in the tourism industry in Barbados. Gmelch brings us, their jobs, their home lives, their concerns and the things that bring them joy.
Gmelch stumbles upon a fantastic way to introduce a culture. As I read this book (about 3 years ago, I am writing from memory which can only mean that this book was very good at leaving an impression), I thought that it would be great if other anthropologists and writers did this for each culture they study, as the lives of the people, their homes and concerns are surely one of the greatest insights into their culture.
This book is generally about tourism, specifically about Caribbean tourism and the country of Barbados. I gave this book to my mother for her to read, as she is a regular big-boat cruise traveler. She loved the book. She told me it brought her a better awareness to the happenings outside of the cruise ship bubble. She was not shot down from ever going on cruises again, but rather took more consideration into planing her cruise, ecologically, economically and culturally.
Great! September 6, 2005
J. Seipel
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
Item was as promised, good condition, fast shipping, good packaging. I'd buy from them again.
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