“Let 'em Loose”: Pueblo Indian Management of Tourism

The Banff Indian Days tourism festivals

“…Just as Nakoda youth were reproved for their lack of compliance with dress codes established by tourism producers, representations of Indigenous peoples that do not align with tourists' expectations are often discouraged by agents of the tourism industry (Bruner, 2001(Bruner, , 2005Harkin, 2003;Sweet, 2004). Responding to prevailing discourses that promoted exoticized and temporalized aspects of their cultures, Indigenous peoples who successfully and creatively adapt to changing conditions are rarely conceived as cultural strategists, but more often portrayed as peoples who have lost their cultures (Deloria, 2004).…”

Anthropology of Tourism: Researching Interactions between Hosts and Guests

“…Looking at the interactions between hosts leads to viewing them in a different light. They are distinguished with a growth of positive impacts, but ideal types of strategies (Dogan, 1989) and assertive techniques through which local communities can control and regulate interactions with guests (Sweet, 1989(Sweet, , 1990(Sweet, , 1991 can be not only evidence of host power in relation to knowledge, but also a form of protection of host communities' culture, customs, attitudes, or values. In this connection, some theoretical models constituting the beginning of the new development of a conceptual foundation are explored by asking the following questions: to what extent hosts are capable of assessing and perceiving without bias the impacts of tourism; to what extent the knowledge of host regarding tourism and local economy can predict Anthropology of Tourism: Researching Interactions between Hosts and Guests their attitudes toward tourism development; and to what extent hosts who were living in the community for a longer period of time affect the tourism development.…”

“…The five strategies from adoption to presence of tourists are ideal models; in reality, most communities combine several strategies (Dogan, 1989). Sweet (1989Sweet ( , 1990Sweet ( , 1991 presented ways and assertive techniques through which local communities can control and regulate interactions with guests. Assertive techniques allow the local community to get over the impacts of contact with guests, strengthen cultural boundaries and exercise a certain degree of power over the dominant group of guests.…”

Resident reactions to a tourism incident

“…Less confrontational are rules such as signs at an Indian temple that instruct tourists to remove their shoes (Joseph & Kavoori, 2001). Pueblo Indians in the south-western United States of America have long used access restrictions and secrecy to preserve their culture and maintain power in the face of tourism pressures (Sweet, 1991). MacCannell (1984) describes how 'inferior' residents may initially adulate, accommodate and emulate 'superior' guests, subsequently triggering counteractive strategies in which residents position themselves as the superior antithesis.…”