This is the blog for the U of I Recreation, Sport and Tourism 457 class, Tourism Development. Your reactions are an important part of class participation.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Slumdog Tourism
East St. Louis Industrial Site
This editorial piece hits on an important ethical issue for tourism development and how we deal with local communities.
Slum dog Tourism is an experience I have had. As the article mentioned, this kind of tourism is popular in Rio De Janeiro favelas. The main reason why I decided to attend the Favela Tour is to see a way of life I had never seen before. However, after the end of the tour I experienced a sense of guilt and remorse because as the article alluded to I felt as if I had been to a circus. And I knew that the people in the houses I walked next to were trapped in their cages much like animals in a zoo.
Here are some pictures of the Rochina Favela in Rio de Janeiro:
I thought this article was interesting. I liked that it showed the point of view from someone who lived in the slums. I also think that you cannot understand how difficult someone's life could be unless you lived it. It also surprised me that people were willing to invade the resident's privacy. In my opinion, Americans are very protective of their privacy. When the Patriot Act was passed, many American objected to it. Yet people went into a house to see a women give birth. They gave her no privacy.
Slum tourism is definately interesting and i could understand why individuals would want to take a look at real poverty. However, i feel that it is extremely degrading to the individuals being put on display, so to speak. One would almost get the sense of a freak show. As bad as that sounds, people want to see things out of the ordinary to them just to kind of say "i'm glad i'm not that person." It could raise awareness, but i feel that it would very rare if it actually sparked some sort of change.
Slum dog Tourism is an experience I have had. As the article mentioned, this kind of tourism is popular in Rio De Janeiro favelas. The main reason why I decided to attend the Favela Tour is to see a way of life I had never seen before. However, after the end of the tour I experienced a sense of guilt and remorse because as the article alluded to I felt as if I had been to a circus. And I knew that the people in the houses I walked next to were trapped in their cages much like animals in a zoo.
ReplyDeleteHere are some pictures of the Rochina Favela in Rio de Janeiro:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033988&id=1158930024&l=a612559f24
-- Anna
I thought this article was interesting. I liked that it showed the point of view from someone who lived in the slums. I also think that you cannot understand how difficult someone's life could be unless you lived it. It also surprised me that people were willing to invade the resident's privacy. In my opinion, Americans are very protective of their privacy. When the Patriot Act was passed, many American objected to it. Yet people went into a house to see a women give birth. They gave her no privacy.
ReplyDeleteSlum tourism is definately interesting and i could understand why individuals would want to take a look at real poverty. However, i feel that it is extremely degrading to the individuals being put on display, so to speak. One would almost get the sense of a freak show. As bad as that sounds, people want to see things out of the ordinary to them just to kind of say "i'm glad i'm not that person." It could raise awareness, but i feel that it would very rare if it actually sparked some sort of change.
ReplyDelete