From the Tourismification of a Village to the Displacement of its Population: Expressions of a Hierarchical Relationship Between the Chinese State and the Wa Ethnic Minority

The tourism development of the Wa village of Wengding, dubbed “the last primitive tribe” in China by public and private stakeholders in its promotion as a tourist site, is based around a complex of facilities and amenities in the village space, and tourist activities with a tendency to objectify the...

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Main Author: Sarah Coulouma
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Association Via@ 2020-03-01
Series:Via@
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/viatourism/4376
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author Sarah Coulouma
author_facet Sarah Coulouma
author_sort Sarah Coulouma
collection DOAJ
description The tourism development of the Wa village of Wengding, dubbed “the last primitive tribe” in China by public and private stakeholders in its promotion as a tourist site, is based around a complex of facilities and amenities in the village space, and tourist activities with a tendency to objectify the “primitive” aspect of “traditional Wa culture” and the Wa people themselves. This village on the periphery of the People’s Republic of China is both a locus for the expression of the expectations and representations of visitors – primarily urban Han – about this village community, and the construct of a hierarchized relationship between the Han civilisation and this ethnic minority. After more than a decade of tourism development, the recent measure to displace the village community to a “New Rural Village” in turn exemplifies what the author terms “internal primitivism”, an extreme form of Orientalism.
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spelling doaj-art-b4fcd7555557471496decdcbdb3202272025-01-30T14:05:32ZdeuAssociation Via@Via@2259-924X2020-03-011610.4000/viatourism.4376From the Tourismification of a Village to the Displacement of its Population: Expressions of a Hierarchical Relationship Between the Chinese State and the Wa Ethnic MinoritySarah CouloumaThe tourism development of the Wa village of Wengding, dubbed “the last primitive tribe” in China by public and private stakeholders in its promotion as a tourist site, is based around a complex of facilities and amenities in the village space, and tourist activities with a tendency to objectify the “primitive” aspect of “traditional Wa culture” and the Wa people themselves. This village on the periphery of the People’s Republic of China is both a locus for the expression of the expectations and representations of visitors – primarily urban Han – about this village community, and the construct of a hierarchized relationship between the Han civilisation and this ethnic minority. After more than a decade of tourism development, the recent measure to displace the village community to a “New Rural Village” in turn exemplifies what the author terms “internal primitivism”, an extreme form of Orientalism.https://journals.openedition.org/viatourism/4376tourism developmentethnic tourisminternal orientalismprimitivismChinaWa
spellingShingle Sarah Coulouma
From the Tourismification of a Village to the Displacement of its Population: Expressions of a Hierarchical Relationship Between the Chinese State and the Wa Ethnic Minority
Via@
tourism development
ethnic tourism
internal orientalism
primitivism
China
Wa
title From the Tourismification of a Village to the Displacement of its Population: Expressions of a Hierarchical Relationship Between the Chinese State and the Wa Ethnic Minority
title_full From the Tourismification of a Village to the Displacement of its Population: Expressions of a Hierarchical Relationship Between the Chinese State and the Wa Ethnic Minority
title_fullStr From the Tourismification of a Village to the Displacement of its Population: Expressions of a Hierarchical Relationship Between the Chinese State and the Wa Ethnic Minority
title_full_unstemmed From the Tourismification of a Village to the Displacement of its Population: Expressions of a Hierarchical Relationship Between the Chinese State and the Wa Ethnic Minority
title_short From the Tourismification of a Village to the Displacement of its Population: Expressions of a Hierarchical Relationship Between the Chinese State and the Wa Ethnic Minority
title_sort from the tourismification of a village to the displacement of its population expressions of a hierarchical relationship between the chinese state and the wa ethnic minority
topic tourism development
ethnic tourism
internal orientalism
primitivism
China
Wa
url https://journals.openedition.org/viatourism/4376
work_keys_str_mv AT sarahcoulouma fromthetourismificationofavillagetothedisplacementofitspopulationexpressionsofahierarchicalrelationshipbetweenthechinesestateandthewaethnicminority