Dear Cathy and all discussants:
I have my head buried in an immense marking load so I
haven't got time for a detailed response. Anyway, Neil and
others raise a very pertinent 'political' issue at a time
when Business Schools across the UK (and elsewhere?) are
looking to increase their market share of students in the
context of 'scarce' funding and a squeeze on resources.
Here at UNL we have long been active in promoting an
inter-disciplinary approach (both in teaching and research)
in the fields of leisure and tourism but are increasingly
under pressure to emphasise 'mangement' in parts of the
curriculum, given that the powers that be see it as
'relevant' to business needs etc. I don't have any quick
answers to this dilemma and indeed I welcome the comments
so far. However, I would add that many of our students
emphasise how much they enjoy studying tourism from an
anthropological and sociological perspective, perhaps they
need to be heard more? I think also the work of Daniel
Miller and others speaks volumes about the contribution of
anthropology to an understanding of the worlds of commerce
and trade.
Raoul
On Wed, 06 Jun 2001 11:11:41 +0100 [log in to unmask]
wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> Whilst there are many anthropologists who contribute to business in a
> consultancy capacity I am also very interesting in this discussion in so
> far as it relates to anthropology in a business school/ University
> environment. I think sometimes it is hard for those of us interested in the
> application/ relevance of anthropology because if we work in a business
> school we tend to be out numbered (there's those figures again!) by
> colleagues who take a more quantitative/ survey approach to business issues.
> In a way we need to highlight more the relevance of and the contribution
> that anthropological perspectives can make to business issues.
> Particularly, in terms of ethnography as a method of investigation. How much
> more valuable would a set of statistics be with an idea of what the people
> behind them really thought? This is not to replace the statistics in every
> case but rather to add value to them. Here in Brighton one of our Tourism
> mgt undergraduates has just completed his final year dissertation on the
> effectiveness of a particular airline's cabin crew training programme. His
> approach was solely ethnographic. Overt participant observation, interviews
> with trainees/ trainers/ managers, diaries/ notes etc and he was very lucky
> to get the access from the airline as they saw his approach as beneficial to
> them. Maybe those of us keen to advance this area in Business Schools need
> to try & get the students interested in such methods, a sort of bottom up
> approach that will generate awareness of such approaches/ methods.
>
> Bye for now
>
> Cathy
>
> Dr Catherine Palmer,
> MA Course Leader,
> School of Service Management,
> University of Brighton,
> 49 Darley Road,
> Eastbourne, BN20 7UR
> United Kingdom.
>
> tel: +44(0)1273-643616/ 643629
> fax: +44(0)1273-643949
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> > ----------
> > From: Neil Carr
> > Reply To: Neil Carr
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 6, 2001 1:35 am
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: FW: thought for the month!
> >
> > I apologise now if everyone has seen these messages, but I think they were
> > only sent to me. I am forwarding them to the list because I hope that a
> > lot
> > of what the messages say will be of interest to all list members. Also,
> > I'd
> > like to say thanks to all the people who responded to my comments. I would
> > agree that anthropology does have a role to play (a very important one) in
> > tourism and leisure management, but I would still agrue that with
> > particular
> > reference to leisure, anthropology is a side issue at best.
> >
> > Also, in relation to the message from Pete Burns via Cathy palmer
> > (geographers note that questions will be asked about these directions at
> > the
> > end!) I applaud the attempt to get people thinking about qualitative data
> > rather than focusing on numbers that all too often are rather meaningless.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Neil
> >
> > Dr Neil Carr
> > School of Tourism and Leisure Management
> > The University of Queensland
> > 11 Salisbury Road
> > Ipswich
> > Qld 4305
> > Australia
> > Tel: +61 7 3381 1319
> > Fax: +61 7 3381 1012
> > Email: [log in to unmask]
> > Owner of tourismanthropology discussion group
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Tony van Beek [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Wednesday, 6 June 2001 6:23
> > To: Neil Carr
> > Subject: Re: thought for the month!
> >
> >
> > Dear Dr. Carr,
> > I have been on the tourismamthropology list serve for a few years now but
> > have not responded to any issues, although I have enjoyed reading many of
> > the interesting topics that have been discussed. Your thought for the
> > month
> > intrigued me enough to write. I truly believe that anthropological
> > thought
> > is being pushed aside by business issues. Here in Canada, even humanities
> > courses and degrees are being pushed aside by government cutbacks. I can
> > say this with conviction since my own situation (academic and personal)
> > has
> > been drastically affected by these cutbacks. This is not to mention the
> > minimal number of positions available with an anthropology degree compared
> > with a business degree.
> >
> > To comment on the second part of your question, I think that anthropology
> > definitely has something to contribute to tourism. In my own research, I
> > have encountered two completely divergent thought processes between an
> > anthropological approach and a "management" approach. While anthropology
> > seeks a primary understanding, the business goal always seems to be a
> > "means
> > to an end" approach no matter the consequences.
> >
> > Thank you for allowing me a forum to voice an opinion.
> > Margit J. Horvath BA, MA
> > (Alumni of Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)
> > - And presently sadly underemployed
> >
> >
> > At 04:54 PM 6/1/01 +1000, Neil Carr wrote:
> > >Sorry I can't manage more frequent thoughts, but here goes with my latest
> > >attempt to stir the pot (if you think you can do better then feel free to
> > >try).
> > >
> > >Does anthropology matter in tourism anymore. There are at least two
> > issues
> > >here, firstly as I sit in a dept with management in the title in a
> > business
> > >faculty I wonder how much issues such as anthropology are being pushed to
> > >one side by business issues (can the two be seperated). Secondly, do
> > >anthropological researchers have anything to give to the area of tourism
> > >management. Indeed, why stop there, what role, if any, does anthropology
> > >have to play in the area of leisure and recreation management.
> > >
> > >Have a nice day
> > >
> > >Neil
> > >
> > >Dr Neil Carr
> > >School of Tourism and Leisure Management
> > >The University of Queensland
> > >11 Salisbury Road
> > >Ipswich
> > >Qld 4305
> > >Australia
> > >Tel: +61 7 3381 1319
> > >Fax: +61 7 3381 1012
> > >Email: [log in to unmask]
> > >Owner of tourismanthropology discussion group
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > **************************************************************************
> > **
> > *
> > Sunshine makes the day better!
> >
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr. Raoul Bianchi
Centre for Leisure & Tourism Studies
Stapleton House
University of North London
277-281 Holloway Road
London N7 8HN
###################
[log in to unmask]
###################
Tel: +44 (0)20 7607 2789 Ext.3308
Fax: +44 (0)20 7753 5051
http://www.unl.ac.uk/celts
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