Dear Robert and other colleagues,

What a fascinating mailing - just the thing to kick the neurones out of their
summer slumber (mine at least)!!

I have not done any transcultural research on this topic nor I have I been to
Pigeon Forge  (is that name for real!?) although I probably came close some 16
years ago on my way to LA where I ended up working in Disneyland, for my sins
Indeed, your comments bring to mind that particular archetype of purported
"inauthenticity" as indeed it does Andrew Ross's study of the town of
Celebration in Florida (The Celebration Chronicles, 2000, Verso).

However, the question as to whether or not people stay tin Pigeon Forge or
visit the Smoky Mountains is, I think, something of a moot point  (I noticed
as I was scanning the website that there is a "Wilderness Wildlife Week"!).
What I think is significant is to try and understand the social forces to
which the construction of such places is responding to.  It brings to mind a
recent article by the Amercian sociologist Mike Davis (New Left Review No. 12,
2001) who, in an analysis of the post 9-11 escalation/politicisation of fear
and risk, talks of the contemporary, particularly American,metropolis as being
governed by "the quest for the bourgeois utopia of a totally calculable and
safe environment".

Indeed, in the post-modern technopolis we have increasingly deluded ourselves
with regard to our ability to completely master nature and eliminate risk.
Just as an example, as a diver I have heard stories of divers in the US having
to undergo rigorous questioning by their dive "buddies" with regard to their
medical history etc (sometimes accompanied by a lawyer!) due to the fear of
litigation should things go wrong underwater.

So with regard to Robert's question I think there are contradictory tendencies
at work here - on the one hand, we (as tourists, consumers of nature, culture
etc) are increasingly exposed to a bewildering variety of destinations that
offer intimate experiences with nature, yet at the same time we are
increasingly governed by the politics of fear and the delusion of an
environment that can be empied of risk.  Whether we choose to venture into the
woods like modern day Henry Thoreau's or sttay in the Pigeon Forge's of this
world, I think we are dealing with something that goes beyond a simple binary
divide between nature lovers and theme park lovers.

What really worries me though is the "Patriot Festival and the honouring of
those who have "defended freedom"!  Perhaps Haliburton is behind it all....now
that could make for some interesting research!

Perhaps I am stating the obvious but it has made me think - not bad for 1130
pm on a hot and sweaty night in London!

good night

Raoul













>===== Original Message From Robert Lawless <[log in to unmask]> =====
>Has anyone on this list been to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee? I drove through it
>last month. I drove through it and drove through it and drove through it.
>And I drove and drove and drove and drove. Pigeon Forge is a one-street
>town starting about eight miles north of Gatlinburg and spread out along
>US-441 all the way to Sevierville (about seven miles). The "street" is six
>lanes, and I traveled at an average speed of four miles an hour for what
>seemed like several hours. Pigeon Forge is a totally artificial tourist
>Mecca billed as "Your Action Packed All-American Getaway," though I'm not
>sure what anyone is getting away from -- certainly not traffic jams. You
>can see it on their videos at <http://www.mypigeonforge.com/videos.asp#>.
>Pigeon Forge features 68 cabins, chalets, and condominiums, 87 hotels and
>motels, 12 campgrounds, more than 40 amusements parks, and 16
>city-sponsored special events annually. I suppose we've all heard of "The
>Gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains," Gatlinburg (and Tammy Faye Baker),
>but Pigeon Forge puts Gatlinburg to shame. The point here being the seeming
>peculiarity of people remaining in a human-made environment right next door
>to a magnificent example of nature. I didn't do any research on this issue
>-- and I'll readily defer to anyone who has -- but I got the distinct
>impression that the people who stay in Pigeon Forge either never go into
>the mountains and just drive through them (as I stayed in the mountains and
>just drove through Pigeon Forge). USAers (as do many peoples) have always
>displayed a tension between culture and nature; on the one hand wishing to
>use their culture (technology) to obliterate, subdue, and exploit nature,
>and on the other hand wanting to preserve, enjoy, and worship nature. (A
>classic on this theme is Leo Marx's 1964 The Machine in the
>Garden:  Technology and the Pastoral Ideal in America.) Who has done some
>transcultural research on such issues? Any comments? Robert.


Dr Raoul Bianchi
Senior Research Fellow
International Institute for Culture, Tourism and Development
London Metropolitan University
www.londonmet.ac.uk/iictd
	
"La dignidad de un pueblo brota de la lucha solidaria que lo hace libre" (Nunca Máis)