Untitled

ethnicity changes in association with tourism
development.)
Okamura, J. �1981) `Situational ethnicity', Ethnic
and Racial Studies 4�4): 452±65. �Argues that
ethnicity is both cognitively and structurally
determined.)
ethnocentrism
TIM OAKES, USA
Ethnocentrism is awareness based on inflexible and
suffusing ingroup/outgroup differentiations. It
routinely involves stereotyped, laudatory imagery
�and compliant attitudes) towards ingroups, and
generalised, condemnatory imagery �and antagonistic
attitudes) towards outgroups. Ethnocentrists
usually have superior/authoritarian outlooks at
cultural or ethnic encounters: they privilege
ingroups as dominant. In tourism, ethnocentric
tourists and ethnocentric travel trade employees
find difficulty in viewing the world from `other '/
`alien' perspectives.
ethnography
KEITH HOLLINSHEAD, UK
In the most general sense, ethnography refers to
the firsthand study of the cultures of particular
peoples. The beginnings of such study can be
traced to early accounts of travellers such as
missionaries and explorers whose work can be
found in libraries. Today, the term is most
frequently associated with anthropology where
the tradition of fieldwork is particularly important,
though it also is used in other social sciences and
even the humanities.
A persistent problem with ethnographic study
has been the validity of its descriptions. Earlier,
when there might have been no more than one
account of a people, there were few problems in
this regard. But today, with often conflicting
understandings of the same culture, the issue of
validity is not so easily resolved. Because the
subjects of ethnographic inquiry are human and
often strangers, special interpretation problems
emerge. Accordingly, procedures such as
extended participant observation and astute use of
informants are necessary. Current ethnographic
practice also increasingly recognises that because
they are a part of the world they study, ethnographers
must pay attention to themselves and
their social position in constructing their view of
others.
Ethnographic work has contributed to the
understanding of tourism, most often in studies of
developing countries. But this grassroots approach
to human behaviour also can be used on other
aspects of tourism such as studying motor coach
tourism, caravan parks, museums, corporate
cultures, cultural tourism, ethnic tourism or
mass tourism. Though they already have
contributed a good deal to the understanding of
various touristic cultures, ethnographies of tourism
have so far tended to be of an impressionisticdescriptive
character. Many more studies, carried
out with greater methodological and theoretical
sophistication are needed to provide the accurate,
intimate understanding that is the mark of good
ethnography.
Further reading
Dann, G., Nash, D. and Pearce, P. �eds) �1988)
`Methodological issues in tourism research',
Annals of Tourism Research 15�1). �A special issue
of the journal devoted to tourism research
methodology.)
Hammersley, M. and Atkinson, P. �1993) Ethnography,
2nd edn, London: Routledge. �Provides a
basic understanding of the subject.)
Smith, V. �ed.) �1989) Hosts and Guests:The
Anthropology of Tourism, 2nd edn, Philadelphia,
PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. �Mostly
ethnographic studies of tourism development in
different parts of the world.)
ethnology
ethnology 207
DENNISON NASH, USA
Ethnology is the theoretically-oriented comparative
study of cultural patterns which recur, vary and
change in different regions. Ethnology relies upon
ethnography as its primary data source. Cultural