Being a tourist as a chosen experience in a proximity destination

ABSTRACT

Being a tourist is not a passive attitude. It is the result of a conscious decision essentially based on how individuals build what they perceive as unknown and how they decide to get to know it. In other words, tourists deliberately create a distance with the destination which allows them to enjoy the tourist experience as something exceptional. This paper is part of ongoing research and focuses on the subjective construction of the otherness, since this process determines what is left to be discovered. First, a theoretical overview will introduce the concepts of usual environment, proximity and tourist. Then, we will focus on guided tours as a mechanism of mediation between individuals and places. Finally, we will move on to the case of Barcelona's walking tours and the local participants’ experience as a way to adopt a tourist's approach. Preliminary results show, first, four categories of experience of proximate guided tours: educational, expert, recreational and tourist. Then, they focus on the proximity tourist experience using Urry and Larsen's notion of the ‘tourist gaze’ and Tuan's theory on the tourist and the resident's points of view. According to these theories, participants’ motivations and their individual frame of reference define a tourist's point of view. Based on that, results show that proximity tourists and traditional tourists share curiosity as motivation but do not have the same points of reference. In spite of that, the feeling of proximity with the destination does not constitute a barrier to become a tourist. It is the conscious adoption of the tourist's role which makes the individual gaze upon the visited areas like a tourist, regardless of the proximity with the environment. This approach of proximity tourism constitutes a way to enhance familiar places and develop tourism in an environmentally concerned context where proximate destinations are being promoted.     

Ken Bullough: a scientist and a friend

The contributions made by Ken Bullough (1927–1994) to space physics and conflict research are briefly summarised. This brief obituary and review of his scientific contributions is supplemented by a complete list of his publications.     

Everything is at a time and in a place

The customary absence of anthropological perspectives in reports and policy recommendations on climate change and diversity loss is again confirmed in the current IPCC report and the recent UN report on biodiversity. This is a severe shortcoming since there is widespread agreement that goals are rarely met in these domains. Anthropology can offer a holistic perspective and local solutions which would make a difference. Policymakers are attracted to figures and universal recipes, but they need prose and diversity.     

The perineuronal net: a weapon for a challenge

Theories and data do not always fit and sometimes are sources of conflicts among scientists. This is the case of a morphological structure, the perineuronal net, which was denied on the basis of an ideological conflict between two giants of neurosciences: Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramon y Cajal. The perineuronal net is a reticular structure enveloping many neurons. Orginally reported by Golgi in 1893 and 1898 and confirmed by several authors before the turn of the century, the perineuronal net was used by Golgi to support the reticular theory of the organization of the nervous system. Ramon y Cajal, the paladin of the neuronal theory who had also observed this anatomical structure, denied its existence suggesting that it was a fixation artifact. After Cajal's statements, only a few Italian scientists continued to work in this field, and after the 1930s the perineuronal net was forgotten. Only the recent advances in histochemical and immunocytochemical technology confirmed the existence of this structure opening new fields in functional neuroanatomy and neuropathology.     

Warwickshire Timber-Framed Houses: a Draft and a Contract

Abstract

Two 17th- to 18th-century documents are described, one a detailed contract and the other a plan and elevation drawing. They throw light on traditions of timber-framed building and in particular on the process of development and innovation in vernacular architecture.     

谋生在都市的边缘

这里纪录的,是那些从边远山区来到城市谋生的农民,他们处于城市的底层.     

Pollen analysis of a soil sample associated with a Greek cult statue as a guide to provenance

A Classical Greek cult statue of a Goddess, “Aphrodite”, currently on display in the J. Paul Getty Museum has recently been reclaimed by the Italian government. The statue is thought to have been sculpted between 425 and 400 B.C. in southern Italy or Sicily, but its provenance is obscure. Soil incorporated into the true right arm socket of the acrolithic statue at the time of burial was pollen analyzed to provide information on its geographic origin. Since palynomorphs are often not well preserved in soils, a preliminary study was undertaken to investigate preservation and abundance of palynomorphs to determine the potential benefits of undertaking further analyses. Although concentration was low, the soil contained sufficient pollen and spores to determine the environment in the vicinity of the burial site of the statue. The landscape had been cleared of natural arboreal vegetation and intensively cultivated. Juglans regia and cereals were cultivated, and pastoralism may have been practiced. A specific geographic location could not be inferred without comparative soil analyses.     

Assessing a Computer-aided Instructional Strategy in a World Geography Course

An experiment was conducted to compare student achievement under two differing instructional strategies: a small-group and computer-aided strategy versus lecture instruction. Evaluation was extended in several ways beyond comparison of overall student scores. Results show significant improvements in student achievement produced by the computer-aided strategy with reference to gender, ethnicity and levels of cognitive learning. The study concludes that experimental evaluations of CAI serve best as formative tools to match instructional strategies to specific types of content material and different types of students, and that instructional media are best evaluated along with the instructional method in which they are embedded.     

Unraveling a Neanderthal palimpsest from a zooarcheological and taphonomic perspective

Practically all archeological assemblages are palimpsests. In spite of the high temporal resolution of Abric Romaní site, level O, dated to around 55 ka, is not an exception. This paper focuses on a zooarcheological and taphonomic analysis of this level, paying special attention to spatial and temporal approaches. The main goal is to unravel the palimpsest at the finest possible level by using different methods and techniques, such as archeostratigraphy, anatomical and taxonomical identification, taphonomic analysis, faunal refits and tooth wear analysis. The results obtained are compared to ethnoarcheological data so as to interpret site structure. In addition, activities carried out over different time spans (from individual episodes to long-term behaviors) are detected, and their spatial extent is explored, allowing to do inferences on settlement dynamics. This leads us to discuss the temporal and spatial scales over which Neanderthals carried out different activities within the site, and how they can be studied through the archeological record.     

寻找一条"照片上的公路"--二战史上著名的"24拐"在哪里

编者按: 春节后,接到戈叔亚的电话,他几乎是叫喊着告诉我:他在贵州找到了"24拐"!我把他的问题随便问了几个不同行业的人(非学者):"24拐"在哪里?他们几乎是异口同声地说:在怒江吧?或者是在澜沧江.许许多多的人,尤其是云南人对这条公路,大都是从书籍、杂志和报纸上得知的.50多年来,我们都没有亲眼见到这条路,但都相信了专家和媒体的"专业见解".实际上,不只是战后出生的人,甚至战争的当事者,也不全知道.于是,大家都错了.戈叔亚自嘲自己一开始就找错了方向.     

Transformation of Istanbul from a monocentric to a polycentric city

This paper investigates the spatial transformation of Istanbul from a monocentric to a polycentric city following the growth of the city and the development of its communications systems. The population and employment of peripheral districts have been growing rapidly, while those of the core districts have decreased. In addition, other variables are utilized for the identification of polycentres such as tax revenues from commercial enterprises, weighted average trip length and volume of mail. The results of the study reveal that the old CBD of Istanbul is no longer a dominant employment centre. Instead, a new CBD is emerging at the intersection of the radial and the peripheral highways, and subcentres are developing in some of the first and second ring districts. A major contributing factor to Istanbul's polycentric development has been the transformation of its economy into one that requires large modem office space and facilities for private automobiles—both of which are difficult to provide within the old CBD. In addition, the construction of peripheral highways has contributed to a pattern of polycentric development. Moreover, there is a desperate need for planned development of these subcentres in order to prevent their current haphazard development and to give a character to the peripheral areas of Istanbul.