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In this chapter, Bhat caste history and identity are presented, with particular attention paid to these bards’ claims to be “traditional” puppeteers. It is shown that such a claim, like many others made by members of this caste of professional story-tellers, is a tactical lie used to reap profits in the Rajasthani tourist industry. The chapter takes readers on the same bewildering journey experienced by the author during his initial months of anthropological fieldwork in India, a period during which he was repeatedly and creatively lied to by his informants. In turning the chapter’s attention to these deceptions, as well as to Bhat tales that comment on the power of such deception, the book provides a colorful introduction to these bards’ caste identity, and especially to the manner that such an identity revolves around the ability to cunningly manipulate both stories and people. This introductory chapter, which is written in a manner reminiscent of a mystery novel and which delves deeply into Bhat oral histories and folklore, also provides an entertaining self-reflexive account of anthropological research and writing about other cultures.

This chapter focuses on the Bhats’ tactical narration of their religious history, and specifically the manner in which they present themselves as alternately Hindu or Muslim in order to gain employment as political propagandists for both India’s secular Congress Party and Hindu-nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (B.J.P.). The chapter also examines how Bhats “cast” traditional Rajasthan in a puppet drama sponsored by a state-run bank meant to teach Indians an ethic of saving their money and planning for the future. Bhats are not entirely serious about the claim explored throughout the book that they are the former bards of kings. Instead, claims of royal ancestry are just one tool in a repertoire of tricks that Bhats use to advance in contemporary India. Bhat speech about kings, then, is less representative of true claims to royalty and more indicative of a bardic cleverness which forms a deeper basis of Bhat identity claims in contemporary Rajasthan.

This chapter explores the devotion to Difunta Correa, a prominent folk saint in western Argentina. It examines myth development, particularly in relation to Difunta Correa’s miraculous breast; religious tourism; penance; relation to the Catholic Church; and contemporary devotion to Difunta Correa at her shrine complex in San Juan.

The Control Commission of Cordillera Blanca Lakes, which was established in 1951 to prevent glacial lake outburst floods caused by climate change and glacier retreat in the Andes, had far-reaching effects on the economic development of Ancash and the Callejón de Huaylas. Engineers who examined glacial lakes brought development interests that had long inspired Peruvian policymakers and developers. They hoped to exploit Andean natural resources to promote national economic development and modernization. Glacial lake flood prevention programs provided a springboard for the expansion of hydroelectricity, road building, tourism, and wage labor. This process whereby disaster spurred economic development is referred to as "disaster economics," which the Lakes Commission carried out after 1951. Economic development directly and indirectly followed the science, technology, engineering, and policies implemented after catastrophes to prevent additional disasters, thereby revealing the social construction of science and engineering.

This chapter discusses the impact of humans on polar regions. Topics covered include the first invasions by humans, the ecology of pre-industrial humans in the Arctic, sealing and whaling, hunting, fishing, pastoral and agriculture development, introduction of non-native organisms by humans, mineral and oil extraction, pollution, tourism, military uses of the polar regions, and conservation.

Chapter One introduces master potter Anton Lang, the most famous player of Christ and an exemplary Catholic whose lifestyle helped to promote the Bavarian People’s Party (BVP) and whose success as a hotelier contributed to Oberammergau’s growth as a tourism center. In Lang’s Alpine village, families survived as wood carvers marketing Catholic devotionalia to an international clientele. Locals joined pilgrimages and Corpus Christi processions, a statement of Catholic loyalism, developed charities, and venerated “charity” saints. Oberammergau’s Passion Play drew a growing audience, including English speakers, to stay with ethnically intriguing villagers and, later, in hotels and upgraded homes. The play’s text highlighted antagonism between “Jews” and “Christians” in the Crucifixion story, but elite visitors validated its anti-Semitic message. The community’s subsequent evolution as a tourism center created diverse social and political groups, while village insiders acquired an exclusive mentality as Passion players, creating a deep social rift with newcomers in Oberammergau.

This chapter examines Wittenberg as a Lutheran pilgrimage site. The various Lutheran organizations promoting and developing the town as a pilgrimage site are discussed, along with tensions between these groups. The chapter argues that sacred quality of Wittenberg is a kind of void or blank slate, on which various groups inscribe meaning and significance. As a pilgrimage site, Wittenberg often occasions conflict and tension between the various Lutheran groups.

This chapter looks at the new economy of diasporic imagination that hit South Africa after 1994. It begins by examining a range of narratives of roots tourism whereby thousands of South African Indians each year travel to India in search of the village of their ancestors and for shopping and/or spiritual purification. These journeys are often complex discoveries of both the real and the imaginary India, and are almost invariably linked to desires for purification and “proper” Indianness and “culture,” which, in their turn, are spawned by social mobility and ambition. The other side of this new fascination with India's past and its emerging power as a nation is an intense interest in Bollywood films and their songs, stars, and aesthetics.

The chapter examines international travel in terms of the development of international norms and regulations; current politics of international cooperation on international travel and consider trajectories for future global governance in this issue area. The chapter examines international norms regarding nationality, passports, and visas as well as the regulatory activities of relevant international organizations (e.g. IMO, ICAO, UNWTO, WTO). The politics of cooperation on international travel revolve around the facilitation of increasing flows, travel as a factor of trade and development, the environmental impact of growing travel flows and securing international travel. Steps towards an increasingly sophisticated framework for the global governance of international travel include the further adoption of WTO GATS 4 commitments on business travel visas, specific protocols on human smuggling and trafficking within international treaties, cooperation within ICAO to develop a global framework for the exchange of passenger name record data (PNR) and advance passenger information (API), as well as changing norms among states in favour of deploying technologies such as biometrics and Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) systems to capture data.

Rumor and legend are a culture's way of dealing with rapid changes in its worldview, such as has occurred in an America increasingly impacted by contact with the international world. Terrorism, immigration, tourism, and foreign trade are topics that have inspired cycles of rumors in the United States, while organ trafficking has done the same in developing nations. Both types of rumor are fundamentally political, as they allow common people to express issues that otherwise would be too disturbing to face and press for social change. The chapter introduces the importance of plausibility (stories that fit existing beliefs about foreigners) and credibility (stories that are based on some concrete truth and affirmed by respected authorities). It is necessary to confront these rumors directly, rather than dismissing them as trivial or ignorant, for they reveal how people actually see the changing world around them.

International travel brings the developed world closer to the third world, making their differences all the more visible. Rumors about unwary tourists dramatize these differences. In some, poor judgment puts westerners in mortal danger, as in the case of the “Mexican Pet,” a rat infected with rabies, or in “AIDS Mary” variants set in exotic resorts, where a chance romance brings the deadly disease. Or the danger results from ignorance of foreign customs, as in rumors where a couple's pet dog is cooked for dinner at an Asian restaurant. Many such stories are told to amuse rather than warn: a common type involves ignorance of language, leading tourists to wear emblems that label themselves as prostitutes or as underendowed. Such stories still reveal insecurity over visiting another culture's environment, however briefly. Playful conversation can be as political as serious talk.

This chapter looks at energy flow through the community (primary and secondary production) and food web dynamics. It includes a brief examination of the diversity-stability idea. A detailed flow diagram of the Serengeti ecosystem, along with modelling attempts on this system are examined. This dynamic, interacting web brings to light the importance of cascading interactions (e.g., rinderpest-wildebeest-green grass-dry grass-fire-trees-giraffes), and therefore the multiple interconnection of species. Mention is made of ‘keystone’ species. There is a section on ‘assembly rules’ for savannah communities, including body-size distributions for grazing and browsing ungulates. This section ends with an exploration of virtual island biogeography (protected areas) and the long-term predictions for species numbers. Can ideas from ‘island biogeography’ help us to design National Parks and Nature Reserves? This leads onto conservation issues. The conservation issues for savannahs centre around tourism, hunting (both for trophies and bush meat), and the conflicts between farmers/ranchers and wildlife. This chapter ends with an examination of these issues.

Since the Romantic period, there have been travellers who have especially valorized the discomforts, dangers, misadventures, and disasters that can occur in the course of travel. This introductory chapter outlines this ‘misadventurous’ agenda and suggests ways in which we might interpret this curious attitude to travel: as a mode of anti-tourism that maintains a distinction between the tourist and the proper traveller, as a form of masculine self-fashioning in travel, as a route to authenticity, and so forth. The notion of the travel ‘script’, the narrative we expect to see playing out in the course of our travelling, is introduced, and also the strong link between the characteristically Romantic travel script — that is to say, the script espoused in practice and in writing by figures such as Wordsworth, Byron, Coleridge and Keats — and the various branches of contemporary travel writing in which the sufferings of the traveller are a key point of interest; notably, narratives of shipwreck, captivity, mountaineering, and exploration. These sub-genres of Romantic-era travel writing and the Romantic utilization of them in the fashioning of their own travel personae will form the focus of the rest of the book.