Assignment

Instructions

1) Have a descriptive title (not "reader response #2")

2) Include an introduction explaining how tourism provides a window into understanding Mexico and U.S.-Mexican relations.

3) Briefly summarize each of the two chapters you have chosen: what time, place and type of tourism do they discuss? Is the focus on precolonial, colonial, post-colonial Mexico? Is part of the tourist experience being exposed to indigenous people (ethnotourism), artesanías (traditional handicrafts), music or the arts? Is the tourism purely recreational/escapist? Does the tourist experience include opportunities to engage in risky/quasi-legal activities?

4) What other insights does each author offer into tourism? For example: how the "consuming elite" experiences Mexico; how indigenous people are pressured to conform to "visual stereotypes" and other patterns of behavior; the economic vulnerabilities of tourism (dependency, risk, leakage); "cultural appropriation"; the impact of tourism on local communities, etc.

5) A conclusion with general lessons learned from a critical consideration of tourism's role in Mexican-American relations.