International Education Week - Ethos and Exteriority: Lessons in (Un)Sustainable Tourism from Jordan and Nevada
Nov. 16, 2020, 1 - 2 p.m.
Online
- Meeting ID: 967 2288 5244
- Passcode: IEW
Abstract: The ethos of a tourism destination, its characteristic spirit and atmosphere, lends itself to expectations and behaviors that may or may not promote its environmental sustainability. The ethos also informs a destination’s exteriority, the physical environment and infrastructure that frame the tourism experience for visitors, which may also impact sustainability. This talk compares tourism experiences and sites in two of the driest places on earth, the nation of Jordan and the U.S. state of Nevada, through the twin lenses of culture and environment, employing a series of dichotomies to elucidate key differences that contribute to or take away from the sustainability of tourism sites in the two locations.
Presenter: Dr. Joylin Namie
Joylin Namie is Professor of Anthropology and Anthropology Program Coordinator at Truckee Meadows Community College, where she teaches courses in cultural and biological anthropology. Dr. Namie earned her doctoral degree at the University of California, San Diego, and was a tenured professor at Utah Valley University before coming to TMCC in 2016. Her research interests are in the areas of food, gender, media, and health. She has completed research concerning beliefs about breast cancer in Costa Rica and multiple aspects of American culture. She is also the director of Drinking Gold, a documentary film exploring the confluence of plastic surgery, religion, and popular culture among Mormon women in Utah. Her article on the topic garnered the award for Best Paper in the Social Science division of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters for 2013. Dr. Namie’s recent publications include two analyses of sports nutrition marketing, including the cultural construction of these products as “healthy” food, a study of the ways Mormon masculinity promotes involvement with foodwork among Latter-day Saint fathers, and a textbook chapter on contemporary health issues from an evolutionary perspective. She is currently working on an article related to the cultural ethos of a tourism destination and its sustainability using examples from Nevada and Jordan.