In search of a nobler past : incanismo and community tourism in Saraguro, Ecuador

Historical notions of Noble Savagery have been contemporarily translated and massified in popular culture so that traits that “Indigenous People” are believed to possess, are conflated with those of the Noble Savage of lore and taken for granted as truth. The Noble Savage is the embodiment of the tourist’s notion of the authentic; the more traits Indigenous people are assumed to share with the western notion of the Noble Savage the more authentic they are deemed, and the more attractive they are to the visiting tourist. In Saraguro tourism and incanismo mutually validate and reinforce each other. Tourists valorize their own preconceived notions of indigenous culture, and in turn validate incanismo through participation in Incaic cultural performances. Neo-Incans are objectifying and consuming their own dreams though the tourist gaze, and the resultant cultural commodification and the (re)appropriation of a nobler past has led to cultural revalorization of an indigenous elite.

Authors

• Jenson, Jason
• University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science

• Tourism -- Ecuador
• Noble savage
• Dissertations, Academic
• Saraguro (Ecuador) -- Description and travel
• Culture and tourism -- Ecuador -- Saraguro
• Tourists -- Ecuador -- Saraguro -- Attitudes

Identifier

hdl:10133/3076

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.uleth.ca:10133/3076