Abstract:

As a classical social science discipline concerned with the study of “human culture”, anthropology has an extraordinary explanatory power to interpret social problems in the tourism context. However, the recent upsurge in the use of anthropology to study tourism has created problems that require investigation. A systematic examination of the “anthropology of tourism”, as precedented upon the knowledge spillover of anthropology into tourism research, is required to understand this emerging field. Therefore, this paper provides a theoretical analysis of knowledge spillover from anthropology to tourism research from three angles: perspective, theory and method. It also identifies specific cases and reflects upon the procedural problems within knowledge spillover. This research finds that anthropological perspective provides research proposals for the interpretation of social phenomena in the tourism field, which can be classified into the following three categories: “overall and local”, “macro and micro” and “internal and external” perspectives. Secondly, as a mature social science discipline, anthropology provides a theoretical tool for tourism researchers to revise their understanding of tourism phenomena. Thirdly, the long-term tracing of typical cases and ethnographic methods used in anthropology has had a profound impact on tourism research, and the ethnography of diversified development expands the methodologies of tourism research, providing an effective tool for tourism researchers to gain insight into their subjects’ perspectives, appreciate communities’ emotions and attitudes, and understand local culture. Finally, in order to ensure the knowledge spillover of anthropology is recognized by the academic community, tourism scholars should further broaden the applications of knowledge spillover, deepen the underlying theory, strengthen the absorption and creation of knowledge, and ultimately realize the sharing of knowledge between these two disciplines.

Key words: anthropology, tourism research, knowledge spillover, the anthropology of tourism

摘要：

人类学是一门关注“人的文化”的经典社会科学学科,对旅游情境中的诸多现实问题极富解释力。人类学在视角、理论与方法3个层面对旅游研究存在知识溢出效应,并在此基础上形成了交叉学科——旅游人类学,积累了丰硕的研究成果。旅游学者应系统地梳理与思考人类学对旅游研究所作出的贡献,形成对旅游人类学的正确认识,在对人类学进行引介、吸收与发展的同时,进一步实现旅游人类学的本土化实践与旅游学的知识反哺。

关键词: 人类学, 旅游研究, 知识溢出, 旅游人类学