TuTh, 9:30 AM-10:45 AM, Location: TBA
Enrollment limited to 25 students
A portion of this class reserved for majors
Carries COLL Intensive Writing Credit

Instructor: Professor Phaedra C. Pezzullo
Office: Mottier 206
Email: pezzullo@indiana.edu
Webpage: www.indiana.edu/~envtrhet

“It is tempting to look upon Yosemite as the final battleground
of ‘nature’ versus ‘society’: two of the worthiest adversaries head-
to-head; the most beautiful natural place on earth against an entire
postmodern city owned by a major corporation, attempting to take the
place over from within.  But this is a pseudo-battle.  Its outcome
is rigged.  It is not nature vs. society, but ‘framed’ nature vs.
corporate society.  Society already won.  The ‘battle’ is only
another entertainment.  Unless, of course, we decide to change
society.” (Dean MacCannell, 1992, 116-117)

Tourism is a significant global industry both commercially and
noncommercially.  For people who care about the environment, this
fact provokes both hope and concern.  On the one hand, the
popularity of tourism promises great potential as a means to
increase attention towards the value of specific places, ecosystems,
and cultures.  On the other hand, tourism’s popularity does not
necessarily correlate to environmental preservation or sustainable
local cultures, especially when “tourism” accounts for such a wide
range of practices.  Given this tension, it is perhaps unsurprising
that critical responses to “environmental tourism,” like
MacCannell’s (above), seem only to agree on two things: (1) any
opinion about the relationship between tourism and the environment
tends to provoke controversy; and (2) the stakes of these
controversies are high.

In order to explore the rhetoric of tourism as a performative mode
of communication in relation to environmental concerns, this
introductory course is organized around three themes:
commercial “ecotourism”; commercial environmental tourism museums
and parks; and noncommercial industrial tourism (e.g., toxic tours
and waste management facility tours).  We will engage
interdisciplinary literature on these themes, primary tourist
materials and sites, and each other to explore the limitations and
possibilities of “environmental tourism” as mode of communicating
about culture and social change.

As an Intensive Writing course, assignments most likely will involve:
Active and Informed Seminar Participation: 10%
3 Critical Research Papers:
PAPER #1: WHAT ARE THEY SELLING? (4-5 pages + Works Cited): 20%
PAPER #2: WHAT ARE THEY SHOWING? (4-5 pages + Works Cited): 20%
PAPER #3: Revision & Extension: OF WHAT ARE WE PERSUADED? (9-10
pages + Works Cited): 40%
Final Individual Presentations (5-10 minutes): 10%

Course Readings: Located on IU ereserves and available to purchase
as a coursepack.