Tourism issues can be solved through art, activism and leadership, according to speakers at a TED-inspired talk hosted by the College of Public Service and Community Solutions Tuesday night.
The talk, which took place in the Cronkite theater, featured two professors and a doctorate student who spoke on solving tourism related issues through activism, art and water policy.
As an associate professor at the School of Community Resources and Development at ASU, Christine Buzinde said that changing one’s perspective on tourism holds potential to increased health benefits.
Buzinde said that modern society uses tourist destinations as magical locales, hoping they will transform one’s work-induced stress into relaxation.
“The long hours we work, the short nature of vacations, the fact that we actually have to pay a pretty penny for these experiences, leads [society] to believe that our touristic experiences are a privilege we deserve and a right we have earned,” Buzinde said.
Buzinde said society’s hedonistic and self-centric approach to tourism leads to a false sense of cultural identity.
“Society builds a fantasy where we block out the poverty, environmental degradation, the outer sadness in the eyes of the people that are serving us at these destinations,” Buzinde said.
Buzinde said positive health benefits for travelers and positive benefits for the communities traveled to are expected when touristic engagements are treated as a privilege that is not deserved and a right that is yet to be earned.
“We’re more likely to not view these destinations as a dumping ground for our stress and more likely to result in self-transformation and personal growth as a result of genuinely engaging with people in these communities,” Buzinde said.
Happiness, a higher life purpose and better ability to buffer stress are all health benefits of engaging in positive humble tourism, which Buzinde identifies as the basis of sustainable tourism.
Second-year Ph.D. student and graduate service assistant in the school of Community Resources and Development, Tiffanie Ord said the arts allow for positive expression, making it a strategic tool in activism.
A Sahrawi Desert activist, Ord said a program called ARTifariti advocates for human rights for the Polisario people.
The Sahrawi Desert, located in the western part of the Sahara, is under dispute between the people of Morocco and Polisario.
ARTifariti utilizes film, fashion, visual arts, music, ceramics and theater to educate the Sahrawi people and promote cultural growth and unity.
An associate professor in the School of Community Resources and Development at ASU and director of the National Science Foundation Decision Center for a Desert City, Dave White narrowed the scope of tourism focusing on Arizona’s water future.
White works with the next generation of leaders to develop system dynamic models to address future water scenarios. White teaches students throughout the valley to solve complex issues with complex solutions.
“There is not a water supply crisis right now, nor a water demand crisis, but there is a leadership crisis and it is dependent upon the School of Community Resources and Development and the College of Public Service and Community Solutions at ASU and all of the partners in the community to help solve this problem,” White said.
Contact the reporter at sgarbani@asu.edu
