Tourism and Indigenous Peoples Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Tourism and Indigenous Peoples - Assignment Example Looking out over a vast, desolate landscape, the older man responds, â€Å"They can bloody well have it† (Weir, 1981). Aboriginal peoples aren’t just part of this remoteness – for many, they have come to symbolize it. I believe that this impression of the Aborigines is intrinsic to Australia’s cultural self-image, part of a pervasive and dominant national mindset. It has a debilitating effect on efforts to decrease traditional economic disparities and make Aboriginal peoples a productive part of the country’s economic mix. Dislocation is the inevitable product of treating Aboriginal people as novel curiosities, or historic anomalies. Until this perspective changes, I believe an almost carnival image will plague the Aborigines and will likely prove too imposing an impediment to indigenous economic integration. â€Å"The implications of†¦potentially expanding employment disparity is amplified for discrete Indigenous communities because they are remote, and opportunities in what is termed the ‘real’ (or mainstream) economy are extremely circumscribed† As I contemplated this reading, I couldn’t help thinking about a series of television commercials advertising American Indian gambling casinos, which are typically only aired in the early morning hours. To me, this reflects the ingrained cultural disenfranchisement of America’s indigenous peoples, who are surely one of the most notable examples of a culturally and economically disadvantaged native population. Their cultural remoteness has kept them out of America’s economic mainstream as surely as has the Aborigines.’ In America, â€Å"fringe† business opportunities, or tourist businesses that exploit stereotypical notions, are often the only means for economic advancement available to native Americans. I believe this is, or will become, the case with Australia’s indigenous peoples, who