I'm a REAL Anthropologist

It may not seem like it, but I am actually working here in Vietnam. I just have the best job ever and you're all jealous. I've had fun and I've had plenty of rice wine and gotten a tan, but I've also conducted a lot of interviews, read a lot of reports, written a lot of reports, done a lot of public awareness raising, and now I'm designing an all day workshop to be held on the 7th. I just returned from more village visits to do fieldwork. In trying to ascertain the tourism potential in these villages I conducted more household interviews, a few focus group interviews, visited some more places of interest for tourism development, and stayed overnight in some more village homes. I really do love this job.

For those of you interested in the results of these visits: There are a lot of basic households needs that are not being met but the villagers are eager and enthusiastic about hosting tourists. Not only for the needed income, but to learn more about the world outside their village. None of the women in one of the villages have ever even been to Phong Nha Cave, less than 10km away. Only the village leaders have been outside the district. Many of the residents wanted to know as much about me as I did about them. Upon learning that my dad's birthday was coming up, one man said to tell my dad, "A Vietnamese father wishes an American father good health." It was sweet.

There are many reasons tourists would be interested in visiting these villages, but tourism development will require a lot of work, especially in the area of capacity building and training. However, the area is beautiful, with blue rivers to traverse and green mountains to climb, waterfalls, hot and cold springs, and caves to explore, and most appealing are the rural Vietnamese farmers warmly welcoming visitors and eagerly sharing their daily lives. The ethnic minorities in Sa Pa are colorful and draw a lot of tourists, but not many people traveling the main tourist route through Vietnam get to see or participate in the lives of the traditional majority culture: the Kinh farmer. You see them in the rice fields and take pictures from your bus, but not many get to spend any time with them to learn about their way of life.

Of course, tourism development in an area like this is tricky. It's like opening Pandora's box; once the first village starts making money, other people will jump on the opportunity and unchecked development could bring a lot of harm to this area, both socially, culturally, economically, and environmentally. We have been very careful to build a clear understanding of the principles of community-based tourism, but the realist in me knows that the ideals will be left in the dust if we aren't able to connect sustainability and the concepts of community-wide involvement and benefit with a successful and profitable business. It's tricky, but the optimist in me balances out the cynic and motivates me to give it a try. At this point all the authorities I've spoken with seem to be on board as well as the residents themselves. If we set up a good model for CBT, maybe the other villages will see this way of doing tourism development as a good business move as well as a way to maintain community solidarity. We'll see I guess.

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