Distinctive, localized traditional performing arts involving music making and various forms of theatrical presentation (e.g., dancing and puppetry) that have historically evolved as part of local or regional social, political, economic or religious institutions have increasingly come to be situated in recent decades within the often interrelated domains of national identity building and tourism. While the earlier contexts in which these performing arts were created, nurtured and evolved–feudal courts, aristocratic residences, indigenous religious practices, agricultural and life cycle celebrations, entertainment districts of mercantile towns–may or may not have survived the transformative forces at play during the ages of European imperial and economic expansion, missionary zeal, colonialism, postcolonial nation building and globalization, the expressive culture associated with these contexts has frequently been tapped by ministries of culture and both public and private tourism entrepreneurs to produce performance commodities with political and economic value. When cosmopolitans travel around the world as tourists, business people, or diplomats, it is representations of local culture such as these that they are most likely to encounter. The purpose of this website is to facilitate critical thinking about the nature of cultural encounter with these sorts of commodities in the age of tourism–what does one encounter, what forces shape the site and content of the encounter, and how does one construct meaning from such encounter.
