Profs & Pints DC: Travel Like an Anthropologist

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Travel Like an Anthropologist,” an exploration of the cultural complexities of tourism and a guide to ensuring your visits to other places benefit all involved, with Melissa A. Stevens, principal at CultureSnap Consulting and adjunct professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Delaware. 

Mark Twain once famously remarked that “travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” Indeed, it can open our minds to new ideas and possibilities, positively contribute to local communities, and help us establish lasting relationships with people across the world. 

At the same time, however, our travels can be harmful to the people and places we visit and to our world as a whole. We can end up exploiting vulnerable populations, worsening global and local inequalities, accelerating climate change, and forever altering the places and cultures that we visit. 

How are responsible tourists supposed to navigate these contradictions without ruining…