Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism

The seminar dealt with the issue of colonialism and neo-colonialism. The discussion was mainly based on four articles followed by five questions that were given as a guideline for the seminar. The following articles have been used: “Dukes earls, and ersatz Edens: aristocratic nature preservations in colonial Africa” by Neumann, “Third World tourism as neo-colonialism” by Pleumarom, “There's no such thing as ecotourism” by Rufus and “Mainstreaming holiday sex and the neo-colonial attitude” by Michel. The first four questions discussed the notion of colonialism as reflected in the work of the Society for the Preservation of the Fauna of the Empire. The fifth question was to critically evaluate that colonialism is not dead, relying on the last three articles mentioned above that concerned the work of corporate tourism industry.
The intention was to demonstrate that colonialism as understood in past terms is no longer existent, yet it developed new forms of oppressions that are skilfully camouflaged in the actions of corporate tourism companies based in developed countries that control most of the tourism industry in the undeveloped world. The attitude of the visitors towards the visited is reflected in the complex ‘master-servant relations’ that are discussed in the second part on the example of Green tourism and sex tourism.