FRS 002Y — Sec. 001 — (2 unit) — CRN 53633 — W 2:10-4:00 pm — 245 AOB4
Industrial Tourism – How We Sell the Grand Canyon, Disneyland, Aspen, Las Vegas and the West

Instructor: John Theobald, Department of Communication, College of Letters and Science

Description: Thirty-five years ago, Edward Abbey popularized the idea of "industrial tourism" in his famed book, Desert Solitaire. Many observers since have written of the transformation that follows a heavily-promoted, infrastructure and resource-dependent tourism. Recently, professor and television commentator Hal Rothman published Devil's Bargains, which described the colonizing effects of what he calls "corporate tourism" and its effects on such places as the Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, Sun Valley, Vail, Las Vegas, and other western destinations. These and other destinations are places with which many of our students are familiar. As a frequent traveler through the American West since 1972, I propose a seminar that focuses on the selling of the region and the subsequent changes. My objective is to facilitate freshmen students in the development of analyses that explain how many of our favorite places became and continue to become commodities. The theme of the proposed FRS is the selling of tourism in the American West. Course material will include writing from several contemporary observers of the development of western tourism. As a communication-related seminar, the focus will be on how tourism is advertised, framed, and explained. A range of topics will be explored, including 20th Century tourism campaigns and present day campaigns. Participants in the proposed seminar will become acquainted with a brief history of 20th century and contemporary development of tourism in the American West and will learn to analyze the selling of particular places, including places with which they are familiar. The primary goal of the seminar will be to enhance students' ability to apply their own observations of marketing developments in a western geographical context.

Format: The general design is 1) brief lecture/video/ discussion, 2) small group projects and presentation, and 3) paper research and writing. The first part of the course is designed to introduce students to the subject. The small group part is designed to encourage students to analyze issues associated with the subject. The paper will be an independent case study focusing on a particular geographical area with a substantial tourist economy. The course begins with a series of brief lectures, audio-visual segments, and discussion. Students will read selections from such writers as Edward Abbey, Hal Rothman , and the writers of the Canyon Country Zephyr and High Country News. Four weeks into the seminar, students will begin working in small groups to produce an analysis of an issue area consistent with the theme of industrial tourism. The last few course meetings will be devoted to discussion of students’ individual analyses leading toward course papers. Students will acquire materials unique to their own research and present them to the class for discussion. Grading: There will be two grade components to the course that will be equally weighted. They will include: 1) a participation grade that will be based on regular class contributions and, in particular, presentation of small group individual research work, and 2) a course paper as described above.

About the Instructor: John Theobald is Lecturer in the Department of Communication, where he has been on the faculty since 1991. His primary course offerings include The Media Industry, News Policies and Practices, Media Analysis, and Media Effects. These courses include many themes, among them: media ownership, social consequences of technology, globalization, media and global security, news bias, journalism practices, commercial effects of contemporary media, media and ecological systems, and a range of politically-related themes. Recent research interests include college orientation for high school students, ecological communication campaigns, and the selling of the tourism industry in the western United States. John has been a frequent commentator on media-related issues for print, radio, and television news agencies. He studied at UCLA, San Diego State University, and the University of Texas at Austin.