FRS 002O —
Sec. 001 —
(2 unit) — CRN 76182 — W 2:10-4:00pm — 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: The theme of the proposed seminar 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.