To this point, we have explored the role of mobility in contemporary life and its impact on self and society. The various media of mobility - those that transport us, entertain us, and inform us - may be viewed collectively as constructive of a recent kind of person, the tourist. What is a tourist? Mediated by constraints of class, gender, and race, the tourist seeks landscapes, vistas, scenes, and props for the production of alternative modes of experience. As such, the tourist lives between poles of the search for excitement and the demand for safety, the desire for authenticity and the avoidance of surprise. While this discussion is informed by a range of readings, many of which appear in COMM 195, Communication and the Age of Mobility, our focus emerges from study of Jamaica Kincaid's A small place and her indictment of tourism from a postcolonial perspective.

Reading: Kincaid's A small place (excerpt)

Note: No class on April 11. Dr. Wood is attending the Popular Communication Association of America conference - group meeting time