International Studies Faculty Papers

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https://hdl.handle.net/1794/2070

The International Studies Program at the University of Oregon offers interdisciplinary bachelor of arts (B.A.) and master of arts (M.A.) degrees.

Primary themes of the program are cross-cultural communication and understanding, environmental issues, international development, culture and globalization. Students interested in other aspects of international studies are also welcome, and find advising and support from our extensive group of participating faculty.

A student's course of study is tailored to meet individual career objectives, leading to opportunities in education, government, law, communications, business, non-governmental organizations, philanthropic organizations, and private voluntary organizations.

For questions about International Studies at the UO, or to receive program application information, please contact:

International Studies Program
175 Prince Lucien Campbell Hall
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-5206 USA

Telephone: (541) 346-5051; 346-5052
Fax: (541) 346-5041
E-mail: isp@uoregon.edu

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Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

Open Access
Con Dao National Park Ecotourism Management and Environmental Education Proposal
(World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature-Indochina Programme & Viet Nam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 1999-11) Ringer, Greg; Robinson, Alan
This management proposal is intended to establish guidelines for the design, development, management, and marketing of ecotourism and environmental education activities, attractions, and facilities in Con Dao National Park and Con Dao District, in southern Viet Nam. As such, it provides specific recommendations and policies for developing and managing ecotourism and environmental education as tools for sustainable biodiversity conservation in the marine and terrestrial areas of CDNP, and for sustainable community development for the people of Con Dao island and by extension, the Greater Mekong Subregion. The major objective of this Ecotourism and Environmental Education Management Proposal is to create a flexible framework in which ecotourism and environmental education are viewed as part of a comprehensive planning and management process for Con Dao District and the National Park.
Open Access
Convicts & Conservation: Con Dao National Park, Vietnam
(Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002) Ringer, Greg
The phenomenal growth of tourism experienced by the East Asia-Pacific region in the 1990s, nearly double the world average, has played a formative role in reuniting and empowering countries long fragmented by conflict and genocide. Stimulated by an increase in disposable income and leisure time, greater political stability and openness, and aggressive promotional campaigns, tourism is further credited by proponents with discouraging unsustainable practices in environmentally sensitive areas, while simultaneously creating greater opportunities for women and ethnic minorities to participate in the development process. As a result, governments throughout the region are now busy (re)positioning their countries as “authentic” destinations for visitors interested in local culture and nature. However, not every country or community in Asia will succeed as a tourist attraction, and those that do may discover the economic benefits less consequential than the social costs, as residents find their governments more intrusive and traditional practices rendered inauthentic for tourists’ consumption. The challenges of balancing such development with environmental conservation – and the possibilities offered by tourism in reconnecting an area long defined by its history of conflict, through expanded networks of travel and communication – are the focal points of this case study on Con Dao National Park in southern Vietnam.
Open Access
Geographies of tourism and place in Micronesia: the 'sleeping lady' awakes
(University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji, 2004-04) Ringer, Greg
Tourism has grown to become the dominant service industry in the world in the 21st Century and a common prescription for funding sustainable community development throughout the East Asia-Pacific region. Certainly, there can be no denial of tourism’s potential to provide meaningful economic alternatives for indigenous residents. However, the marketing of rural communities and island nations as tourist attractions may also transfigure the dynamic historically and socially-constructed landscapes of the destination through the reformation of local identities and cultural patterns of behaviour. To encourage a proactive approach to tourism, planning must therefore be sensitive to the social morphology of the destination community and the intersect with tourist activities. To encourage such a process, this paper adopts a geographic perspective to examine the qualitative effects of ecotourism on the Micronesian island of Kosrae as it moves from a subsistence-based, conservative, patriarchal society to a tourism destination in the global economy. In this manner, the cognitive perceptions and practised lifestyles of residents and visitors and the recreational space of the destination are distinguished from the inhabited place of local people, and the social structure, meaning, and cohesion of Kosraean culture more meaningfully clarified.
Open Access
Gorilla tourism: Uganda uses tourism to recover from decades of violent conflict
(Environmental Studies Association of Canada, 2002) Ringer, Greg
Only a few years after the murder of eight foreign tourists in 1999, kidnaped while on an Abercrombie & Kent tour of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwest Uganda, the country is finally, albeit slowly and rather tenuously, experiencing a rebound in international travelers. Where only recently, “adventure tourism” referred to the possibility of abduction and death for foreign tourists, the term once again suggests the possibilities offered by a country whose national parks and protected areas remain among the world’s most significant, culturally and ecologically. Like much of sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda has endured decades of ethnic violence, institutional mismanagement and international neglect, poverty, and disease. Yet, recent increases in disposable income and leisure time, improved political stability and openness, and aggressive tourism campaigns have fueled the boom in tourism both locally and intra-regionally. As a result, tourism – and more specifically, culture- and nature-based ecotourism – is now one of the most important sectors in the regional economy, and governments throughout East Africa are busy (re)positioning themselves as international destinations. Certainly, not every country or community in Africa will succeed as an attraction, and those that do may discover the economic benefits less consequential than the social costs, as governments become more intrusive and traditional practices are rendered inauthentic for tourists’ consumption. Nonetheless, ecotourism may play a critical and formative role in reuniting countries and a continent long fragmented by genocide and politics.
Open Access
Montenegro sustainable tourism assessment
(Institute for Strategic Studies and Prognoses & Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development, 2004-10) Ringer, Greg
This report briefly outlines the concerns and recommendations of a rapid assessment project undertaken in April 2004, with the support of the Montenegro Business Alliance and the U.S. Consulate in Podgorica. While admittedly limited in scope, due to both time and financial constraints, the ideas presented are intended to reflect the current and potential status of tourism development and marketing in Montenegro.
Open Access
Sustainable communities & ecotourism in Uganda: the Katonga Wetlands Conservation Project
(1998-06) Ringer, Greg
Perhaps more than any other region of the world, Africa’s dependence on natural resources makes it especially vulnerable to environmental change. To confront the growing social and natural problems, many sub-Saharan countries are now turning to ecotourism, with governments and residents alike attracted by suggestions that ecotourism can simultaneously sustain communities and the natural environments which surround them. Indeed, the success of nature-based tourism in Uganda — now the fastest growing sector in the country — makes clear its potential for economic development. Such windfalls do not come without social costs, however, and the manner in which ecotourism develops directly affects the sustainability of local areas. Yet, tourism proponents throughout East Africa continue to stress upscale facilities and the desires of affluent international visitors over the quality of choice afforded indigenous people in conserving their natural heritage and traditional practices. The challenges and opportunities of such an approach are highlighted in this examination of sustainable tourism and wildlife protection in Uganda's newest protected area and former game preserve, Katonga.
Open Access
Tourism in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar: from terrorism to tourism?
(Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000) Ringer, Greg; Hall, C. Michael
The emerging Southeast Asian nations of Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma) are undergoing substantial change. Desperately seeking economic growth, these impoverished nations have been ravaged by decades of civil war from which they are now only beginning to recover. Tourism is a significant component of economic development which also has important political overtones in terms of the degree to which tourism is seen to give legitimacy to government, particularly with respect to Myanmar in which people have reported to have been forcibly used as labour for tourism-related developments. This chapter briefly outlines some of the key development issues associated with each country and the role that tourism plays in the economic and political life of residents and visitors.
Open Access
Wilderness images of tourism and community
(Elsevier, 1996) Ringer, Greg
International tourism is now the dominant force in the world economy and consequently, is heavily promoted as a source of funding sustainable community development. Developing and marketing communities as tourist destinations rarely comes without human costs, however, including a transfiguration of the inhabitants' social history and the dynamics of their place. As a result, there exists tremendous need for additional research on the long-term effects of tourism on emergent destination communities. In response, this study presents the preliminary findings of research among residents and visitors to the twin Alaska "ghost" towns of Kennicott and McCarthy and the implications for a new direction in tourism studies, one that recognizes a socially-defined landscape often overlooked in the traditional literature of tourism and outdoor recreation in protected areas in Alaska and worldwide.

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