Lan Xue, doctoral student in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management, will present “,” on April 23, at 10 a.m., in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. This indigenous knowledge seminar is free and open to the public and can be viewed online.

Xue’s presentation will highlight her research on the socioeconomic aspects of tourism development and how the local culture of a tourism destination shapes, and is shaped by, tourism development. “Since 1949, dominant discourses in China have portrayed rural residents as primitive, ignorant and lagging far behind their urban counterparts. Consequently, indigenous knowledge of the rural, acquired over millennia, has been ridiculed and ignored,” she says.

Using Chongdu Valley as a study site, Xue explored the changing images and identity of rural residents as a result of tourism development over the past 15 years. She says her research found that rural tourism has generally improved the living standards of local residents and elicited a sense of pride in their cultures and traditional knowledge, both of which have contributed to increased life satisfaction and community well-being. Rural tourism has also transformed the traditions, lifestyles, and landscapes of rural China and led to an increasing urbanization of what has traditionally been considered “rural,” she adds. Xue will be introduced by Carter Hunt, (http://sites.psu.edu/carterahunt/), assistant professor in the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management.

This seminar is co-sponsored by the University Libraries and the Interinstitutional Center for Indigenous Knowledge. For more information, see icik.psu.edu. If you anticipate needing accommodations or have question about the physical access provided, please contact Helen Sheehy at hms2@psu.edu or 814-863-1347.