Sharon Bohn GmelchSharon Bohn Gmelch (B.A., Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara) is a cultural anthropologist who specializes in ethnic identity, visual anthropology, and tourism. She has conducted research with Irish Travellers, Barbadian villagers, Tlingit Indians in Alaska, and tourist guides in several countries. She is the author and editor of six books and the co-producer of an ethnographic film on the Tlingit. Books
Tasting the Good Life: Wine Tourism in the Napa Valley by George and Sharon Gmelch George and Sharon Gmelch's new book Tasting the Good Life: Wine Tourism in the Napa Valley will be published by Indiana University Press in June. In this book they look at wine tourism as a particular type of tourism, the working lives of people in tourism, and the social and environmental impacts of tourism in the Napa Valley.
Tourists and Tourism: A Reader edited by Sharon Bohn Gmelch. Waveland Press, 2004. What do people seek when they travel? How do locals respond and who benefits? What impact do tourists have on the environments and people they visit? Stimulating and comprehensive, the collection introduces readers to a variety of issues in global tourism. Selected with classroom use in mind, 27 essays by Northern American and international scholars from anthropology, sociology, history, geography, as well as journalism present a balance of theory and stimulating case studies. Photographs enhance the text. Appendices provide a list of recommended films and examples of some of the behavioral guidelines that have been produced for tourists. Order this book from Amazon
Gender on Campus: Issues for College Women by Sharon Bohn Gmelch, with Marcie C. Heffernan and Jody Lynn Yetzer. Rutgers University Press, June 1998 Gender on Campus examines the many gender-related issues facing college women, including the basic question "What is feminism?" Other chapters explore gender issues in the classroom, in language, on the sports field, and in campus social life, from the perspective of diverse women. Why are eating disorders so common among college women today? Why do some male students still construe "no" to mean "yes?" What is the basis for sexism and homophobia? The book also explores isses that women students will face in the future in the workplace, media and politics. Although designed primarily for classroom use, the book is a useful preparation for any woman student entering college. Order this book from Amazon
The Parish Behind God's Back: The Changing Culture of Rural Barbados by George Gmelch and Sharon Bohn Gmelch, University of Michigan Press, 1997; Waveland, 2004. In the eastern Caribbean the expression "behind God's back" refers to a place that is remote or far away. This book examines the social fabric of Barbados' most rural parish and the enormous influence of global factors such as television, tourism, and migration. Written with students in mind, The Parish Behind God's Back draws on the authors' field research and 15-year experience running an anthropological field school for Union College students in rural Barbados. According to one reviewer, "Besides being lively and well-rounded, The Parish makes strategic use of comparisons to US culture so that students are also learning about themselves...It presents an excellent frame of reference for considering the costs as well as the benefits of modernization, US style." According to another, "Beautifully written, this book deals with all the big issues of our time -- slavery, colonialism, migration, tourism, and globalization." Order this book from Amazon<
Nan: The Life of an Irish Travelling Woman by Sharon Bohn Gmelch, W.W. Norton, 1986; Waveland Press, 1996 (pb). Nan Donahue was an Irish Travelling woman, one of Ireland's indigenous gypsies or travelling people. Traditionally, they traveled through the countryside, at first on foot but later in horse-drawn carts and wagons, making and repairing tinware, sweeping chimneys, selling small household wares, and performing odd jobs and farm labor. Today, they live in trailers on the roadside or in government-built camps and houses. An urban people now, they primarily collect scrap metal and deal in used and new goods. Sharon Gmelch, as a young graduate student in anthropology, first met Nan in the early 1970s when she went to do research on the Travelling People. She became Nan's neighbor and eventually her close friend and confidante. Over a period of years, from 1977 to 1981, Nan related the story of her life, the story recorded in this book. Told largely in her own voice, Nan's saga begins in 1919 with her birth in a tent in the Irish Midlands, the daughter of an itinerant chimney sweep. It follows her life in Ireland and England, in countryside and city slums, through adversity and adventure. What emerges is not uniquely a Traveller's story, although Nan was a Travelling Person. Nor is it exclusively an Irish story, although she lived in Ireland most of her life. Nor is it solely a woman's story. It is a human story, filled with cruelty and compassion, sorrow and humor, bad luck and good. Finalist for the Margaret Mead Award. Order this book from Amazon
Irish Life and Traditions edited by Sharon Bohn Gmelch, O'Brien Press, 1979; Syracuse University Press, 1986. Irish Life and Traditions is a book about contemporary Ireland, lavishly illustrated with original photographs. It provides readers with a lively overview of contemporary Irish society. In the Physical Setting section, Ireland's landscape, flora and fauna, and prehistory are examined. Growing Up in Irelandaddresses the human side of Irish life in four autobiographical accounts.The People and Their Traditions describes the ancient and still popular traditions of country fair and religious pilgrimage, festivals, and sports in Irish society. Finally, in Looking Forward Ireland's place in the modern world is examined. Contributors include Nobel Peace Prize recipient Sean McBride and novelist Maeve Binchy. Order this book from Amazon
Tinkers and Travellers: Ireland's Nomads by Sharon Bohn Gmelch, with photographs by Pat Langan and George Gmelch, O'Brien Press and McGill-Queens University Press, 1975. Winner of The Book of The Year award in Ireland, 1976. A photographic essay of Irish Travellers as they lived in the early 1970s. Order this book from Amazon Selected ArticlesIndigenous Internet. (with R. Daniels) Roundtable Commentary.Earthwatch Institute Journal. 20(2): 5-6. 2001. Ethnographic Field Schools: What Students Do and Learn. (with G. Gmelch) Anthropology and Education Quarterly 30(2):220-27. 1999. Barbados' Amerindian Past. (with G. Gmelch) Anthropology Today 12(1):11-15. 1996. Gender and Migration: The Readjustment of Women Migrants in Barbados, Ireland, and Newfoundland. (with G. Gmelch) Human Organization 54(4):470-73. 1995. Elbridge Warren Merrill: The Tlingit of Alaska, 1899-1929 The History of Photography 19(2):159-72. 1995. From Beginning to End: An Irish Life History. Journal of Narrative and Life History 2(1):29-38. 1992. Nomads in the Cities. (with G. Gmelch) Natural History 97 (2):50-61. 1988. Groups That Don't Want In: Gypsies and other Artisan, Trader and Entertainer Minorities. Annual Review of Anthropology 15:307-30. 1986. Gypsies in British Cities: Problems and Government Response. Urban Anthropology 11 (3-4): 347-76. 1985. Economic and Power Relations among Urban Tinkers: the Role of Women. Urban Anthropology 6(3):237-47. 1977. The Emergence of an Ethnic Group: The Irish Travellers. (with G. Gmelch). Anthropological Quarterly 49:225-38. 1974. Film
A Matter of Respect: Modern Alaska Natives co-produced with filmmaker Ellen Frankenstein. 1991. Distributed by New Day Films This half-hour documentary video examines cultural revitalization among the Tlingit of Sitka, Alaska. It is a stereotype-breaking documentary about the meaning of tradition and change.
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