Tropical Whites

The Rise of the Tourist South in the Americas

Business & Finance, Industries & Professions, Hospitality, Tourism & Travel, Nonfiction, History, Americas
Cover of the book Tropical Whites by Catherine Cocks, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Catherine Cocks ISBN: 9780812207958
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: March 5, 2013
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Catherine Cocks
ISBN: 9780812207958
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: March 5, 2013
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

As late as 1900, most whites regarded the tropics as "the white man's grave," a realm of steamy fertility, moral dissolution, and disease. So how did the tropical beach resort—white sand, blue waters, and towering palms—become the iconic vacation landscape? Tropical Whites explores the dramatic shift in attitudes toward and popularization of the tropical tourist "Southland" in the Americas: Florida, Southern California, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Catherine Cocks examines the history and development of tropical tourism from the late nineteenth century through the early 1940s, when the tropics constituted ideal winter resorts for vacationers from the temperate zones. Combining history, geography, and anthropology, this provocative book explains not only the transformation of widely held ideas about the relationship between the environment and human bodies but also how this shift in thinking underscored emerging concepts of modern identity and popular attitudes toward race, sexuality, nature, and their interconnections.

Cocks argues that tourism, far from simply perverting pristine local cultures and selling superficial misunderstandings of them, served as one of the central means of popularizing the anthropological understanding of culture, new at the time. Together with the rise of germ theory, the emergence of the tropical horticulture industry, changes in passport laws, travel writing, and the circulation of promotional materials, national governments and the tourist industry changed public perception of the tropics from a region of decay and degradation, filled with dangerous health risks, to one where the modern traveler could encounter exotic cultures and a rejuvenating environment.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

As late as 1900, most whites regarded the tropics as "the white man's grave," a realm of steamy fertility, moral dissolution, and disease. So how did the tropical beach resort—white sand, blue waters, and towering palms—become the iconic vacation landscape? Tropical Whites explores the dramatic shift in attitudes toward and popularization of the tropical tourist "Southland" in the Americas: Florida, Southern California, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Catherine Cocks examines the history and development of tropical tourism from the late nineteenth century through the early 1940s, when the tropics constituted ideal winter resorts for vacationers from the temperate zones. Combining history, geography, and anthropology, this provocative book explains not only the transformation of widely held ideas about the relationship between the environment and human bodies but also how this shift in thinking underscored emerging concepts of modern identity and popular attitudes toward race, sexuality, nature, and their interconnections.

Cocks argues that tourism, far from simply perverting pristine local cultures and selling superficial misunderstandings of them, served as one of the central means of popularizing the anthropological understanding of culture, new at the time. Together with the rise of germ theory, the emergence of the tropical horticulture industry, changes in passport laws, travel writing, and the circulation of promotional materials, national governments and the tourist industry changed public perception of the tropics from a region of decay and degradation, filled with dangerous health risks, to one where the modern traveler could encounter exotic cultures and a rejuvenating environment.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Yigal Allon, Native Son by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Censorship and Cultural Sensibility by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book The Metropolitan Airport by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Philosophy of Existence by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Hosts and Guests by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book English Letters and Indian Literacies by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Shakespeare's Shrine by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Representation by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Christianity, Empire, and the Making of Religion in Late Antiquity by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Topographical Stories by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Against Self-Reliance by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Human Rights and Labor Solidarity by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Tax and Spend by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Zamumo's Gifts by Catherine Cocks
Cover of the book Republican Character by Catherine Cocks
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy