Celebrating Dr. Erve Chambers and the Inaugural Tourism and Heritage Student Paper Award Winners in Santa Fe

Erve Chambers Tourism and Heritage Student Paper Award Committee

By Melissa Stevens
melissa.stevens7@gmail.com

The Erve Chambers Tourism and Heritage Student Paper Award Committee organized several events in Santa Fe to celebrate Dr. Erve Chambers’ legacy of scholarship and service and to recognize the inaugural winners of the Student Paper Award. 

On Thursday morning (3/28), the students presented their research in the session “Transforming the Field: The Inaugural Erve Chambers Tourism and Heritage Student Paper Award.” The session was chaired by Dr. Melissa Stevens (Chair of the Chambers Award Committee) and Dr. Chambers said a few words reflecting on the students’ research and the purpose of the award to further new and innovative research in the field. Dr. Chambers’ seminal book Native Tours: The Anthropology of Travel and Tourism argues for critical explorations of the social construction of tourism and heritage and considers the agency of all actors – hosts, guests, and various mediators – in shaping touristic encounters and definitions of heritage. The winning student papers represent an expansion of the current literature that goes beyond many of the tropes that Dr. Chambers critiques in Native Tours by recognizing the complexity of tourism encounters, examining constructions of tourism and heritage, and presenting new, unique, and underrepresented perspectives on tourism and heritage. The session ended with a discussion of recent directions in tourism and heritage research that have been the most exciting and influential for the students’ own research. 

The students presenting their research were Emma Satterfield (University of Maryland); Bianca Bellafiore (University of Aberdeen); Jonathan Geyer (St. Mary's College of Maryland); Roshni Caputo-Nimbark (Memorial University of Newfoundland); and Beatrice Leeming (University of Cambridge). 

SfAA President Dr. Jennifer Weis recognized the student award winners during the SfAA Business Meeting on Thursday and mentioned the inaugural award and Dr. Chambers’ legacy during the SfAA Awards Ceremony on Friday. The true celebration occurred Thursday evening at the Chambers Award Reception, an informal gathering of colleagues, friends, supporters, and other tourism and heritage folk held in the Eldorado Hotel’s Presidential Suite to recognize Dr. Chambers and the students. Dr. Chambers and the students chatted about the future of the field, their research, and ways to improve the competition and cultivate a more valuable experience for students. 

Call for Student Paper Abstracts: September 15^th Deadline!

Are you a student who conducts research on issues of tourism or heritage? The SfAA invites you to submit your original research for the 2025 Erve Chambers Tourism and Heritage Student Paper Award! Submit your paper abstract (500 words or less) by SEPTEMBER 15, 2024 for consideration. Student paper abstracts (of 500 words or less) should entail original research on the themes of “tourism” and/or “heritage” broadly defined. Top papers will be selected for inclusion in a featured session at the 2025 SfAA Meetings in Portland, OR, and will qualify for the Erve Chambers Tourism and Heritage Student Paper Award, which consists of three cash prizes. For more details and to submit your abstract, visit the Award’s website.

Support the Chambers Award Endowment Fund

Make a donation online through the SfAA’s secure website at www.appliedanthro.org/donate by choosing “Chambers Tourism & Heritage Student Paper Award” from the drop-down list on the donation form.

Congratulations to the 2024 Valene Smith Tourism Poster Winner and Honorable Mentions!

Winner - Erin Cearlock (College of William & Mary)
Community Engaged Cultural Heritage Management: Case Study of Rurutu, Aystral Islands, French Polynesia

Honorable Mention - Vanessa Taylor (University of Denver)
Yosemite’s Vertical Identity: Climbing, Community, and the Sacred Landscape

Honorable Mention - Ian Arthur (University of Wisconsin - Madison)
Taryn Valley, Sean Duffy, Jessica Smith
“They leave us with medicine but nothing else”: Community Gratitude and Discontent with Short-Term Medical Trips in Rural Guatemala