The Chinese Safari: Cultural Identity and Wildlife Conservation in Kenya’s Tourism Industry

“The Chinese Safari: Cultural Identity and Wildlife Conservation in Kenya’s Tourism Industry,” a talk by Amanda Kaminsky (class of ‘13). Ms. Kaminsky will talk about the social and environmental consequences of Chinese tourism in Kenya, which she has been studying as a graduate student at the Univesity of Michigan. In her Master’s thesis Ms. Kaminsky is using survey data, key informant interviews, and participation observations collected on-site in Kenya during the summer of 2016 to examine how postcolonial narratives of wildlife conservation are being restructured to reflect the Chinese tourist gaze. She argues that Chinese safaris are reinforcing stigmas surrounding animals as aesthetic objects, consistent with the concept of the bounded “scenic spot” common in Chinese domestic tourism.