Community on a cruise ship

The contribution of an ethnographic research in studying the cruise ship industry

Lara, Končar

Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU

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http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/Article.aspx?ID=0350-08611701207K

2017-2020/03/24/15:48:50

Originating from a very small part of the industry of ocean passenger transport, the cruise ship phenomenon grew into a global international business for organizing vacation and travel, becoming by the mid-20th century the fastest-growing branch of tourism industry. Seen as both a process and a project of globalization, and a manifestation of the fluidity of modern society, a series of scientific research questions were raised regarding the nature of globalization and consumerism. As opposed to the wider social, economic and cultural processes, the experiences of cruise ship workers offer a completely different perspective to this phenomenon. As the “fluid” nature of the industry and the ships themselves blurs the borders between places and space, within which communities of cruise ship workers are appearing, in this text I will try to point out the existence of a “social order” on the ships which is simultaneously defined by wider globalization processes and established regulations of cruise ship companies. With the ethnographic approach to researching the cruise ship industry, this text aims to offer a view from “within”: from the perspective of those who live and work on cruise ships, thus pointing out the existence and the particularities of “displaced enclaves” being formed on the ships, as well as the important connection between work, everyday life and travel.

globalization, fieldwork, ethnography, consumer culture, cruise ship workers