APY3704 – Themes in Anthropology: Tourism and Pilgrimage
APY3704 — THEMES IN ANTHROPOLOGY: TOURISM AND PILGRIMAGE —
ASSIGNMENT 01 COMPLETE SOLUTION 2026/2027
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
College of Human Sciences
APY3704
Themes in Anthropology: Tourism and Pilgrimage
ASSIGNMENT 01
TITLE: A Fieldwork Account of a Local Curio Market:
Observations of Host-Tourist Interactions, Authenticity, and Cultural Identity
Student Name: [YOUR FULL NAME]
Student Number: [XXXXXXXXX]
Module: APY3704
Assignment Number: 01
Due Date: [INSERT DUE DATE]
Unique Number: [INSERT UNIQUE NUMBER]
1. Introduction
Tourism is among the most globally significant and anthropologically rich phenomena
of the modern era. As Smith (1989) observed in her foundational work, tourism brings into
contact hosts and guests from radically different cultural backgrounds, creating dynamic spaces
of negotiation, performance, and identity formation. The local market or curio shop represents
one of the most intimate of these contact zones — a liminal space where objects, meanings,
and values are exchanged across cultural divides.
Student Number: XXXXXXXXX | APY3704 | Assignment 01 | Page 1
, APY3704 – Themes in Anthropology: Tourism and Pilgrimage
This fieldwork account documents observations made at the Rosebank Sunday Market
in Johannesburg, a popular tourist craft and curio destination, on a Saturday morning in March
2025. As a participant-observer, I spent approximately three hours at the market, conversing
with two visitors and the owner of a craft stall. Drawing on key theoretical themes from the
APY3704 study guide — including pilgrimage, imperialism, authenticity, and the host-guest
dynamic — this essay analyses the cultural, economic, and social interactions I observed in
that space.
The study guide's emphasis on the anthropologist as both observer and participant is
central to the methodology of this assignment. Following the tradition of ethnographic
fieldwork, I paid attention not only to the explicit conversations and transactions I witnessed,
but also to the subtle performances, spatial arrangements, and embodied gestures that give
tourist spaces their distinctive social character.
2. The Field Site: Rosebank Sunday Market
The Rosebank Sunday Market is a well-established open-air market situated in one of
Johannesburg's most cosmopolitan suburbs. On the morning of my visit, the market was
bustling with a mix of domestic and international tourists, expatriates, and local residents. Stalls
were arranged in rows under canopies, selling a range of goods: hand-carved wooden figurines,
beaded jewellery, Maasai-inspired textiles, wire art, soapstone carvings, and framed
photographs of African wildlife.
The spatial layout of the market itself communicated cultural meaning. Stalls were
arranged in ways that maximised visual appeal for passing tourists, with colourful fabrics
draped at eye level and carvings positioned on raised platforms. Van Gennep's (1960) concept
of liminality is relevant here: the market constitutes a threshold space, set apart from the
Student Number: XXXXXXXXX | APY3704 | Assignment 01 | Page 2
APY3704 — THEMES IN ANTHROPOLOGY: TOURISM AND PILGRIMAGE —
ASSIGNMENT 01 COMPLETE SOLUTION 2026/2027
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
College of Human Sciences
APY3704
Themes in Anthropology: Tourism and Pilgrimage
ASSIGNMENT 01
TITLE: A Fieldwork Account of a Local Curio Market:
Observations of Host-Tourist Interactions, Authenticity, and Cultural Identity
Student Name: [YOUR FULL NAME]
Student Number: [XXXXXXXXX]
Module: APY3704
Assignment Number: 01
Due Date: [INSERT DUE DATE]
Unique Number: [INSERT UNIQUE NUMBER]
1. Introduction
Tourism is among the most globally significant and anthropologically rich phenomena
of the modern era. As Smith (1989) observed in her foundational work, tourism brings into
contact hosts and guests from radically different cultural backgrounds, creating dynamic spaces
of negotiation, performance, and identity formation. The local market or curio shop represents
one of the most intimate of these contact zones — a liminal space where objects, meanings,
and values are exchanged across cultural divides.
Student Number: XXXXXXXXX | APY3704 | Assignment 01 | Page 1
, APY3704 – Themes in Anthropology: Tourism and Pilgrimage
This fieldwork account documents observations made at the Rosebank Sunday Market
in Johannesburg, a popular tourist craft and curio destination, on a Saturday morning in March
2025. As a participant-observer, I spent approximately three hours at the market, conversing
with two visitors and the owner of a craft stall. Drawing on key theoretical themes from the
APY3704 study guide — including pilgrimage, imperialism, authenticity, and the host-guest
dynamic — this essay analyses the cultural, economic, and social interactions I observed in
that space.
The study guide's emphasis on the anthropologist as both observer and participant is
central to the methodology of this assignment. Following the tradition of ethnographic
fieldwork, I paid attention not only to the explicit conversations and transactions I witnessed,
but also to the subtle performances, spatial arrangements, and embodied gestures that give
tourist spaces their distinctive social character.
2. The Field Site: Rosebank Sunday Market
The Rosebank Sunday Market is a well-established open-air market situated in one of
Johannesburg's most cosmopolitan suburbs. On the morning of my visit, the market was
bustling with a mix of domestic and international tourists, expatriates, and local residents. Stalls
were arranged in rows under canopies, selling a range of goods: hand-carved wooden figurines,
beaded jewellery, Maasai-inspired textiles, wire art, soapstone carvings, and framed
photographs of African wildlife.
The spatial layout of the market itself communicated cultural meaning. Stalls were
arranged in ways that maximised visual appeal for passing tourists, with colourful fabrics
draped at eye level and carvings positioned on raised platforms. Van Gennep's (1960) concept
of liminality is relevant here: the market constitutes a threshold space, set apart from the
Student Number: XXXXXXXXX | APY3704 | Assignment 01 | Page 2
