The Role of Health and Wellness Tourism in the Evolution of Labor Regimes in the American South
Author(s): Jessica Bittner
Year: 2020
Summary
This is a paper/report submission presented at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
In recent years, scholars have linked the rise of modern tourism with broader transformations in American capitalism during the nineteenth century, when the new “scientific” management of labor and capital led to the development of a large, managerial class of laborers within an increasingly service-oriented economy. Early forms of tourism typically centered on the medicinal practice of “taking the waters,” at health spas or mineral spring resorts. This paper explores how issues of health and disease articulate with these broader shifts in labor and production, and examines the ways in which race and class mediate these relationships. This case study documents the growth and eventual decline of mineral spring tourism at the 19th and early-20th century resort town of Indian Springs, Georgia. Multiple lines of evidence are synthesized to chart the evolution of touristic labor regimes in the American South.
Cite this Record
The Role of Health and Wellness Tourism in the Evolution of Labor Regimes in the American South. Jessica Bittner. 2020 ( tDAR id: 457337)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
General
Capitalism
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Race
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Tourism
Geographic Keywords
United States of America
Temporal Keywords
19th/20th C.
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 489