Cultural Tourism, Camel Wrestling, and the Tourism 'Bubble' in Turkey

This article focuses on the idea of "social capital" as a mechanism to discuss and describe the role and importance of camel wrestling in Turkey's larger framework of cultural tourism. There are numerous examples of historic settings being commercialized, including the Great Wall of China, and being transformed into tourist attractions. Ongoing cultural performances are also important heritage resources within this kind of tourism enterprise; this aritcle deals with an animal based event. After situating the research within the context of festivals which deal with such animal-associated spectacles, the article describes fieldwork done in Turkey at camel wrestling events. Finally it describes the role of these kinds of performative cultural undertakings within the larger orbit of cultural tourism concerns.