omertaa 2007 Journal of applied anthropology page 126 tourism and cul tural change: an empathic understanding approach an introduction to tourism, anthropology and ethnicity By Marc Vanlangendonck and Johan Leman Marc Vanlangendonck teaches anthropology (Master in tourism, Ku leuven; XioS) and philosophy (XioS). e-mail: marc.vanlangendonck@wet.kuleuven.be Johan leman is professor at iMMrC, social and cultural anthropology, Social Sciences, Ku leuven. e-mail: johan.leman@soc.kuleuven.be artiCle info Keywords tourism, anthropology, ethnic relations How to refer to this article Vanlangendonck M., leman J., tourism and cultural change: an empathic understanding approach an introduc- tion to tourism, anthropology and ethnicity, 2007, omertaa, Journal for applied anthropology, http://www.omertaa. org/archive/omertaa0016.pdf the latest annual conference of aSa (the association of So- cial anthropologists of the uK and Commonwealth, 10-13 april 2007) discussed thoroughly different issues about the nature and the impact of tourism. the panel streams around the main objective of “thinking through tourism” were or- ganised around several topics, such as “tourism as an eth- nographic feld” (series A), “political economy/development” (series B), “identity, memory, imagination” (series C), “mobil- ity” (series d), “enchantment” (series e), “material culture” (series f), and “landscapes” (series g). furthermore, there were some poster and flm/video presentations. the initiative was – considering the many enthusiastic re- actions of aSa members – undoubtedly a success. indeed tourism looms large on the map in the human sciences. it is a noteworthy fact that social and cultural anthropologists and other social scientists increasingly provide case studies in a wide range of time/space settings. Various aspects of tour- ism are in these approaches richly discussed by analyzing concrete feld data and thereby creating a fruitful platform for deeper insights in the complex phenomenon of tourism.