In the Eye of the Beholder? Tourism and the Activist Academic - Tourism and Visual Culture: Theories and Concepts - page 112

It is clear that tourism presents a site of
study that is ripe for the interventions of activist
academics, perhaps more palatably called 'pub-
lic intellectuals'; but few have made their pres-
ence known in the fi eld to date. And yet the role
of the intellectual in progressive social change
has been theorized by such thinkers as Marx
and Engels (1970), Gramsci (1992) and Fou-
cault (1980) and modelled by Jean-Paul Sartre
(1967) and Edward Said among numerous
others. These are thinkers whose work has been
utilized in tourism analysis. Should the critical
strands of the tourism discipline actively encour-
age the development of activist academics and
public intellectuals in order to see the discipline
advance beyond the straightjacket of objective,
scientifi c approaches?
Wearing et al ., in their championing of a
'decommodifi ed research paradigm' in tourism,
make one foray into this arena with their discus-
sion of the vital roles NGOs can play in moving
tourism away from 'the almost exclusive pursuit
of industry profi ts and place social, cultural and
ecological value on local environments and
economics' (2005, p. 424). This work by NGOs
should inspire researchers to pursue a decom-
modifi ed research agenda according to Wearing
et al . (2005). But far more fulfi lling would be an
exploration of how activism for a more ecologi-
cal and equitable tourism can be married to
academic endeavours through developing a
refl ective practice of activist academia.
I offer questions posed recently in the fi eld
of international relations for tourism colleagues
to consider:

for our collective well-being. It is for this reason
that I have decided to pursue the iconoclastic
path of the activist tourism academic, looking,
seeing and getting my hands dirty in the real
world, taking sides and struggling for the attain-
ment of justice, equity and sustainability
through, within, and despite tourism.

Tourism as a Prism: Seeing the World
through the Lens of Tourism

The 'looking and seeing' at tourism described
above adds emphasis to Mowforth and Munt
claim that tourism 'is an activity which helps us to
understand the world and ways in which humans
interact with the planet and with each other in a
range of senses' (Mowforth and Munt, 1998,
pp. 2-3). They also contend that tourism 'is a
“prism” for understanding broader global issues
and relations' (2003, p. 271). Morgan and Prit-
chard contend, 'Despite its presentation as free
time, framed by choice, fl exibility, spontaneity
and self-determination, the study of tourism
leads the researcher not to the periphery but to
the core of global power structures' (1998, p. 5).
Such analyses make it clear and irrefutable
that tourism is about power and its practices. I
have focused my work on using political frame-
works to investigate the interstices between con-
temporary tourism, globalization, sustainability
and equity. For instance, in my work analysing
tourism as a social force, I have argued that
tourism industry discourse serves the needs and
interests of a small elite promoting the tourism
industry and overshadows the more public-
minded, multicultural and equitable forms of
tourism that remain evident around the world
(Higgins-Desbiolles, 2006). More recently I have
analysed how particular forms of tourism, such as
justice tourism, might contribute to a more equi-
table and sustainable globalization (Higgins-
Desbiolles, 2008). This work is derived from
experiences of working with Indigenous Austra-
lian communities, tourism non-governmental
organizations and community groups facing a
rapacious tourism industry and yet seeking at
the same time to harness the potential of tour-
ism for their own humanistic ends. Activism has
informed my theorizing and theorizing has
informed my activism.

What do we mean by 'activism' - both out- ●

side and within academic contexts?
What does it mean to be an 'academic'

●

and what is our proper role in society? Is
the notion of the 'public intellectual' a help-
ful category?
What, if any, are the connections between

●

'public intellectuals' and so-called 'political
activists' (Maigushca and Thornton, 2006,
p. 101)?

Tourism is changing our world in numerous and
profound ways and yet many in the tourism
arena treat it as if it is marginal to the grand
issues we confront. Such issues include human-
induced climate change, political instability and
confl ict, overuse of fi nite resources, competing