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In-Depth Information
within tourism (and not just from geographical perspectives) which is indicative of this, and
several other contributions either echo this sentiment or demonstrate enhanced refl exivity in
their style and context; situating themselves more fully within their writing and research.
Continuing on the refl exivity theme: as a research community, we must also be conscious
of what and who (and importantly,
where
) ends up becoming the subject of our research
endeavours. Saxena, in
Chapter 29,
agrees with Pearce (1999) in that, given that the commu-
nity of tourism geographers in most countries is still very small, the infl uence of personal
preferences, priorities and skills of individual researchers plays a critical if as yet undetermined
role in terms of what is studied and how (see also Gale,
Chapter 4).
As geographers though,
Lew argues
(Chapter 23),
we have at least been socialised to be theoretically sensitive to the
relationship bet ween people, places and spaces and this must continue to or ient us in directing
our research interests and capabilities towards certain peoples, places, processes and contexts
in tourism.
In terms of the relative complexity of tourism contexts and the theoretical approaches that
allow us to make sense of them, the volume has set out a wide range of possibilities. But this
is just the beginning and from here on in it is up to researchers to rise to the challenges. In
Chapter 24,
Palomino-Schalscha reminds us that understanding these complexities must not
be seen as a stance for less critical research or for inaction, but rather should motivate us to
search for more nuanced understandings and better options.
With regard to research frameworks, the increasing social science underpinning geog-
raphy, most prominently the 'cultural turn', is clearly evident in
Part II
of this volume,
in particular within Meethan's contribution
(Chapter 7),
which explains a number of socio-
logical shifts in tourism and their spatial implications.
Gale, Duncan and Casado-Diaz in
Chapters 4,
14
and
15
discuss the potential for research
frameworks based around post-structural approaches such as the New Mobilities Paradigm
(NMP) in the study of tourism and lifestyle migration. Other landmark chapters in
Part II
have provided us with a diversity of possibilities in framing research on tourism and tourists
embedded fi rmly within the cultural turn in geography, including performance (Larsen,
Chapter 8),
sensuous approaches (Edensor and Falconer,
Chapter 9)
, queer approaches (Waitt,
Chapter 10)
, gender approaches (Tivers,
Chapter 11),
postcolonial approaches (Keen and
Tucker,
Chapter 12)
and metaspatialities (Hottola,
Chapter 18).
In the face of the cultural turn, though, there are a number of common concerns expressed
in the contributions in this volume regarding the role of power in the political economy of
tourism, and how it might have diminished in the face of more recent academic 'turns' in
geography (as evident, for example, in Critical Tourism Studies (CTS) and the central role of
culture therein). Furthermore, as Debbage and Ioannides
(Chapter 19)
point out, part of the
problem is that current defi nitions of tourism are still defi cient since they prioritise tourism
as a system of consumption rather than production (see Judd, 2006). In
Chapter 6,
Gibson
observes (in relation to tourism and encounter) that there is a danger that the exercise of
power is relegated to background status (Valentine, 2008). Indeed, this is the primary argu-
ment of Bianchi
(Chapter 5),
and Gale
(Chapter 4)
also expresses some caution at the 'critical
turn' and CTS when pointing out the new perspectives they can offer.
However, there are emergent approaches that do permit a more intermediate standpoint,
such as Ribera-Fumaz's work on Cultural Political Economy (2009), as Wilson
(Chapter 16)
and Wilson and Tallon
(Chapter 13)
propose. As Chang argues in
Chapter 17, t
he idea of
'tourism creating places' acknowledges tourism's role in the cultural
and
political economy of
contemporary space making. He maintains that 'by casting tourism in its rightful role in the
cultural economy of space, we can appreciate the power of place in tourism discourses, as
