From Sustainability to the Anthropocene: Reflections on a Pedagogy of Tourism Research for Planetary Attachment

Abstract

Though tourism research has become more value-laden in its scholarship and pedagogy, there is still a risk that tourism higher education curricula (re)produce uncritical views of society and sustainability. I argue that research methodology courses and assignments based on data collection can legitimize the use of sustainable tourism solutions based in generalizations and abstractions, rather than encourage the dialogue and reflectivity needed for major change in times of crisis. They also risk promoting a self-serving agenda where researchers (re) produce their success in the knowledge economy. In light of the limitations of the sustainability concept in time of planetary crisis, I look into the possibilities of a tourism research pedagogy in the Anthropocene by uncovering arguments for plurality and deliberation in knowledge production. Social scientists need to address questions of ethics in times of crisis. Conjointly, the Anthropocene highlights our planetary attachment, where human responsibility and social action are imminent.

Empowering Tomorrow’s Problem Solvers: Nexus Thinking and CLEWs Modelling as a Pedagogical Approach to Wicked Problems

“…This evidence-based approach helps to ensure that policies and strategies are grounded in a solid understanding of the complex interdependencies and uncertainties within the climate, land, energy, and water systems. As highlighted by Prince, students studying in fields relating to sustainability are prone to making generic statements, such as "all stakeholders need to be involved in decision-making, the social dimension is important to consider, or economic leakage has to stop" after reflecting upon data [79] (p. 181). To avoid these types of vague conclusions, CLEWs modelling opens up assessment opportunities for students to identify potential synergies, trade-offs, and conflicts among different policy objectives and management strategies.…”

“…These types of exercises, that promote collaboration opportunities, allow for the importance of qualitative analysis and notions of climate justice to emerge in a pre-dominantly modelling-based module. However, to ensure that the learning outcomes are not just about solutions that optimise resource management, but also contribute to the wider aim of encouraging 'a shift towards a new socio-economic paradigm of planetary preservation' [79] (p. 178), more is needed. Indeed, this modelling-based module needs be combined with other differently focused modules in the Climate Change Master's programme that can address for these specific opportunities (for instance, a social science-informed module on the Anthropocene, or a module focused on 'climate change and society').…”

Fieldwork in Ground Zero, Mallorca. A Methodological Fieldwork Proposal for a Geographical Analysis of Tourist Areas

“…The tourist industry shuns any reference to links between tourism and global change, upholding virtues such as the generation of enjoyable leisure experiences. In this context, tying tourism in with the Anthropocene is a useful teaching exercise that promotes greater sensitivity to nature and an active interest in trying to find a solution to the socio-ecological problems caused by humankind (Prince, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates human dependence on conserving an ecological balance even more strongly (Gibb, et al, 2020).…”

“…What the Anthropocene signifies is that the human impact on the world environment is now so large, within the Holocene' s natural variability as a baseline for interpreting the world changes currently in progress, that the Earth has now entered a new geological epoch. As a concept, the Anthropocene automatically implies a connection with the physical world, linking humans-in our case students-to planet Earth and making humankind responsible for tackling these changes (Prince, 2020). Within this context and that of the tourist industry, one of the current era' s most important challenges is for a specific response to be found to demands for appropriate, fair degrowth at most hitherto over-saturated coastal mass tourist destinations by boosting their socio-spatial resilience (Blanco-Romero & Blázquez-Salom, 2021).…”

Organizational and Pedagogical Conditions for Training Future Masters in Tourism in the Aspect of the Postmodern Approach

“…Kuzminskyi et al (2019) provide information support to educators as an important function of the postgraduate education system. Prince (2020) analyzes reflections on the pedagogy of tourism research in the aspect of international research.…”