Mobilities for Tourism Studies and ¡°beyond¡±: A Polemic

An article written by Dr. Adam Doering, a researcher at the Center for Tourism Research, was published in a key tourism academic journal.

 

Title

Mobilities for Tourism Studies and “beyond”: A Polemic

 

Authors

Adam Doering, Center for Tourism Research, Wakayama University, Wakayama, Japan

Tara Duncan, Department of Tourism, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

 

Source

Tourism Analysis, Volume 21, Number 1, 2016, pp. 47-59

Full article available online at: DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3727/108354216X14537459508856

*Indexed in Scopus

Source details: https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21100211736?origin=sbrowse

 

Abstract

This article offers a polemic directed against the largely unchallenged incorporation of mobilities within tourism studies. The mobilities paradigm may offer many constructive insights for the field of tourism; however, this article argues that the concept has been received rather uncritically by tourism scholarship and needs further critical appraisal. As a polemic, the article is designed to invite reaction as well as offer a counterpoint for those who may also feel uncomfortable with the seemingly “natural” progression from tourism studies to tourism mobilities. The aim of the article is twofold: first to open up a more nuanced debate of the philosophical stakes of mobilities for tourism studies, and second to renew the question and explore different possibilities of what constitutes a mobile philosophy today. By critically examining the paradox underpinning mobilities’ ambition to “stabilize a world on the move” and closely interrogating the literature suggesting the paradigm shift signals “the end of tourism,” the article explores how a nuanced rereading of the philosophical stakes of mobilities ultimately signals a return to tourism studies rather than moving “beyond” it. The article concludes by opening up a creative, destabilizing, and pluralizing mobile philosophy for tourism and mobility scholarship to consider.

 

Key words

Mobilities paradigm; Postdisciplinary; The end of tourism; Mobile philosophy