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/lp/sage/bridging-the-interdisciplinary-divide-FJaQLarnHR
- Publisher
- SAGE
- Copyright
- Copyright © by SAGE Publications
- ISSN
- 1468-7976
- eISSN
- 1741-3206
- DOI
- 10.1177/1468797605062715
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
This study draws upon recent learnings of the dynamic context of travel, tourism andtouristic practices to propose an interdisciplinary framework for heritage tourismresearch. Interdisciplinary barriers and intradisciplinary‘prejudices’ have instilled fragmented, dualistic either/orapproaches to heritage tourism research that perpetuate a micro-macro divide.Studies that decontextualize the individual (micro-level) from social structures(macro-level) belie the complexity of heritage and tourism. Production-consumption,local-global and economic supply-demand binaries are pointed out in the article, andtheoretical attempts to bridge the binaries are discussed. It is argued that viewingheritage and tourism as performative practices involving relational forms of power,agency and dialogue helps bridge the micro-macro divide. The research challenges areillustrated using the example of a festival representing a medieval heritage: theTexas Renaissance Festival, USA. This case illustrates the importance of identifyingthe global, historical and postcolonial context in which the local festival and theindividual tourist are situated. Directions are offered for developing an integratedknowledge base of the sociopolitical context, structures and practices thatconstitute heritage tourism.
Journal
Tourist Studies: An International Journal – SAGE
Published: Apr 1, 2005