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Knowing with natureThe future of tourism education in the Anthropocene

Knowing with natureThe future of tourism education in the Anthropocene JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN TRAVEL & TOURISM 2020, VOL. 20, NO. 3, 169–172 https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2020.1797613 EDITORIAL Knowing with nature The future of tourism education in the Anthropocene Exactly one decade ago, John Urry (2010) presented a range of possible futures for the middle of this century assuming that global warming continued to escalate. In his scenarios, Urry described the substantial breakdown of the multiple mobility, energy and communication connections that continue to straddle our globalised market society. This snapshot of possible futures seemed unrealistic in terms of tourism; nothing could slow the steady growth of the tourism industry. At least not until COVID-19 began to spread around the world, bringing the engines of tourism, and the entire global economy, to a standstill. The coronavirus pandemic has caused the kinds of disruption to mobility and to production and consumption practices only imagined by Urry. Despite the impacts that the current pandemic will have on tourism, we should not let our guard down and think that the industry will automatically become more sustainable as a consequence. It has been emphasised, for example, that the current global recession should not be confused with degrowth which specifically calls for planned and voluntary economic contraction rather than the unplanned reaction the pandemic has forced from us (Fletcher et al., 2020). This particular mistake was made when the recessions originating from the oil crises of 1970s were seen as enough to correct the environmental imbalances of the time (García-Rosell & Moisander, 2007). Similarly, the COVID-19 crisis does not indicate the end of the Anthropocene era, but rather can be seen as a direct consequence of anthropocentric and individualist enterprise driven by ideals of profit maximisation and growth. Since the Industrial Revolution, the planet and its ecosystems have undergone radical change in terms of rising temperatures and lost biodiversity (Heikkurinen et al., 2016), and these changes have subsequently been exacerbated by the exponential growth of tourism. As argued by Gren and Huijbens (2014), tourism is not only a characteristic of the Anthropocene, but it has also become a geological force capable of affecting all life on this planet. While tourism’s impact on the Earth’s atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic and biospheric systems and processes is evident, it is also clear that tourism is sustained by the natural world. However, despite the significant role that tourism plays in climate change and environmental crises, ecological questions have remained at the periphery of tourism and hospitality education. Although a number of publications exist around tourism education for sustainability, they tend to be framed by anthropocentric thinking and thus fail to provide the paradigm shift that is needed to respond to contemporary environmental challenges (Taylor, 2017). In this way, tourism education reproduces a kind of knowledge that increases the breach between humans and the more-than-human world. The authors of this special issue, “Knowing with Nature: The future of tourism educa- tion in the Anthropocene”, share a concern for the future of tourism education in an era marked by global environmental crises. With its publication, we do not simply aim to evaluate the status quo of tourism education but also want to explore new avenues for © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 170 E. HÖCKERT ET AL. more reflexive and collaborative ways of knowing with nature. Since the notion of “knowing with” is about relationships with multiple others, it can help us recognise our individual entanglements with a much wider range of creatures in the context of the Anthropocene (Ren et al., 2018; Rantala et al., 2019). Furthermore, knowing with nature can help us imagine ways of crafting our relationship to the world anew (Grimwood et al., 2018), for example, by focusing on collective learning with the natural world rather than just providing knowledge about it; by acknowledging the existence of more-than-human agency; and by paying attention to the mutual effects of human to non-human relation- ships (Taylor, 2017). To this end, we need more reflexive pedagogies that help learners develop the capacity to question contemporary practices in the production and con- sumption of tourism and critically evaluate its planning to foster more caring tourism practices (Caton & Grimwood, 2018; Fullagar & Wilson, 2012; García-Rosell, 2014; Wilson & von der Heidt, 2013). Tourism education, and the knowledge that is produced in its curricula, can be held partially accountable for the conflicting and fragile relationship between tourism and Earth systems. On the one hand, education in the field tends to emphasise the manage- ment and domination of nature for the sake of hedonistic experiences, and on the other, the search for sustainable development of tourism has contributed to the artificial division between culture and nature, human and environment (Rantala et al., 2020). It is therefore timely to discuss the ways in which tourism education might reproduce knowledge that is disconnected from the more-than-human world. Hence, our task is to support students in developing approaches that are based on more sensitive entanglements between the Earth systems and humanity. With this in mind, we invite educators, researchers and practitioners to continually and critically evaluate the status quo of tourism education and to think about opportunities for collaborative ways of knowing with nature. Our respon- sibility is, as environmental philosopher Timothy Morton (2012) suggests, to look for new ways to create, approach, share and live both scientific data and ecological knowledge. Contributions to this special issue This special issue originated with the TEFI10 conference, “Knowing with Nature”, held in June 2018 at Pyhä Fell, Lapland, Finland and organised by the Multidimensional Tourism Institute (MTI) at the University of Lapland. TEFI (Tourism Education Futures Initiative) is a network of educators, researchers, industry actors and community members who seek a progressive approach to tourism education and research. This is a joint special issue organised with the Finnish Journal of Tourism Research (Matkailututkimus) in which the first part was published in December 2019, consisting of six research notes and a student greeting from the conference (Rantala et al., 2019). The second related call for papers has brought together four full articles and one research note that reflect on the future of tourism education in the Anthropocene. In line with the TEFI values of stewardship, mutuality and ethics, we particularly appreciate the diversity of the contributing authors’ backgrounds and the consequent possibility to include the voices of both academicians and practitioners. In the first article, Solène Prince explores the possibilities of a tourism research pedagogy that engages students in the dialogue and reflective learning that are needed for major changes in times of planetary crisis. In so doing, Prince draws our attention to the JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN TRAVEL & TOURISM 171 responsibility of tourism educators and researchers to promote knowledge production that is rooted in ethics, activism and transformation for the sake of humans and non-humans. Prince goes on to discuss the importance of replacing prevailing discussions of “sustain- ability” with the concept of the Anthropocene to enhance our relationship with the Earth. Next, Heli King, José-Carlos García-Rosell and Steve Noakes unpack the role of ecotour- ism in supporting environmental education in early childhood. By using empirical data from Australia, they investigate how play-based teaching at ecotourism sites can con- tribute to promoting children’s learning about and with nature, and their study highlights the importance of considering children in discussions on tourism and the Anthropocene. In the third article, Daniel Bowan and George Dallam present an education model for sustainable tourism that employs experiential learning philosophies. The model was devel- oped in collaboration with two universities in Mexico and the United States through explora- tion of concerns about the environmental, economic, and cultural impacts of global tourism. The article discusses the model’s outcomes and illustrates how field experiences can challenge students to think critically about tourism issues from various perspectives. The authors also highlight the importance of administrative support, faculty engagement and relationship building. The paper by María Dolores Teruel Serrano and María José Viñals explores how environmental sustainability and responsibility are addressed in higher education tourism studies in Spain. The authors focus on aspects of sustainability and responsibility in 55 tourism academic programmes across the country and, from their analysis, are able to underline the key role of field trips in offering students new outdoor experiences and enhancing their understanding of environmental responsibility. Kajsa Åberg’s research note invites us to revisit our understanding of the workforce in tourism and of the skills and knowledge required by its members that work in civic organisations. Åberg focuses on tourism development in Sweden where public structures are seen as part of the tourism production process and officials as members of the tourism workforce. In this context, Åberg asks what kind of ecological attitudes, skills and compe- tences tourism education should provide to this section of the workforce that is engaged in development and management. In a great closing for this special issue, Åberg reminds us that human activities are not surrounded by an ecosystem but form an integral part of it. Funding This work was supported by the Academy of Finland [324493]. References Caton, K., & Grimwood, B. S. R. (2018). Ethics for a wild world. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 18(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2017.1403802 Fletcher, R., Murray Mas, I., Blázquez-Salom, M., & Blanco-Romero, A. (2020). Tourism, degrowth, and the COVID-19 crisis. Blog posted on March 24, 2020 in Pollen. Political Ecology Network. Fullagar, S., & Wilson, E. (2012). Critical pedagogies: A reflexive approach to knowledge creation in tourism and hospitality studies. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 19(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1017/jht.2012.3 172 E. HÖCKERT ET AL. García-Rosell, J.-C. (2014). Promoting critical reflexivity in tourism and hospitality education through problem-based learning. In D. Airey, D. Dredge, & M. Gross (Eds.), pp. 279-291. Handbook of tourism and hospitality education. Routledge. García-Rosell, J.-C., & Moisander, J. (2007). Ethical Dimensions of Sustainable Marketing: a Consumer Policy Perspective“, in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 210-215. Gren, M., & Huijbens, E. (2014). Tourism and the Anthropocene. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 14(1), 6–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/15022250.2014.886100 Grimwood, B. S. R., Caton, K., & Cooke, L. (2018). Introduction. Tourism, nature, morality. In B.S. R. Grimwood, K. Caton, & L. Cooke (Eds.), New moral natures in tourism (pp. 1–12). Routledge. Heikkurinen, P., Rinkinen, J., Järvensivu, T., Wilén, K., & Ruuska, T. (2016). Organising in the Anthropocene: An ontological outline for ecocentric theorising. Journal of Cleaner Production, 113(1), 705–714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.12.016 Morton, T. (2012). The Ecological Thought. Harvard University Press. Rantala, O., Höckert, E., & Ilola, H. (2019). ‘Knowing-with’ in the era of the Anthropocene. Matkailututkimus, 15(2), 4–8. https://doi.org/10.33351/mt.88263 Rantala, O., Salmela, T., Valtonen, A., & Höckert, E. (2020). Envisioning Tourism and Proximity after the Anthropocene. Sustainability, 12(10), 3948. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12103948 Taylor, A. (2017). Beyond stewardship: Common world pedagogies for the Anthropocene. Environmental Education Research, 23(10), 1448–1461. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2017. Urry, J. (2010). Consuming the planet to excess. Theory, Culture & Society, 27(2–3), 191–212. https:// doi.org/10.1177/0263276409355999 Wilson, E., & von der Heidt, T. (2013). Business as usual? Barriers to education for sustainability in the tourism curriculum. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 13(2), 130–147. https://doi.org/10. 1080/15313220.2013.786337 Emily Höckert Multidimensional Tourism Institute, University of Lapland, Finland emily.hockert@ulapland.fi Outi Rantala, José-Carlos García-Rosell and Minni Haanpää Multidimensional Tourism Institute, University of Lapland, Finland http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3621-6957 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal Of Teaching In Travel & Tourism Taylor & Francis

Knowing with natureThe future of tourism education in the Anthropocene

Knowing with natureThe future of tourism education in the Anthropocene

Abstract

JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN TRAVEL & TOURISM 2020, VOL. 20, NO. 3, 169–172 https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2020.1797613 EDITORIAL Knowing with nature The future of tourism education in the Anthropocene Exactly one decade ago, John Urry (2010) presented a range of possible futures for the middle of this century assuming that global warming continued to escalate. In his scenarios, Urry described the substantial breakdown of the multiple mobility, energy and communication connections that continue to straddle our globalised market society. This snapshot of possible futures seemed unrealistic in terms of tourism; nothing could slow the steady growth of the tourism industry. At least not until COVID-19 began to spread around the world, bringing the engines of tourism, and the entire global economy, to a standstill. The coronavirus pandemic has caused the kinds of disruption to mobility and to production and consumption practices only imagined by Urry. Despite the impacts that the current pandemic will have on tourism, we should not let our guard down and think that the industry will automatically become more sustainable as a consequence. It has been emphasised, for example, that the current global recession should not be confused with degrowth which specifically calls for planned and voluntary economic contraction

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Taylor & Francis
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© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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1531-3239
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Abstract

JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN TRAVEL & TOURISM 2020, VOL. 20, NO. 3, 169–172 https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2020.1797613 EDITORIAL Knowing with nature The future of tourism education in the Anthropocene Exactly one decade ago, John Urry (2010) presented a range of possible futures for the middle of this century assuming that global warming continued to escalate. In his scenarios, Urry described the substantial breakdown of the multiple mobility, energy and communication connections that continue to straddle our globalised market society. This snapshot of possible futures seemed unrealistic in terms of tourism; nothing could slow the steady growth of the tourism industry. At least not until COVID-19 began to spread around the world, bringing the engines of tourism, and the entire global economy, to a standstill. The coronavirus pandemic has caused the kinds of disruption to mobility and to production and consumption practices only imagined by Urry. Despite the impacts that the current pandemic will have on tourism, we should not let our guard down and think that the industry will automatically become more sustainable as a consequence. It has been emphasised, for example, that the current global recession should not be confused with degrowth which specifically calls for planned and voluntary economic contraction rather than the unplanned reaction the pandemic has forced from us (Fletcher et al., 2020). This particular mistake was made when the recessions originating from the oil crises of 1970s were seen as enough to correct the environmental imbalances of the time (García-Rosell & Moisander, 2007). Similarly, the COVID-19 crisis does not indicate the end of the Anthropocene era, but rather can be seen as a direct consequence of anthropocentric and individualist enterprise driven by ideals of profit maximisation and growth. Since the Industrial Revolution, the planet and its ecosystems have undergone radical change in terms of rising temperatures and lost biodiversity (Heikkurinen et al., 2016), and these changes have subsequently been exacerbated by the exponential growth of tourism. As argued by Gren and Huijbens (2014), tourism is not only a characteristic of the Anthropocene, but it has also become a geological force capable of affecting all life on this planet. While tourism’s impact on the Earth’s atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic and biospheric systems and processes is evident, it is also clear that tourism is sustained by the natural world. However, despite the significant role that tourism plays in climate change and environmental crises, ecological questions have remained at the periphery of tourism and hospitality education. Although a number of publications exist around tourism education for sustainability, they tend to be framed by anthropocentric thinking and thus fail to provide the paradigm shift that is needed to respond to contemporary environmental challenges (Taylor, 2017). In this way, tourism education reproduces a kind of knowledge that increases the breach between humans and the more-than-human world. The authors of this special issue, “Knowing with Nature: The future of tourism educa- tion in the Anthropocene”, share a concern for the future of tourism education in an era marked by global environmental crises. With its publication, we do not simply aim to evaluate the status quo of tourism education but also want to explore new avenues for © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 170 E. HÖCKERT ET AL. more reflexive and collaborative ways of knowing with nature. Since the notion of “knowing with” is about relationships with multiple others, it can help us recognise our individual entanglements with a much wider range of creatures in the context of the Anthropocene (Ren et al., 2018; Rantala et al., 2019). Furthermore, knowing with nature can help us imagine ways of crafting our relationship to the world anew (Grimwood et al., 2018), for example, by focusing on collective learning with the natural world rather than just providing knowledge about it; by acknowledging the existence of more-than-human agency; and by paying attention to the mutual effects of human to non-human relation- ships (Taylor, 2017). To this end, we need more reflexive pedagogies that help learners develop the capacity to question contemporary practices in the production and con- sumption of tourism and critically evaluate its planning to foster more caring tourism practices (Caton & Grimwood, 2018; Fullagar & Wilson, 2012; García-Rosell, 2014; Wilson & von der Heidt, 2013). Tourism education, and the knowledge that is produced in its curricula, can be held partially accountable for the conflicting and fragile relationship between tourism and Earth systems. On the one hand, education in the field tends to emphasise the manage- ment and domination of nature for the sake of hedonistic experiences, and on the other, the search for sustainable development of tourism has contributed to the artificial division between culture and nature, human and environment (Rantala et al., 2020). It is therefore timely to discuss the ways in which tourism education might reproduce knowledge that is disconnected from the more-than-human world. Hence, our task is to support students in developing approaches that are based on more sensitive entanglements between the Earth systems and humanity. With this in mind, we invite educators, researchers and practitioners to continually and critically evaluate the status quo of tourism education and to think about opportunities for collaborative ways of knowing with nature. Our respon- sibility is, as environmental philosopher Timothy Morton (2012) suggests, to look for new ways to create, approach, share and live both scientific data and ecological knowledge. Contributions to this special issue This special issue originated with the TEFI10 conference, “Knowing with Nature”, held in June 2018 at Pyhä Fell, Lapland, Finland and organised by the Multidimensional Tourism Institute (MTI) at the University of Lapland. TEFI (Tourism Education Futures Initiative) is a network of educators, researchers, industry actors and community members who seek a progressive approach to tourism education and research. This is a joint special issue organised with the Finnish Journal of Tourism Research (Matkailututkimus) in which the first part was published in December 2019, consisting of six research notes and a student greeting from the conference (Rantala et al., 2019). The second related call for papers has brought together four full articles and one research note that reflect on the future of tourism education in the Anthropocene. In line with the TEFI values of stewardship, mutuality and ethics, we particularly appreciate the diversity of the contributing authors’ backgrounds and the consequent possibility to include the voices of both academicians and practitioners. In the first article, Solène Prince explores the possibilities of a tourism research pedagogy that engages students in the dialogue and reflective learning that are needed for major changes in times of planetary crisis. In so doing, Prince draws our attention to the JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN TRAVEL & TOURISM 171 responsibility of tourism educators and researchers to promote knowledge production that is rooted in ethics, activism and transformation for the sake of humans and non-humans. Prince goes on to discuss the importance of replacing prevailing discussions of “sustain- ability” with the concept of the Anthropocene to enhance our relationship with the Earth. Next, Heli King, José-Carlos García-Rosell and Steve Noakes unpack the role of ecotour- ism in supporting environmental education in early childhood. By using empirical data from Australia, they investigate how play-based teaching at ecotourism sites can con- tribute to promoting children’s learning about and with nature, and their study highlights the importance of considering children in discussions on tourism and the Anthropocene. In the third article, Daniel Bowan and George Dallam present an education model for sustainable tourism that employs experiential learning philosophies. The model was devel- oped in collaboration with two universities in Mexico and the United States through explora- tion of concerns about the environmental, economic, and cultural impacts of global tourism. The article discusses the model’s outcomes and illustrates how field experiences can challenge students to think critically about tourism issues from various perspectives. The authors also highlight the importance of administrative support, faculty engagement and relationship building. The paper by María Dolores Teruel Serrano and María José Viñals explores how environmental sustainability and responsibility are addressed in higher education tourism studies in Spain. The authors focus on aspects of sustainability and responsibility in 55 tourism academic programmes across the country and, from their analysis, are able to underline the key role of field trips in offering students new outdoor experiences and enhancing their understanding of environmental responsibility. Kajsa Åberg’s research note invites us to revisit our understanding of the workforce in tourism and of the skills and knowledge required by its members that work in civic organisations. Åberg focuses on tourism development in Sweden where public structures are seen as part of the tourism production process and officials as members of the tourism workforce. In this context, Åberg asks what kind of ecological attitudes, skills and compe- tences tourism education should provide to this section of the workforce that is engaged in development and management. In a great closing for this special issue, Åberg reminds us that human activities are not surrounded by an ecosystem but form an integral part of it. Funding This work was supported by the Academy of Finland [324493]. References Caton, K., & Grimwood, B. S. R. (2018). Ethics for a wild world. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 18(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2017.1403802 Fletcher, R., Murray Mas, I., Blázquez-Salom, M., & Blanco-Romero, A. (2020). Tourism, degrowth, and the COVID-19 crisis. Blog posted on March 24, 2020 in Pollen. Political Ecology Network. Fullagar, S., & Wilson, E. (2012). Critical pedagogies: A reflexive approach to knowledge creation in tourism and hospitality studies. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 19(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1017/jht.2012.3 172 E. HÖCKERT ET AL. García-Rosell, J.-C. (2014). Promoting critical reflexivity in tourism and hospitality education through problem-based learning. In D. Airey, D. Dredge, & M. Gross (Eds.), pp. 279-291. Handbook of tourism and hospitality education. Routledge. García-Rosell, J.-C., & Moisander, J. (2007). Ethical Dimensions of Sustainable Marketing: a Consumer Policy Perspective“, in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, eds. Stefania Borghini, Mary Ann McGrath, and Cele Otnes, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 210-215. Gren, M., & Huijbens, E. (2014). Tourism and the Anthropocene. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 14(1), 6–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/15022250.2014.886100 Grimwood, B. S. R., Caton, K., & Cooke, L. (2018). Introduction. Tourism, nature, morality. In B.S. R. Grimwood, K. Caton, & L. Cooke (Eds.), New moral natures in tourism (pp. 1–12). Routledge. Heikkurinen, P., Rinkinen, J., Järvensivu, T., Wilén, K., & Ruuska, T. (2016). Organising in the Anthropocene: An ontological outline for ecocentric theorising. Journal of Cleaner Production, 113(1), 705–714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.12.016 Morton, T. (2012). The Ecological Thought. Harvard University Press. Rantala, O., Höckert, E., & Ilola, H. (2019). ‘Knowing-with’ in the era of the Anthropocene. Matkailututkimus, 15(2), 4–8. https://doi.org/10.33351/mt.88263 Rantala, O., Salmela, T., Valtonen, A., & Höckert, E. (2020). Envisioning Tourism and Proximity after the Anthropocene. Sustainability, 12(10), 3948. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12103948 Taylor, A. (2017). Beyond stewardship: Common world pedagogies for the Anthropocene. Environmental Education Research, 23(10), 1448–1461. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2017. Urry, J. (2010). Consuming the planet to excess. Theory, Culture & Society, 27(2–3), 191–212. https:// doi.org/10.1177/0263276409355999 Wilson, E., & von der Heidt, T. (2013). Business as usual? Barriers to education for sustainability in the tourism curriculum. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 13(2), 130–147. https://doi.org/10. 1080/15313220.2013.786337 Emily Höckert Multidimensional Tourism Institute, University of Lapland, Finland emily.hockert@ulapland.fi Outi Rantala, José-Carlos García-Rosell and Minni Haanpää Multidimensional Tourism Institute, University of Lapland, Finland http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3621-6957

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Journal Of Teaching In Travel & TourismTaylor & Francis

Published: Jul 2, 2020

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