SDC-36806- Period 3
For long, tourism was not taken seriously in academia. This has changed, and for good reasons. Not only has tourism grown into the biggest economic sector globally, it also has serious cultural, political, environmental and social consequences. For several decades now, tourism has become an important instrument to address socio-economic inequality and tries to reconcile this with ecological sustainability. This has led to a proliferation of different types of tourism that address this relationship in different ways, including pro-poor tourism, indigenous tourism, community-based tourism, ecotourism, responsible tourism, volunteer tourism, sustainable tourism and philanthrotourism. This course critically addresses the relationship between tourism and international development, exploring how this has changed and evolved over time.
Using a variety of theoretical approaches, central themes in the course (period 3) are the connections between tourism and (1) migration (e.g. in the Mediterranean, empty villages); (2) labour, gender and race; (3) nature (e.g. consumptive and non-consumptive tourism); (4) livelihood diversification; (5) culture and authenticity; (6) (over)tourism and urbanization; (7) colonialism; (8) capitalism; (9) philanthropy and (10) disasters and adaptivity (e.g. COVID-19).
For more information you can email Dr. Stasja Koot: stasja.koot@wur.nl
Sociology of Development and Change 