XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

833

Knowledge, Tourism and Society: Power, Violence and Justice through Research

RC50 International Tourism (host committee)

Language: English

Many tourism investigations address a myriad of issues, ranging from climate change to appropriation of aboriginal cultures, and local development issues. Knowledge generated can transform host communities, improve business practices and enhance tourist experiences. There can also be unintended consequences.  NGOs, activists, policy makers, politicians etc appropriate science to further causes or inform decision-making. Researchers often try to make their findings more relevant for a particular community and to increase publication prospects. Therefore, knowledge production and knowledge use are political. Academic knowledge can be used and be misused.  Different sectors and stakeholders in society have conflicting, contrasting and even contradicting interests and agendas, the knowledge scholars generate inevitably have political and social implications for themselves, the community and/or the industry. Power, violence and justice are inherent in knowledge, and this session invites critical papers on these themes, which address the ‘impact’ agenda in tourism knowledge.

This panel seeks reflections on impact (or lack of it) in tourism research. Some questions are:  

·         What are the academic politics of the impact agenda on the tourism academy and the implications for advancing tourism knowledge and for researchers?

·         What are the perceived benefits/disbenefits of engagement with impact in tourism knowledge production for academicians and practice (e.g. in policy implications)?

·         How does the impact agenda exert power over knowledge creation?

·         Learning from case studies of best practices or unintended consequences that impact research and engagement has brought about – does this result in a more ‘just’ tourism (e.g. better development policies)?