1st Edition

Political Ecology and Tourism

Edited By Sanjay Nepal, Jarkko Saarinen Copyright 2016
    302 Pages 35 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    302 Pages 35 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Political ecology explicitly addresses the relations between the social and the natural, arguing that social and environmental conditions are deeply and inextricably linked. Its emphasis on the material state of nature as the outcome of political processes, as well as the construction and understanding of nature itself as political is greatly relevant to tourism.

    Very few tourism scholars have used political ecology as a lens to examine tourism-centric natural resource management issues. This book brings together experts in the field, with a foreword from Piers Blaikie, to provide a global exploration of the application of political ecology to tourism. It addresses the underlying issues of power, ownership, and policies that determine the ways in which tourism development decisions are made and implemented. Furthermore, contributions document the complex array of relationships between tourism stakeholders, including indigenous communities, and multiple scales of potential conflicts and compromises.

    This groundbreaking book covers 15 contributions organized around four cross-cutting themes of communities and livelihoods; class, representation, and power; dispossession and displacement; and, environmental justice and community empowerment. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars in tourism, geography, anthropology, sociology, environmental studies, and natural resources management.

    Introduction: Political ecology and tourism – concepts and constructs  Sanjay K. Nepal, Jarkko Saarinen and Erin McLean-Purdon  Part I: Communities and Livelihoods  Introduction  1. Indigenous tourism as a sustainable social-environmental enterprise: The political ecology of tourism in Southeast Alaska Thomas F. Thornton and Paphaphit Wanasuk  2. Political ecology of the flats fishing industry in the Bahamas Thomas Karrow & Tracey Thompson  3. Decommodifying neoliberal conservation? A political ecology of volunteer tourism in Costa Rica Noella J. Gray, Lisa M. Campbell, and Alexandra Meeker  4. The politics of community-based ecotourism in Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhutan Heidi Karst and Ngawang Gyeltshen Part II: Class, Representation and Power   Introduction  5. "A fragmented shore": Class politics and the Connecticut beaches Adam Keul  6. The call of the wild: Power and ideology in the Adirondack Park Elizabeth S. Vidon  7. Political ecology of community-based natural resources management: Principles and practices of power sharing in Botswana Monkgogi Lenao and Jarkko Saarinen  8. Conservation for whom? Parks, people, and tourism in Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal Smriti Dahal & Sanjay K. Nepal  Part III: Disposession and Displacement  Introduction  9. Maya as commodity fetish: Accumulation by dispossession and ecotourism in the Yucatan Peninsula Alex R. Colucci and Amanda N. Mullett  10. A political ecology of tourism in the shadow of an inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua: Displacing poverty or displacing social and environmental welfare? Carter Hunt  11. High-end coastal tourism in northeastern Brazil: Implications for local livelihoods and natural resources management Fernanda de Vasconcellos Pegas  12. Tourism development, dispossession and displacement of local communities in the Okavango Delta, Botswana Joseph E. Mbaiwa  Part IV: Environmental Justice and Community Empowerment Introduction  13. Context-sensitive political ecology to consolidate local realities under global discourses: A view for tourism studies Hannu I. Heikkinen, Nicolás Acosta García, Simo Sarkki and Élise Lépy  14. "Skwelkwek’welt is what we call this place": Indigenous-Settler relations and the "othered" side of British Columbia’s Sun Peaks Resort Lisa Cooke  15. Environment, Gender and Identity: The Taselotzin Project by Indigenous Women in Cuetzalan, Mexico Isis Saavedra-Luna and Yolanda Massieu-Trigo  16. Conclusions: Towards a political ecology of tourism - key issues and research prospects Jarkko Saarinen and Sanjay K. Nepal

    Biography

    Sanjay Nepal is Professor of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo, Canada.

    Jarkko Saarinen is Professor of Geography at the University of Oulu, Finland, and Distinguished Visitor Professor at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

    "Nepal and Saarinen (2016) acknowledge in their concluding remarks that this volume is meant to be a building block for future political ecology research in tourism. Indeed, it is a great effort to highlight political ecology as a useful lens for tourism research, especially for topics related to communities, power, conservation and sustainability. Political ecology and tourism should be of interest to scholars and practitioners as both theories and practical recommendations are present throughout."

    Denis Tolkach, School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong