Nature-based Tourism: A Green Economy Fairytale
(for questions about the course, write to Pam)
description
Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries and an important and hefty contributor to economies of non-industrialised countries. Over the last decade an increased understanding of its deleterious effects on people and place has preoccupied most discussions on tourism. Policy-makers, governments and different stakeholders have had to negotiate the tenuous relationship between the ecological and social pressures caused by tourism while maintaining and expanding an important contributor to wealth. Ideas and practices of nature-based tourism and community-based tourism emerged as a result of these dialogues which, in turn, were presented as viable modifications to other tourism models especially in light of ecosystem services. Nature-based tourism whilst heralded as the panacea that will resolve the tension between wealth accumulation and environmental protection is deeply embedded in the very same structures that shape and direct the demonised mass tourism model. This course raises the question: Is nature-based tourism a solution to the destruction of landscapes and the alienation of people from their livelihoods? The course takes a closer look at nature-based tourism in general and its production of the landscape, commodity and people, with a special emphasis on Egypt’s Red Sea Coastline. Students will be acquainted with both practices and discourses that have emerged around the new phenomena of nature-based tourism and are invited to a critical exploration of its claims. Moreover, the course will address the often overlooked conversations on the immaterial when it comes to nature-based tourism, such as ideas of sense of place, de facto property rights and immaterial labor. Specifically, we will study the relationship of Ababda tribes and their access to their livelihood practices in the context of nature-based tourism. Finally, the course will be completed with a 4 day fieldtrip to tangibly experience the content of the class.
expectations
objectives
(for questions about the course, write to Pam)
description
Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries and an important and hefty contributor to economies of non-industrialised countries. Over the last decade an increased understanding of its deleterious effects on people and place has preoccupied most discussions on tourism. Policy-makers, governments and different stakeholders have had to negotiate the tenuous relationship between the ecological and social pressures caused by tourism while maintaining and expanding an important contributor to wealth. Ideas and practices of nature-based tourism and community-based tourism emerged as a result of these dialogues which, in turn, were presented as viable modifications to other tourism models especially in light of ecosystem services. Nature-based tourism whilst heralded as the panacea that will resolve the tension between wealth accumulation and environmental protection is deeply embedded in the very same structures that shape and direct the demonised mass tourism model. This course raises the question: Is nature-based tourism a solution to the destruction of landscapes and the alienation of people from their livelihoods? The course takes a closer look at nature-based tourism in general and its production of the landscape, commodity and people, with a special emphasis on Egypt’s Red Sea Coastline. Students will be acquainted with both practices and discourses that have emerged around the new phenomena of nature-based tourism and are invited to a critical exploration of its claims. Moreover, the course will address the often overlooked conversations on the immaterial when it comes to nature-based tourism, such as ideas of sense of place, de facto property rights and immaterial labor. Specifically, we will study the relationship of Ababda tribes and their access to their livelihood practices in the context of nature-based tourism. Finally, the course will be completed with a 4 day fieldtrip to tangibly experience the content of the class.
expectations
- Will be announced shortly.
objectives
- Learn about the co-production of space and narrative.
- Familiarise students with the political economy of tourism.
- Develop a nuanced understanding of 'what matters' to different people.
- Understand the power relations between the ecosystem, people and the tourism industry.
- Question the relevance and scope of green economy solutions for nature-based tourism.
- Think of tourism as an industry.
- Examine the production of the nature-based tourism commodity.
- Critically assess the implications and claims of nature-based tourism.
- Dig deeper into the complexity of property rights.
- Become acquainted with the immaterial and incommensurable elements of nature-based tourism.
- Practically apply and critically assess tourism in Egypt.
Pam LABIB completed graduate studies in environmental science at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Her mind has boggled with questions about who we are in relation to the world around us - questions that are contextualised in the worlds we imagine of birds, dolphins, coral reefs and sea turtles. Pam has employed both experiential and inquiry based methodologies in her teaching. At CILAS she will adopt phenomenological and relevance approach to education incorporating reflexive ethnographic approaches to uncover nuances of power relations when it comes to the worlds we inhabit and imagine. As a fellow at CILAS, Pam coordinates coursework in the field of study Natural Sciences and serves as Space Director.
