The Asia Pacific region more broadly also finds itself living in troubled times. Environmental issues such as climate change, pollution and resource scarcity continue to clash with visions and ideologies for economic prosperity, while social and political issues such as economic disparity, human right abuses and geopolitical conflicts persist and take on new forms. Within this context, unbridled tourism growth in the Asia Pacific region is on the rise as governmental and private industry initiatives endeavor to combat issues of poverty, gender inequality, rural revitalization, post-disaster recovery, and sustainable development goals through sustained tourism growth. 

Presentation

In an annual year-end event held on December 12, 2018, the head priest of the UNESCO World Heritage registered Kiyomizu Buddhist Temple in Kyoto withdrew his calligraphy brush and sketched the kanji character 災 (sai), meaning disaster or misfortune. The character was selected to best represent the sentiments and events in Japan that year. The character also signals the importance of preparing for emergencies as well as emphasizes our shared responsibility to one another in increasingly trouble times.

The Asia Pacific region more broadly also finds itself living in troubled times. Environmental issues such as climate change, pollution and resource scarcity continue to clash with visions and ideologies for economic prosperity, while social and political issues such as economic disparity, human right abuses and geopolitical conflicts persist and take on new forms. Within this context, unbridled tourism growth in the Asia Pacific region is on the rise as governmental and private industry initiatives endeavor to combat issues of poverty, gender inequality, rural revitalization, post-disaster recovery, and sustainable development goals through sustained tourism growth. 

The three guiding themes of the CTS-Asia Pacific 2020 Conference address the multifaceted and paradoxical implications of doing tourism in increasingly troubled times. We welcome presentations from scholars and practitioners that employ a critical approach to tourism studies. Rather than simply being “critical of tourism”, we base our analyses in critical theory and praxis, and recognize the need and desire for tourism as both an industry and social practice. We anticipate the participation of practitioners, travel writers and tourism-focused scholars from across a range of disciplines such as anthropology, geography, sociology, political science, and cultural, environmental, women’s, area, and tourism studies. The conference is organized around three themes: Responsibility, Resistance, and Resurgence. Topics may include but are not limited to the following.

Responsibility

Inspired by Donna Haraway’s (2016) concept of “response-ability”, this theme examines the cultivation of the capacity to collectively and affectively respond to the changing world with, through, and against tourism. How might tourism engage with this concept of responsibility and/or response-ability? What role can tourism play in cultivating a capacity to respond in increasingly troubled times? Themes may include:

• Ethics and Responsibility
• Moral tourism encounters
• Diversity and Equity
• Community and Environment
• Intergenerational equity
• Tourism and SDGs
• Gender and tourism
• Animal ethics
• Ethics of care (transformative potentialities of love, kindness, patience)
• Climate change
• The Anthropocene
• Degrowth
• Volunteer tourism
• Activism and policy
• Indigenous methodologies
• Embodiment and affect

Resistance

When the tourism industry goes awry how can and do individuals, communities and collectives resist power in the face of such a powerful global industry? The theme also examines the ways tourism can itself be an act of resistance. Topics may include:

• Political ecology
• Tourism politics
• Decolonization
• Postcolonial tourism studies
• Small acts of resistance
• Tourism & (intercultural, non-human, ecological) communication
• Social justice
• Tourism labour
• Transnational networks
• Creative resistance
• Overtourism
• Queering tourism scholarship

Resurgence

Resurgence explores the potential role of tourism in rebuilding meaningful lives, communities, and human and non-human relations in the midst of disaster, conflict, and ruin.

Themes may include:

• Tourism and environmental justice
• Multispecies assemblages in tourism
• Indigenous rights
• Indigenous ways of knowing
• Rural revitalization
• Sustainability and tourism
• Toxic tourism and polluted leisure
• Tourism and risk
• Resilience
• Post-disaster tourism
• Tourism in marine ecologies

Key dates

• August 1, 2019, Abstract submission deadline (250-300 words)

• September 16, 2019, Acceptance of abstracts notification
• October 15, 2019, Early bird registration closes
• November 30, 2019, Final registration for presenters closes

 Registration fees

Registration fee includes: 

• Participation in all sessions and conference materials
• Opening Reception
• Lunches and coffee breaks
• Transportation between accommodation in the city center and Wakayama University

For further enquiries regarding conference fees and program, recommended accommodation, conference excursion options, and the registration form, please visit the following website: https://www.criticaltourismstudies.com/call-for-papers.html

The CTS-AP international organizing committee

• Joseph Cheer, Wakayama University
• Adam Doering, Wakayama University
• Kumi Kato, Wakayama University
• Jeremy Lemarie, University of Paris Est Marne-la-Vallee
• Mary Mostafanezhad, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
• Guido Carlo Pigliasco, University of Hawai'i at Manoa
• Harng Luh Sin, Sun Yat-sen University
• Hazel Tucker, University of OtagoJasmin Zhang, Umeå University

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