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Race and critical tourism studies: An analytical literature review
Author(s) -
Jamerson W. Trevor
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
sociology compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1751-9020
DOI - 10.1111/soc4.12418
Subject(s) - tourism , race (biology) , commodification , sociology , negotiation , value (mathematics) , tourism geography , racial formation theory , critical race theory , environmental ethics , economic geography , gender studies , social science , political science , economy , economics , law , philosophy , machine learning , computer science
This analytical literature review focuses on critical tourism studies and its intersections with racial analyses. The tourism industry has long relied on desires to experience a sense of Otherness to generate economic growth, which makes race a valuable heuristic site to consider ways culture and economy are intertwined in the global marketplace. Two theories of race—Omi and Winant's ([Omi, M., 1986]) racial formation and Goldberg's ([Goldberg, D. T., 2009]) racial neoliberalism—are offered as avenues through that scholars might better investigate intersections of race and tourism. Race is commodified in tourism through orienting the concept around loci of value, and different types of tourism feature more racial prominence than others. Critical tourism scholars may benefit from an increased racial awareness in their work towards providing a counternarrative to strictly business‐based tourism research. Meanwhile, race scholars might benefit from an increased understanding of ways racial difference operates within tourism, as it is a major site of negotiations of Otherness. Although racial themes are more prevalent in some types of tourism than others, the two theories provided together force us to consider ways that tourism studies might further racialize its critical inquiries.