Backwards by Design 2013/2014 Assessment Project

The Backwards by Design workshop inspired me to think deeply about how to construct meaningful assignments that would help students learn not only content and knowledge but application and deep understanding. I wanted to create enduring understanding that students would apply in their careers. Tourism can be a tool for social, environmental, and economic justice; however, this is not part of the current tourism industry’s paradigm. Thus, my task is to teach course curriculum through the lens of justice, not capitalism. REC 379 Foundations of Ecotourism is a course about the history, concepts, principles, marketing, and planning of ecotourism. I have taught this course before in a module format where students should learn each concept and how each concept is part of a complex system where one influences the other. In the past, students often failed to understand the complexity of the system and seemed to isolate each concept without placing it within a broader context. In the past, I used tests to help motivate students to study and learn material, however, tests further reinforced the idea that information was to be regurgitated or memorized instead placed within a systems approach. Thus, opportunities are needed for students to integrate and synthesize material in a meaningful way within a new paradigm of social, environmental, and economic justice

When Is A Journey Sacred? Exploring Twelve Properties of the Sacred

One of the first definitive works on the concept of the sacred was Emile Durkheim’s 1912 work The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. In it, he defined the sacred in opposition to the profane. The next major work on the sacred was not until Mircea Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane, in 1959. A review of the literature since that time reveals that the thinking on the sacred/profane dichotomy has changed little since these seminal writings. A useful tool for examining the sacred was created in 1989 when Belk, Wallendorf and Sherry explored the dichotomy as it relates to consumer behaviour. Here they identified twelve properties of the sacred: hierophany, kratophany, myth, mystery, sacrifice, ritual, opposition to the profane, contamination, communitas, commitment, objectification, and ecstasy and flow. These properties can be used to explore the sacred in the context of modern pilgrimage. One source of information about modern pilgrimage is travel narratives. Travel narratives are part of the quest genre, a romantic narrative where travellers are compelled to journey for that which is sacred. The quest genre is a metaphorical vehicle for narrating a spiritual journey composed of several stages, the call to journey, preparation, the journey itself, and returning. This paper explores the properties of the sacred, drawing evidence from travel narratives, to explore the qualities of sacred journey

Travel and Insight on the Limen: A Content Analysis of Adventure Travel Narratives

Travel narratives, both historical and modern, depict a hero’s quest for insight and self-discovery where the outward journey is a literal and metaphorical search for one’s authentic self, spirituality, and life’s meaning. This article reports the results of a study that examined the association between travel’s liminal experience and insight. Using content analysis of 50 published adventure travel narratives, a significant association between insight and liminality was identified, and the tentative conclusion that liminal experience may be a stimulus for insight was made. Variables (solo/group travel, travel motivation, gender, and cultural novelty) hypothesized to moderate the association between liminality and insight were also explored. Hierarchical log linear modeling identified only one significant three-way association: travel motive. Travelers who sought to escape negative associations with home were less likely to experience liminality and insight than those who were motivated to travel for other reasons

An Illustration of the Quest Genre as Spiritual Metaphor in Adventure Travel Narratives

Adventure travel narratives are often written within a quest genre. The quest as genre is a romantic narrative that follows a pattern of sequential steps: the call to journey, preparation, the journey, and returning home. This paper proposes that the quests in which adventure travellers embark upon are spiritual in nature. Therefore, the quest genre is a metaphorical vehicle for narrating a spiritual journey. The term “spiritual,” in this context, refers to connecting to something outside of oneself. The purpose of this paper is to describe adventure travel as spiritual questing and to illustrate this idea with three popular adventure travel narratives. It is important to understand the common themes and constructions within adventure travel narratives because of their ability to frame travel expectations and influence various factors in the travel and tourism industry (trip choice, travel mode, destination choice, and intention to travel)

Adventure in the Age of COVID-19: Embracing Microadventures and Locavism in a Post-Pandemic World

Unprecedented mobility restrictions due to COVID-19 have frozen the adventure travel and tourism industry. These restrictions have forced many to embrace ‘hyperlocal’ approaches to adventure and provided an opportunity to reimagine our adventure travel philosophies and practices. Despite claims that traditional adventure travel could address some of the “world’s most pressing challenges”, it has largely failed to realize its potential to provide a range of social, economic, and environmental benefits. Conversely, microadventure, which espouses adventures in nearby nature that are low-carbon and human-scaled, is an enticing alternative for both current and post-pandemic conditions. This essay first critiques pre-pandemic adventure travel and describes the hazards of this approach in age of COVID-19. It then explores creative ‘lockdown’ microadventures; envisions what post-pandemic adventure may look like; and explains why we not only need to embrace microadventures in a post-pandemic world, but also why we may prefer them to traditional adventure travel. Published in the Leisure Science Special Issue: Leisure in the Time of COVID-19, a Rapid Response

When Is A Journey Sacred? Exploring Twelve Properties of the Sacred

One of the first definitive works on the concept of the sacred was Emile Durkheim’s 1912 work The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. In it, he defined the sacred in opposition to the profane. The next major work on the sacred was not until Mircea Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane, in 1959. A review of the literature since that time reveals that the thinking on the sacred/profane dichotomy has changed little since these seminal writings. A useful tool for examining the sacred was created in 1989 when Belk, Wallendorf and Sherry explored the dichotomy as it relates to consumer behaviour. Here they identified twelve properties of the sacred: hierophany, kratophany, myth, mystery, sacrifice, ritual, opposition to the profane, contamination, communitas, commitment, objectification, and ecstasy and flow. These properties can be used to explore the sacred in the context of modern pilgrimage. One source of information about modern pilgrimage is travel narratives. Travel narratives are part of the quest genre, a romantic narrative where travellers are compelled to journey for that which is sacred. The quest genre is a metaphorical vehicle for narrating a spiritual journey composed of several stages, the call to journey, preparation, the journey itself, and returning. This paper explores the properties of the sacred, drawing evidence from travel narratives, to explore the qualities of sacred journey