Conference proceeding
Joy in journeying: positive experiences of academics teaching tourism in transcultural contexts
Conference Proceedings: 3rd Critical Tourism Studies Conference: Connecting Academies of Hope , pp.104-118
Critical Tourism Studies Conference: Connecting Academies of Hope "Critical actions and Creative vistas", 3rd (Zadar, Croatia , 21/06/2009 - 24/06/2009)
2009
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Abstract
Despite the vast increase in the numbers of international students in tourism higher education (King & Craig-Smith 2005), few studies have been conducted on the professional teaching experiences of academics teaching in transnational and multicultural contexts (Chang 2007; Ehrich 1997; Tribe 2005). The overall picture that emerges from the literature is predominately focused on the student experience, on negativity, and on prescriptive practice (Noddings 2003; Stevens 1978). This interpretive study recovers a potential positive perspective through qualitative interviews with 40 academics from two Australian universities teaching tourism in multicultural and transnational contexts. A phenomenological analysis of these interviews using mind-mapping techniques (Witsel 2006) yields a picture of the academics’ own experiences of joy and benefit, found in journeying and teaching in multicultural and transnational contexts. The sense of journeying was experienced physically as well as metaphorically, and in a personal as well as a professional sense, and had
positive impacts on the academics’ happiness, and on the subject area as a whole. This study is part of a growing body of research on academic experiences of interculturality. In using a largely untapped source of oral histories of academic experiences, this project will contribute to future research on internationalisation of higher tourism education, travel, and happiness.
Details
- Title
- Joy in journeying: positive experiences of academics teaching tourism in transcultural contexts
- Creators
- Mieke Witsel - Southern Cross University
- Contributors
- V. Richards (Editor)A. Raguz (Editor)
- Publication Details
- Conference Proceedings: 3rd Critical Tourism Studies Conference: Connecting Academies of Hope , pp.104-118
- Conference
- Critical Tourism Studies Conference: Connecting Academies of Hope "Critical actions and Creative vistas", 3rd (Zadar, Croatia , 21/06/2009 - 24/06/2009)
- Publisher
- Critical Tourism Studies
- Identifiers
- 991013135811202368
- Academic Unit
- Centre for Teaching and Learning
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding