Course presented by the University of Groningen:

Critical Tourism Studies

The Critical Tourism Studies course is a Master’s level course that is driven by critical conversations regarding the social, cultural, environmental, health and well-being, economic, and political impacts of global tourism in the 21st century. The course focuses particularly on the impacts of tourism in the Global South and the movement of tourists from the North to the South. The central feature of the course is a Virtual Township Tour, in which the students ‘tour’ a township in South Africa. The tour is guided by a resident and community activist in the township and is facilitated by himself and a fellow community activist and entrepreneur. Following the tour, the students are given ample opportunity to debrief with the facilitators and ask questions about tourism’s impacts in the township and how the tourists are perceived by local residents. Critically, the tour is focused on the locally-initiated improvements in the community that include day care centers, youth after-school programming, and housing for low or no income residents. The students are able to learn about the  impacts of apartheid from people who lived through it and continue to live in its shadows. Ultimately, the course is focused on learning about how people in the Global South are empowered to make changes for themselves and the students come away feeling inspired by the township residents, where initially they had anticipated feeling pity for them.

Contact: Meghan L. Muldoon, m.l.muldoon@rug.nl