An interest in the concept of the Anthropocene has over the last years gained considerable momentum across the sciences and the humanities, but its trajectory in the tourism literature has so far been short and limited. The first attempt to engage with the Anthropocene in the context of tourism was made recently in an article by the editors of this volume (Gren and Huijbens, 2014), developed from a previous one dealing with the conceptualization of the Earth in relation to tourism (Gren and Huijbens, 2012). The aim of this book, the first of its kind, is to explore and map issues and challenges that the Anthropocene may pose for tourism studies, and how it might potentially reframe conceptual and empirical undertakings in tourism research. In this introduction we will first introduce the concept of the Anthropocene, and then provide three broad tentative themes as a brief primer for tourism’s encounter with the Anthropocene. At the end we will provide an outline of the book.
About the Book
This book brings the field of tourism into dialogue with what is captured under the varied notions of the Anthropocene. It explores issues and challenges which the Anthropocene may pose for tourism, and it offers significant insights into how it might reframe conceptual and empirical undertakings in tourism research. Furthermore, through the lens of the Anthropocene this book also spurs thinking of the role of tourism in relation to sustainable development, planetary boundaries, ethics (and what is framed as geo-ethics) and refocused tourism theory to make sense of tourism’s earthly entanglements and thinking tourism beyond Nature-Society. The multidisciplinary nature of the material will appeal to a broad academic audience, such as those working in tourism, geography, anthropology and sociology.