ERIC Number: EJ1054753
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1350-4622
EISSN: N/A
Nature Is a Nice Place to Save but I Wouldn't Want to Live There: Environmental Education and the Ecotourist Gaze
Fletcher, Robert
Environmental Education Research, v21 n3 p338-350 2015
This article explores the role of ecotourism in the neoliberalisation of environmental education. The practice of ecotourism is informed by a particular "ecotourist gaze" in terms of which the "education" that providers characteristically offer is implicitly framed, embodying a culturally specific perspective in which western society is depicted as alienating and constraining and immersion in "wilderness" is understood as a therapeutic escape from the reputed ills of industrial civilisation. While in the past, these educational aspects of ecotourism delivery have often contradicted the activity's promotion as a quintessential neoliberal conservation mechanism, increasingly this education has become neoliberalised as well in its growing emphasis on the environment's role as an instrumental provider of "ecosystem services" for human benefit. In conclusion, this analysis calls for transcendence of these limitations in pursuit of a more inclusive environmental education encompassing diverse ethnic and socioeconomic dimensions of the human community.
Descriptors: Environmental Education, Tourism, Neoliberalism, Ecology, Experiential Learning, Conservation (Environment), Social Class, Ethnic Diversity
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A