Tourism and Postdisciplinarity: Back to the Future?

This article revisits postdisciplinary approaches to the study of tourism that were first proposed around a decade ago. Specifically, it sets out to examine the extent to which such approaches have continued relevance to tourism scholarship moving forward. Basic literature searches suggest that the world has changed, yet the tourism academy has not. Traditional disciplines, especially in the social sciences, continue to be the basic building blocks of knowledge production in tourism. However, if a more sophisticated approach is taken to analysis, there is ample evidence of more reasonable, flexible approaches to inquiry about tourism—in particular in the areas of tourism mobilities and climate change. Free from disciplinary dogma and orchestration, these take as their initial cues issues, questions, or problems and how best to tackle them. Indeed, the evidence points to a future trajectory even further in this direction. Many of the major issues facing the research community are so wide in scope and complex in nature that they require academic coalitions to tackle them. Discipline-specific or discipline-exclusive approaches will not suffice on their own. More than 10 years ago, the move toward postdisciplinary modes of inquiry was argued to be inevitable, mainly from intellectual grounds. Although this rationale remains valid, the article argues that unfolding institutional structures and the organization of higher education are also far more encouraging of postdisciplinary approaches. Research investment, especially in advanced economies, is increasingly being targeted toward grand challenges and transformative research.