Noel B. Salazar | KU Leuven (original) (raw)

Books by Noel B. Salazar

Contemporary meanings of endurance, Nov 18, 2022

This book critically analyses the concept of endurance from different theoretical, conceptual, me... more This book critically analyses the concept of endurance from different theoretical, conceptual, methodological, and empirical perspectives.

The first part of the book takes a closer look at endurance, by examining how it relates to concepts such as resilience, perseverance, and perdurance. By analysing how these concepts overlap but differ, we reach a better understanding of what constitutes endurance. Furthermore, endurance is reconfigured as a as a mundane aspect of everyday life. The latter part of the book focuses on embodied experiences of endurance, more specifically on endurance running, walking, and (physical) performances. The different contributions focus on the meanings, values, and attributes that people ascribe to endurance in various socio-cultural contexts. The book uncovers practices, environments, and discourses in which endurance is applied and manifested, from drought-affected communities in rural Australia to professional endurance runners in Ethiopia as well as migrants in Greece and performance acts in domestic spaces in the United Kingdom and beyond.

This book will be of interest to scholars of movement sciences, sports studies, mobilities, leisure studies, and resilience studies.

Migration at work: Aspirations, imaginaries and structures of mobility, Sep 2020

The willingness to migrate in search of employment is in itself insufficient to compel anyone to ... more The willingness to migrate in search of employment is in itself insufficient to compel anyone to move. The dynamics of labour mobility are heavily influenced by the opportunities perceived and the imaginaries held by both employers and regulating authorities in relation to migrant labour. This volume offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the structures and imaginaries underlying various forms of mobility. Based on research conducted in different geographical contexts, including the European Union, Turkey, and South Africa, and tackling the experiences and aspirations of migrants from various parts of the globe, the chapters comprised in this volume analyse labour-related mobilities from two distinct yet intertwined vantage points: the role of structures and regimes of mobility on the one hand, and aspirations as well as migrant imaginaries on the other. Migration at Work thus aims to draw cross-contextual parallels by addressing the role played by opportunities in mobilising people, how structures enable, sustain, and change different forms of mobility, and how imaginaries fuel labour migration and vice versa. In doing so, this volume also aims to tackle the interrelationships between imaginaries driving migration and shaping “regimes of mobility”, as well as how the former play out in different contexts, shaping internal and cross-border migration.
Based on empirical research in various fields, this collection provides valuable scholarship and evidence on current processes of migration and mobility.

Pacing mobilities, Jun 1, 2020

Turning the attention to the temporal as well as the more familiar spatial dimensions of mobility... more Turning the attention to the temporal as well as the more familiar spatial dimensions of mobility, this volume focuses on the momentum for and temporal composition of mobility, the rate at which people enact or deploy their movements as well as the conditions under which these moves are being marshalled, represented and contested. This is an anthropological exploration of temporality as a form of action, a process of actively modulating or responding to how people are moving rather than the more usual focus in mobility studies on where they are heading.

Grounded in scholarly analysis and personal reflection, and drawing on a multi-sited and multi-me... more Grounded in scholarly analysis and personal reflection, and drawing on a multi-sited and multi-method research design, Momentous Mobilities disentangles the meanings attached to temporary travels and stays abroad and offers empirical evidence as well as novel theoretical arguments to develop an anthropology of mobility. Both focusing specifically on how various societies and cultures imagine and value boundary-crossing mobilities “elsewhere” and drawing heavily on his own European lifeworld, the author examines momentous travels abroad in the context of education, work, and spiritual quests and the search for a better quality of life.

Methodologies of mobility: Ethnography and experiment, Apr 2017

Research into mobility is an exciting challenge for the social sciences that raises novel social,... more Research into mobility is an exciting challenge for the social sciences that raises novel social, cultural, spatial and ethical questions. At the heart of these empirical and theoretical complexities lies the question of methodology: how can we best capture and understand a planet in flux? Methodologies of Mobility speaks beyond disciplinary boundaries to the methodological challenges and possibilities of engaging with a world on the move. With scholars continuing to face different forms and scales of mobility, this volume strategically traces innovative ways of designing, applying and reflecting on both established and cutting-edge methodologies of mobility.

Mega-event mobilities: A critical analysis, Jan 2017

Global sports events are rarely far from the public eye. Such mega-events are about much more tha... more Global sports events are rarely far from the public eye. Such mega-events are about much more than the sporting competitions themselves. They entail global
exposure and intense struggles by different stakeholders. This is the first book to examine sports mega-events from a mobilities perspective. It analyses the ‘mobile construction’ of global sports mega-events and the role this plays in managing labour, imaginaries, policies and legacies. In particular, the book focuses on the tension between the various mobilities and immobilities that are implied in the process of constructing a mega-event. It seeks to uncover the
ways in which an event is a series of fluid interactions that occur sequentially and simultaneously at multiple scales in diverse spheres of interaction. Contributions
explore the dynamics through which mega-events occur, revealing the textures and nuance of the complex systems that sustain them, and the ways that events
ramify throughout the international system.

Keywords of mobility: Critical engagements, Jun 2016

Scholars from various disciplines have used key concepts to grasp mobilities, but as of yet, a wo... more Scholars from various disciplines have used key concepts to grasp mobilities, but as of yet, a working vocabulary of these has not been fully developed. Given this context and inspired in part by Raymond Williams’ Keywords (1976), this edited volume presents contributions that critically analyze mobility-related keywords: capital, cosmopolitanism, freedom, gender, immobility, infrastructure, motility, and regime. Each chapter provides an historical context, a critical analysis of how the keyword has been used in relation to mobility, and a conclusion that proposes future usage or research.

It is hard to imagine tourism without the creative use of seductive, as well as restrictive, imag... more It is hard to imagine tourism without the creative use of seductive, as well as restrictive, imaginaries about peoples and places. These socially shared assemblages are collaboratively produced and consumed by a diverse range of actors around the globe. As a nexus of social practices through which individuals and groups establish places and peoples as credible objects of tourism, “tourism imaginaries” have yet to be fully explored. Presenting innovative conceptual approaches, this volume advances ethnographic research methods and critical scholarship regarding tourism and the imaginaries that drive it. The various authors contribute methodologically as well as conceptually to anthropology’s grasp of the images, forces, and encounters of the contemporary world.

Mobility studies emerged from a postmodern moment in which global ‘flows’ of capital, people and ... more Mobility studies emerged from a postmodern moment in which global ‘flows’ of capital, people and objects were increasingly noted and celebrated. Within this new scholarship, categories of migrancy are all seen through the same analytical lens. This book builds on, as well as critiques, past and present studies of mobility. In so doing, it challenges conceptual orientations built on binaries of difference that have impeded analyses of the interrelationship between mobility and stasis. These include methodological nationalism, which counterpoises concepts of internal and international movement and native and foreigner, and consequently normalises stasis. Instead, the book proposes a ‘regimes of mobility’ framework that addresses the relationships between mobility and immobility, localisation and transnational connection, experiences and imaginaries of migration, and rootedness and cosmopolitan openness. Within this framework and its emphasis on social fields of differential power, the various contributors to this collection ethnographically explore the disparities, inequalities, racialised representations and national mythscapes that facilitate and legitimate differential mobility and fixity. Although they examine nation-state building processes, the anthropological analysis is not confined by national boundaries.

As tourism service standards become more homogeneous, travel destinations worldwide are conformin... more As tourism service standards become more homogeneous, travel destinations worldwide are conforming yet still trying to maintain, or even increase, their distinctiveness. Based on more than two years of fieldwork in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and Arusha, Tanzania, this book offers an in-depth investigation of the local-to-global dynamics of contemporary tourism. Each destination offers examples that illustrate how tour guide narratives and practices are informed by widely circulating imaginaries of the past as well as personal fantasies of the future. The author reveals how local guides in Yogyakarta and Arusha insure the continued reproduction and localization of tourism fantasies, but they also use the privileged contact with foreigners to foment their own imaginations of "paradise on earth." The book focuses on the human mechanics of globalization, cosmopolitan mobility, and the role of the imaginary in giving people’s lives meaning, demonstrating essential ways in which ethnographies of tourism and travel contribute to ongoing theoretical and methodological debates about the local–global nexus.

Journal Articles by Noel B. Salazar

Focaal, 2024

In this introductory article, we critically analyze which rules govern human mobility and how mob... more In this introductory article, we critically analyze which rules govern human
mobility and how mobility regulations and codes are resisted, transgressed, broken, and remade. To play by the rules of mobility means to follow habits and laws governed by social norms and institutional control. Our point of departure is that social and institutional mobility rules both abound and are intertwined and that they are routinely disputed by individuals, groups, and institutions. Drawing on ethnographic examples and the literature on legal anthropology, mobilities, and transnational migration, the article disentangles the specifi c mechanisms, principles,
and symbolic power of mobility rules—written and non-written, legal and
non-legal, formal and informal, codifi ed and non-codifi ed, explicit and implicit. In short, we address how people are navigating rules of mobility that operate in contradictory, ambiguous, and hidden ways.

International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2024

Imaginaries are representational assemblages of the past, ways to understand and(re)create histor... more Imaginaries are representational assemblages of the past, ways to understand and(re)create history and projections of the self and others that ground ever-changing identities. They are embedded in the cultural meaning-making systems of each society. However, researchers and practitioners within the heritage field have not directly analysed heritage as a product-producer of imaginaries or conceived heritage itself as an
imaginary. This conceptual article proposes imaginaries as a useful analytical lens to critically study heritage. Imaginariesenable us to uncover how people assume and signify heritage from various positions and experiences. Furthermore, this article aims to shed light on how alternative imaginaries grounded in non-western ontologies enable us to rethink heritage meaning and practice in the encounters and conflicts between different systems of meaning in daily life. More concretely, we identify three significant contributions of using imaginaries as a lens for the study of heritage. To illustrate our theoretical propositions, we incorporate empirical examples from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the Ecuadorian Andes.

Mobility Humanities, Jul 30, 2023

The Special Issue pursues a two-fold objective: (1) fostering a grounded debate on the analytica... more The Special Issue pursues a two-fold objective: (1) fostering a grounded debate on the analytical fruitfulness of the neo-nomad concept to describe historically situated empirical phenomena, and (2) exploring the sociopolitical consequences of these allegedly alternative, although possibly highly individualistic, forms of living for collective projects, such as communities, welfare, and the state.

Mobilities, Jun 21, 2023

Places are key to our understanding of human mobilities and the other way around. Places and mobi... more Places are key to our understanding of human mobilities and the other way around. Places and mobilities exist in a co-constitutive relationship, making it difficult to disentangle one from the other. Research across disciplines needs to pay more sustained attention to how places are mobile and to how mobilities are emplaced. It is crucial to undertake both endeavours simultaneously. Privileging the former, as happens in globalization studies, leads to de-essentialized conceptualizations of place, questioning the traditional taken-for-granted bond between peoples and territories, but it also creates a disconnect between high-level theory and lived experiences. Favouring the latter, on the contrary, as happens in more micro-scale and phenomenological approaches, leads to embodied understandings of human movement, but often overlooks the influential local-to-global power relations and structures that are implicated in local(ized) practices and processes. Based on a critical reading of existing scholarship and drawing on ethnographic and emic understandings of mobility-related issues in various contexts around the globe, this article develops conceptual as well as methodological insights about the multiple ways in which places are mobile and mobilities are emplaced. This includes anthropological reflections on displacement and immobilization. I end by offering suggestions for future transdisciplinary research on the place-mobility nexus.

Etnografia, Jun 1, 2022

This reflexive article combines recent as well as established insights from various anthropolog... more This reflexive article combines recent as well as established insights from various anthropological subfields and beyond to address a world that is increasingly on the move, and this in ways that we do not fully understand, let alone manage or control. As such, the text involves a critical thinking exercise that focuses on the importance of processes of motion and communication, ranging from planetary and even cosmic mobilities to micro-movements and exchanges at the cellular and atomic levels. Taking this broader context of mobility and change into account in the Anthropocene Epoch automatically leads to a serious overhaul of how “the human” has traditionally been understood and the vital role of what we have come to term “the environment”. This radical rethinking has obvious consequences for a human-centered scientific discipline like anthropology in terms of ontologies and epistemologies, theories and methodologies. I end the article by offering some concrete suggestions on how anthropology, as a holistic discipline without clear-cut boundaries, can position itself in a world that is currently undergoing very rapid changes.

Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies, Dec 1, 2021

In this article, I discuss immobility as both an analytical concept and a lived experience. I rev... more In this article, I discuss immobility as both an analytical concept and a lived experience. I review contemporary scholarly understandings of immobility and disentangle the unavoidable relational dynamics with its positive linguistic opposite, mobility. Concrete illustrations from migration studies and the global coronavirus crisis illustrate how immobility, at various scales of analysis and experience, is not only theoretically but also socially, economically, and politically relevant. Together with the in-depth review of existing scholarship, these examples confi rm that the conceptual distinction made between immobility and mobility is often purely heuristic. In the messiness of people's lives, mobility and immobility are not mutually exclusive categories but, rather, two dynamic sides of the same coin.

Mobility Humanities, 2022

Historically, recreational running grew partially with the aim of controlling the side effects of... more Historically, recreational running grew partially with the aim of
controlling the side effects of “sedentary” lifestyles and physical
inactivity, i.e., obesity, heart diseases and other health risks. This
trend developed in the 19th century, with the emergence of middle
classes who had the requisite time and resources to exercise during
their leisure time. Recreational running became popular in the
1970s, within the context of renewed societal attention to fitness
and physical health, which developed in countries such as the
USA and spread quickly to other industrialised nations. Based on
ethnographic research, I discuss in this article the crucial role that
mobile tracking devices, as markers of an active lifestyle, play in
keeping runners (im)mobile. I focus on how the data generated by
GPS sports watches are widely shared and used by runners and their
followers in general as well as specialised social media platforms. I
disentangle why, paradoxically, these mobility technologies make
exemplary mobile people more immobile, because many hours
are spent behind electronic device screens to communicate (and
seeking social approval for) their mobile performances. I place my
critical anthropological analysis of recreational running and mobility
technologies within the context of wider societal trends related to
(self-)discipline.

Tourism Review, 2022

Purpose-As tourism destinations grapple with declines in tourist arrivals due to COVID-19 measure... more Purpose-As tourism destinations grapple with declines in tourist arrivals due to COVID-19 measures, scholarly debate on overtourism remains active, with discussions on solutions that could be enacted to contain the excessive regrowth of tourism and the return of ''overtourism''. As social science holds an important role and responsibility to inform the debate on overtourism, this paper aims to understand overtourism by examining it as a discursive formation. Design/methodology/approach-The paper explores recurring thematic threads in scholarly overtourism texts, given the phrases coherence as a nodal-point is partially held in place by a collective body of texts authored by a network of scholars who have invested in it. The paper uses interdiscursivity as an interpretative framework to identify overlapping thematic trajectories found in existing discourses. Findings-Overtourism, as a discursive formation, determines what can and should be said about the self-evident ''truths'' of excessive tourist arrivals, the changes tourists bring to destinations and the range of discursive solutions available to manage or end overtourism. As the interpellation of these thematic threads into scholarly texts is based on a sense of crisis and urgency, the authors find that the themes contain rhetoric, arguments and metaphors that problematise tourists and construct them as objects in need of control and correction. Originality/value-While the persistence of the discursive formation will be determined by the degree to which scholarly and other actors recognise themselves in it, this paper may enable overtourism scholars to become aware of the limits of their discursive domain and help them to expand the discourse or weave a new one.

Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 2021

Venezuelans escaping from the crisis in their country count currently among the largest displaced... more Venezuelans escaping from the crisis in their country count currently among the largest displaced populations in the world. Chile seems to offer them an oasis of political and economic stability. This ethnographic study explores the migrant trajectories of Venezuelan women. We disentangle their migration process, including destination imaginaries, the journey, and their life in Chile. We discuss how uncertainty is permanent in their trajectories and how the imagined oasis turns out to be just a mirage. The women end up waiting, perhaps perennially, to be able to return home. Meanwhile, they develop strategies to survive in an oasis without water.

Mobilities, Apr 26, 2021

Taken together, the various articles that make up this special issue offer a variety of analyses ... more Taken together, the various articles that make up this special issue offer a variety of analyses in different social, cultural, material, political, economic, and historical settings from which to understand how discrimination, and segregation are formed in contexts of high mobility and intense labour, with a special focus on processes of racialization, but not excluding others like age and gender. The papers explore how mobility and labour converge to create and perpetuate racial categories, cultural profiling, and forms of exclusion. The contributions include both contemporary and historical studies, and their geographies encompass the arctic, the Middle East, Asia, the Atlantic, Europe and the seas themselves. These include analyses of labour lifestyles in arctic working camps, the racialization of Filipino workers in container ships, or the racialization of Chinese workers in Singapore, the livelihoods of expats between Europe and Dubai and how they cope with different racial categories, as well as an analysis of segregation in Cyprus and Italy, the roles of age differentiation in the future of mobile labour, and a historical perspective on mobile labour in the Atlantic in the 19th century.
The main point is to show how mobility is a factor in amplifying categories of race, as well as gender and age. Mobility does not necessarily mean deleting or alleviating these. Highly mobile lifestyles, particularly in the context of labour mobilities, do not translate into a more liquid, transnational, or hybrid outset. What people do and how people move operate together to perpetuate certain categories and profiles – and, as we discussed, there are even new categories and profiles that are created by a moving lifestyle. This special issue only offers a starting point to consider and tackle these important issues.

Contemporary meanings of endurance, Nov 18, 2022

This book will be of interest to scholars of movement sciences, sports studies, mobilities, leisure studies, and resilience studies.

Migration at work: Aspirations, imaginaries and structures of mobility, Sep 2020

Pacing mobilities, Jun 1, 2020

Methodologies of mobility: Ethnography and experiment, Apr 2017

Mega-event mobilities: A critical analysis, Jan 2017

Keywords of mobility: Critical engagements, Jun 2016

Focaal, 2024

International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2024

Mobility Humanities, Jul 30, 2023

Mobilities, Jun 21, 2023

Etnografia, Jun 1, 2022

Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies, Dec 1, 2021

Mobility Humanities, 2022

Tourism Review, 2022

Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 2021

Mobilities, Apr 26, 2021

Anthropologie et Sociétés, Mar 1, 2021

Étudier la mobilité en sciences sociales n’est pas chose facile tant les interprétations de ce qu... more Étudier la mobilité en sciences sociales n’est pas chose facile tant les
interprétations de ce qui est entendu par « mobilité » divergent. Il peut être question de mobilité spatiale, physique, informationnelle, culturelle, sociale ou matérielle, pour n’en citer que quelques-unes. Cette complexité s’est avérée dans l’élaboration même de ce numéro thématique et, de surcroît, avec l’idée que celle-ci devienne mode de vie. En effet, qu’est-ce qu’un mode de vie mobile ? Si nous avions une idée relativement claire de ce que cela signifiait, travaillant sur ce sujet depuis plusieurs années, nous nous sommes aperçus au fur et à mesure que de nombreuses variantes et nuances provenant de conceptions différentes permettaient de questionner l’idée que nous en avions et, ainsi, de la faire évoluer. Il nous a donc fallu réfléchir ce numéro autrement, en nous servant de ces divergences pour saisir toute la complexité de ce qu’est un mode de vie mobile. La proposition qui est faite ici relève plus d’un laboratoire réflexif sur la mobilité comme mode de vie — ce qui est nommé en anglais lifestyle mobilities — à partir de cas d’études variés que d’une volonté de catégorisation en vue de démontrer tout le potentiel de recherche de ce champ d’études relativement récent. Elle découle également d’une volonté d’offrir un premier numéro en français sur cette thématique et ainsi de suggérer une terminologie en français de notions fréquemment utilisées dans la littérature scientifique anglophone ayant trait à ces modes de vie mobiles.

Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies, 2020

In this short article, I offer a personal reflection on my own mobilities and how these influence... more In this short article, I offer a personal reflection on my own mobilities and how these influenced my academic interest in human movement and brought me in contact with mobility studies and Transfers. On the special occasion of the journal's tenth anniversary, I look back at how the journal has fared. I remind readers of the initial plans and expectations that were expressed by the founding editors, with a focus on issues that are important from an anthropological point of view. I complement this critical and constructive analysis with a brief look into the future. In which direction should Transfers ideally be moving? What are the implications of societal developments such as the ones surrounding the coronavirus pandemic for the journal and its thematic focus?

Mobilities, Jan 28, 2021

While situations of crisis are a cause of great distress for those affected, particularly the mos... more While situations of crisis are a cause of great distress for those affected, particularly the most vulnerable ones, they offer scholars unique opportunities to study people and society because such circumstances intensify existing processes, revealing what works well and where there are problems. The 2020 coronavirus outbreak was not any different. From a mobility studies perspective, one of the most striking things that occurred during the global pandemic were the changed patterns of who and what moved when, where, and how. Authorities across the planet (re-)classified the most common mobilities along ?essential? and ?non-essential? axes, the latter category temporarily being restricted or even forbidden. This article offers a critical assessment of such crisis regimes of (im)mobility, taking Belgium and its capital city Brussels as an illustrative case study. I reflect on the mobility implications of COVID-19 mitigation measures for citizens and others, highlighting how the condition of lockdown led to (sometimes unexpected) alterations in people?s daily mobilities. The anthropological analysis shows that an exceptional situation, such as the one witnessed in 2020, clearly brings to the fore which types of (im)mobility are valued by various stakeholders in society, which ones are discursively framed as essential (mainly from a socio-economic perspective) and which ones are experienced as existential (contributing to people?s general well-being).

Journal of Sociology, Dec 31, 2021

In this commentary piece, I combine insights gained from the various contributions to this specia... more In this commentary piece, I combine insights gained from the various contributions to this special issue with my own research and understanding to trace the (dis)connections between, on the one hand, (post-)nationalism and its underlying concept of belonging and, on the other hand, cosmopolitanism and its underlying concept of becoming. I pay special attention to the human (im)mobilities mediating these processes. This critical thinking exercise confirms that the relationship between place, collective identity and socio-cultural processes of identification is a contested aspect of social theory. In the discussion, I suggest four points to be addressed in the future if we want to make existing theories about post-national formations and processes of cosmopolitanization more robust against the huge and complex challenges humankind is facing.

Tourism Geographies, Aug 1, 2020

Culture & Psychology, Jun 19, 2020

It is hard to talk about human mobilities without taking into consideration how mobility is being... more It is hard to talk about human mobilities without taking into consideration how mobility is being shaped by and shaping processes of imagination. The key concepts of imagination and mobility have rich and complex genealogies. The matter is even made more complex because there are many related concepts surrounding them. Imagination is
associated with images, imagery and imaginaries, whereas mobility is connected to movement, motion and migration (not to mention its imagined opposite, immobility). To be able to see the forest for the trees, I focus in this critical reflection on a discussion of the concepts themselves. One of the analytical advantages of mobility studies, a
relatively novel field of study, is that it shows us how imagination (a dynamic psychological process) and imaginaries (products of the imagination) are crucial for very different forms of human (im)mobility.

Tourism Geographies, Jun 8, 2020

This special issue is a reflection by tourism scholars on the initial impacts of the COVID-19 pan... more This special issue is a reflection by tourism scholars on the initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world, with travel and tourism being among the most significant areas to bear those impacts. However, instead of an analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 on tourism places and sectors, as is the emphasis for many other journal special issues this year, the papers in this issue focus on visions of how the pandemic
events of 2020 are contributing to a possibly substantial, meaningful and positive transformation of the planet in general, and tourism specifically. This is not a return to a ‘normal’ that existed before – but is instead a vision of how the world is changing, evolving, and transforming into something different from what it was before the 2020 global pandemic experience. Comments from the guest editors for this special issue
are individually identified in this introduction editorial.

Tourism Geographies, May 25, 2020

The large number of commentaries in this special issue reflect the need that so many people have ... more The large number of commentaries in this special issue reflect the need that so many people have to express themselves as a way of releasing the anxieties and integrating the hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic has engendered in individuals and groups around the world. The guest editors of this special issue provide the following comments in reflecting on the major themes that are envisioned for travel and tourism in a COVID-19 world. Comments from the guest editors are individually identified in this conclusion editorial.

Social Anthropology, May 19, 2020

We know relatively little about the human dynamics of crises, partially because it is so difficul... more We know relatively little about the human dynamics of crises, partially because it is so difficult to plan research on them. While crisis situations cause great distress for those affected (particularly those who are most vulnerable), they do offer unique opportunities to study people and society. I speak from experience.

Disparidades. Revista de Antropología , May 18, 2020

Si bien la antropología y el turismo no siempre han tenido una relación feliz, la antropología de... more Si bien la antropología y el turismo no siempre han tenido una relación feliz, la antropología del turismo ha alcanzado la mayoría de edad, y esto en diferentes tradiciones académicas. Desde hace medio siglo, este subcampo de la antropología desempeñó un papel importante en el establecimiento de los estudios de turismo. Aquí trazo esta historia, analizando el influyente papel en los volúmenes editados de Anfitriones e Invitados para dar forma a la relación entre la antropología y el turismo. Me acerco a cómo algunas ideas novedosas no fueron recogidas, mientras que otras empezaron a llevar sus propias vidas. Este ejercicio nos ayuda a comprender mejor la posición actual de la antropología del turismo dentro de los estudios de antropología y
turismo, así como a identificar las direcciones futuras. Esto incluye el reconocimiento de que no hay un solo canon, sino múltiples antropologías del turismo. La antropología como disciplina tiene importantes contribuciones que hacer al estudio del turismo. Ofrece un enfoque holístico para el análisis crítico del turismo a través de su marco comparativo y la capacidad de unir varias escalas, reconociendo la interconexión intercultural de los ámbitos económico, ambiental y social. La pregunta que pide una respuesta es cómo los antropólogos deben tratar la implicación de la disciplina en el turismo contemporáneo alrededor del globo.

Anthropologie et Sociétés, Mar 1, 2020

Mobilities 16(2), 2021

Inspired by the rich literature on mobility and moved by our own interest in the labour-related p... more Inspired by the rich literature on mobility and moved by our own interest in the labour-related production of difference, we used the concept of mobile labour as a catalyst for current, innovative, and ethnographic approaches to labour and mobility. That includes movements for labour (migrant trajectories, economic-induced displacements), movements as labour (highly mobile jobs), and movements of labour (labour-related geographical displacement and its different rhythms). It also includes the associated production and reproduction of ideologies, stereotypes, processes and conditions of exclusion, and the making of hierarchized, racialized inequalities. Overall, this special issue on Mobile Labour explores how mobility and labour conflate to create and perpetuate conditions of segregation, discrimination and differentiation, with a special emphasis on processes of racialization (although not excluding others, like gender and age).

This Special Issue on ‘Key Figures of Human Mobility’, edited by Jamie Coates and EASA’s former p... more This Special Issue on ‘Key Figures of Human Mobility’, edited by Jamie Coates and EASA’s former president Noel Salazar, comes at a highly appropriate moment. The papers interrogate the concept of mobility, which Salazar refers to as ‘a complex assemblage of movement, social imaginaries and experience’. Such a refusal to isolate mobility as being solely about people physically moving from one place to the next, but equally importantly, as referring to what is imagined and what is experienced as being somehow something to do with movement, is important. For example, migrants only physically move for a very short time, and yet they are often described and imagined as being mobility personified. The fact that they are imagined to have moved from somewhere else to‘here’ is their defining feature. The trope of the ‘figure’ that Salazar and his six authors draw on is apt here, given how strongly imaginaries of mobility tend to personify the concept. At the same time, the drawing together of a range of different figures – the nomad, exile, tourist, flâneur, pedestrian, pilgrim – demonstrates the impossibility of there being one kind of mobility: it depends on what makes people mobile, their relations with the places they come from and those to which or through which they move as well as the reasons that they move.

Mobility studies emerged from a postmodern moment in which global ‘flows’ of capital, people and ... more Mobility studies emerged from a postmodern moment in which global ‘flows’ of capital, people and objects were increasingly noted and celebrated. Within this new scholarship, categories of migrancy are all seen through the same analytical lens. This article and Regimes of Mobility: Imaginaries and Relationalities of Power, the special issue of JEMS it introduces, build on, as well as critique, past and present studies of mobility. In so doing, this issue challenges conceptual orientations built on binaries of difference that have impeded analyses of the interrelationship between mobility and stasis. These include methodological nationalism, which counterpoises concepts of internal and international movement and native and foreigner, and consequently normalises stasis. Instead, the issue offers a regimes of mobility framework that addresses the relationships between mobility and immobility, localisation and transnational connection, experiences and imaginaries of migration, and rootedness and cosmopolitan openness. The introduction highlights how, within this framework and its emphasis on social fields of differential power, the contributors to this collection ethnographically explore the disparities, inequalities, racialised representations and national mythscapes that facilitate and legitimate differential mobility and fixity. Although the authors examine nation-state building processes, their analysis is not confined by national boundaries.

Ethnographic practice developed within anthropology as a fieldwork method and methodology that va... more Ethnographic practice developed within anthropology as a fieldwork method and methodology that values uncertainty and the necessary reflexivity this triggers. In order to give this epistemological challenge a chance, ethnographers were allowed sufficient time to soak in 'Otherness'. Time was deemed indispensable to cope with the ambiguity of what exactly to look for while 'being there', in the field. Long periods of waiting were seen as a precondition for creativity and serendipity. But how to guarantee these unpredictable scientific values while various authorities and media demand from anthropologists, like from other scholars in the social sciences, to shed light on what is going on immediately. External contingencies that stress the quantitative aspects of research output often prevent anthropologists from indulging in 'slow science'. Instead, they have to write and publish quickly to keep their ethnographic account relevant before it becomes obsolete, hereby blurring the line between the anthropological quest and journalistic accounts. How do up-and-coming anthropologists think of the 'good old' long-term fieldwork? What do they consider to be the most ideal forms of ethnographic practice to address present-day research challenges and realities? Which characteristics of anthropological knowledge gathering do they find most essential? What is their ethnographic agenda for the future? This special issue offers promising young scholars a unique opportunity to address these major questions.

Earlier versions of the articles in this special issue were presented at the Annual Meeting of th... more Earlier versions of the articles in this special issue were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Philadelphia (2-6 December, 2009), in a session organized by Noel B. Salazar and kindly sponsored by the Society for Cultural Anthropology.

This special issue explores how and why conflicts arise in the development and practice of herita... more This special issue explores how and why conflicts arise in the development and practice of heritage tourism. From New York City’s Ground Zero and the archaeological site of Chichén Itzá in Yucatan, Mexico, to an Underground Railroad site in Pennsylvania and a post-industrial Massachusetts town, the authors of these four articles are concerned with identifying the often overlapping interests of stakeholders in their attempts to gain access to and guide the development of heritage resources. This issue grows out of a 2003 symposium entitled ‘Resolving Conflicts in Heritage Tourism: A Public Interest Anthropology Approach’, at the 102nd annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Chicago, Illinois, organised by Dr Peggy Reeves Sanday, Noel Salazar, and Benjamin Porter of the University of Pennsylvania. The symposium encouraged scholars to consider heritage apart from official and ‘top-down’ definitions as well as how an emerging methodological approach, public interest anthropology, could be applied to the analysis of heritage conflicts.

All papers in this special issue on public interest anthropology applied to cultural heritage and... more All papers in this special issue on public interest anthropology applied to cultural heritage and tourism were originally presented at the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. The panel took up the general conference theme, ‘Peace', in an exploration of heritage, tourism, and the ways public interest anthropology can address proliferating conflicts arising in tourism at heritage sites. Each author addresses a diverse assortment of themes intersecting with tourism, heritage, and the public interest, analyzing how groups formulate heritage identities and translate these identities into representations and special interests.

Cultural heritage and mobility from a multisensory perspective, Oct 1, 2024

This chapter critically examines the role of the body, particularly the body-in-motion, in the co... more This chapter critically examines the role of the body, particularly the body-in-motion, in the context of multi-sensoriality and the heritage-mobility nexus. It argues that mainstream scholarship often overlooks the body’s dynamic nature, leading to a limited understanding of human mobilities. The chapter emphasizes the importance of kinaesthesia, the perception of body movement, in shaping our experiences and interactions with the environment. It explores the interconnectedness of sensory perception and movement, asserting that our understanding of the world is deeply rooted in our sentient body. The chapter also discusses the concept of ‘kinesthetic empathy’ and its implications for understanding and appreciating cultural heritage. It concludes by highlighting the need for a more holistic, embodied approach to perception, one that acknowledges the fundamental role of movement and the senses in shaping our experiences and understanding of the world in general and heritage in particular.

Anthropological approaches to reading migrant writing : Reimagining ethnographic methods, knowledge, and power, Oct 18, 2023

I focus on the creative writing produced by Indonesian female migrant workers, specifically those... more I focus on the creative writing produced by Indonesian female migrant workers, specifically those working in domestic service.

Mobility in culture: Conceptual frameworks and approaches , Sep 1, 2022

This chapter describes how the interdisciplinary field of mobility studies has opened new scholar... more This chapter describes how the interdisciplinary field of mobility studies has opened new scholarly perspectives, including when it comes to cultural mobilities.

Teaching urban art practices in pandemic times, Sep 1, 2022

Walking the city is a practice that seems to be favored by many scholars and artists who want to... more Walking the city is a practice that seems to be favored by many
scholars and artists who want to understand cities and how city life is experienced.
Academics have a lot to learn from the critical walking methodologies and participatory practices that were developed in the arts. Artists, on the other hand, can enrich their
engagements with walking by incorporating walking-related insights generated
by scholars.

Handbook of culture and glocalization, May 1, 2022

This chapter is organized into four sections that explore different facets of glocalization: (1) ... more This chapter is organized into four sections that explore different facets of glocalization: (1) as a cultural approach, (2) as a tool to mitigate crises in tourism experiences, (3) as a business approach to develop successful tourism experiences, and (4) as an impetus for transformative tourism experiences.

Thinking home on the move: A conversation across disciplines , Aug 10, 2020

“Many believe that people on the move have no home, but certainly this is not true. They do have ... more “Many believe that people on the move have no home, but certainly this is not true. They do have a home, or multiple homes even. They can feel at home in different places because they take ‘stuff’ and people with them so that they can (re)create a home wherever they go”

Pacing mobilities: Timing, intensity, tempo and duration of human movements, Jun 2020

In this chapter, then, I assess the general understandings about pace of life by disentangling an... more In this chapter, then, I assess the general understandings about pace
of life by disentangling anthropologically how the dynamics of pace and
pacing work out in recreational mobilities.

Pacing mobilities: Timing, intensity, tempo and duration of human movements, Jun 2020

This volume is intended as a contribution towards the rebalancing of our scholarly attention to b... more This volume is intended as a contribution towards the rebalancing of our scholarly attention to both temporal and spatial dimensions of mobility, through a focus on pace and pacing. Pace is a concept that helps us understand the dynamic relationships between people, space and time.

Migration at work: Aspirations, imaginaries and structures of mobility, Sep 2020

International migration is in the news almost daily and has risen up the political agenda of nati... more International migration is in the news almost daily and has risen up the political agenda of national governments and supranational organisations. Migration affects sending as well as receiving countries and is an inherent part of current processes of globalisation and internationalisation. In recent decades, international migrations have been characterised by profound changes. Global migration resulted in the transformation of societies and cultural diversity within specific countries. If the number of migrants in a country is high, this group automatically becomes relevant for multiple societal actors.

Writing anthropology: Essays on craft & commitment, May 1, 2020

Grounded fieldwork, the “having been there,” forms the basis of the captivating stories narrated ... more Grounded fieldwork, the “having been there,” forms the basis of the captivating stories narrated by the most widely read anthropologists. From a historical perspective, the discipline made a big leap forward when it changed from armchair philosophizing to scholarship that is deeply rooted in empirical data gathering. Many people nowadays associate anthropology with ethnography. Even if the referents to the former part of the word have become blurred, the latter part does not seem to have lost any of its significance; it refers literally to the written report of whomever (or whatever) is being studied.

Museums and intangible cultural heritage, Apr 17, 2020

"Heritage is a discourse; we should question it." Noel B. Salazar, University of Leuven – Belgium

Borderless worlds for whom? Ethics, moralities and mobilities, Oct 30, 2018

Borders are as much physical as they are imagined, and it takes human creativity to deal with the... more Borders are as much physical as they are imagined, and it takes
human creativity to deal with the border regimes imposed upon each of us.

Antropologia e turismo: Teorias, métodos e praxis , Apr 2018

Based on their own research and internationally recognized expertise, Portuguese anthropologists ... more Based on their own research and internationally recognized
expertise, Portuguese anthropologists Xerardo Pereiro and Filipa Fernandes
present a timely overview of anthropological research on tourism.

Términos clave para los estudios de movilidad en América Latina, 2017

Este libro sobre palabras clave para el estudio de la movilidad en América Latina se inscribe en ... more Este libro sobre palabras clave para el estudio de la movilidad en América Latina se inscribe en una larga tradición dentro de las ciencias sociales y las humanidades.

Cosmopolitanism and tourism: Rethinking theory and practice , 2017

Indigenous Tourism Movements, 2018

Tourists and tourism: A reader (3rd revised ed.), 2018

Asia’s market share in global tourism has increased dramatically over the last few decades. In co... more Asia’s market share in global tourism has increased dramatically over the last few decades. In countries like China, India, and South Korea, the emergence of a rising Asian middle class that can afford to travel is quickly turning the region into one of the most attractive tourist markets. As a result, Asian tourism hot spots, like destinations elsewhere in the world, are competing to obtain their piece of the lucrative Asian tourist pie. Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand are already strongly positioned; China is the fastest rising star; and competition is high in Malaysia, Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos), South Korea, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Here, by way of an ethnographic case study, I examine how tourism in Yogyakarta (commonly referred to as Jogja), Indonesia, has been opening up to Asian tourists and how local tour guides have adapted their practices, originally oriented toward Western tourists, to fit what they perceive to be the interests and expectations of Asian clients. The research described here was part of a larger multisited study of guiding discourses and practices.

Methodologies of mobility: Ethnography and experiment , Apr 2017

Exposing sports mega-events through a mobilities lens

Moving places: Relations, return and belonging, 2016

Encyclopedia of tourism, 2022

Although most forms of tourism are highly mediated activities, surprisingly little attention has ... more Although most forms of tourism are highly mediated activities, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the essential role of brokers.

AnthrOpen, Dec 20, 2020

En tant que métaphore, la mobilité capture l'impression commune que notre monde est en constante ... more En tant que métaphore, la mobilité capture l'impression commune que notre monde est en constante évolution.

The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, Sep 25, 2018

Dicionário crítico de migrações internacionais, 2017

Encyclopedia of global archaeology, 2014

Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology, 2013

Theory in social and cultural anthropology , 2013

International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2008

Journal of Sociolinguistics, 2022

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2020

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Aug 8, 2020

The Journal of Asian Studies, Feb 2018

Journal of Tourism History, Nov 2017

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Journal of Anthropological Research

Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies

Anthropology Review Database

Why do people travel? Travel has always been central to humanity. While mass tourism only origi-n... more Why do people travel? Travel has always been central to humanity. While mass tourism only origi-nated in the nineteenth century, seasonal migration, pilgrimage and other forms of travel existed in most societies long before that period. Today, the practice of journeying across imagined as well as physical ‘borders’ is practically universal, and travel encompasses many areas of social life. Un-doubtedly, transnational mobility is now one of the most pervasive and visible activities the world over. While travel motivations widely differ, ‘free’ movement is often fuelled by the incessant desire for novelty and difference and propelled by prefabricated images and myths about ‘Other’ peoples and places. At the same time, human mobility is marked by fundamental imbalances of power, re-flecting economic disparities, and providing grounds for sociocultural conflict. As a central dimen-sion of globalisation, cross-border travel offers us a useful lens on many key questions about trans-nationalism and cosmopolitanism, identity and heritage, commoditisation, historical and cultural representation, authenticity and ownership, inequality, gender relations, environmental sustaina-bility, and more. How do people move across various sociocultural boundaries and how do they create specific cultures of mobility? Drawing upon contemporary anthropological concepts and theories of movement and border crossings (rather than place and location), this course analyses ‘travel’ as a dynamic set of sociocultural practices and discourses. Students are invited to think crit-ically about the complex interrelationships between various forms of border-crossing human mo-bilities.

This seminar proposes an in-depth anthropological analysis of the key words that scholars in the ... more This seminar proposes an in-depth anthropological analysis of the key words that scholars in the social sciences use when theorizing processes of mobility and immobility.

It is fashionable to imagine today’s world as being in constant motion, with people, cultures, go... more It is fashionable to imagine today’s world as being in constant motion, with people, cultures, goods, money, businesses, diseases, images and ideas ‘flowing’ in every direction across the planet. If mobility is the new scholarly mantra to be chanted, the chorus line might be older than most want to acknowledge. Drawing on a thematically and geographically diverse set of theoretical and ethnographic texts, this specialization seminar aims at exploring the analytical purchase of (im)mobility as an overarching conceptual framework to study and understand the current human condition. Through lectures (where possible brought by doctoral students of IMMRC and invited speakers), reading assignments and an individual assignment (research paper) students are familiarized with contemporary concepts and theories in the anthropology of mobility. The intention is to attune training and actual research, and to bring students into touch with leading scholars and paradigms. Students are expected to actively engage in the classroom and group discussions. They are also expected to give a presentation in class.

Muslim networks are globally diverse and mobile. Taking Islam as a transnational case study invit... more Muslim networks are globally diverse and mobile. Taking Islam as a transnational case study invites us to rethink Muslim religious-secular practices and their relationships to transnational public space and boundaries. By studying the discourse of contemporary Muslim scholars, the pilgrimage of observant Muslims, the female headscarf as a symbol between fashion and piety, global-local Muslim entrepreneurs, we analyze the border-crossing ‘movement’ of Muslims from different angles (social, religious and economical). These case studies deal with a range of theoretical debates by which anthropologists have come to define their thinking about the study of Muslims moving between global and local forms and practices, including key concepts such as de-territoralization and re-territorizaliton, and transnationalism among Muslims.

Drawing on a thematically and geographically diverse set of theoretical and ethnographic texts, t... more Drawing on a thematically and geographically diverse set of theoretical and ethnographic texts, this seminar aims at discussing the analytical purchase of (im)mobility as an overarching conceptual framework to study and understand the current human condition.

Starting from a critical reflection on the main concepts of development and culture(s), the semin... more Starting from a critical reflection on the main concepts of development and culture(s), the seminar zooms in on development discourse, the anthropology of development, ethnographies of aid, the world of NGOs, various types of development workers, the Migration-Development nexus and the wider context of development and mobility. The seminar ends by reviewing and discussing various scholarly critiques of development.While some of the reading materials used are theoretical, others include concrete case studies from across the world.

In this talk, I approach the (dis)connections between tourism, sustainability and development fro... more In this talk, I approach the (dis)connections between tourism, sustainability and development from my own critical perspective as a sociocultural anthropologist. I start by briefly sketching the historical context. The idea to use tourism as a tool for development is not new and critics were quick to point out that tourism does not offer a cure-all. We had to wait until the 1980s, the decade in which the idea of sustainability was popularized, for the concerns of the critics to become more widespread. A couple of decades later, it is about time to assess whether sustainable tourism in general has been successful. Most social scientists are cautious about classifying tourism development as ‘successful’. There are actually multiple criteria to determine whether tourism is successful or not. The standards used are based on different underlying philosophies and values. As a result, success might be something different for the stakeholders involved at local, national, regional and global level. Those who argue that sustainable tourism offers communities a means to escape the confines of poverty often bring alternative forms of tourism to the fore, claiming that these allow development to be achieved sustainably and equitably. I illustrate the general principles through a case study from Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This example confirms that the most successful tourism ventures are not the big projects usually highlighted by the tourism sector but the myriad small-scale, highly localized enterprises where small groups of tourists spend time learning about the local natural and cultural heritage. In the discussion, I point out that there seems to be something wrong with the way tourism in general is organized—something the critics have known all along. The alternative forms of tourism strategy has failed and we urgently need to change tourism as-a-whole, instead of offering optional ‘sustainable’ packages and products only to those who care. Solutions, however, are complex and require inclusive, multidisciplinary efforts to be successful. Success stories in tourism may not be so hard to find. However, success should not be conceived of as a static result.

People have always been mobile, for a variety of reasons, from subsistence to experience, from ne... more People have always been mobile, for a variety of reasons, from subsistence to experience, from necessity to privilege. Our body-in-motion is the medium for knowing the world, enriching us cognitively and existentially. Moving through and with landscapes allows for sensuous experiences of the environment around us, including in the context of tourism. The lived experiences and attributed values linked to physical movement are important ways by which people express their adaptation to, and understanding of, periods of personal, social or environmental change. This is illustrated by the etymological and historical links between concepts for travel, transition and experience. This talk analyses, from an in-depth anthropological perspective, the contemporary quests to (re)discover ‘authentic’ experiences of human mobility through tourism and travel and how this is imag(in)ed in both popular culture and (social) media. I illustrate this through an ethnographic case study of recreational walking and running tourism, recreation here referring both to ‘create anew, restore, refresh’ (recreare) and to ‘restoration to health’ (recreatio).

De overheid beschermt erfgoed vanuit het algemeen belang, nl. het belang van erfgoed voor de same... more De overheid beschermt erfgoed vanuit het algemeen belang, nl. het belang van erfgoed voor de samenleving. Moeten we ons dan niet afvragen in wiens belang dat dan is? Is die samenleving wel nog betrokken, eens iets in haar naam beschermd is? Dient de erfgoedsector vooral zichzelf en niet de samenleving in haar geheel? Wie herkent zich in wat ‘we’ vandaag als erfgoed beschouwen? Als ‘we’ wensen dat mensen zich herkennen in historische plaatsen, gebouwen, landschappen en sites, moeten we er dan niet in eerste instantie voor zorgen dat ze zich verbonden voelen met deze plaatsen? Hoe dienen overheden en de erfgoedsector dan om te gaan met de huidige waarderings- en beschermingspraktijk?

Migration and tourism are interconnected forms of human mobility, similar but different. It is im... more Migration and tourism are interconnected forms of human mobility, similar but different. It is impossible to draw neat boundaries around the two because they constantly intersect, sometimes within one and the same individual. Many would-be migrants, for example, enter countries as tourists. In other instances, tourism and migration become very enmeshed in a certain location. Just think of the many islands in the Mediterranean that serve both as tourist destinations and migrant stopovers (or temporary destinations, in case they get stuck on their planned itineraries).
Tourism and migration often fuel each other, thereby raising two interesting questions that are rarely asked. The first one is: ‘What would tourism be without migration?’ The answer is simple. Global tourism would not be possible without the availability of both a numerical and functional flexible workforce of migrant workers. The labour-intensive and casual nature of tourism accentuates the role of this economic sectors as a magnet for migrant labour. Given the increasing transnational nature of tourism, it is hardly surprising that tourism employment is ‘cosmopolitan’ in nature, albeit heavily stratified according to characteristics such as age, ethnicity and gender. A mobile workforce usually offers a solution to labour shortages where the local workforce is not willing to engage in low pay, low status and seasonal employment.
This brings us to the second, related question: ‘What would migration be without tourism?’ Not only does the tourism sector provide migrant labour, many migrants are also partly inspired by tourism-related imaginaries to plan their migratory itineraries. In the sociocultural logics of migration, imaginaries play a predominant role in envisioning the green grass on the other side. Not surprisingly, many of these imaginaries are circulated via tourism. Moreover, mobile lifestyles evolve not just to explore economic opportunities not available locally but also to pursue particular types of culturally and socially desirable livelihoods, what is also known as ‘lifestyle migration’ or ‘lifestyle mobility’.
Even if tourism and migration often overlap, in practice tourist and migrant movements are governed by very different regimes of mobility. In the context of the tourism labour market, this is partially related to the type of people that is employed. Tourism largely relies on low-skilled workers and workers with little qualification in general, ethnic minority groups, unemployed youth, long-term unemployed, as well as women with family responsibilities who can take only part-time jobs. The high labour mobility is not only related to the seasonality of tourism activities but also to the high turnover of staff joining and leaving the sector. Given this general context, many issues of sustainability arise. In this talk, then, I want to focus on the questions of sustainability that are directly related to the ‘mobility’ aspects of tourism labour.
In tourism, studies of mobility often focus merely on tourist movements. UNWTO has very detailed statistics on ‘international arrivals’ for instance. Unfortunately, our understanding of the issues related to the mobility of workers to meet the increased tourism demand is less progressed. In general, there has been little detailed examination of the forces that constitute and reproduce the transnational movements of tourism-related labour. If there is little attention to tourism-related labour mobilities, considerations related to the sustainability implications of worker mobility are highlighted even less often. Sustainable development as a concept was developed alongside the acute awareness that the ecological destruction and the 1980s ‘retreat from social concerns’ – manifested as poverty, deprivation and urban dereliction that blight many parts of the world – are untenable. Though the concept of sustainable development originally included a clear social mandate, for the first decades this human dimension was neglected amidst abbreviated references to sustainability that focused on bio-physical environmental issues, or was subsumed within a discourse that conflated ‘development’ and ‘economic growth’.
Indeed, despite the anthropocentric focus of the definition of sustainability, surprisingly little attention has been given to the definition of social sustainability. Social sustainability is a wide-ranging multi-dimensional concept, with the underlying question ‘what are the social goals of sustainable development?’, which is open to a multitude of answers, with no consensus on how these goals are defined. Social sustainability is the ability of maintaining social capital, including investments and services that create the basic framework for society. This implies respecting human rights and equal opportunities for all in society. It requires an equitable distribution of benefits, with a focus on alleviating poverty.
In terms of the nexus between migration and tourism, the challenges are huge. For the Asia-Pacific region, for example, the diametrically opposed mobility trends of tourists and migrants have been pointed out. Tourists are searching for experiences in the ‘pleasure periphery’, isolated destinations facilitating frontier escapist adventure, wildlife and cultural experiences. The contemporary pattern of increasing urbanization, on the other hand, mobilizes the required workforce toward the metropolitan areas. These two trends create major challenges for tourism, which faces a growing demand for labour in both areas where there is growing labour supply but without skills (untrained agricultural workers migrating to core megacities) and where there is a shrinking labour supply of all employees (pleasure periphery).
Worryingly, sustainable tourism planning and development is threatened by quickly spreading neoliberal ideas of resilience. Resilience refers to the ability to resist and recover from aversity or disaster. When resilience is lacking, crises will be experienced as disruptive; when resilience is strong, the crisis will be experienced more smoothly. Resilience planning has emerged in recent years as an alternative to the sustainable development paradigm.
Tourism stakeholders have sought to address issues of sustainability in many ways. Similarly, communities and businesses may have developed capacity (resilience) to respond to immediate and sudden threats. Few, however, have demonstrated a capacity to adapt to incremental threats to their longevity (sustainability). In the tourism literature, there is considerable emphasis on resilience to the immediate challenges (local impacts, disasters or financial shocks, for instance), yet there is merit in conceptualizing resilience as a dynamic long-term state, where there are obvious parallels with the sustainability concept.
Even if the absolute numbers of labour mobilities may be small, they can raise delicate issues locally that need to be considered when assessing the value of tourism as a local development tool. Another issue is that increasing migrant mobility and the presence of greater numbers of migrants in a tourism destination also carries consequences for tourism in terms of the product and experience offered to tourists and the imaginary they cultivate of a destination. Migrants employed in front-stage positions interact with the host society as well as domestic and international tourists. Interestingly, those workers play the role of ‘host’ for international tourists. In the case of new arrivals, migrants play a double role: they are ‘the migrant-guest’, but they are also ‘migrant- host’ to those they serve.
In sum, it is necessary to understand tourism and migration within a specific context, and as counter-veiling forces, of a broader reading of globalisation and of uneven and unequal development. While the frontiers of tourism are dismantled through the liberalisation of the service sector, the cordon sanitaire against migration to the developed economic core is tightened, even though migrants’ remittances are, in some cases, more significant than earnings from tourism. Juxtaposing migration and tourism helps emphasise the framework of global unevenness and inequality in which all forms of people movement must be contextualised and are conditioned.
An issue that urgently requires our attention and research is the general impact of human mobility and everything that comes with it. This impact is becoming continuously greater because of the number and frequency of human movements across the planet and because of the (polluting) means of transport used. In general, the whole (environmental) sustainability argument seems to have very limited impact on how most people imagine, experience, and value translocal mobilities in the context of tourism and/or migration. This is a huge challenge, one that will only grow in the future.

While sports and tourism, in their modern configurations, both developed around the same time (in... more While sports and tourism, in their modern configurations, both developed around the same time (in the wake of the industrial revolution), it took over a century before the two came together in ‘sports tourism’. Various scholars have come up with models to categorize the various forms that sports tourism can take (e.g. hard vs. soft or sports event tourism vs. active sport tourism), but none of these is able to capture in full the constantly evolving cross-over between sports and tourism. Based on exploratory ethnographic research, this paper analyzes the processes involved in turning the recreational practice of long-distance trail running into ‘sports tourism’. While the sportification of play and the tourismification of travel have been widely discussed in sports studies and tourism studies respectively, this case study disentangles the sportification of tourism and the tourismification of sports. The former is linked to the renewed societal attention to the (healthy) body and the shift from (passive) sightseeing to more (active) experiential forms of tourism. The latter is related to the integration of sports events and activities within broader tourism packages (irrespective of whether the sports tourism involved is passive or active). Paradoxically, trail runners, who usually identify as ‘post-sport’ or counter-cultural, seem to be simultaneously resisting and reproducing the dominant tendencies of commercialization of life.

As a concept, mobility nicely captures the common impression that our lifeworld is in constant fl... more As a concept, mobility nicely captures the common impression that our lifeworld is in constant flux, with people circulating across the planet. The scholarly literature is replete with metaphors attempting to describe (perceived) altered spatial and temporal movements. Figures of mobile people, too, including the nomad, the pedestrian, the flaneur, the pilgrim, the tourist and the exile, have been used to describe both self and other in the social sciences and humanities for a long time. Such figures act as a conceptual shorthand in contemporary scholarly debates, allowing social theorists to relate broad-scale phenomena to the human condition. Taking the societal implications of various forms of mobility seriously and not as a given, the critical discussion of people ‘on the move’ during this lecture will help us to figure out the analytical purchase of the conceptual perspective of mobility studies to normalize movement within the single category of ‘mobility’. An anthropological approach has much to offer here, as it allows for an in-depth comparison between the theoretical use of key figures and, as the ethnographic examples used will demonstrate, the lived practices on which the figures themselves are based.

As a concept, mobility nicely captures the common impression that our lifeworld is in constant fl... more As a concept, mobility nicely captures the common impression that our lifeworld is in constant flux, with people circulating across the planet. The scholarly literature is replete with metaphors attempting to describe (perceived) altered spatial and temporal movements. Figures of mobile people, too, including the nomad, the pedestrian, the flâneur, the pilgrim, the tourist and the exile, have been used to describe both self and other in the social sciences and humanities for a long time. Such figures act as a conceptual shorthand in contemporary scholarly debates, allowing social theorists to relate broad-scale phenomena to the human condition. Taking the societal implications of various forms of mobility and immobility seriously and not as a given, the critical discussion of people ‘on the move’ during this lecture will help us to figure out the analytical purchase of the conceptual perspective of mobility studies to normalize movement within the single category of ‘mobility’.

Disaster research is booming these days and so are, unfortunately, disasters. However, disaster i... more Disaster research is booming these days and so are, unfortunately, disasters. However, disaster is a rather difficult topic to study. One can focus on the factors and structures potentially leading up to disaster or preventing it from happening (before the fact) or on the response (after the fact), but it is almost impossible to plan research on disasters themselves. I happened to be conducting fieldwork in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, when the region was struck on 27 May 2006 by a forceful earthquake (with a magnitude of 6.3), with almost 6,000 casualties and tens of thousands injured. As I was working on world heritage tourism in the region, I had a unique opportunity to observe how the disaster provoked different types of reaction locally and further away, and what this did to the relation between heritage and tourism. I take the opportunity in this paper to reflect, one decade after the facts, on what I witnessed back then. What can we learn from disasters about (world) heritage tourism in terms of sustainability or resilience? How do sociocultural, economic, political, and religious factors influence disaster, disaster risk, and disaster risk mitigation? What can anthropology, as a discipline giving due credit to “local knowledge,” contribute to disaster studies and disaster management? How to mediate the interests of the various stakeholders on the local-to-global level? These and other questions will be addressed through an in-depth analysis of the Yogyakarta earthquake.

While heritage conservationists argue for the need to place preservation ahead of tourism, the re... more While heritage conservationists argue for the need to place preservation ahead of
tourism, the reality is that tourism cannot be longer neglected as an unwanted
negative sideeffect.
It is a dynamic force through which heritage is not only consumed
but also created. Tourism development of cultural heritage is both an opportunity and a
risk and requires careful consideration, planning, implementation and management.
Sustainable tourism development entails the adoption of planning strategies to mitigate
the negative impact of tourism without sacrificing its benefits. There is an urgent need
for new ideas and concepts that reconcile tourism and heritage preservation with the
need for sustainable development. Besides this, more attention needs to be paid to
ethical issues, in particular the involvement of local communities, ethical codes of
tourism (such as the UNWTO Global Code for Ethics in Tourism), the moral implications
of cultural heritage, the responsibilities of museums and the question of who has the
power to own and interpret heritage. As global tourism continues to expand, cultural
heritage sites and practices will be the source of historically unprecedented numbers of
tourists. Most indicators suggest there will be a huge increase in tourism worldwide
over the next ten years, virtually doubling the current numbers. While the
management of cultural heritage is usually the responsibility of a particular community
or custodian group, the protection, conservation, interpretation and (re)presentation of
the cultural diversity of any particular place or people are important challenges for us
all.

The broker, a classic figure in the social sciences, largely vanished from view in the late 1970s... more The broker, a classic figure in the social sciences, largely vanished from view in the late 1970s before re-emerging in the new millennium, among others as an exemplary analytical lens for critical scholarship concerned with the crossing of physical borders as well as socio-culturally constructed boundaries. The study of transnational mobility brokers (in the context of migration, tourism and the like) offers us many insights into the intricate mechanisms of border crossings, hereby illuminating broader contexts and processes. Even if the ability to move freely across borders is spread very unevenly within countries and across the globe, virtually everybody who is on the move transnationally relies, in one way or the other, on border-crossing broker services (whether seen as formal or informal, legal or illegal). The effects of cross-border brokerage practices are multiple and multifaceted (and by no means necessarily beneficial to those involved). In many cases, new boundaries are constructed even as borders are crossed. Importantly, cross-border brokers gain (often financially but also in terms of other personal advantages) from the mediation of something that they do not directly control themselves. In their role, they often come up against internal contradictions. Uneasy cultural identification or insecure social group membership appear to be highly instrumental to the mobility and innovative behaviour essential to the broker role. In this talk, I illustrate how in-depth ethnographic engagements with transnational mobility brokerage allow grand theoretical narratives about borders and boundaries to be put to the empirical test.

Tourists were among those helping the rapid cross-border spread of COVID-19. As a reaction, state... more Tourists were among those helping the rapid cross-border spread of COVID-19. As a reaction, states and supra-governmental entities implemented generalized mobility restrictions across the globe. Never in history has global mobility been affected and restricted in such an extreme manner. Not surprisingly, tourism is among the most significant economic sectors to bear impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The current situation reconfirms how vulnerable the tourism and travel sector is to crises. Because COVID-19 containment measures limited and constrained people in their free movements, many became more acutely aware of the importance and value of travel. Can the coronavirus crisis, then, contribute to a possibly substantial, meaningful and positive transformation of the planet in general, and tourism and tourism studies specifically? Is the world changing, evolving, and transforming into something different from what it was before the 2020 global pandemic experience? While many still hope to return to ‘business as usual’ as soon as everything is over, others are seriously doubting that this will be possible. The more significant question is what kind of world we actually envision for ourselves and future generations. Tourism may help to solve some of the challenges our planet is currently facing. What is clear is that we are paying a high price to deal with the containment of the coronavirus, but the crucial question is who the ‘we’ are in this whole story. If there is one thing a situation like the one at hand teaches us, it is that we cannot solve complex challenges alone and that we need to collaborate.

Situations labelled as ‘crisis’ offer social scientists unique research opportunities because the... more Situations labelled as ‘crisis’ offer social scientists unique research opportunities because they intensify existing processes, revealing what works well in society and where there are structural problems. The 2020 coronavirus crisis is not any different. From a mobility studies perspective, one of the most striking things occurring during the global pandemic are the changed patterns of who and what moves when and where. Authorities across the planet (re)classified the most common mobilities along ‘essential’ and ‘non-essential’ axes, the latter category temporarily being restricted or even forbidden. In addition to seriously disrupting existing mobility patterns, the coronavirus crisis is also an open invitation to re-imagine future mobilities. For one, the whole situation has revealed more sharply which types of (im)mobility are valued by various stakeholders in society, which ones are discursively framed as essential (mainly from a socio-economic perspective) and which ones are experienced as existential (contributing to people’s general well-being).

The ‘experience turn’ of the 1990s pointed out that tourism entails more than sightseeing whereas... more The ‘experience turn’ of the 1990s pointed out that tourism entails more than sightseeing whereas the ‘mobility turn’ of the 2000s stressed the importance of moving people, objects and ideas. Remarkably little scholarly attention has been paid to how the multi-sensory and (self-powered) movement are intimately interconnected. Our body-in-motion is the medium for knowing the world, including in the context of tourism. Through our moving body, we are ‘in touch’ with our surroundings, allowing for sensual experiences of place. The lived experiences and attributed values linked to physical movement are important ways by which people express their adaptation to, and understanding of, periods of personal, social or environmental change. This is illustrated by the etymological and historical links between concepts for travel, transition and experience. This paper, then, explores anthropologically how recent developments in tourism and travel discursively frame the way in which tourists move (usually ‘slowly’ and with effort) in order to maximize the sensorial connectedness to places and people visited and to themselves. I illustrate this through an ethnographic case study of what has come to be known as recreational running tourism, recreation here referring both to ‘create anew, restore, refresh’ (recreare) and to ‘restoration to health’ (recreatio).

This round table draws on the expertise of several anthropologists who have addressed questions t... more This round table draws on the expertise of several anthropologists who have addressed questions that are key to the workings of the European Union and its policies. The overall aim is to give a sense of how anthropological approaches can contribute to the ongoing debates that are both generated by, and affecting, the working of the EU.

This round-table seeks to take forward previous discussions on academic precarity opened in previ... more This round-table seeks to take forward previous discussions on academic precarity opened in previous IUAES and EASA conferences, where workshops and plenaries gave us the opportunity to raise crucial but often divergent questions. By drawing upon these earlier meetings, the collaboration with PrecAnthro group and EASA survey on precarity, we would like to start the debate from a threefold observation: (1) the notion itself of academic precarity differs not only according to national contexts, but also generational experiences, as the dialogue between early career and senior scholars on the topic is often muddled by mutual miscomprehension about conditions and sentiments specific to each generation; (2) from questions such as casualization and regimes of employability to physical and mental health and threats to academic freedom, the different ways how precarity is comprehended and lived need to be put in perspective; and (3), there is an urgent need to envision concrete action, on both political and institutional levels, in response to a pervasive process of precarization. Therefore, the aim of this roundtable is to found a common ground for discussions and action without obliterating the diversity of meanings, forms and temporalities of precarity in different academic contexts throughout the world. Participants to the round table will be also invited to take part actively in the debate and make reference to their own experiences of national and/or regional contexts.

One of the attractions of mobility, as a concept-metaphor, is that it links geographical movement... more One of the attractions of mobility, as a concept-metaphor, is that it links geographical movement to some type of symbolic ‘climbing’ that individuals aspire to, be it economically (in terms of resources), socially (in terms of status) or culturally (in terms of cosmopolitan disposition). Migratory mobilities, then, are used as an indicator of the variable access to and accumulation of these various types of symbolic capital. In practice, however, there is often a lack of correspondence between the imagined ideals and aspirations on the one hand and the perceived and experienced reality on the other (e.g. the ‘American dream’). The social imaginaries underlying individual aspirations of mobility warrant closer scholarly examination, a task that is taken up in this paper. Imaginaries are historically laden, socially shared and transmitted. They play an important role in the formation of aspiration, influencing why people aspire to move and where they aspire to move to. While the reasons and motivations to cross borders and boundaries are usually multiple, they are linked to the ability of those traveling (and their social networks) to imagine the ‘elsewhere’. As such, the study of social imaginaries forms an important connection between macro- and micro-level analyses of aspiring mobilities. Imaginaries, as socially shared patterns of meaning rather than private cognition, can both endorse the normality or historicity of mobility or immobility. This points to the controlling role of mobility imaginaries. Empowered by mass-mediated images and discourses, imaginaries circulate globally and change the way in which people collectively envision the world and their place and mobility within it. The imaginaries that inspire and guide migrants do not really prepare them, neither for the fact that their aspirations cannot be realised immediately nor for the multiple risks or potential failure of their endeavour. Not surprisingly, one common expression of socio-cultural imaginaries are utopias, critical visions of good and possibly attainable alternative styles of live, located either spatially (elsewhere) or temporally (in another period) distant. As a variation on power, utopias propose an alternative by designing a future that aspires to become. The most comprehensive treatment of the role played by fantasies of a desired, better world is prob ably Ernst Bloch’s The Principle of Hope (Bloch 1995). While Bloch focuses on the utopian political potential of the human ability to imagine a better future, he also discusses the experience of consumers daydreaming about new identities as they (window)shop. The transcending— that is, utopian— force of human imagination lies at the core of Bloch’s analysis. Economic and social remittances and (often conspicuous) consumption by migrants easily increases the feeling of relative deprivation among non-migrants, and increases their aspirations to migrate to achieve upward socio-economic mobility. The fact that migrants have a tendency to present themselves as successful and to conceal their economic and social problems further fuels this. Both potential migrants and those who stay behind often perceive economic opportunities and quality of life in the country of destination as greater than they actually are. Although most make more in wages than in their home countries, migrants are often concentrated in lower-earning, lower-prestige jobs. Many even report downward social mobility. However, television, newspaper and personal accounts of destitution by migrants abroad seem to deter little, as potential migrants either hope to be luckier or to embrace the hardship. Such a logic is part of a wider ‘culture of migration’, which is common among disadvantaged populations across the globe.

Het profileren van het Zeeuws kapitaal zoals natuur, landschap, cultuur, erfgoed, food, in relati... more Het profileren van het Zeeuws kapitaal zoals natuur, landschap, cultuur, erfgoed, food, in relatie tot onder meer detailhandel, toerisme, ondernemerschap en onderwijs is noodzakelijk om Zeeland duurzaam op de kaart te zetten. Tijdens het seminar worden aspecten van ‘het kapitaal’ belicht door onder andere Professor Noel Salazar (sociaal-cultureel antropoloog verbonden aan de KU Leuven).

Cultural tourism is often promoted as one of the more solid segments within the wider tourism spe... more Cultural tourism is often promoted as one of the more solid segments within the wider tourism spectrum. This talk offers a critical anthropological reflection on the practices,experiences and policies of cultural tourism, broadly defined. First, I give a brief overview of various aspects of cultural tourism that have been addressed by tourism scholars. Then I zoom in on pressing contemporary issues, challenges as well as opportunities. I illustrate this with case studies and ethnographic examples from across the globe. I end by offering some venues for future attention and research.

Imaginaries are at the roots of many (if not all) human mobilities. They help people (with the ne... more Imaginaries are at the roots of many (if not all) human mobilities. They help people (with the necessary means) to decide which ‘elsewhere’ to travel to. Importantly, most of these imaginaries pertain to the (final) destination, not to the (im)mobilities required to get
there. For migrants, the journey is merely a means to get to their milk-and-honey destination. Many, however, are structurally forced to travel slowly, having to rely on basic forms of locomotion and using the most precarious and insecure roads and routes. These
trips, involving personal and social upheaval, can turn into powerful life-changing events that greatly influence whoever experiences them. As such, these journey conditions very much resemble those of wandering pilgrims, the archetypes of transformative traveling.
Tourists, on the other hand, many of whom desire their holiday experience to be transformative, are structurally barred from travel-as-toil. For the sake of comfort, modern transport technologies and tourism service providers alike have taken the travail out of travel, thereby taking the journey out of the holiday experience.
The movement of ‘slow travel’ is an attempt to reverse this. In this presentation, I reflect anthropologically on imaginaries of mobility (in the physical sense of 'motion’). Why does the actual journey of migrants (not to mention refugees), and it transformative effects,
hardly figures in imaginaries of migration? And what is the role of imaginaries in the tourism shift from ‘being moved’ around to a renewed desire for more active form of mobility, as an integral part of the tourist experience?

Based on ethnographic research, Prof. Noel Salazar discusses the role of mobile tracking devices,... more Based on ethnographic research, Prof. Noel Salazar discusses the role of mobile tracking devices, both as markers of an active lifestyle and as ‘technologies of the self’. He focuses on how the data generated by GPS sports watches are widely shared by sportspeople and their followers on social media platforms. He disentangles why, paradoxically, these technologies seem to make exemplary mobile people more immobile, because many hours are spent sitting behind electronic device screens to communicate (and seeking social approval for) the mobile performances. He places his critical anthropological analysis within the context of wider societal trends related to self-discipline and self-control.

Sustainability mitigates or prevents change by maintaining resources above a normative safe level... more Sustainability mitigates or prevents change by maintaining resources above a normative safe level, whereas resilience adapts to change by attempting to build capacity to return to a desired state following both anticipated and unanticipated disruptions. Sustainability emphasizes aspirational goals associated with the careful use of resources and ensuring provision for future generations. Resilience is pragmatic and inclusive of a range of responses that may or may not align with sustainability principles. This presentation will reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of both paradigms in preparing tour guides for the volatile future of tourism.

‘Never before have so many people across the planet been on the move’. This kind of general state... more ‘Never before have so many people across the planet been on the move’. This kind of general statement frequently pops up in the media as well as in academic texts. As a concept-metaphor, mobility captures the common impression that our life-world is in constant flux, with not only people, but also cultures, objects, capital, businesses, services, diseases, media, images, information and ideas circulating across (and even beyond) the planet. The scholarly literature is replete with metaphorical conceptualizations attempting to describe (perceived) altered spatial and temporal movements. In this talk, I argue that it is important to identify not only various forms of mobility but also the (re)production of socio-culturally shared meanings through diverse discourses as well as practices of movement. Any narrative and experience of mobility is inevitably value-laden. Distinctions are made, which ultimately feed back into the production of the social through culturally inflected notions of what ‘mobility’ means. The currently dominant mobility discourse in Europe, for instance, equates geographical movement with social fluidity, but only for socio-cultural insiders. The recent influx in Europe of ‘outsiders’ is interpreted quite differently. In this talk, then, I illustrate the dialectic relation between ideologies of (im)mobility and actual practices of people ‘on the move’, with examples from various geographic regions and time periods.

Historically, recreational sports such as running arose partially with the aim of controlling the... more Historically, recreational sports such as running arose partially with the aim of controlling the side effects of a ‘seated’ life, i.e. obesity and physical inactivity. This trend developed already in the 19th century, with the emergence of middle classes who had the requisite time and resources. Recreational running became very popular in the 1970s, within the context of renewed societal attention to fitness and physical health, which developed in countries such as the USA and New Zealand and spread quickly to other industrialized nations. Regular physical activities such as recreational running can be conceived of as technologies of the self, practices that are used to transform oneself (in multiple and, at times, contradictory ways). However, they do not necessarily free an individual from the domination of disciplinary ideologies. Based on (auto)ethnographic research, I discuss in this paper the crucial role that mobile tracking devices, as markers of an everyday active lifestyle, play in this process. I focus on how the data generated by GPS sports watches and the like are widely shared by amateur runners and their ‘followers’ on general as well as specialized social media platforms. I disentangle why, paradoxically, these technologies seem to make exemplary mobile citizens more immobile, because many hours are spent behind electronic device screens to communicate (and seeking social approval for) their mobile performances. I place my critical anthropological analysis within the context of wider societal trends related to neoliberal self-discipline and self-control of everyday life.

Existing anthropological research on embodiment reveals how people ’incorporate’ physical and soc... more Existing anthropological research on embodiment reveals how people ’incorporate’ physical and social environments while studies of emplacement add a ‘sense of place’ (location, material form and imaginaries) to this. That emplaced beings are not static entities but bodies-in-motion has received less attention. The human is, first, a ‘moving being’. Despite, or perhaps because of, its omnipresence in life, the physical practice of locomotion is rarely analyzed on its own terms, as a distinct category of scholarly investigation. Mobility studies have theorized how people move around environments by looking at sociocultural phenomena through the lens of movement. Most of the existing research, however, reveals little about the dynamic embodied and emplaced experiences directly related to the act of moving itself. This paper tackles these issues via an ethnographic study of recreational mobilities and the metanarratives, personal as well as societal, through which these are given meaning and made momentous. Long-distance hiking and trail running, for instance, are increasingly popular practices. Practitioner accounts reveal that a vigorously physical encounter with nature (or made-natural environment) allows people to meaningfully (re)connect to themselves, others, the environment, or the transcendent. Not unlike certain forms of wandering pilgrimage, such recreational mobilities become quest-like journeys of endurance, suffering, and sacrifice (sometimes only symbolically). Interestingly, this type of human mobility seems intimately related to reconfigured social climates Mainstream popular culture, arts, and (social) media representations increasingly depict ‘natural’ endurance heroes as true model individuals in contemporary society: dedicated, controlled, disciplined, invested in health, and self-responsible.

Running, in all its different forms, has become a popular leisure time activity throughout Europe... more Running, in all its different forms, has become a popular leisure time activity throughout Europe. While considered to be an individual sport, many runners seem to run not only out of self-interest. As such, an in-depth anthropological analysis of recreational running trends serves as a powerful analytical lens to better understand and contextualize contemporary expressions of human solidarity in Europe and beyond. The individual running experience is almost always connected to broader sociocultural issues. In general, group solidarity is enhanced when practitioners of an activity find themselves connecting with each other, forming relationships or ‘communitas’. Solidarity in running, then, becomes visible through the evolving structure of both formal and informal running communities and the way in which runners help each other during running events. Solidarity through running, on the other hand, is mostly expressed via participation in charity sport events. Based on preliminary ethnographic fieldwork in Brussels, Belgium, I reflect in this presentation on the intricate link between recreational running and various forms of solidarity. This link, which is often ambiguous for the runners themselves and for other stakeholders involved, gives us important insights in the current dynamics and workings of human solidarity in Europe.

In some cities, such as Coimbra or Oxford, Universities represent one of the main attractions to ... more In some cities, such as Coimbra or Oxford, Universities represent one of the main attractions to be visited. This is not the case in most European cities in which the heritage of universities remains inaccessible. If physical accessibility is not always possible or wished - for obvious reasons related to the fragility of some buildings or to security - other means can eventually be explored in order to reposition Universities at the centre of the city for the local societies, and the national and international visitors: interpretation centres, events, augmented reality, offer today new and, to a larger extent, underdeveloped possibilities.

In the context of increasingly sedentary lifestyles, there is a growing awareness that being huma... more In the context of increasingly sedentary lifestyles, there is a growing awareness that being human must be understood as ‘moving being’. People have always been mobile, for a variety of reasons, from subsistence to experience, from necessity to privilege. Our body-inmotion is the medium for knowing the world, enriching us cognitively and existentially. Through our feet, we are most fundamentally and continually ‘in touch’ with our surroundings. Moving through and with landscapes allows for sensuous experiences of the environment around us. In other words, self-propelled motion is one of the most fundamental modes of ‘belonging’ in the world. Granting that the act of moving is a universal trait, the ways in which humans move, and the processes of identity attached to these movements, are strongly linked to culture and society. As we move through space and time, we become our movement (moveo ergo sum), in a phenomenological sense and in terms of identity and social position. The act of moving thus captures a certain attitude to life as ‘potential’. This paper analyses, from an in-depth anthropological perspective, the contemporary quests to (re)discover ‘authentic’ experiences of human mobility and how this is imag(in)ed in both popular culture and (social) media. Many people perceive the most basic forms of human locomotion (walking, running and dancing) as having intrinsic value, undertaken for the simple pleasures and joy they bring. Such self-powered embodied mobilities are relatively slow and can be linked to attempts to slow down the experienced ‘pace of life’, especially by those who feel to be living in ‘overdrive’, in a state of excessive activity and speed. The quest for a slower pace of life, but still one that is in motion, is linked to nostalgia for an idealized slower pre-modern past, with an emphasis on experience and the sensuous human body.

Much of our methodological training seems to be axed on 'sedentary' fieldwork methods. Little att... more Much of our methodological training seems to be axed on 'sedentary' fieldwork methods. Little attention is paid to how we move (our bodies) around 'sites'. While mobility studies has made us aware of the importance of movement, both as an analytical lens and a subject of study in time as well as space, it is imperative to widen these insights in more practice-oriented ways. Taking our cues from contemporary anthropologies of mobility (including adventure, dance and walking), and of sensing (matters of presencing, awareness, perception) this laboratory shall provide experimental ground to reflect on our own bodies-in-motion.

Participants should wear comfortable clothes and shoes and need to pre-register in advance (max. 30). They will be able to access recommended reading list before the session via the lab's blog. During the lab, which will take place outside, they will be assigned various micro-tasks to be executed alone, in pairs, in small groups, or with everybody present. The idea is to allow participants to acknowledge and challenge issues of pace, rhythm, tempo, velocity and flow surrounding their own movements as well as the people, 'things' and contexts circulating around us. They will be invited to explore their own patterns of 'being there' through techniques of breathing and mindfulness. At the end of the lab, we want to discuss how these issues and experiences can be extrapolated to situations of fieldwork and teaching.

This article explores the rising phenomenon of recreational endurance mobilities and what this te... more This article explores the rising phenomenon of recreational endurance mobilities and what this tells us about wider societal trends. People with the requisite free time and resources engage in long-distance walking or running as a temporary escape from living in overdrive, in a state of excessive activity (not necessarily physical) and speed. They yearn for a slower pace of life, closely related to nostalgia for an idealised and romanticised slower pre-modern past, with an emphasis on authentic experience (over external rewards) and the sensuous human body. Self-conscious slow mobilities such as walking or running, particularly in (remote) areas of natural beauty, nicely fit the quest for the proper pace related to the ‘good life’. Ironically, this temporary escape from dominant societal tendencies is ideologically recuperated in unexpected ways. Within neoliberal frameworks, the potential feelings of agony, hurt and suffering linked to endurance practices signify hard work and the ability to succeed. Learning how not to give up (with the acceptance of pain) and pressing to attain specified goals or aims are seen as helpful for life outside recreational endurance activities, particularly in the context of overwork, burnout and general ‘exhaustion’. Mainstream popular culture, arts and (social) media often tend to represent endurance practitioners as model individuals in contemporary society: dedicated, controlled, disciplined, culturally and economically invested in health and self-responsible. In other words, whether they themselves like it or not, endurance athletes are framed as symbolical ‘pacemakers’, people who set standards of performance and achievement (efficiency and success) for others.

Today’s world, characterized by networked agencies, global flows, cultural hybridity, and movemen... more Today’s world, characterized by networked agencies, global flows, cultural hybridity, and movements of people within and across borders, contextualizes tourism in many ways. Paying close attention to the multiple translations and circulations of the concept of “tourism” across the globe, this symposium endeavors to elaborate both the spatial and temporal dimensions of the conceptual history of tourism. With this theme in mind, the symposium will deal with the following questions: How has the western concept of tourism (primarily Anglophone and French) traveled to non-Western contexts in Asia (including the Middle East), Africa, or South America, thereby imposing a discursive hegemony of a conceptual lexicon? Which native/local concepts of hospitality have been displaced by this conceptual globalization or have transformed it? Do newly emerging forms of tourism across the globe contribute to the intellectual discussion of the “decline of the West” and the “provincialization of Europe,” or they are just further examples of westernization?

Mobility studies emerged as a critique of the tendency to ignore either past or present histories... more Mobility studies emerged as a critique of the tendency to ignore either past or present histories of human movement and connectedness. However, considering the growing role of (supra-)state institutions and nationalism in regulating (im)mobility and maintaining both internal and external social inequality, we must ask: How can we overcome binary thinking between ‘fixity’ and ‘motion’ and yet not oversee the differential barriers to movement? The ‘regimes-of-mobility approach’ offers a theoretical framework that neither normalizes fixed relationships between people and territory nor naturalizes or glorifies movement. It explores the relationships between the privileged movements of some and the co-dependent but stigmatized and forbidden movement, migration and interconnection of the poor, powerless and exploited. Hence, it calls for a global perspective on diverse and differentiated forms of (im)mobility - physical and social, upward and downward – on a variety of scales. Looking at intersecting regimes of mobility in a historical, transnational and global perspective helps us to understand how the movements of some ‘travellers’ are normalized while ventures of others are criminalized. Applying such a framework to social work and social pedagogy can be a rich resource in understanding how social problems work requires, conditions, brings about and regulates specific forms of both mobility and immobility.

How has anthropology impacted the global policy fields of heritage and tourism? Because of the fe... more How has anthropology impacted the global policy fields of heritage and tourism? Because of the felt proximity between heritage and culture, one of the discipline’s key concepts, anthropologists have had an almost natural interest in heritage (particularly of the cultural kind). This was translated, among others, in anthropologists such as Claude Lévi-Strauss playing an influential role in shaping global heritage policies at UNESCO. The figure of Lévi-Strauss is also mentioned as exemplary of anthropology’s traditional anti-tourism stance and disregard for the seriousness of tourism studies. While this situation has long changed, with the anthropology of tourism booming and anthropologists taking active roles in tourism planning and development, anthropology has never played an important role at the UNWTO. In other words, the difference between anthropology’s involvement in the global policy fields of heritage and tourism is striking, even more so given that both areas have been growing towards each other over the last two decades. How to explain this? Based on my own experience collaborating with UNWTO and UNESCO during the last decade and analysis of secondary sources by other anthropologists, I reflect in this paper on how anthropology matters for heritage and tourism. I focus particularly on heritage tourism, where both fields come together, and stress the difference between various forms of direct and indirect influence. These insights are relevant for other policy domains and for the public role of anthropology in general.

In their introduction to the edited volume, “Forces of Compassion,” Peter Redfield and Erica Born... more In their introduction to the edited volume, “Forces of Compassion,” Peter Redfield and Erica Bornstein pose a question: “What is it about the present…that casts the care of strangers in such a leading role?” Taking up this question, this panel explores the affective and material relationships that are at the center of humanitarian circuits of exchange. Humanitarian aid encounters have become outsized agents of political and economic change in many parts of the world, and in so doing they have reshaped North-South relations. Images of suffering strangers mediate Western perceptions aid recipients, who exist elsewhere, and are now a driving force in responses by donor communities that seek to “do something.” Central to the calls to action that underlie humanitarian impulses is a desire to connect with these distant others, often through charitable or voluntary actions. The assembled papers in this panel examine the contradictions of the “gift” that frequently animate humanitarian actions, where economic and material humanitarian exchanges are morally and politically problematized by their intersection with other forms of exchange: of sentiment, affect, and moral impulse. What kinds of new relationships are generated by the circulation of charitable gifts and voluntary labor, and with what political, social, and affective consequences? How do recipient communities frame themselves as worthy subjects, and how does the circulation and performativity of compassion become a form of agency, for both donor and recipient? How do humanitarian relationships shape subjects into specific kinds of moral and political actors, and at what cost? To take up these questions panelists focus on several intersecting themes and subjects of study. Keri Brondo and Andrea Freidus consider the subject position of the volunteer, and how acts of volunteering which are in part motivated by religious and sentimental drives to “save” their host communities are complicated by the intersection of such religio-affective impulses with the political, ecological, and economic needs of their hosts. Lisa Richey and Mary Mostafanezhad examine the conflicts underlying humanitarian relationships by tracking how international volunteers represent their ties to host communities on social media, highlighting how circuits of visual representation have become central to the problematic dynamics of suffering and care at the center of popular humanitarianism. Lydia Boyd and Pilar Rau also return to the issue of circulation—of imagery, material objects, money, and sentiment—but do so by focusing on host communities and aid recipients themselves, highlighting the often contradictory moral and economic expectations that underlie charitable gifts. At the center of these papers is a consideration of how humanitarian practice intersects with complex moral economies, ones where the donors of aid see the act of giving as an opportunity for their release from compassionate obligation and where host communities view the circulation of material support and sentiment as creating the potential for ongoing ties of mutual support.

Media Anthropology Network E-Seminar Series "Media and Mobility"

Historically, recreational endurance running arose partially with the aim of controlling the side... more Historically, recreational endurance running arose partially with the aim of controlling the side effects of a ‘seated’ life, i.e. obesity and physical inactivity. This trend developed already in the 19th century, with the emergence of middle classes who had the requisite time and resources. Recreational endurance running became very popular in the 1970s, within the context of renewed societal attention to fitness and physical health, which developed in the USA and spread quickly to other industrialized nations. Physical endurance activities such as long-distance running can be conceived of as technologies of the self, practices that can be used to transform oneself. However, they do not necessarily free an individual from the domination of disciplinary ideologies. Within the liberal project of self-development, people are required to take responsibility and to regulate their lives in a manner that confirms they are freely choosing individuals while, in fact, they act within clearly defined fields of possibilities. Their ‘choices’ are pertinent to and normalized within the dominant (neoliberal) discourses with which they engage. In this context, endurance runners are model individuals in contemporary society: dedicated, controlled, disciplined, culturally and economically invested in health and self-responsible. Based on exploratory ethnographic research, I discuss in this paper the crucial role that mobile tracking devices, as markers of an active lifestyle, play in this process. I focus on how the data generated by GPS sports watches are widely shared by runners and their followers on general as well as specialized social media platforms. I disentangle why, paradoxically, these technologies seem to make exemplary mobile people more immobile, because many hours are spent sitting behind electronic device screens to communicate (and seeking social approval for) the mobile performances. I place my critical anthropological analysis within the context of wider societal trends related to self-discipline and self-control.

The desire to ‘move’ is a fundamental facet of being human, and the kinds of mobility involved in... more The desire to ‘move’ is a fundamental facet of being human, and the kinds of mobility involved in this desire are psychological and spiritual as well as physical. In the so-called ‘developed’ parts of the world, many people report to be living in ‘overdrive’ (in a state of excessive activity and speed). As busy as their professional lives may be, people are in search of the ‘right speed’ with which to move in their ‘free’ time, in a way that values quality over quantity, long-term benefits over short-term gains, and well-being. In this context, slowness is more than anti-speed. There are interesting parallels to be drawn between slow movements (coupled with the revaluation of physical exertion) and environmental movements, because both seek to evoke novel ideas about the proper pace of a good and enjoyable human life. The discourse around the proper pace of life emphasises experience, pleasure and the sensuous human body. Slowness is embodied in the qualities of rhythm, pace, tempo and velocity that are produced in the sensory and affective relationship between the individual and the world. Proper pace is portrayed as being subject to cultural and practical ways of doing, and as a question of aesthetics. It thus involves taking more time to be ‘in the moment’ (rather than elsewhere in thoughts). Based on preliminary research findings, this paper will address these issues against the wider background of other forms of slow mobility (whether voluntary or forced).

Behind the question on how to define and understand ethnographic theory hides a discussion about ... more Behind the question on how to define and understand ethnographic theory hides a discussion about how (anthropological) knowledge is or should be produced. Going back to the etymological roots of the concepts teaches us a lot about the core characteristics that define how theory is created and the ethnographic variant of this creative process.

“Home is not an easy concept because it is pluriversal. It is used by many people, academics and ... more “Home is not an easy concept because it is pluriversal. It is used by many people, academics and non-academics alike and has a lot of different meanings. However, what is clear is that it is a relational concept. This means that it expresses a certain relation that a certain person or a group of people have with something or somebody else. This is often translated in terms of attachment and belonging. Now, when I think of home, I think of the first home of the human: the womb. That is the first ‘home’ and it says a lot about the concept in general”.

Not a day goes by without being confronted, one way or the other, with the multiple environmental... more Not a day goes by without being confronted, one way or the other, with the multiple environmental, societal, and economic challenges that our planet faces. Because it is impossible to tackle all problems at once, the United Nations (UN) has created so-called international observances—special days, weeks, months, years, and even decades that highlight an issue of global concern. The year 2017 happens to be the “International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development” (#IY2017). The idea to use tourism as a tool for development is not new. So, why this theme, and why now?

Postdoctoral Fellowship (Renewal), 2011

How does the idea of ‘mobility’ (as boundary crossing) relate to the development of regimes and s... more How does the idea of ‘mobility’ (as boundary crossing) relate to the development of regimes and social practice? If we conceive of mobilities as an entanglement of movement, representation and practice, then the ways these movements are culturally represented and individually practiced can produce strong tensions. The researcher will investigate this hypothesis by way of an ethnographic case study of career and wellbeing mobilities in Brussels (as multicultural metropolis and policy-making heart of Belgium and Europe). A mixed methods and grounded theory approach will guide the data collection and analysis. The methods will include direct and participant observation, semi-structured and in-depth interviews, questionnaires and the gathering of supplementary data from secondary sources: audiovisual data, news media, documents, archives and the Internet. Taking seriously and not for granted the societal as well as personal implications and consequences of career (educational and occupational) and wellbeing (tourism and lifestyle) mobilities, this critical anthropological research will help to determine the analytical purchase of (im)mobility as an overarching conceptual framework (or paradigm) in the social sciences. The findings will be used to raise academic and public awareness about the origins and enduring power and problems of ideologies wedded to the principle of mobility.

Postdoctoral Fellowship , 2008

The proposed study addresses the following main hypothesis: Currently prevailing images and disco... more The proposed study addresses the following main hypothesis: Currently prevailing images and discourses in Flanders represent travel to (tourism) and travel from (immigration) “the South” in ways that seem at the same time unconsciously disconnected from the lived present but connected with the imagined past.

Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant, 2008

The objective of this anthropological research is to study empirically how imaginaries of tourism... more The objective of this anthropological research is to study empirically how imaginaries of tourism to and immigration from “the South” (Africa, Latin America, and Asia) are interlinked and what this tells us about multiculturalism and representations of otherness. The main hypothesis is that prevailing images and discourse represent travel to and from the South in ways that seem disconnected from the lived present but connected with an imagined past. This proposition will be analyzed through an in-depth study of how people in Brussels, Belgium, imagine and represent tourism to and migration from Indonesia, Tanzania, and Chile. The research will employ a mixed-methods approach, involving observation, interviews, archival research, and the collection of images and discourse from secondary sources (TV, advertising, printed press, digital media, cinema, photography and exhibitions). The ethnographic perspective will provide a close-grained analysis of the cultural practices and social relations that (re)produce globally circulating imaginaries of mobility and the implications this has for people’s lives. The project adds to existing research in two ways. In the study, imaginaries (representational systems that mediate reality and form identities) are operationalized as real practices: through the ethnographic method we can assess how imaginary activities, subjects, and social relations are materialized, enacted, and inculcated. Thematically, the research analyzes how widespread imaginaries and personal imaginations about mobility are interconnected and contradicting each other. The study links strongly between the social sciences and the humanities, drawing on the need to bring together aspects of anthropology, sociology, psychology, history, and geography. This timely project will enable a promising researcher affiliated with a top university in the USA to reintegrate himself in the EU, helping him to expand his academic career and facilitate the transfer of knowledge.

Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, 2006

The current anthropological concepts and models for understanding global-local relations insuffic... more The current anthropological concepts and models for understanding global-local relations insufficiently capture the complexity of phenomena such as global tourism, in which processes of globalization and localization mutually constitute one another. Tourist destinations worldwide are adapting themselves to the homogenizing corporate culture of the tourism industry while at the same time trying to maintain, or even increase, their distinctive identity. The literature on local tour guides, who are key actors in this double process, mainly discusses how their discourse is manufactured and controlled at the local and national level. The proposed research will examine the hypothesis that the degree to which tour guides in Tanzania are globally connected and networked significantly affects how they represent ‘the local’ to tourists.

Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant, 2005

The current anthropological concepts and models for understanding global-local relations insuffic... more The current anthropological concepts and models for understanding global-local relations insufficiently capture the complexity of phenomena such as global tourism, in which processes of globalization and localization mutually constitute one another. Tourist destinations worldwide are adapting themselves to the homogenizing corporate culture of the tourism industry while at the same time trying to maintain, or even increase, their distinctive identity. The literature on local tour guides, who are key actors in this double process, mainly discusses how their discourse is manufactured and controlled at the local and national level. The proposed research will examine the hypothesis that the degree to which tour guides in Indonesia are globally connected and networked significantly affects how they represent ‘the local’ to tourists.

The Being Human Show (Podcast), Aug 14, 2020

In this week’s episode, host Dr Jennifer Cearns is joined by Professor Noel Salazar (University o... more In this week’s episode, host Dr Jennifer Cearns is joined by Professor Noel Salazar (University of Leuven), Dr Costanza Currò (University of Helsinki), and Dr Julius-Cezar MacQuarie (Central European University) to discuss the idea of ‘social distancing’: a term many of us have suddenly become familiar with in the light of COVID-19. What does it mean to socially distance oneself? What does that look like? And what are the ramifications of this at a societal and individual level? In this episode we set out to unpack some of these questions.

Trio, Oct 21, 2017

'Ik zoek een mens': Werner Trio in debat met ethica Kristien Hens (UAntwerpen) en antropoloog Noë... more 'Ik zoek een mens': Werner Trio in debat met
ethica Kristien Hens (UAntwerpen) en antropoloog
Noël Salazar.

The World Indigenous Games, de Olympische Spelen voor inheemse volkeren, vindt in Brazilië plaats... more The World Indigenous Games, de Olympische Spelen voor inheemse volkeren, vindt in Brazilië plaats. Inheemse volkeren ontmoeten er elkaar, kunnen wat van hun eigen cultuur laten zien, maar levert het ook iets meer op dan mooie foto's?

What happens in our brains when we are using our imagination? What role does imagination play in ... more What happens in our brains when we are using our imagination? What role does imagination play in our decisions to visit foreign countries or even to migrate there? And is there something that makes people from a particular place, say India, use their imagination in a unique way? Bridget Kendall talks to neuroscientist Peter Tse, poet Arundhathi Subramaniam and anthropologist Noel Salazar.

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2013

… journal for applied anthropology in policy …, Jan 1, 2004

International journal of heritage studies, Jan 1, 2005

Global Heritage: A Reader, 2015

Some argue that the globalization of heritage through tourism has led to a greater respect for (b... more Some argue that the globalization of heritage through tourism has led to a greater respect for (both material and living) culture than previously existed. However, the transformation of heritage properties into destinations and cultural expressions into performances is seldom straightforward. The interface between heritage and tourism is extremely complex. In a tourism setting, heritage can be (mis)used in a variety of ways for a variety of purposes by a variety of stakeholders. This chapter critically analyzes some of the key issues at stake in the multifaceted relation between heritage and tourism, in particular the positive and negative effects in relation to local communities, but also issues such as authenticity, the role of social imaginaries, and the special tourism status of World Heritage properties. Given the limited space, the focus here is on cultural heritage only, although many of the topics discussed equally apply to natural or “mixed” heritage (a UNESCO term denoting properties containing elements of both cultural and natural significance).