SAL-30306 Leisure, Tourism and Environment: Concepts and Approaches

Course

Credits 6.00

Teaching methodContact hours
More days excursion12
One day excursion4
Individual Paper3
Lectures40
Course coordinator(s)dr. I Ateljevic
Lecturer(s)dr. I Ateljevic
drs. LFP Pijnenburg
Examiner(s)dr. I Ateljevic

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

Introduction Leisure, Tourism and Environment (SAL-10806)

Continuation courses:

Leisure, Tourism and Environment:
- Experiences and Environments (SAL-32306);
- Social Change and Globalisation (SAL-31306);
- Sustainable Development (SAL-31806).

Contents:

This course provides a broad-based overview of leisure and tourism theory and practice from a historical perspective and in a world-wide, multi-cultural context. Given that this course represents an introduction into the rest of the LTE courses it has the primary objective to provide a general synopsis of the existing body of knowledge in leisure and tourism studies field. Different concepts and approaches are discussed to raise the awareness of many important societal and philosophical issues in the production of (leisure and tourism) knowledge. More specifically, the epistemological issues of different paradigms influencing the formation of this field are discussed in detail. In summary, at the end of this course, students will have addressed such questions as how are leisure and tourism are conceptualised, what developments took place during the past centuries in relation to free time and social, economic and natural environment, what role does leisure and tourism play in different philosophical systems and how do leisure and tourism concepts relate to different groups, norms, and value systems.

Learning outcomes:

After this course students will be able to:
- be aware of the importance of the domain leisure, tourism and environment as such;
- analyse the meanings and ideas about leisure, tourism and environment in different countries and cultures;
- imagine and compare the experiences and symbolism of leisure, tourism and environment of people from different nationalities and cultures;
- collect information from different parts of the world in the domain of leisure and tourism and interpret the results;
- classify and order specific persons, places, events, philosophies and political theories from history which have influenced the development and establishment of leisure and tourism field;
- describe and analyse the different philosophies and political theories, and their influence on today's society, with special attention for leisure, tourism and environment;
- describe and analyse different approaches and disciplines to study the domain of leisure, tourism and environment;
- name the philosophies, approaches, theories or disciplines from specific people or texts;
- compare different nationalities and cultures within the domain of leisure, tourism and environment, along the historical timeline and the philosophies and political theories;
- classify and evaluate written academic literature of leisure and tourism studies on the basis of authors different research approaches, disciplines and paradigms;
- bring together information from different approaches and disciplines to analyse a specific subject or problem in the field of leisure, tourism and environment;
- write an essay related to the topic of this course;
- prepare and communicate findings and answers related to the assignments of this course, speaking in public;
- discuss about topics of leisure, tourism and environment in class.

Activities:

- lectures from renown lecturers from around the world, covering the respective disciplines and thematic areas of this course;
- independent readings, self-assessment questions, and individual assignments;
- self-reflective knowledge of one s own socio-cultural background , with the specific focus on leisure/travel evaluation;
- group work and discussions in student groups over various cross-cultural issues in the context of the international classroom;
- personal communication with the lecturer and other students;
- discussion groups via email summarising key issues each week;
- fieldtrip to Museum park Orientalis near Nijmegen (half a day);
- in between and final exam of key concepts and approaches;
- an essay evaluating the academic contributions in leisure and tourism studies field on the basis of different paradigms and approaches.

Examination:

Written exam, assignments.

Literature:

Reader. Course outline available.

ProgrammePhaseSpecializationPeriod
Compulsory for: MTOLeisure, Tourism and EnvironmentMSc1MO