Making kin and making sense of human-animal relations in tourism

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore how tourism operators make sense of the abilities and needs of working animals during the co-creation of a tourism experience in order to make kin across species. We refer to sense-making as the process in which tourism actors interpret the context, plans, actions and outcomes relating to animal-based tourism. We examine this phenomenon through the eco-feministic lens of making kin and staying with the trouble (Haraway, 2016) by exploring reflections upon the practices in which tourists, animals, and guides are entangled. Qualitative data from Iceland, Norway and the USA reveal that multiple aspects of the relationships during co-creation are “made sense of” including values, knowledge, relationships, abilities and needs. Tensions arise around the differences in values and knowledge between actors bounded in co-creational practices. The study adds to the conversation on “staying with the trouble” of ethics and agency in animal based tourism and contributes to our understanding of the role of empathetic sense-making in animal based tourism, illuminating key issues that contribute to co-creating value for animals, tourists, and providers. We aim to contribute to the field of feminist ecological economics that combines social justice, and ecological perspective, while emphasizing that the services of other-than-humans are essential for wellbeing of all species.