Rethinking rurality in rural tourism: a new materialist approach

Abstract

The concept of rurality has been widely debated among scholars, yet rarely questioned in tourism research. We argue that new approaches to rurality in rural tourism research need to be explored if a more inclusive and diverse rurality is to be found. For this purpose, three fundamental dimensions of dominant approaches to tourism rurality, particularly in the Global North, are problematized in the paper: rural as the opposite of, what is not an urban space, rurality as idyllic/romantic landscapes, and rural authenticity as symbolically and existentially perceived by the visitor. The paper then contends that these three dominant taken-for-granted dimensions reinforce a normative conception of rurality which potentially marginalizes, obstructs, and excludes the flourishing of alternative ruralities in rural tourism destinations. A new theoretical approach to rural tourism, which draws on Massey’s relational perspective of space and a new-materialist ontology is proposed, where more inclusive and diverse forms of tourism rurality and more open and non-hierarchical rural assemblages can be envisaged as a result.