The Use and Abuse of “Clearly” in Tourism Research

Abstract

In this critical review article, Professor Dann analyzes the pervasive and unjustifiable overuse of the word “clearly” in Anglophone daily life, to the point where he maintains it has become almost devoid of meaning. His argument proceeds in four stages. First, the etymology of “clearly” is explored by examining various dictionary and thesaurus meanings of the word along with its employment in a number of Internet sites. Second, its uncritical acceptance in everyday English speech is demonstrated in a few typical broadcast and print media news accounts, ranging for example from George W. Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq to smoking bans in public places. Third, and most importantly, the spill-over into tourism research is shown to rest on several ideological assumptions—those of growth, causality, focus, definition, theory, presentation, and evaluation. Finally and crucially, a recommended exercise in reflexivity is undertaken by Professor Dann that highlights instances of self-invoked “clarity” in his own work over the past 35 years in topics as diverse as motivation, nostalgia, and olfactory tourism. It is thus maintained that, because tourism research (including his own) is replete with instances of opaque discourse sheltering under the shaky positivist umbrella of presumed clarity, it is arguably time to eliminate this linguistic prop of research dissemination and substitute it with genuine interpersonal exchange of interpretative understanding. (Editor's introduction)