Exploring non-human work in tourism: From beasts of burden to animal ambassadors

Description

Critical animal studies is increasingly interfacing with tourism research in an effort to shed light on the various ways animals are incorporated into touristic experience. Exploring non-human work in tourism: From beasts of burden to animal ambassadors builds upon the theoretical connections of animal ethics, agency, and welfare as it foregrounds specifically the work that animals perform in the industry. While some types of animal labor are more readily identified, readers of this volume may be surprised by how many forms of animal labor are overlooked. Taking a widely international perspective, with cases from the Arctic, China, Costa Rica, China, Finland, Greece, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, this volume offers readers diverse scenarios of animals working. The book is arranged along three themes of work. Performative work focuses on the animals whose performances are front and center of tourists’ motivations and experiences. Value-added work turns attention to the co-working relationships of animals, while the political work of animals as ambassadors and icons is examined within the chapters on hidden labor. Additionally, the book makes theoretical considerations of the implications of positioning animals as workers and offers reflections on ways this focus on working animals extends current scholarship in the field. Acknowledgements Contents 1 Introduction: Working for the (hu)man in the tourism industry Part 1: Theoretical considerations 2 Conceptualizing non-human animals as “workers” within the tourism industry 3 Redefining the work of working animals in the tourism industry: An animal-centric reflection Part 2: Performative work 4 Working donkeys in northwestern Mexico: Urban identity and tourism resources 5 Animal dark tourism in Mexico: Bulls performing their own slaughter 6 Farm animals’ participation in tourism experiences: A time for proper respect Part 3: Value-added work 7 Animals as tourism stakeholders: Huskies, reindeer, and horses working in Lapland 8 Distributed leadership in tourism experiences: Russian sled dogs and Icelandic horses leading the way 9 A working holiday: From home to destination with a guide dog 10 The donkeys of Santorini: Workers or slaves? 11 Monkey see, monkey do: The work of primates in Costa Rican sanctuaries 12 The greening of polar bears: Lively commodities in a climate change economy 13 “Cute, but get up and work!”: The biophilia hypothesis in tourists’ linguistic interactions with pandas Part 5: Reflections 14 Working animal research: An agenda for the future 15 Afterword: On tourism, animals, and suffering – lessons from Aeschylus’ Oresteia List of contributors List of figures Index