Bridging the interdisciplinary divide

Abstract

This study draws upon recent learnings of the dynamic context of travel, tourism and touristic practices to propose an interdisciplinary framework for heritage tourism research. Interdisciplinary barriers and intradisciplinary ‘prejudices’ have instilled fragmented, dualistic either/or approaches to heritage tourism research that perpetuate a micro-macro divide. Studies that decontextualize the individual (micro-level) from social structures (macro-level) belie the complexity of heritage and tourism. Production-consumption, local-global and economic supply-demand binaries are pointed out in the article, and theoretical attempts to bridge the binaries are discussed. It is argued that viewing heritage and tourism as performative practices involving relational forms of power, agency and dialogue helps bridge the micro-macro divide. The research challenges are illustrated using the example of a festival representing a medieval heritage: the Texas Renaissance Festival, USA. This case illustrates the importance of identifying the global, historical and postcolonial context in which the local festival and the individual tourist are situated. Directions are offered for developing an integrated knowledge base of the sociopolitical context, structures and practices that constitute heritage tourism.