Situating the wildlife spectacle: ecofeminism, representation, and polar bear tourism

Abstract

This paper presents a critical investigation of power relations circulating in promotional materials associated with polar bear tourism in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. Drawing on precepts of ecofeminism, critical discourse analysis, and the content of cultural texts (websites, souvenirs) produced by tourism operators, businesses, and crown corporations, the study interprets how representations of polar bears re-inscribe regimes of truth that marginalize non-human animal others and are complicit with patriarchal ideologies. Focus in our analysis is placed first, on illustrating the portrayal of “performing spectacle bears” – a socially constructed subjectivity designed to serve the desires of wildlife tourism producers and consumers – and, second, on diagnosing the privileged discourses that work to maintain and normalize this construction, along with the interspecies dynamics they support. In effect, the paper sheds light on the complex and recurrent effects of anthropocentric and instrumentalist orientations in tourism, including their contingency upon masculine systems of value and rationality. The paper also points out the potential of ecofeminist ethics of care for enhancing interspecies relationships in sustainable tourism.

定位于野生动物奇观的情境：生态女性主义，代表性和北极熊旅游

本文提出了一个有关加拿大马尼托巴省丘吉尔港的北极熊旅游的相关宣传资料的权力关系的循环的关键调查。借鉴生态女性主义、批评话语分析，以及旅游经营者，企业和国营企业产生的文化文本（网站，纪念品）内容，研究解释了北极熊作为被边缘化的非人类动物的代表如何重置机制成为与父权制度的附庸品。我们的分析聚焦在：第一，熊表演的描述是社会建构的主体性的一个写照，旨在满足野生动物旅游生产者和消费者的欲望；第二，进行特权话语诊断的工作，以维护和规范这种结构，伴随着他们所支持的种间动态情况。实际上，本文阐明了在旅游业中，人类中心主义和工具主义倾向，包括对价值和理性的阳刚系统，其应急的复杂性和复发性的影响。文章还指出，关怀生态女性主义道德，提高种间关系，可持续旅游的潜力。

Keywords:

• wildlife tourism
• polar bears
• ecofeminism
• discourse analysis
• animal ethics
• value systems

关键词:

• 野生动物旅游
• 北极熊
• 生态女性主义
• 话语分析
• 动物伦理
• 价值体系

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the reviewers and coordinating editor for the thoughtful feedback that helped to enhance this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program, and the Canadian Polar Commission's Northern Scientific Training Program provided funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Olga Yudina

At the time of writing, Olga Yudina had just completed an MES degree in Tourism Policy and Planning at the University of Waterloo.

Bryan S. R. Grimwood

Bryan S.R. Grimwood is an assistant professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo. His research explores nature–society relations in contexts of tourism/leisure, cultural livelihoods, and learning.