Thinking about travel

Travel plays an important part in the lives of many people. Travelling can broaden our scope when we are exposed to unfamiliar cultures, it can provide wonderful experiences we would otherwise miss out on, and it can make people feel connected with strangers. At the same time, the tourism industry makes travel a consumption good which is widely unequally distributed, and frequently comes with significant social and environmental costs. Moreover, travel can be paradoxical: we may seek authenticity by traveling, while the presence of too many travelers can make a place feel completely unauthentic. Critical reflection on travel is more important than ever, and the development of philosophy of travel should be done in collaboration with existing research in other academic fields.

The Department of Philosophy at Tilburg University hosts the First Interdisciplinary Workshop on travel and tourism, Thinking about Travel. This one-day in person event consists on three successive panels on transdisciplinary themes: I. Tourism and Value  (Tourism Studies + Philosophy); II. Travel, Gender, and Curiosity (History + Philosophy); and III. Tourist Imagination (Culture Studies + Philosophy). 

The event will be in person only at Tilburg University campus. Registration is free and open to all (including graduate and undergraduate students), although places are limited. Please email w.j.a.vddeijl[at]tilburguniversity.edu with the subject TRAVEL WORKSHOP REGISTRATION to register before 14th April 2023, including your name, affiliation, field of study and academic status (staff, graduate or undergraduate student).

Workshop schedule

10:00-10:15 Welcome and opening

I. Tourism and value

10:15-10:45 Jeroen Nawjin, Too proud: Collective pride and residents’ attitudes towards tourism

10:45-11:15 Willem van der Deijl-Kloeg,  Why Fly? Prudential value, climate change, and the ethics of long-distance leisure travel

11:15-11:25 Break

11:25-11:55 Joint Q&A

11:55-13:00 Lunch

II. Travel, gender, and curiosity

13:00-13:30 Lien Foubert, Beware of female curiosity-seekers! The disruptive force of women travellers in the ancient Mediterranean

13:30-14:00 Pilar Lopez-Cantero, Feminist curiosity as the aim of travel

14:00-14:10 Break

14:10-14:40 Joint Q&A

14:40-15:10 Coffee Break

III. Tourist imagination

15:10-15:40 Stijn Reinders, Worlds of imagination.  Fiction, heritage, place

15:40-16:10 Ruud Welten, What do you want me to see? On Tourist Desire

16:10-16:20 Break

16:20-17:10 Joint Q&A