***** Apologies
for cross-posting***** 
 


Dear colleagues,
 
Please find
enclosed the CFP for the conference ‘Worlds of Desire: The Eroticization of
Tourist Sites’, to be held in
Geneva, 24th-26th of June 2015.
 
Proposals for individual presentations, panels, and roundtables must be
made before Monday, November 3, 2014.
 
More information on the conference and on how to make proposals can also be
found at https://www.unige.ch/sciences-societe/geo/erotisation/fr/
 
Best regards,
 
Valerio 



Valerio
Simoni, PhD.
- Research
Fellow (SNSF)
The Graduate
Institute 
Geneva,
Switzerland
- Research
Associate
Centre for
Research in Anthropology (CRIA-IUL)
Lisbon, Portugal     
Valerio Simoni | Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID), Geneva - Academia.edu
 
 
 
 
Worlds
of Desire: The Eroticization of Tourist Sites
 
Conference
topic
 
How is a tourist site imagined, produced, and experienced as an erotic
site? Since the 1980s, many researchers have linked tourism to sexuality by
emphasizing sex tourism, which they define as international travel aimed at
purchasing sex services (legally or not). Lying beyond this contested
definition, the issue of tourists’ sexuality has remained largely neglected,
and the eroticization of destination countries has often been confused with the
eroticization of their sex workers.
This colloquium seeks to explore tourists’ imaginaries and erotic
practices as they build, transform or engage precise sites. We are not speaking
about the essentializing of site eroticism, but about comprehending
eroticization processes (geographical, historical, cultural, economic
processes, etc.), and identifying their rationales, participants, and outcomes.
To us, “eroticization” means the production of desire objects (sexual, amorous,
sensual, etc.). At stake in this colloquium is a better understanding of the
diverse forms of tourism, which is achieved through the questioning of site
eroticization. These eroticized sites include the prime destinations of sexual
tourism, but not only.
We welcome every discipline and approach, from any terrain, and about
every topic. Since sexual tourism is already a well covered subject, we will
accept only the papers that highlight the eroticization of places instead of
people (unless they belong to a site), or that question the notion of ‘sex
tourism’ to better conceptualize the eroticization of tourist sites. More
generally, we prefer papers whose theoretical challenges enlarge empirical
findings.
 
We invite the conference participants to take one of the four following
paths:
 
1. The
erotic dimension of tourist imaginaries
Building on a colloquium on tourist imaginaries (Berkeley, 2011), we will
identify and qualify site imaginary (Venice, Tahiti, etc.) and site typology (countries,
the tropics, islands, beaches, cities, or neighborhoods like ‘red light’
districts), which various tourists consider erotic for good or bad reasons.
Means of transportation or tourist accommodation can also be eroticized.
According to which narratives, values, and collective or individual
ideals, may a site be called erotic or erogenous? What are the components and
articulations of this imaginary? To which feature (landscape, climate,
inhabitants, vegetation, etc.) or site practice does it refer? Is it related to
sexuality, eroticism, love feelings, or sensuality? On which ideologies,
discourses, and images is it based? To which extent is it associated with
instances of liberation, transgression, and sexual taboos? How does it interact
with the desires and emotions proper to tourism? What is the role of distance?
How is this imaginary produced and communicated (travel guides, tourist
marketing, media, fines arts, internet, etc.)? How does it move through space
and time? What are its individual and collective elements? To what degree does
it change with tourists’ culture, nationality, gender or sexual orientation?
How is this imaginary perceived by native inhabitants? In these sites, are
tourists themselves eroticized, and by who?
 
2.
Tourist practices in eroticized sites
We hypothesize that tourists do in eroticized sites what they will not do
elsewhere.
To what degree does site eroticization alter tourist identity and
experience (sexuality, sensuality, intimacy, feelings, emotions, etc.)? Is it
signaled by specific touristic practices (accommodation, transportation,
touring, consumption)? Does it lead to specific encounters (between tourists,
between tourists and residents)? What are the nature and significance of
physical engagement? What part does the virtual play in the latter? How does
the tourist imaginary confront the physical sites as perceived by tourists? Are
the anticipation and memory of the visits of eroticized sites endowed with an
erotic dimension? What about repeat tourism?
 
3. The
production of erotic sites by and for tourists
Site eroticization results from the activities led by stakeholders who
are involved, willingly or not, in the development of tourism. Who are they,
what are their rationales, and what are their results?
To which extent is site eroticism a resource that is included in the
development of tourism? What are the features of tourism in eroticized sites
when eroticization is identified as a tourist resource? What are the actual contributions made by
tour-
operators, local communities, and the domestic and international
professionals of the tourism industry?
To which extent are tourists themselves implied in site eroticizing? To
which extent do the residents of eroticized sites participate in the process?
Does eroticization depend on a performance (by tourists, local actors)? What
are the events or landmarks that guide tourist eroticization? What are the
economic, social, political, moral, landscape, etc., consequences of tourism
development?
 
4.
Research in and on eroticized tourist sites
Eroticized tourist sites engender specific ethical, methodological and
epistemological problems that are linked to the place of desire and a possible
confusion between tourists and researchers’ identities.
How do researchers differ from tourists, and vice versa? How should
fieldworkers position themselves and engage their fields (according to gender,
country of origin, sexuality, local context, etc.)? How should they manage
their own desires? Do we set limits to personal involvement? What are they, and
where do they come from? What are the taboos and transgressions, and for who? Within this framework, how can they conduct
participant observation?
 
 
Information
on the conference
 
Organization
committee:
Jean-François Staszak (Université de Genève)
Maria Gravari-Barbas
(Université de Paris 1)
Nelson Graburn (University of California at Berkeley)
 
Contact
person:
Philippe Forêt (Universität Zürich): [log in to unmask]
 
Dates:
From Wednesday, June 24 to Friday, June 26, 2015
 
Venue:
The University of Geneva (Switzerland): www.unige.ch
 
Proposals:
The organization committee will review your proposal and inform you on
Monday, November 24, 2014 if it is accepted. Please use the proposal form.
 
Deadline:
Proposals for individual presentations, panels, and roundtables must be
made be-fore Monday, November 3, 2014.
 
Languages:
The abstracts and presentations should be written either in English or in
French. We plan to publish the best conference papers.
 
Registration:
Registration to the conference is mandatory, whether or not you plan to
give a pa-per. The registration fee is Swiss Francs 100 (Euros 80 or USD 110).
Please use the registration form.
 
Financial
support:
We are applying for conference grants in order to refund the travel and
accommoda-tion expenses of many participants. Please keep your receipts!
 
Information:
For more information on the event, participation requirements, and
conference up-dates, please visit our web page.
 
Web page:
La fabrique des lieux de désir - La fabrique des lieux de désir : l'érotisation des lieux touristiques - UNIGE
  
             
La fabrique des lieux de désir - La fabrique des lieux d...
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