Adventures in ‘empty lands’? - The difference and value of wild places.
24th – 26th November 2014
Sogndal, Norway
The Adventure Tourism Research Association is pleased to announce a call for papers for the 2014 International Adventure Conference.
This is the third annual adventure conference, following two successful, well-attended and highly enjoyable events in Scotland. These conferences have brought together leading academics, educators and practitioners working in adventure tourism to present and discuss a range of topics pertaining to adventure activities and education and outdoor recreation.
This year’s theme builds on the previous events in Scotland, with a focus on the human-nature interactions which occur during adventurous outdoor activities outdoors. Such experiences may be considered from a practical, commercial point of view, or interrogated through philosophical, sociological or educational lenses.. At its heart the purpose of this gathering is to gather together the many perspectives on outdoor activity for its numerous purposes, and to consider how best to understand people’s recreation in these wild places.
Adventure Tourism Research Association
The relationships and consensus built during these conferences have directly led to the creation of the Adventure Tourism Research Association (ATRA), a membership organisation which aims to assemble an academic community around these core areas of interest, broad network of leading academics worldwide, forge new writing partnerships, create a peer-reviewed academic journal on adventure tourism and organise this annual conference. The conference fee this year will include a year’s membership of ATRA. In 2014 ATRA will also launch its own journal.
The 2014 Adventure Conference
This year’s conference will take place in Sogndal in Western Norway and is organized in cooperation between Western Norway Research Institute, Bratt Moro As, Sogn og Fjordane University College, Sogndal, in association with the Centre for Recreation and Tourism Research, West Highland College UHI, Scotland, and the Adventure Tourism Research Association.
Sogndal is situated in the innermost part of the world longest fjord – the Sognefjord. In the immediate vicinity are landscapes that the renowned National Geographic Traveller magazine in 2009 voted to be the best preserved attraction on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The region also offers some of Norway highest and wildest mountains, Hurrungane, in Jotunheimen National Park, as well as mainland Europe’s largest ice cap: the Jostedalsbreen glacier. The regional hub Sogndal is a small town where education and nature based tourism are cornerstones for the community.
During the conference there will be a rich and inclusive evening programme, with concerts/recitals and presentations from climbing expeditions. The second ‘world Trangia cooking championships’ (‘Masterchef outdoors’) will also take place.
For the two days before the conference adventure activities will be offered, such as:
- Guided ski tours in Jostedalen or in Sognefjellet (Alpine and Nordic)
- Glacier trip in Jostedalen
- Half day or full day friluftsliv experience with outdoor cooking
Conference Themes
We are now inviting paper and poster presentations, as well as volunteers to convene a session under one or more of the following themes:
‘Slow Adventure and ’Friluftsliv’
- The forager's menu
- Ways of living outdoors
- Considering friluftsliv through a tourism lens
- Learning and leadership in friluftsliv
- Celebrating natural capital
- Protecting, enhancing and using remote places and spaces
- Marketing experiences in the great outdoors
- Working with media and journalists during outdoor experiences
- Creating /branding adventures
- Adventure destination development
- Sustainable adventure tourism destinations and the cruise industry
- Adventure tourism and outdoor recreation as driver of rural development
- Adventure tourism, sustainability and profitability
- Co-operation between small scale nature-based adventure tourism companies and larger tourism companies for increased profitability
- Wild places now and then and the origin of adventure tourism
- The roots of polar region tourism
- Outdoor life versus the urban condition, and places in-between
- Adventure and postmodernity
- Philosophies of being outdoors: dwelling and being
- Natural time versus industrial time
- The contradictions of sustainable tourism
- The outdoors as a learning space
- Adventure responsibilities
- Storytelling
- Serious leisure
- Supporting adventure experience – transportation and infrastructure
- Mechanized access to adventures
- Polar adventure tourism
- Moving across land and sea - the journeys of adventure
- Urban adventure
- Professionalisation of the outdoor tourism sector
- Future prospects of adventure tourism in the face of climate change
- Adventurous and adventuring bodies
- The commercialization of outdoor recreation: leisure as a source of tourism innovation.
In the first instance, abstracts of up to 600 words are invited for peer review; these will form the basis for acceptance of the paper for presentation. The abstract should therefore clearly state the objective of the presentation, the findings and their significance to the proceedings, and how they help advance our knowledge of outdoor adventure. It should be submitted as a Word document (Arial 11 point font, 1.5 line spacing). It should include: title, keywords, introduction, method, findings/discussion and conclusion. Exciting and inspiring conference posters are also requested. The submitters should also include a CV of 3-4 lines that includes position, affiliation, and research interests.
For abstract-submission click here
The deadline for the submission of abstracts is February 28. 2014.
Note: All accepted abstracts will be published in the conference proceedings, and will be available on the conference web page. There is also the possibility for some papers to be considered for post-conference publication in a forthcoming new journal on adventure tourism.