Course Syllabus

Why We Move: Tourism, Migration and the Business of Travel

Course description

Students will critically examine tourism as both an industry and a cultural practice, asking how destinations are marketed and consumed, and who benefits (and who does not). 

The course includes a one-week study tour in Mallorca, where students will meet actors in the field (tourism entrepreneurs, NGOs, local communities and officials) and will conduct small-scale qualitative research. By the end, students will be able to critically analyze travel from multiple disciplinary angles, while reflecting on their own positionality and decision making as mobile subjects.

Learning objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Critically analyse different categories of mobility (e.g leisure travel, economic migration, expat), and examine how they are shaped by and intersect with race, gender, and socioeconomic status 
• Explain how tourism and migration are shaped by market forces, branding, and national policy decisions.
• Analyse how law and policy (e.g., visas, labor regulations) enable or restrict different kinds of movement and bodies.
• Evaluate the social, cultural and economic impacts of travel on host communities, including issues of gentrification, inequality, and cultural representation.
• Apply strategic marketing frameworks to analyse how destinations construct value and attract specific forms of mobility.
• Conduct a small-scale qualitative field study (e.g., interviews/observations) related to tourism or migration during the study tour.
• Reflect on personal travel histories, context, expectations and decision making, connecting personal experience to theory.
• Propose more ethical and socially responsible practices in tourism and migration governance.

Faculty: Shanal Uduwana (he/him/his)

Shanal has over a decade of experience in higher and international education, with a focus on helping students succeed in ways that connect the classroom to real opportunities. He holds a Master of Teaching (Secondary) and a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from Monash University, Melbourne, and has taught Marketing Theory, Consumer Behaviour, and related courses at Monash College and Deakin College. Before moving into education full-time, Shanal worked in marketing roles where he launched new products with Grey Group, led brand updates at Mentholatum Australasia, and ran events for organisations including National Australia Bank, Flight Centre, and Monash University. These experiences continue to shape his teaching by blending academic concepts with practical examples, challenges, and projects that mirror the realities of professional practice and inspire students along their academic journeys.

Faculty: Teresa Bengtsson (she/her/hers)

Teresa is cand.mag in Advanced Migration Studies from Copenhagen University and has a Bachelor's degree in Global Humanities specializing in Communications and Cultural Encounters from Roskilde University. Teresa is Danish-American as she is a first-generation American who was born and raised in San Francisco, California, and has lived in Copenhagen for the past nine years. Teresa has studied abroad at the University of Amsterdam and specialized in transnational relationships and sugar dating within study abroad. She also did an exchange at the University of California, Santa Barbara with the Chicano/a/x department focusing on Latina/o/x migration and belonging and indigenous health and food practices. Teresa has volunteered and worked with numerous non-profit organizations that support migrants and minorities in creative and innovative ways.

Approach to Teaching and Learning:

This course is grounded in experiential learning, so we encourage you to bring your own experiences, examples, and reflections to class, because we believe the best learning happens when knowledge is contextualized. Our sessions are discussion-based, and we expect you to participate actively, challenge ideas (not people), and maintain an open, curious, and respectful attitude toward different perspectives. Acknowledging varied opinions and experiences is essential and while you have every right to question factual statements, please do so constructively.

Literature list

• Carling, J., & Schewel, K. (2018). Revisiting aspiration and ability in international migration. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44(6), 945–963. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1384146
• Cresswell, T. (2010) ‘Towards a politics of mobility’, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 28(1), pp. 17–31. https://doi.org/10.1068/d11407   
• Dinnie K (2015) Nation Branding: Concepts, Issues, Practice, 2nd edn. London &
  New York: Routledge.
• George, R. (2021) Marketing Tourism and Hospitality: Concepts and Cases. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64111-5  
• Larsen, J., & Urry, J. (2011). The Tourist Gaze 3.0. (3. ed.) SAGE Publications. Theory, Culture & Society
• Larsen, E., Moss, S.M. and Skjelsbæk, I. (2021) Gender equality and nation branding in the Nordic region. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor et Francis Group. 
• Hein de Haas, Stephen Castles & Mark J. Miller – The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World (6th ed.)

Study Tour:

The five-day study tour to Mallorca gives us the chance to experience, in person, many of the dynamics we discuss in class. Mallorca offers a compelling case: a European destination that actively markets itself to tourists, international residents, and investors, while also navigating the challenges these mobilities produce, including housing pressures, uneven development, migration, and forms of displacement that reshape urban life.

Objectives of the core course week:

Grading

Assessment Structure:

Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on: 

• Course Enrollment and Grading  
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org

Schedule: The schedule is subject to change if necessary with as much notice as possible.

Class Policy on Audio and Video Taping and Distribution: Any audio or video recordings produced during this class, as well as any recordings posted to online class sites such as Canvas, may not be exchanged or distributed for commercial purposes, for compensation, for posting on social media sites, or be used for any other purpose other than for study by students enrolled in this class. In addition, distribution or sharing of course materials (including instructor PowerPoint slides) may constitute copyright infringement.