ABSTRACT
Although there is a growing body of literature focusing on the use of qualitative research approaches for understanding human-animal relations, surprisingly little attention has been devoted to the topic in tourism studies. In particular, the central role played by animals in the tourism industry and thus in the creation of tourism experiences calls for a more critical reflection on the methodologies through which the relations and encounters between humans and non-humans are studied. Considering this gap, we draw upon videography to explore the potential and challenges of using video as a means to interpret and theorise on multispecies relations in tourism. More precisely, we use videography to better understand the co-constructed relationship between humans and animals engaged in tourism activities, leading us to consider these relationships as multispecies assemblages. Our attempts to explore and document these encounters on video lead us to critically evaluate the ethical and epistemological underpinnings of our study and hence to the genesis of this methodological paper. Although challenged by a post-humanist stance, videography as a ‘more-than-representational’ approach offers ways to capture non-linguist, sensuous and embodied qualities of the research context. Utilising these possibilities, our study contributes to the development of more inclusive tourism theorising and futures by exploring videography as a vehicle for emergent theorising on human-animal relations through its relational and political nature of engagement.
