WHEN EUROPEANS TRAVEL: CREATION OF A POST-NATIONAL IDENTITY THROUGH TOURISM

Abstract

By deriving from the case of the European Union, this study aims to understand how tourism contributes to the post-national identity-making process. The European Union is selected as a case of this study because European integration represents an unprecedentedly institutionalized form of inter-state collaboration in the European continent which establishes a post-national identity. As integration evolved, attachment to a common European identity became important in ensuring support for the future of integration. Tourism due to its relation to culture, heritage, and identity-making, relates to the political objective of the European Union for promoting European identity. The study adopts a qualitative research approach with a case study to reach an extensive and in-depth description of the social phenomenon of post-national identity-making. The study finds out two major roles of tourism: tourism as a fertile ground for seeding the ideas of integration, and tourism as a context for experiencing European identity.

Keywords

• identity
• cultural heritage
• tourism
• European Union
• case study research

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